Blog Post

Art Taylor docked his boat at Fisherman’s Landing October 2 after a good seven-day trip to The Rocks, with a stop at Benitos on the way home. His 22 anglers scored very well on quality yellowfin tuna up to 100 pounds.

Doug Nance of San Diego took first place for a 109.8-pound yellowfin tuna. He told dock reporter Bill Roecker it bit a sardine on a 3/0 ringed Owner Mutu hook tied to 40-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 65-pound Power Pro Spectra. He used an Avet JX reel and a Calstar 700 MH rod.

Steve Heffner of Hailey, ID won second place for a 108.2-pound tuna

Jeff Nagel of Laguna Niguel won third place for a 75-pound Alijos Rocks yellowfin.

George Guardino of San Diego (featured for the month of September in the new 2011 Sportfishing Calendar with the year’s best halibut) caught the trip’s only wahoo, on a sardine without wire. He said that luck hook was a Gamakatsu 2/0 in the J-hook style.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Hookup On Searcher

A Let’s Talk Hookup trip aboard the Searcher arrived at Fisherman’s Landing September 15 after a five-day trip with owner-skipper Art Taylor and 26 passengers. They got another nice catch of larger yellowtail, many by baiting live market squid.

Taylor said green water didn’t diminish the bite or the squid fishing very much.

“We got our best fishing in the gray,” he noted, “and we had on good night bite for yellowtail on the dropper loop. The white seabass were mixed in. the weather was calm, and it got hot in the daytime with the sun out.”

Glen Kerr of Cypress won first place for a 39.8-pound yellowtail he bagged with a squish on a 3/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook tied to 40-pound Izorline. He had 60-pound Izor Spectra backing on a Saltist 40 reel and a Shimano seven and a half-foot rod.

Jeanette Caldwell of South Lake Tahoe was thrilled to take second place on her first trip. She got a 39.4-pound yellowtail. Bob La Hue of San Diego won third place for a 36.8-pound mossback.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

The big schools of yellowfin tuna that began arriving last Friday drew Art Taylor and his 16 Searcher three-day anglers to try fishing in a tongue of warm water below Ensenada.

“It was clean and 67.5 degrees,” said Art, “and we had jig strikes over a 45-mile stretch on mixed grade tuna and skipjack. We also got some fish on kelps and bird schools on the first day when it was calm. The good fishing extended from about 95 to 130 miles south.”

The trip was sponsored by Accurate, who sent Gary Gillingham along as chartermaster, with 12 sets of loaner rods and reels from the factory.

“They were BX-2 400 and 500 models,” he said. “We also gave away a BX-2 400.”

Gary Cotter of Santa Barbara won first place for a 22.6-pound tuna. He said he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook on 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 20-poundIzorline. He used a Trinidad 16 reel and a Calstar 700 ML rod.

Pate Machlachlan of Port Townsend, WA tied with Willy Lewis of Mission Hills for second place, as both men had 22.4-pound yellowfin.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

A five-day limited load trip with only ten passengers aboard the Searcher arrived at Fisherman’s Landing August 27. The trip was skippered by Aaron Remy and visited Cedros Island for some extra-large yellowtail.

“It was good fishin’,” said Remy at the dock. “The weather was hot and sunny, the way it’s supposed to be.”

Jennifer Funk of San Pedro fished with jigs, and yoyoed up a toady 43.6-pound mossback on a Salas 6X Jr. in blue and white for first place. She said she fished a 50-pound Izorline and 65-pound Power Pro Spectra and an Avet HX reel and a Calstar 760 M rod. The fight lasted ten minutes.

Jack Rauch of San Rafael got a 39.8-pound yellow for second place. Dave Easton of Pt. Loma took a 38.8-pound yellowtail for third place.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Art Taylor brought his Searcher home from a five-day trip with 22 anglers that produced the best yellowtail catch of the season so far: limits of mossbacks that one angler weighed out at an average of 36 pounds. At least a dozen fish were 40 pounds or more, and a huge halibut graced the bag of forkies.

“It was Cedros Island at its best,” said Art. “Each angler had a personal best. It was world-class fishing. They were fish of a lifetime!”

George Guardiano of San Diego fished up a 42-pound halibut out of the congregation of toad yellows. He said he got it with a green mackerel baited on a 4/0 Gamakatsu hook tied to 40-pound P-Line. He used a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar 6460 H rod and brought the big flattie up to gaff in about ten minutes.

“He swallowed it, and I didn’t know he was there until I set the hook,” said George.

Rob Geiger of Simi Valley got a 43-pound yellowtail for first place. He said he took it with a mackerel flylined on a 7/0 Mustad hook and 40-pound Izorline. He used 65-pound Power Pro backing on an Avet JX reel and a Calstar 700 H rod.

Jim Hartwick of Harbor City won second place for a 42.6-pound yellowtail, and he also tied for third with a 41.6-pounder. Mart Pierpoint got one that weighed 41.6 pounds to get the other half of the tie.

The yellowtail catch may have been the best for Captain Taylor since 1988, when Bill Roecker went to Cedros with him, where they found 40-pounders thick as flies in a barnyard. That story is in Roecker’s forthcoming long range book, due from the printer right after Thanksgiving.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Searcher Tries Benitos

Searcher returned from a four-day trip to the San Benitos Islands with skipper Aaron Remy and 21 anglers aboard.

Dave Bell of San Diego won first place for a 28-pound yellowtail and posed with it on the dock at Fisherman’s Landing. He said he got it with a blue and white Salas 6X Jr. jig on 40-pound P-Line XXX, and Avet LX reel and a GRUSA six-foot rod.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Big ‘Dines, Dinky Hooks

Art Taylor brought his Searcher home August 3 after a five-day Izorline trip. Pro-staffer Wendy Tochihara was aboard, and she looked to have as many tuna on the boat as any man. Her best one was a 35.8-pound beauty. She said the albacore seemed to prefer big sardines and small hooks. She got hers with hooks in the 1/0 size.

There was a tie for first place. Larry Hicks of Corona and Chris Alcaraz of West Covina both had 39.2-pound albies, so they split first and second place rewards.

Hicks won the Izorline trophy for the best fish on that product. He got his with a sardine on a 3/0 Mustad hook tied to 30-pound Izorline on a Penn 4/0 reel and a Sabre six and a half-foot rod.

Mike Day of Phoenix won third place for a 38-pound longfin, and Howard Pukini of La Mirada had the trip’s best yellowfin tuna, a 37-pounder.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Cedros Island Remains Hot

The yellowtail at Cedros Island are still chewing bait, jigs and just about anything else that falls into the water. Art Taylor took his Searcher anglers there on a five-day trip, and they loaded up on ‘tails before heading up the beach to try some rockfishing. A couple of nice white seabass bit in the wee hours at the island, and one of them made it into the jackpot.

Mike Lee of San Francisco won first place for a 27-pound yellowtail. He said he bagged it at two AM on the dropper loop, about the same time the white seabass came through. He baited a sardine on a 6/0 Eagle Claw hook on 60-pound Izorline. He used a TLD 30 reel and a Seeker 655 Black Steel rod.

Raul Alarcon of Garden Grove won second place for the larger fish of his pair of whites, a 24-pounder. The other one went 22.6 pounds. Both came on the dropper loop. Tom Kang of Huntington Beach won third place for a 23-pound yellowtail.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Our second Shimano/Let’s Talk Hook-up on the water seminar returned to the Fishermans Landing docked Thursday morning with a nice load of albacore and some very happy anglers.  Captain Art Taylor was behind the wheel of the Searcher and took our group of 29- 115 miles from Point Loma to the fishing grounds.  The seas were flat and the fishing was steady.  Captain Art pulled the throttles of the Searcher back about 5:30am and within minutes we saw our first school of "puddling" albacore and proceeded to start the day with a few "bait fish". The morning progressed much the same way, stopping on puddling fish and jig strikes.  Though the fishing was better in the morning hours, we had steady jig strikes and bait fish throuthout the day and early evening.  The bite seemed to shut off about 7pm. The total count for the day was 64 albacore from 15 to 31 pounds.  Most of the fish were over 20 pounds and several anglers on the trip caught their first tuna, including young Joey Johnston pictured with his grandpa Gary Dittmar and Searcher deckhand Dustin Madruga.

Izorline Trip Finds Forkies

Art Taylor’s Searcher returned to Fisherman’s Landing July 5 after a good visit to Cedros Island. Art drove the boat, and his second skipper Aaron Remy showed the boys how with a 42-pound mossback he got with a mint green/blue Candy Bar. He said he used a Newell reel with a cracked handle and an Ulua rod, “typical boat gear.”

A pair of Izorline reps also highlined the catch. Norm Fujimoto of Izorline and Fullerton was chartermaster, and took a 36.6-pound yellowtail.

The trip produced near-limits, he told Bill Roecker, “…most on the yoyo jig, but the big one came on the flyline. They were on the lee side.”

Izor rep Ernie Seko of La Palma was on a busman’s holiday, and won first place for a 38.6-pound yellow. He said it bit a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad hook tied to 30-pound Izor fluorocarbon leader, 30-pound Izorline mainline and 65-pound Izor Spectra on an Avet JX reel and a Calstar 800 ML rod. He said the fish scrapped with him for 20 minutes.

Alvin Flores of San Diego won second place for a 34.6-pounder, and Jerry Walton of Las Vegas won third place for his 33.8-pound yellowtail.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing