Trip Reports

Hello anglers,

We started our fishing day on the coast for yellowtail without much success. So we travelled offshore to look for kelp patties and dorado. We found warm blue water and plenty of large kelp paddies. Not many had fish associated with them. But we managed to find a few that had a few good-size dorado on them. I think everyone got to keep a nice-size dorado today, including Anne L.  Check out the recommended surface irons here!

We are headed home tonight and arriving back to the dock on Saturday morning. Here is Anne Lahue and crewman Ryan with a beautiful dorado from one of the kelp patties this afternoon.

Chef Dan shared his Sesame Chili Marinade recipe for fresh Searcher-caught fish. Angler tried and tested!

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello anglers,

Yesterday we accomplished our goal of getting everyone a wahoo. Today we are trying to get everyone a second wahoo! We’re also enjoying great tuna fishing again this morning. Everyone has enough yellowfin tuna!

We are now concentrating on yellowtail in between trolling sessions for wahoo. Here is Dennis from Texas with a nice wahoo. Need a recipe for your wahoo? Here’s one from Searcher Chef Geri Sue.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Afternoon update:

We had some action on yellowtail, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and a rare white sea bass this afternoon. We had variety this trip for sure! Everyone had multiple chances at wahoo today with trolling, live bait and artificial lures all working well. (Check out recommended surface lures here!)

Mike E landed the white sea bass and he took a minute to pose with Capt Shawn for a photo. We are headed up to the coast to try for more yellowtail tomorrow morning, and then maybe offshore to look for dorado.

The weather has been great during the day and breezy at night. The forecast looks good for travelling tonight.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello anglers,

We arrived at our fishing spot just before lunchtime today. We trolled around for awhile hoping for a wahoo with no success. But we saw good sign of 12-20 pound yellowfin tuna in a few different areas. We caught a few while drifting, so we got the anchor down and had excellent fishing. All methods worked: live sardines, artificial lures, flat falls, wahoo bombs, and yo-yo lures. The fish were biting everything!

We also landed a couple of wahoo. Here is Mike E. with a 40 pound fish. We are spending the night and hoping for the same sort of action on tuna and a few more wahoo tomorrow.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello anglers,

With only 12 anglers aboard, there’s plenty of room for passengers to prep tackle and for captains to offer assistance!

We are travelling today and are headed to the Ridge. We will arrive tomorrow before lunch. We had a seminar this morning to get everyone up to speed on with tackle. We have the rest of today to rig up and get ready for tomorrow.

The weather is great with light winds and no swell.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Good afternoon anglers:

Today we woke up to a little breeze from the northwest. But we were still able to find a nice kelp paddy and catch some nice dorado to wrap the trip up.

We are headed home and will be back out for 7 days tomorrow.

Wish us luck and until then, tight lines!

Here’s crewman Hector and Ken Y with his dorado.

Captain Shawn and Team Searcher

Good evening anglers:

This afternoon we did find the magical kelp paddy and had very good dorado and tuna fishing. Tuna were on the small side so most were released, but the dorado were nice size. We all had a lot of fun fishing, but the best part of the day was calm seas!

All methods of lures and bait were working. Here is a nice shot of Captain Mike and Ron W. with a dorado.

Captain Shawn and Team Searcher

Good evening anglers:

Today we fished along the coast for yellowtail. Most of them were caught on fly-lined sardines, and a few were caught on a surface iron. We are heading offshore to look for tuna and dorado, so wish us luck. 

Tommy T. and his yellowtail.

~ Captain Shawn and Team Searcher