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Captain Mike’s Blog

Jun 4 (Jun 2-5) 2.5 day Limited Load

June 4th, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good evening,
We moved down the beach last night to look for different fish, biting fish to be specific.  We got on some new bluefin tuna. We had one shot at them but they were bigger than we anticipated and we didn’t fare well.  After that it was back to bluefin watching most of the day. We broke off in the afternoon to do some yellowtail fishing for a few hours.
We’re back on the hunt for tuna now, hoping to get a shot before we have to go home tonight.
Captain Mike and the boys

Jun 3 (Jun 2-5) 2.5 day Limited Load

June 3rd, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good afternoon,
 
Mid-day check here: we’re seeing some very nice schools of these 100-180lb bluefin this morning its pretty tough to get a bite, but we’ve been drifting with fish on us and we’ve been picking away at them. It’s all been on 80 or 100lb sinker or dropshot rigs.  Beautiful weather.  We’ll check back later.
 
How to avoid tangles in your sinker rig: https://youtu.be/zkA1jqHXXD0
 
Captain Mike and the boys

Jun 1 (May 30-Jun 2) 2.5-day Limited load

June 1st, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning,
Once the sun went down we saw very little sign last night. It seems to be a trend that we’re not a fan of. We did scrape up a handful of 20-25lb fish however.  We left around 2:30 to do some bottom fishing first thing.  We had decent bottom fishing. It was nice to not be driving around and actually fishing over the side for awhile.  We used up some tags and we’re on the hunt for tuna again.
Captain Mike and the boys
Good afternoon,
We're seeing a little bit of sign of these school-sized bluefin.  We're in a stop picking right now, one at a time.  We're drifting along with good fish around us and under us though it's hard to get a bite.  Maybe we'll get a shot this afternoon.
Captain Mike and the boys

May 31 (May 30-Jun 2) Limited load 2.5-day

June 1st, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good evening,  
 
We arrived out west at about 1am where boats had been seeing a lot of fish throughout the day yesterday and we found virtually no signal at at all.  We spent the rest of the morning trying to get it located.  We never did see it, so we started looking to the south east.  We’re just starting to see some fish now. We ended up 70 miles from where we started this morning.  We finally got a chance to stop and fish here and caught our first fish of the trip–a 140lb bluefin.  We’re hopeful for tonight and hopefully we can stay on them.  We’ll check back in the morning.
 
Captain Mike and the boys

May 27 (May 26-29) Memorial Day Weekend 3-day

May 27th, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning,
We ran out to where we have been fishing the last few nights.  We got there right at sundown and shut down on a good school. It went away and came back, and we hooked a couple and lost them both. After that we saw very little sign and the fish we did hook were very hard to hook.  We didn’t get another bite until 530 a.m..  Very long night.
The good news is we are seeing good sign right now so we’re hopeful for tonight and this afternoon.
Captain Mike and the boys

May 25 (May 23-26) 2.5 day limited load

May 25th, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning,
We saw some very nice schools last night and got a couple good opportunities at these bluefin in the dark.  They were a grade bigger, mostly 80-150lbs.  It was a very good sign. They didn’t bite as well as you would think, but we did string together a couple nice stops.
We’re going to break off from this bluefin fishing for the morning and try our had on the Cortez Bank. Wish us luck!
Captain Mike and the boys
Good evening,
We had a good shot at some quality yellowtail this morning.  They came up and boiled around for about a half hour. The best method was on the yoyos.  At about 1130 it was over.  We moved up for some “bottom grabbers” and filled out some tags after lunch.
We’re changing gears here now going to see if we can get another shot at these tuna before we have to go home.
Check out the yo-yo video here: Tackle Tip Video on Yo-yos
Captain Mike and the boys
p.s. Great dinner by Chef Josh: pork chops, squash puree, mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and balsamic gastrique!

Tackle Tip Thursday Vol. 221 (Bluefin Tuna Lures for Daytime)

May 25th, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Tackle Tip Thursday|

Steve Carson with PennReels reviews the winner lures for those challenging bluefin tuna showing up and ready to bite during the daytime. These Tady Lures have attractive motion and good shine, so make sure to add them to your arsenal. Here’s hoping the bluefin can’t resist them on your next trip!

To review our tackle suggestions for your upcoming trip, click here:SEARCHER TACKLE SUGGESTIONS

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

 

May 24 (May 23-26) 2.5 day limited load

May 24th, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning,
We had some pretty good action last night on 50-100+lb fish.  There were a few good schools to be had and we had a few opportunities.  The best opportunities were between 1am and 4am..  We’re not seeing a whole lot of sign right now, but we’ll see what happens today.
Captain Mike and the boys

May 19-20 (May 19-21) Kyle Lanford and Friends Charter

May 20th, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good Morning,
We arrived on scene at around 11pm last night.  There were some good schools around, but we never really saw a really good one, just medium ones. We were able to scratch on bluefin until the sun came up. They are 25-90lb fish.  We’ll see what happens here today.

Captain Mike and the boys

Good evening,

 
We saw sign of bluefin all day today, however getting any to bite was a different story. We were able to scratch up some yellowtail this afternoon though.  We see good sign of this tuna so maybe we’ll get more chance tonight.
 
Captain Mike and the boys

May 13-14 (May 12-15) Rich Denio and Friends Charter

May 15th, 2023|Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning,

We had a long day looking hard all day. We saw some signs of fish throughout the day, and stopped on a couple of schools for no bites. Last night we got some opportunities and we were able to scratch at 40-90lb bluefin throughout the night. We’ll see what happens for our last night.

Captain Mike and the boys

May 14

Good morning,

We decided to do some rock-codding yesterday due to the lack of daytime biting fish. WE sacked up some nice taco meat!

We slid back into the bluefin zone in the afternoon and saw some scattered sign similar to yesterday. But when the sun went down, the fish didn’t show. We drove around until 1 a.m. when we had to head to the dock.

We managed another handful of fish of a few small schools.

Captain Mike and the boys

Jackpot fish weighed 98lb!

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