Captain Mike’s Blog

Hello anglers: The action was a little slow this afternoon, but we did manage to land a few nice bluefin tuna. Pictured is Mas Kaneko of Los Angeles, CA. Mas is a long-range veteran for over four decades, and over three decades he has fishing with us on Searcher. Capt Kenny Merrell gets the assist on this tuna. Mas and Kenny go back over 40 years to the days on the New Bluefin. Mas and his brother Aki used to charter that boat in the early 70’s, and Kenny and I were deckhands back then. Wow time flies when you’re having fun.
Team Searcher

p.s. Mas is 88 years young.

Hello anglers: Good fishing today for our 14 passengers! A little slow on the bluefin tuna, but good yellowfin tuna fishing. Live sardine is the key today with 25-40 pound line. We have had some opportunities with good-size bluefin tuna but unfortunately we haven’t landed many. Today’s midday picture is of crewmember Mike D with Ron Beckenfeld from LA and his nice bluefin.
More later. Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We had a great day of fishing tuna today. Plenty of action on yellowfin tuna in the 15 pound class. We concentrated on bluefin tuna for the afternoon and had our chances at some quality fish. Most of the fish were the 30-40 pounders. We did land one 70-pound fish (see photo below) and I’m sure we lost some more in that class due to the tackle being too light.
Team Searcher

Searcher friend Paul Jones and Capt Art

Hello anglers: A great day of tuna fishing today! We had a mix of 30-40 pound bluefin, with a few 60-90 pound fish. It is great to be able to give someone a fish of a lifetime. We had some yellowfin tuna in the same zone, and further south there is good sign of yellowfin. We caught some fish on the troll with some bait fish. A few dorado and small yellowtail were released. We are headed further south to change things up a little and try for some yellowtail tomorrow.
Wish us luck, Team Searcher
Today’s picture is Searcher family member, George Guardiano of San Diego, CA with one of the nice grade bluefin tuna. Capt Aaron and crewmember Brian had the assist.

Hello anglers: We had great fishing again this morning with good action on 30-70 pound bluefin tuna. The majority of the bites came on sinker rigs with 40 pound mono with 40 pound florocarbon and a 4/0 circle hook. Add a 4-8 ounce torpedo sinker attached with a rubber band about 6 feet above the hook. The yellowfin tuna fishing was good as well.
Today’s picture is of first-timers Ward and Josh Quintero (father-son) with bluefin tuna hooked up on the bow. Ward landed his a 70 pounder.
Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We had a great day with excellent fishing for yellowfin tuna and a few nice bluefin tuna as well. Most of the fish were caught in the morning, but the larger bluefin were caught in the afternoon. The majority of the yellowfin are 20 pound average and the bluefin are in the 30-40 pound range. Live bait was the primary catching method, with 25-30 pound line and a short piece of matching floro carbon leader.
Thanks to Gary Gillingham and Accurate products for the loaner gear and the knowledge to help everyone out. Today’s picture is  Richard and Dennis Yoshioka, long-time Searcher family fishermen. They both had nice bluefin tuna this afternoon.
Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We’ve had pretty good fishing for yellowfin tuna this morning so far–15-25 pound fish. The majority are being landed with 25 pound line and a 2/0 hook with a live sardine. A few fish are coming aboard on artificial lures as well. We had a little action last night right at sunset to start the trip off right. Hoping this continues. Capt Art and Team Searcher

Howdy anglers: Another great day on the water! We managed to get a few more 60-100lb bluefin and a few more nice yellowfin tuna. The weather is great and so is the fishing.
Capt Aaron and Searcher crew

Howdy anglers: We got a chance at a few more very nice bluefin tuna this afternoon. We got 4 more in that  60-100# range, so we’re headed in to try some more tuna action tomorrow. Wish us luck tomorrow! Here’s another nice bluefin caught by Jon Drivick of San Diego, CA
Capt Aaron and Searcher crew
Tip of the day: Sinker rigs when the fish are deep–a 4-8oz torpedo with a rubber band on your line can get you in the zone.

Howdy anglers: What a afternoon! We didn’t see much yellowfin this afternoon, but we were very fortunate to find a school of 60-100lb bluefin tuna in US waters. We ended at dark with 19 of those beautiful fish and we’re gonna try for another shot of them. The weather is calm and it looks good for the future.

Good angling and hope to se ya on the water soon,
Capt Aaron and Searcher crew