Captain’s Blog

Captain’s Blog
Jul 22021

Jul 2 (3 day trip)

July 2nd, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good evening anglers,

We opted to go west this afternoon (7/1)and on the way out we saw a fair amount of 20-60lb bluefin. On the way out we tried a few spots and landed one 50-lber.  The rest were not cooperative.  We kept sliding west and got an opportunity in the evening right before the sun went down on 20-lbers with light line and small hooks.

We finally managed to get on a spot of 25lbers and plunked up a few on light line.

We made a move to a new area today (7/2) and are seeing incredible sign.  It took awhile, but we settled into a plunker at about 10am and drifted for a bit picking up one-two at a time.  The grade we’re seeing is 20-100+lbs.  We have one 50-lber for our day and the rest are 20-30lb. It’s very tough to get a bite but the light line finesse guys and gals are having some success.  

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Here is Shannon and Captain Ryan with a catch from this morning!

Good evening anglers,

We had a steady plunker fishing all day on 20-50lb bluefin. We drifted almost all day.  And it’s the same situation as this morning where it’s tough to get a bite, so we are using light line and small hooks. There’s still a very good sign around however.

We’re all having a good with here great weather and enjoyable fishing.  We’re starting to see some yellowfin mixed in. We caught a couple yesterday.  Hopefully sign of more to come.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

A few yellowfin showed up!

Jul 12021

Jun 30 (2.5 day trip)

July 1st, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good evening anglers,

We had a very long day on the bluefin grounds.  Incredible sign, however it was very difficult to get a bite.  We stopped on schools of 25-150lb fish and schools that were 150-200lbs all day. They would boil around but wouldn’t bite the hooks.

We finally managed to get on a spot of 25lbers and plunked up a few on light line.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Irene’s first Searcher catch! Welcome aboard!

Jun 302021

Jun 29 (2.5 day trip)

June 30th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We had some opportunity and scratched last night at 20-100lb bluefin all night on the flat falls.  Our morning started pretty slow picking on 30-60lb fish fly lining baits.

We started sliding out to the west and started seeing incredible sign of big bluefin.  We’ve been busy from about lunch time on on these big ones, mostly 170-190lbs with a few a 150lbers mixed in. We’re getting bites on the sinker rigs, the kite and the fly lined 80lb sardine.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Dale and a 180# bluefin caught on the kite.

Good evening anglers,

We had some pretty great action on the big bluefin this afternoon. There’s still a pretty phenomenal sign of these jumbos right until the sun went down. Almost everyone on the boat has one over 100lbs the majority of the big ones are 140-190.  They have been responding to the bait very well, and boiling around and biting the sardines.  We hooked quite a few on the sinker rigs and the fly lined 80lb today. We’re going to start looking for flat fall fish now.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Aaron and his dad Henry and one of their jumbos

Jun 282021

Jun 27 (3-day trip)

June 28th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We’ve had a great morning fishing school-sized bluefin starting in the grey light.  The fish are 18-30lbs and the best method this morning was a flylined sardine on 25lb.  We left that stop around 9:30, and hit a sonar school and have these 100+lbs boiling around the boat and laying under us.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Ryan B with a fish from this morning’s stop

Jun 272021

Jun 26 (3-day trip)

June 27th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good afternoon anglers,

We just got out of our morning stop about 1pm.  Pretty fun fishing!  It started on a flat spot of 18-25lbers and turned into 40-70lbers.  We had 3-5 going for about 3 hours. A 40lb fly lined sardine was the go to on this stop.  We had quite a few “tuna firsts” on this stop.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Beckham’s first tuna–nice work!

Good evening anglers,

We had some more action on school grade fish this afternoon.  The 18-25lb fish were biting pretty good! The go-to method was fly lined bait on 25lb test.  We were pretty busy this afternoon so we didnt manage any photos of the afternoon bite.  But here’s Gary of Accurate Fishing and Bob with some from the morning stop.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Gary (left) is off the DL and back in long-range fishing action! Bob is a Searcher regular and had a good catch this morning!

Jun 262021

Jun 25 (3-day trip)

June 26th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good evening anglers,

We left on our annual Accurate Fishing 3-day trip this morning with pro-staffer Gary Gillingham aboard with great giveaways and good fishing time.

We stayed local in the bluefin grounds where we have been fishing all spring.  We saw incredible sign here this afternoon but it sounds like we were late to the party. However, we were able to scratch up some mixed grade bluefin in the 18-90# range.  Most of the fish came on the fly line, though we had a few on the sinker baits.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Dean and his 50# bluefin!

Good evening anglers,

We had some more action on school grade fish this afternoon.  The 18-25lb fish were biting pretty good! The go-to method was fly lined bait on 25lb test.  We were pretty busy this afternoon so we didnt manage any photos of the afternoon bite.  But here’s Gary of Accurate Fishing and Bob with some from the morning stop.

Captain Mike and the boys

Check out these tackle suggestions: Tackle for Offshore Trips

Gary (left) is off the DL and back in long-range fishing action! Bob is a Searcher regular and had a good catch this morning!

Jun 242021

Tackle Tip Thursday Vol. 151 (Tony Pena Knot and Knot Pullers)

June 24th, 2021|Categories: Tackle Tip Thursday|

Happy Tackle Tip Thursday!

Searcher Captain Sean Allen gives us a great demonstration of the Tony Pena knot and how to use the Knot Puller made by ThirtyFathoms.com. The Tony Pena knot is a great way to splice mono to spectra. And the Knot Puller makes a great knot even better! Thank you to ThirtyFathoms.com for the tool that fits the need–no more cuts to anglers’ hands and a more secure knot–Knot Pullers available at ThirtyFathoms.com

Want another how-to for a knot? Here’s the San Diego Jam as demonstrated by Capt Armando  “San Diego Jam Knot”

🎣Reel in more Tackle Tips here! Subscribers get hooked up to new videos first!

 

Jun 222021

Tackle Talk LIVE at Turners Outdoorsman in Norwalk (and Facebook)

June 22nd, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, News|Tags: |

We will be going LIVE and talking tackle (bluefin tackle, what else?!) on June 29 at 5 p.m. at Turner’s Outdoorsman in Norwalk!
Want to join in person and shop after the talk? Call for an RSVP to the store (562) 929-4056.
If you can’t be at the Norwalk store, tune in to Searcher Sportfishing’s Facebook page. We will be posting the video here the next day.

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