Trip Reports

Fishing news and tackle tips!

Trip Reports

Biter’s Private Charter: Sep 11-14 (3 day)

Good morning, anglers:

We managed a few on the flat falls last night and this morning. We’re seeing the same grade bluefin as yesterday: 30-50lbs. It’s a very good sign of fish, but it has been tough to get a bite. We had one stop for a dozen or so all caught on the fly lined sardine on 25lb test.

Captain Mike and the boys,

Mark with his morning bluefin

Good evening anglers:

We opted for a change of pace here this afternoon and went in search of big bluefin. We searched all afternoon, finally got on them at about 5:30 p.m. and had a shot at them. We had quite a few bites but we only landed a few of these beauties. There was very good sign here once we did get on them. Our biggest fish on the boat this year taped in at 239lbs. We”re going to try catch some on the flat falls here tonight before we have to run in.

Captain Mike and the boys

Jeanine and Pat (husband and wife) double-teamed this cow bluefin (239#)

September 13th, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Biter’s Private Charter: Sep 11-14 (3 day)

Good morning anglers,

We stopped on a nice school of bluefin in the dark and picked one up on the flat fall. There was a very good sign of fish, however we were forced to relocate due to an unannounced Navy training exercise.

We have gotten on a different batch of fish since then and have been picking away at 30-50lb bluefin. We’ll check back in a bit. We’re currently in a stop.

Captain Mike and the boys

p.s. Check all our Tackle Tips here: Tackle Tip Thursday videos

Bluefin in the dark

Good evening anglers,

We had a nice “plunker” going for most of the day on 30-50lb bluefin, In fact, we just about have our daily limit.

We got another shot late on the same grade of fish, as well as some 60lb yellowfin. We’re going to try flat falls tonight and camp out and try again in the morning.

Captain Mike and the boys

Jeanine and a sample from today’s catch.

September 12th, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Trip #21: Sep 4-7 (3 day) Labor Day Special

Hello anglers,

We saw good signs of bluefin tuna almost all day though the morning was very slow. The fish just wouldn’t bit. Around noon, things changed and we started seeing better signs with fish on the surface. We had a couple of stops that made our day and everyone had a chance at landing a nice bluefin! Some of our beginners landed fish and we hope to have all the new customers get a bluefin tuna tomorrow.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

p.s. There’s still time to fish during this incredible season. Check for availability here: Searcher Sportfishing 2020 trips

Long-time Searcher angler Ryan with a nice bluefin

 

Hello anglers,

We had some action on 25-45 pound bluefin tuna today. We saw a tremendous amount of fish. And even though not every spot cooperated, we had fun with the spots that did. Calm seas and sunny skies today.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Captain Art and Ryan with another beauty bluefin!

September 6th, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Trip #21: Sep 4-7 (3 day) Labor Day Special

Hello anglers,

We started our trip looking for kelp paddies and dorado, hoping for a little action to start the trip and get everyone acclimated to gear and bait. We saw several kelps, and at the end of the day we found one that had a ball of dorado with it. Everyone had a chance to land a dorado and we all had some fun!

We’re enjoying the great weather and we are headed west to try for bluefin tuna tomorrow.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Regulars from the Brown/Simpson family with their dorado from our kelp patty stop

September 5th, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Trip #20: Sep 2-4 (1.5 day) Let’s Talk Hook-up/Gamakatsu Hooks

Good afternoon anglers,

We’re still on our morning drift, plunking away on 25-40lb bluefin tuna. Lots of anglers have their limit right now. We had heavy casualties this morning, but are still accumulating some nice fish. The go-to set up has been 25lb test, with fluorocarbon to match ,and a small #1 circle hook. We did have a period in this drift where we were hooking them pretty steady on the 40lb as well. We still have one hanging right now. We’ll see what the rest of the day brings.

Captain Mike and the boys

p.s. Make sure to check out our tackle videos before your trip, for bluefin, wahoo, yellowtail, or anything that bites a hook in So Cal saltwater! Searcher Sportfishing YouTube channel.

Two of our favorite regulars George and Davey with some quality bluefin

September 3rd, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Trip #19: Aug 31-Sep 2 (1.5 day) Turners Outdoorsman

Hello anglers,

We have been in the bluefin tuna zone all morning and have seen fish all morning! We have only caught a sample, but we have high hopes for this afternoon.

We are grateful to Turner’s Outdoorsman for all the giveways! Sponsors Jason R  (San Diego store) and Mike A (Oxnard store) are great to have aboard and fish with.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

A nice bluefin landed on a live sardine

Hello anglers,

We saw a lot of fish today and most of it didn’t want to bite. But by late afternoon we had some good fishing with opportunities to land a nice bluefin tuna. A live sardine with a small circle hook and 25-30 pound line was the method that worked best. Great weather today!

We loved having Turner’s Outdoorsman as a sponsor of this trip, as well as pro-staffers Jason R and Mike A. See them at the San Diego or Oxnard stores!

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Frank shows off his beautiful bluefin

September 1st, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Trip #18: August 28-31 (2.5 day) Hofferber and Friends

Good morning anglers,

We are having a little slower day today on the bluefin. We managed to scratch some up as well as a dozen or so nice-rade yellowtail. We are seeing some sign and are hoping it’s a time of day thing.

We have a camera issue, so we’ll update the photos when we return.

Captain Mike and the boys

Friends fishing together begins here!

Good evening anglers,

Unfortunately, we had another tough day fishing bluefin today. There are plenty of signs of the fish around, they were just not in the biting mode. We saw fish from 50-200lbs all day today with very few bites. We boated just a few 60-80lbers. Hoping things change for the next trip.

Captain Mike and the boys

August 30th, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Trip #17: August 24-28 (4 day) Accurate Fishing Products

Good evening anglers,

We were busy today again. Definitely a trip to remember! We were on the big bluefin again. They were biting though it was a little tougher to get a bite and to land them for whatever reason. They seemed to be in a different mode.

However we did manage to score a dozen or so of the 130-180lb bluefin on flying fish. All smiles and high fives here.

Captain Mike and the boys

First stop of the day !

August 27th, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Trip #17: August 24-28 (4 day) Accurate Fishing Products

Good evening anglers,

We’ve been on the big bluefin today and they’re biting! We’ve been busy all day with an incredible kite bite. We’ve had a full kite rotation on the 120-200lb fish. We are also hooking some bait fish on the sinker rigs and the flylined sardines. Incredible sign of this big bluefin. Gotta go, they’re still biting.

Captain Mike and the boys

A sample of one of our stops today!

August 26th, 2020|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|
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