Trip Reports

Hello anglers: We had a great morning! But then we were disappointed by the US Navy conducting exercises at San Clemente Island. The whole fleet had to leave the fishing spot. We tried several schools of bluefin tuna in a other areas but only managed to land a nice yellowfin tuna for our efforts. One exciting event was for one angler to hook a 100-pound bluefin tuna, which was lost at color–a real heartbreaker.

Patrick Gee, our long time friend and instructor on these trips, hooked this beautiful yellowtail that was landed by Linda Wills from Temecula.
Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We had some action this morning on mixed-grade bluefin tuna and yellowfin tuna for our Shimano/Let’s Talk Hook-up “On the Water Seminar” trip. We caught these fish on live sardines and flat fall lures. The weather is great with light winds and some swell, but it’s been a great day so far. Danielle Gaskill from Dublin, CA landed a nice yellowfin tuna. Danielle, and her dad Don Gaskill, are regular customers that we see 2 or 3 times a year. It is always a pleasure to have them aboard!

We are very grateful to Shimano for supplying lots of gear for this trip. And to Patrick Gee, Shimano rep and instructor, for his great participation as well.
More later,
Team Searcher

Congratulations to our jackpot winners!

1. Michele, Long Beach, CA (center, grand prize winner of the Okuma Makaira reel) – 69# bluefin tuna
2. Izmir Moor, Murrieta, CA – 43.2# bluefin tuna (right)
3. Jeannie Goldston, NV – 41.8# bluefin tuna (left)

Congratulations and a big thank you to all the sponsors and contributions to the donation to American Heart Association’s GO RED FOR WOMEN!

The jackpot winners are joined (below) by Wendy Tochihara (Izorline), Capt Art and Lori Byron (Turners Outdoorsman). Great group of women!

Hello anglers,
We had a good day today! There is a lot of fish around, but we had to work hard for every bite. One method that worked was 25-30 pound mono with flourocarbon, and a # 2 hook with a live sardine. Jackie P from Florida is pictured with her nice-size bluefin tuna, and Capt Art who had the assist.

Jackie’s got a bluefin tuna AND a new pair of lady boots, thanks to Xtratuf!

We are spending the night and trying again tomorrow. Dinner tonight will be BBQ pork ribs, corn bread and roasted red potatoes. Sounds great!
Team Searcher

p.s. Who will win the Athena rod made by Seeker for women?

Hello anglers!
We have a few bluefin and yellowfin tuna aboard this morning already. We can see fish on the surface and on the sonar, so we are hopeful that the fish continue to bite.

The first fish caught today was brought aboard by Teresa R. For that she wins the Okuma rod!  In addition, each lady angler got to select a pair of Costa sunglasses, which are perfect for saltwater anglers! Thank you to Okuma and Costa for those generous donations, and keeping ladies on the water.

Our second jackpot collected $430 and will be awarded to “Sportswoman” of the trip to use in credit towards a Searcher Sportfishing trip in 2017. The money will be matched by Team Searcher and donated to the American Heart Association’s “GO RED FOR WOMEN” campaign, which educates women about heart health and disease prevention.

Jan Dalziel came all the way from England! Here she is posing with her first bluefin tuna.

More later, Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We had a tough fishing day today. We saw plenty of fish, but we couldn’t find a school that wanted to bite. We didn’t land a fish until the afternoon and only landed a few late in the day. The highlight of the day was when Alex Dill, a first timer, landed her first yellowfin tuna. It is always great to see the reaction of someone’s first fish!

Her first yellowfin tuna!

The other highlight was the group, nine years with Kim Burkhart and the gang and it is always a pleasure to have them aboard! They all understand we work hard to find fish, but we can’t make them bite.

Team Searcher

Hello anglers:
We found some fish to LOOK AT this afternoon. In fact, there were multiple areas of yellowfin tuna around and the fish are 12-20 pound class. Unfortunately not many of these tuna were hungry for what we had to offer. We had some chances at them, and some of our first-time anglers landed a fish, so that is always a plus.

Crewman Ben Hart is pictured with Grant Cramer with a yellowfin tuna that he landed on one of our “Hook and Hand” outfits supplied by Accurate Products and Seeker Rods. This is Grant’s first yellowfin tuna. He was grateful for the hand-off!

We had great weather and a nice group of people with us.
Captain Art and Team Searcher