Tackle Tip Thursday Vol. 158 (Essential Outfits)
Tighten up your tackle selections before your next trip with Searcher Sportfishing! Captain Art goes over another angle with four “Essential Outfits” to make a complete set for your multi-day trip. These outfits are flexible and can cover a variety of fishing conditions.
Don’t have everything? No problem! Let our land crew know when you book your trip and we can loan you what you need, or refer you to Fishermans Landing Tackle Rental.
Have too much? Consider bringing fewer outfits! We give you the minimum starter set here. We are grateful to use the rental tackle from Fishermans Landing in this video, but rods and reels from other tackle companies are recommended as well.
Always check our trip reports as your trip approaches so you know what’s biting and what tackle is needed.
Our complete 2022 schedule is published so book a trip and catch some fun with us!
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Oct 6 (6-Day Trip) Ultra-limited load to Guadalupe Island
Good morning anglers,
We’ve had some good opportunities today on 30-50lb yellowtail and 90-100lb tuna. They were biting a little this morning and boiling all around the boat. It’s backed off to hooking one every now and then, but the current’s starting to run so we’re hanging in there for the afternoon shooter.
Captain Mike and the boys
Eric G. and his score!
Good evening anglers,
We had some opportunity here today with a pretty good sign of BIG fish. Everything we are catching here is large. Bill had the biggest tuna of the day at 117# and Paul had the fish of the trip so far a 58#yellowtail. It’s a pretty cool sight to see them boiling around the boat like they were all day.
There were some lulls but and it was tough to get a bite at times, but we managed to boat some trophies. Going to try for bait again tonight or in the morning and then see if we can gather up some more.
Captain Mike and the boys
Paul is 6’5″ and this yellow weighs 58#!
Oct 5 (6-Day Trip) Ultra-limited load to Guadalupe Island
Good morning anglers,
We made some good bait last night and had some pretty good opportunity this morning on 50-100lb yellowfin and 30-45lb yellowtail. We did not land a whole lot, but the ones we did land were nice ones. We also had got flashed by 14-18lb dorado and had a quick hit on them as well.
Captain Mike and the boys
Richard and Ken sharing a good hit on yellowtail
Good evening anglers,
We had a nice afternoon and an evening shot here on the 35-50lb yellowtail and 90-100lb yellowfin. It was pretty tough to get a bite for a while then right before the sun went down, the yellowtail started snapping. Heavy casualties here because of the grade of fish, but we managed some trophies. We’re going to try make some bait and try again tomorrow.
Captain Mike and the boys
Paul with a trophy!
Oct 4 (6-Day Trip) Ultra Limited-load to Guadalupe Island
Good evening anglers,
We got to the island today around 1:30 and saw very good sign of yellowtail and yellowfin. We put the anchor down around 2 and the tuna started boiling around right away. We hooked a few of these big yellowtail but only managed one at about 40lbs and a couple handful of mixed-grade yellowfin 30-80lbs. We like what we see and are going to try it again in the morning.
Captain Mike and the boys
Long-time Searcher family member, Bill Z, gets back to Guadalupe!
OCT 1 (7-Day Trip) Seeker Trip to Guadalupe Island
Beautiful weather here today! We’re seeing some sign of these big yellowtail here on the other side of the island as well as mixed grade yellowfin, 30-100lbs. We’ve caught a few including a pair of 50lbers We’re going spot-to-spot seeing what we can come up with and we’re coming up with some trophies. These fish are big and mean so naturally there’s a high casualty rate.
Captain Mike and the boys
A trophy won by David!
Good evening anglers,
We circumnavigated the island today and caught something at every spot we hit. At about 5:30, we pulled up to our last spot and started marking 100lb yellowfin and 30-40lb yellowtail. We spun a circle and the tuna boiled up right away, so we put the anchor down. We never hooked a tuna but the yellowtail started biting right away and bit until the sun went down. They were biting the yoyo jigs, the dropper loop mackerel, and the fly lined mackerel as well. The full size mint Salas 7x heavys that Fred gave everyone were the hot lure here this evening.
Captain Mike and the boys
Kenny and Ernie with their island slugs
Sep 30 (7-Day Trip) Seeker Trip to Guadalupe Island
Good morning anglers,
We had a pretty good opportunity this morning on the yellowfin in the 50-90lb range. We are having a run of bad luck at the moment, losing them for one reason or another. We’re managing to boat a few though. It’s a very good sign, it’s shaping up to be another nice afternoon here.
Captain Mike and the boys
Good evening anglers,
We had some very good opportunity today. We suffered heavy losses however for various reasons, pulled hooks, broken line, bite offs, rocks, sharks, you name it. We are seeing more and more of this 50-70lb class yellowfin each day now. Things look very promising coming up here. We pieced together a nice day and are on our way to make some bait for tomorrow. We’re going to change gears and fish the backside of the island for yellowtail tomorrow. The weather looks great and we’re all excited.
Captain Mike and the boys
Sep 29 (7-Day Trip) Seeker Trip to Guadalupe Island
Good morning anglers,
We tried for the “threepeat” on our spot from the last two days. It did not work out since we saw less fish and less life today. We scratched a few but it didn’t feel right.
We went for a tour and found a nice area down the island a little bit. We are just trying to get established but already see them boiling around the boat . Looks like it might be a good afternoon.
Captain Mike and the boys
Good evening anglers,
Our new location turned out to be a productive one! We had a good afternoon that started with 50-60lbers and soon turned into 90-110lbers boiling around the boat biting the fly-lined 80lb. Pretty fun afternoon here.
We’re going to try make some bait tonight and try here again in the morning.
Captain Mike and the boys
Sep 28 (7-Day Trip) Seeker Trip to Guadalupe Island
Good morning anglers,
We’ve had some action on the yellowfin again this morning and it’s the same grade as yesterday. Same spot, beautiful weather. The sharks are getting a few more this morning than they did yesterday afternoon, but we’re still getting some despite them.
The anglers fishing 60# aren’t landing a whole lot, but those using 80lb are coming in for the most part.
Captain Mike and the boys
Good evening anglers,
We had another good flurry here this afternoon. We’re still on our first anchor job from yesterday and are still seeing a pretty good sign here throughout the day. Around the flurries we were able to scratch up some beauties. The majority of the evening fish were 90-100lbs.
The sharks definitely got their share today but seemed to back off late in the day. We’re made some mackeral when the sun went down and are going to hang tight for another night and see what the morning brings.
Captain Mike and the boys
Captain Mike and Anne with a Guadalupe-grade yellowfin tuna