Check our 2009 fishing schedule! We are pleased to announce that Steve Carson, fishing instructor and tackle guru, and Penn Fishing Products will be sponsoring our August 25-30 5-day trip. Join the fun while there is still room! Or maybe this week’s albacore reports have you wishing for an offshore trip? We still have 1.5 and 3- to 4-day trips with spots open. Call or email and we’ll save one for you.
Hello anglers! We are finishing our dry dock period of hull re-painting, propeller and rudder work and other general painting and maintenance. Here’s what it looks like when the boat gets launched back in the water after dry dock: More later, Capt Art and crew p.s. Lots of other fishing videos at www.youtube.com/searchersportfishing. Enjoy!
Everyone’s anxious for fishing, but first things first, like a bit of maintenance and our annual Coast Guard inspections. We’re in our dry dock period at Knight & Carver Yard in National City.
Searcher in dry dock. Her bottom looks great!
The crew and I have sanded part of the hull (two other parts were done in previous years) and re-painted. We took off 1,000 pounds of old paint this time, for a total of 3,000 pounds for the entire hull. I am looking for some improved fuel performance after that.
We also took out the propellers and shafts for inspection and to install new packing. The rudders and shafts were inspected and we put new packing there too.
What better way to begin my 25th year as owner/operator than scraping bottom paint!
We’ll start fishing on Qualia Reel’s open charter on June 13. Join us on this 5-day adventure, or at least follow along on the daily blog report on the web site.
We hope to see you aboard in 2009. We have some great trips scheduled and expect some exciting San Diego/Baja California fishing!
Capt Art and crew (and celia)
We will miss our regular June trip passenger, Jerry King, on the upcoming June 5-day trip, sponsored by Qualia Reels. Here is a first-hand fishing story about Jerry that makes us smile:
"So sorry to hear about Jerry King passing away so recently. We had the distinct honor to share a fishing trip with him back in 2007. It was blazing hot on that summer trip and I remember Jerry had a magic trolling lure that was a sure-fire boat stopper. It was an old red and white tuna feather with beat-up faded shiny stuff on the outside. Jerry claimed it to be the skin off a dorado. Every time he got up to troll that lure, he would hook up and bring the Searcher to a screeching halt. After Jerry got his fish in then he would head into the air-conditioned salon, leaving the rest of us outside getting sunburned waiting to catch the big one. Your cook would finish up whatever chore he was doing then sit with Jerry to play at cards. Nice. We should all be so lucky and blessed to do as well as Jerry when we get to that age.
I enclose a picture of Jerry that I took at the landing at the end of our voyage. From the looks of the cart Jerry did okay. No better homage than your friends helping you to get your catch underway. Thanks Celia and Art for have such wonderful crew and clientele. It’s what makes fishing the Searcher so memorable."
From another Searcher friend and regular, Ray Guardiano
Hello anglers! Captain Art will be at the upcoming shows in San Mateo and Sacramento in the Fisherman’s Landing booth. Stop by to chat about fishing and tackle. Sign up for a trip. Talk about the offshore fishing scene. Get ready to fish! January 9-11, San Mateo County Event Center, 2495 S Delaware, San Mateo, CA 94403 Friday: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. January 16-18, Sacramento Cal Expo State Fairgrounds, 1600 Exposition Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95815 Friday: 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m -7 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Want to make sure Captain Art will be in the booth when you stop by? Email me at: reservations@searchersportfishing.com and I’ll set that up! celia p.s. We’ll also be at the Long Beach Fishing Tackle and Boat Show March 4-8, 2009. Details to follow!
The 9-day Fish Down/Fly Back trip had 212 yellowfin tuna, 78 yellowtail, 10 wahoo, and 30 (released) marlin for 17 anglers. The jackpot winners are: Danny Coe (222.2# yellowfin tuna), Lloyd Doyle (179# yellowfin tuna), and Alex Ruiz (158.9# yellowfin tuna) An honorable mention goes to Carl Schmidt of San Diego for his 210.9# yellowfin tuna. Thanks to everyone who made this trip a success! Capt Art and Celia
Don’t forget to check the “Photo Gallery” for complete photos from your trip. You can order prints too. Also check www.YouTube.com/SearcherSportfishing for a few video clips.
Hey anglers, Today we concentrated on the big yellowfin tuna again and the day started with Allen Ross of Lake Forest, California landing a 120 pounder. We thought that was a great start! We landed some dorado and released some marlin before lunch and then the wind came up and we had trouble holding anchor. We were seeing fish on a regular basis on the fish finders but they wouldn’t bite. After lunch we finally got the anchor to hold in 20 knots of wind and Steven Schneider landed a 60 pounder. We continued to release marlin and land a few more dorado. We saw plenty of tuna but they just wouldn’t bite. Lucky Lloyd Doyle landed a 90 pounder mid- afternoon and that was the end of our tuna action. After dinner we all met in the galley and discussed arrival in Cabo tomorrow and we ended the trip with the GRAND PRIZE drawing for our SONAR program. The winner of this year’s GRAND PRIZE is Chris Edmundson of Mission Viejo, California. Congratulation to Chris for winning a free spot on a 3-day trip next year and a rod and reel combo from Shimano! We would like to thank all of our sponsors for SONAR this year and look forward to having them back for next season’s SONAR program. Capt Art
Hey anglers, Since we had a few hours to burn before arriving in Cabo, I thought we would try an old spot from when we used to run 6-day trips out of Cabo. It was a spot that we had a few grouper and pargo once. We got there and had good yellowtail fishing. We had about 70 fish in an hour and a half. All the fish were 15 to 20 pounds. We landed them using dropper loop set ups and live mackerel. What a surprise and a good way to end the trip with a little more action! Capt Art
