Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2, 2016 Jackpot winners
Congratulations!
- Ezio Petrella, Mission Viejo, CA — 54.6# wahoo (left)
- Wayne Burnette, San Diego, CA — 49# wahoo
- Ezio Petrella, Mission Viejo, CA — 48.2# wahoo
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Friday/Saturday
Hello anglers: We tried hard today in several spots for yellowtail with not much result. We even tried some spots that haven’t been tried this season. However, we found great conditions with 70+ degree water and clean, but a lack of fish. We are headed north to try the coast for a few hours to end the trip.
One highlight of the day was the fresh yellowfin tuna dinner by Charley and Dan that was “off the charts” and good!
Team Searcher
Hello anglers: We had a few extra hours so we stopped and fished the coast. Conditions were good with warm, clean water. We saw a sign of yellowtail up to 20 pounds and we landed a few. There was some action on big bonito that we released and a few rockfish. Since we only had a couple of hours, we didn’t have time to look around much. There might be some good yellowtail fishing in this area for the next trip.
We travelled the rest of the day, broke down the tackle and scrubbed the boat. What a great trip in all aspects–weather, fishing, and comraderie! Looking forward to having everyone back next year.
Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Friday
Hello anglers: We found a sample of yellowtail this morning, just a sample, but there were good conditions present. We’re seeing clean, warm water and good current, just not a lot of fish so far.
We have the rest of the day to find something to work on. Jim H and Capt Aaron are posing with a nice yellowtail that Jim caught on a blue-and-white yo-yo lure.
More later, Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Thursday
Hello anglers: We had a great morning fishing wahoo! Everyone had landed 1 or 2 wahoo for the trip and we all had a great time this morning. We had lots of opportunities to land one on casting lures, wahoo bombs, raider lures, and trolling marauders. We saw lots of fish and of course, the losses are part of the game with wahoo.
Craig Gantz is pictured with his nice wahoo–it’s at least 50 pounds.
There was fresh sushi and sashimi for afternoon snack and fresh wahoo for dinner!
Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Hello anglers: We are trying for wahoo again this morning with some success. We are landing most of the fish on live sardines and wire leaders with 40-pound mono. Capt Ryan Stahl is posing with his birthday wahoo caught on a live sardine. He used one of our Penn Fathom 40 2-speed reels that Steve Carson gave us two trips ago. It’s paired with one of our on-board Seeker Athena rods, available as a loaner for our customers.
Notice the birthday hat he is wearing all day today…
More later,
Team Searcher
Hello anglers: We had another awesome day all around! We enjoyed phenomenal weather, and there was great fishing and fun for everyone. We have enough yellowfin tuna for everyone, and also almost everyone has a wahoo. I’m not sure how our day could be any better.
Long-time Searcher customer, John Curtis who comes from England every year, is pictured with Capt Ryan, the birthday boy, and a nice size yellowfin tuna.
Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Hello anglers:
We had some excellent fishing today, starting with wahoo. And we finished up the day with some quality yellowfin tuna fishing.

Ezio P lands a nice yellowfin tuna, with the assist by the BIRTHDAY BOY, Capt Ryan Stahl–30 years old today!
Everyone had a great time and enjoyed a great day of fishing. We are looking forward to fishing tonight and tomorrow.
Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Hello anglers: We started our day with a beautiful sunrise and a calm ocean.
At our first stop at The RIdge, we got into some wahoo fishing which we had been preparing for. It was exciting when we first arrived with multiple hook-ups. As usual with wahoo fishing there were some losses, but we had lots of chances to land these prized fish. John Waggoner from Louisville, Kentucky is pictured with a nice troll fish.
We also landed a few nice-size dorado and some small yellowfin tuna for sushi later in the trip.
Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 Rolling to The RIdge
Good morning anglers: Yesterday was a great day! We turned the boat around in record time, which meant that a great job was done by everyone on our team to get it done so fast. We arrived at 5:30 am and left the dock just after 8:30 a.m.. We have a great load of bait and we cleared Point Loma at 10 am. We are headed for The Ridge with high hopes of arriving before lunch on Tuesday.
Yesterday we watched football while travelling south and it was a great day for a nap. We ended the day with a dinner of beef bourguignon, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, fresh bread and a really special dessert in honor of Capt Ryan’s 30th birthday coming up soon. Ryan’s mother, Vicky, is a top-notch baker and we had her famous banana cream pie to top off that delicious dinner. Nice job, Vicky!
Today we will give a seminar and go over all the options for rigging. After that everyone will have the rest of the day to play with all that tackle purchased prior to the trip, and enjoy a movie afternoon, complete with gourmet popcorn and Red Vines. Who needs the movie theater, when you can be aboard Searcher, heading to the fishing grounds?!
The weather is calm and sunny, it is going to be a hot one today. We are so grateful for good weather whenever we get it.
More later, Team Searcher
p.s. Read up on WAHOO techniques on our Ask a Captain feature.

Capt Aaron and crewman Roman (borrowed from the Polaris Supreme) are rigging wire leaders and lures for wahoo!