Arrived at the 43 and put out the lines. Headed West and hooked up on the smallest albie I have ever seen. Felt bad gaffing the poor sucker, but had to get the stink off the boat. Shortly thereafter a double, then a triple and my first quad on the boat. The quad caused a god awful tangle since I had a newbie on board. Had to hand line the 4th when my newbie assumed the previous bent rod was just a tangle. We all learn the hard way I suppose. Cut the shit out of my hand but got a chuckle bringing a nice fat one to gaff.   All our fish were on the troll, biggest was 27 lbs. Caught mostly on black and purple feathers. A couple on the abortion. To tally up, since we lost count we had 23 on board.  We realized we were in trouble when the stern started to ride very low in the water and the bow was jacked up in the sky. Come to realize that the bilge pump wasn't working. Kept tripping the circuit breaker. Water was starting to flood into the cuddy. Unfortunately we can't readily access the bilge plug. Very low in water accessible from outside. Thought it wise to head home early (12:30pm). Had a hard time getting on plane. 2 buddies had to sit on bow. Had to dump bait tank. Dump all ice in fishholds and pump out water. Shifted everything forward. Got boat on plane and as the water rushed back to the stern, my bilge access hatch broke open from the inside out. I was acting all cool and in control, but inside I was sweating a bit. Had my buddy bail a little. Boat was making a good 20 kts. Made it back to MB, pulled the plug and a small lake poured out.

My buddies were stoked, they had a blast, I was alittle un-nerved, but satisfied my girl once again brought me home safely.
The coordinates: N 32 34.299 W 118 08.073   N 32 34.154 W 118 09.942     N 32 35.281 W 118 11.620  
water temp 64.8 degrees  We must have made a commotion because a party boat was tailing us after we got about 10 onboard. Then another one showed up. My recommendation: Go west, find the colder water. Don't catch too many fish (there is a lesson to learn here!!!!). And carry a spare bilge pump.  tight lines, geo-fish 

J.D.'s Big Game Tackle      Saturday, June 30, 2001,
INNER WATERS SAN MATEO POINT TO THE MEXICAN BORDER INSIDE SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND- 930 AM PDT SAT JUN 30 2001 TODAY WIND LIGHT...BECOMING W 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON WITH WIND WAVES 2 FT. SWELL W 4 FT. AREAS OF MORNING FOG. TONIGHT WIND W 10 KT WITH WIND WAVES 1 FT...BECOMING LIGHT LATE. SWELL W 4 FT. AREAS OF FOG. SUN WIND LIGHT...BECOMING W 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON WITH WIND WAVES 2 FT. SWELL W 4 FT. AREAS OF MORNING FOG.

Overcast and calm, some leftover lump from yesterdays wind, 4 thousand boats out fishing this morning, the radio is active with the mornings chatter.

We just got 2 inside the 43, about 25lbs, boats fishing the "Ridge" found paddies but no yellows.

Report: S.D. albacore      Larmo    ALLCOAST    Jun-30-01, 08:05 PM (PST)
Fished below the upper finger/475 knuckle (31.58 & 117.13) for easy limits of regulation size (12-25lb) albies. Bait was weak anchovies (it didn't matter)    We worked into the area from the west and found the fish about 8:00 am. The day consisted of  about 6 jig strikes. Four were the typical single/double jig strike with maybe a single bait fish. One was a 1/2 hour stop for 8 bait fish. One was a 2 hour stop for lots of bait fish. We had a school come underneath the boat that showed on the fish finder as 40 feet (from 50 to 90 feet) of solid "red". (the strongest return on a color sounder). They bit everything, live bait, dead bait, plastic swim baits.   If i were going out tomorrow i would start in this zone and work towards the 238. Lots of talk on the radio about bluefin around the 238. (jumbo bluefin)

Highlights for the trip
1. Watching a mako "consume" a hooked albacore right next to the boat.(Those sharks can swim FAST)
2.Almost no WIND and little swell. A small bump in the early AM which layed down nicely throughout the day. An easy run home up the "inside" of the islands. For a change i like the fact that the weathermen were wrong.(i think the threat of rough seas kept the crowds down today.)

Report - Albies 19 miles SD 6/28     SeaDancer     ALLCOAST      Jun-29-01, 12:09 PM (PST)
LAST EDITED ON Jun-29-01 AT 07:23 PM (PST) 
Thursday - June 28th:  
Summary:   Caught 22 Albies 15-30lbs, from 19 miles to 37 miles off Pt Loma, about 250 degree heading from the point. Only 1 small fish (5lbs) and the rest over 15. Would have caught more if weather wasn't so nasty, and I had one more experienced fisherman on board. I have a 26 foot Sea Ray, "Sea Dancer", but I would have been more comfortable on a 60+ foot boat. About 3/4 of the fish were caught on jigs and 1/4 on bait. Stopped trolling at 19 miles/3pm when we got the last fish, but water temp looked good for a few more miles while coming in. It's possible that albies may be just outside the 9 mile bank (worth a look). Water is too warm at the 9MB (70+) for albies. Took green water over the bow a couple of times when I wasn't paying attention and doing other things, like staring too long at GPS, FF, Radar, etc.

General Details:  My initial plan was to run out about 40-45 miles, SW of the 43, down to the East Butterfly, based on various reports and Terrafin charts. I spoke to Tom Patierno, Captain/owner of the "Limitless", and he told me that the water was really rough and wind blowing 24 hours straight, but that this would probably enhance the albacore fishing by cooling the water down a bit. He also gave me some updated fishing into. The commercial fleet was going southerly rather than westerly. I elected to go WSW.   

Launched at 3:30am at Shelter Island, picked up live bait, and departed Pt Loma Buoy about 4:30am Thurs AM. Excellent cured bait, about 90% anchovies and 10% sardines. Plan was to run out SW of the 43, between the 43 and the east Butterfly. There three of us on my boat, with one beginning fisherman, together with a former commercial fisherman that had responded to my Allcoast Rideshare posting (Ed Greenshields of Yucca Valley, an Allcoast Member, and very good fisherman). I did not want to get caught too far south with rough water, for the return trip.    Water was extremely rough, about 6 foot seas, some up to 8', and 20-25 knot wind, from the west to southwest. It had been blowing all day Weds and all night, and into the morning, non-stop, and very choppy also. The entire fleet went southerly, whereas, I went out at about 250 degree heading, essentially beating right into the bad stuff, in the dark.  Lots of tugs are towing barges into SD harbor from the north, so be very careful going out in the dark, and don't cut between the tug and the barge. Also, be sure not to make your right-turn before the last bouy, or you'll be cutting right-through the Pt Loma Kelp, and either get stuck of overheat your engines.  

Although it was bad going out, I knew that it would at least not be so bad coming back in, with following seas, unless I ended up fishing more southerly than the Butterfly. It was so rough that I broke a VHF antenna mount and one of two bait tank brackets (fortunately I have two VHF radios and two antennas, and, two bait tanks). I lost 75% of my bait in one bait tank when it broke, and transferred what was left to the other. Still had plenty of bait for chum and hook bait.

Fishing:
I finally stopped running out about 6:30 am when my body couldn't take the pounding any longer, about 30 miles out. Water was about 66.5 degrees and really nice blue-purple color. Saw bait in the water that looked like sauries, and some birds also scouting the area. Area looked really "fishy" so I decided to start fishing right here. First fish on within 10 minutes. Had 10 fish on the boat by about 9am. Lots of fish on meter over a very large area, about 100 feet to 200 feet down. With lots of chum, it would have been wide open. Then, at 9:30am, I discovered that had NO MORE FISH (my fish bag got ripped-off by rough seas, and I lost all fish). We started our fishing trip all over again. Caught 12 more fish, for a total of 22 Albies landed. Lost a number of fish due to light line, rough seas, and so on. Fished a couple of paddies with nobody home.

Did not see a single boat all day, other than freighters, cruise ship, and Navy boats. We had the entire area to ourselves, and caught most fish within a small area. 80% of fish were caught on mini-jigs and 20% on bait, including both anchovies and sardines. Had fish crashing all around us half a dozen times, but I was busy gaffing fish, bringing in loose lines, chumming, driving the boat, and so on. Very difficult fishing in rough seas like this, with blood and water all over the deck. The seas did not get any better as the day went on. The only radio chatter that I heard was how rough it was. I tried to call-in other Allcoasters, but nobody responded.

Lowest water temp was 65.5 and highest temp was 66.7. Mostly 66.5 to 67.7 all day in this area. Excellent albacore conditions. Lots of fish on the meter. Most fish were caught in 66.3 to 66.7 water.

Best Jigs:
"Loose Cannon Jet Head" mini-jigs, black and green, and blue and silver. The only place that I've found these is at Mako Matts Marine in Huntington Beach (714)840-0696. He's only got a few left if you need any.

Also, got one fish on a really old but trustworty, all-black feather, white pearl head, with real thick feathers and prism tape. Got doubles and triples on these Loose Cannon mini-jigs. We did not try cedar plugs, zucchini, mexican flags, etc., but these may have worked also.    Jigs fished way back seemed to get bit slightly better than those closer in.

EXACT LOCATION: Lat Long:
MOST FISH: center of 2 mile radius: 32.30.668 N / 117.57.177 W....   This is about 37 miles from Pt Loma, and south of the 43 a few miles, west of the 267, northeast of the east Butterfly.   Northern Edge: 32.30.642 N / 117.57.042  Southern Edge: 32.27.296 N / 117.59.581   CLOSEST FISH: 32.33.809 N / 117.37.743W    This is 19 miles from Pt Loma, about 250 degree bearing or so. Location is north of the 224 and 267, in Mexican waters. 

RECOMMENDATION:  If I were going out this weekend, I would run out to the "closest fish" lat/long about 19 miles (or stop sooner if 65.5 to 67). If temp and water color looked good, I would start trolling towards the "most fish" lat/long, south of the 43. Once you find an area of fish, box the area for 30 minutes or so, then move-on if nothing happens. The fish are moving around, probably chasing bait. Why go 35-40 miles if you only have to go 20-25 miles? We caught most of our fish within a few square miles. I don't like to leave fish to look for fish.  Work the area between the "northern" edge and "southern" edge also, until you find the fish, and then don't go far once you find them.

KELP PADDIES:
Water was too rough to spot any unless you were really close and about to run over one. Only saw a few that were unproductive.

YELLOWTAIL, DORADO:
None in the area we fished - you need to go to warmer water to the south.

9-MILE BANK:
70 degree water. Marlin soon??

ONE MORE TIP (Safety):
With rough seas, keep the boat in gear with jig fish on so that you don't get broadside to the swells, and to help keep the hooked fish on tight line, with no slack. I keep the autopilot "on" for proper steerage and angle relative to the swells. At times when I didn't do this, it got very difficult to keep from being thrown around and slipping on the blood and water on the deck, and we lost a few jig fish that came off on slack line (since we sometimes will leave one trolling rod w/fish "on" in the rod holder to keep the school around, so we can fish bait, gaff other fish, etc.). The albie school will stay with the boat even if its in-gear and slowly moving. If you don't have autopilot, keep someone at the wheel whenever possible, in these conditions, and watch especially for larger and steeper swells that come along that can cause a big surprise. Go with a buddy boat also for safety, and to increase your odds of getting into a good batch of fish. Carry a sea anchor in case you lose power and must drift. Good Luck out there... Craig Gilbert "Sea Dancer" - HB "Amigo" - Cabo

INNER WATERS SAN MATEO POINT TO THE MEXICAN BORDER INSIDE SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND- TODAY WIND LIGHT AND VARIABLE THIS MORNING...BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT WITH WIND WAVES 2 FT AFTERNOON. SWELL W 4 FT. AREAS OF MORNING FOG. TONIGHT WIND W 10 TO 15 KT WITH WIND WAVES 2 FT...BECOMING LIGHT AND VARIABLE LATE. SWELL W 4 FT. AREAS OF FOG LATE. SAT WIND LIGHT AND VARIABLE IN THE MORNING...BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT WITH WIND WAVES 2 FT AFTERNOON. SWELL W 3 FT. AREAS OF MORNING FOG.

This morning the heat inland has created a slight westerly at 5knts or less with some low cloud cover against the coastline and extends offshore, there was a left over lump on the seas.

It's pretty nasty, from the 209 to the outside, if it doesn't get much worse we can stick it out. no kelps yet, we'll put em' in on the 43 unless we see anything different" 8:55am

"A guy 6 miles off Pyramid, he just had a double hook-up" 9:05am

2' to 4' and 15 knts on top of it

we just came off a real nice stop on the 43, a half dozn fish, got to go thery up again, 9:38am

"We just got out first strike, 14 1/2 miles from the Head, on a straight line to the 43, just put out one jig , before we could get the others out we got bit,. a few white caps, not bad 9:40am

Water seems to be calming down, it's the same as it was on the 209 this morning, it's looking better all the time now. 10:06am

66.8, 67 on the 43

Great Showing!    Badger      ALLCOAST      Jun-29-01, 10:54 AM (PST)
Tuna are now 20 to 30 out of Morrow on a 270 heading. Keep in mind that these fish are just moving in. Temp breaks look best at 40 out.   Thanks to all for the great turn out for the Mellow Boy and Deke   Wells in Avila last night. The Avila Tuna Club fed 160 people out of the 200 that showed. The tally at the end was $6,500.00 not including the bar tab (1500 or so) or checks folks are sending in. I will post the total when I Hear. Deke was speachless, I don't know if it was the booze or what. Everyone started crying so I had to bail.  Special thanks to Avila John, Robolo Ray, Jr. Bentz, Del & Anita out of Portside Marine at the sling. If you missed the opportunity you can still donate checks payable to Deke Wells,   C/O Portside Marine,PO Box 280, Avila Beach, CA 93424. Please include your boat name and Allcoast member so I can report back. Great Job Everyone,  Regards,   Jimbo/Badger

baby fishing    Affordable Marine     Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 21:36:16 -0700
Dennis- got a late start on Sunday to the 425. The boys did not show up until 7:00am even though they knew the boat was leaving at 6:00am. But there was no sense at leaving with out a crew( and someone to share the gas cost ). We got a double hook up at 9:45am on a mex flag and a zuc and landed two nice 20lbs albie. But we did a badddd thing. The next hook up we landed a small one. Being that this was our first trip out of the year, it was hard to throw anything back. To document the crime we actually took a picture. (see attached) Hopefully we will escape justice for this one act of first of the season excitement. The only problem is that the little one won't leave. any advice on how to get my life back to normal( I'm even willin to turn my self in at this point )? Ken Hydrotherapy

Report: 6/28 at the 425      Boiler Maker    ALLCOAST       Jun-28-01, 08:48 PM (PST)
Fished the 425 area today for 3 albies and 6 yellowtail. Started out at the 425 before greylight. Water temp was 64.7 to 65.7 near the high spot. Trolled the area with other boats for nada so decided to stick with my plan. Headed south toward the 32 line. About 10 miles south we got our fish hookup- small albie. Trolled the area (32.04 117.16) and scratched up two more albies. The wind started picking up so I decided to troll back towards the 425. The wind chop was a bitch with waves coming over the bow every few seconds at troll. Found the mother of all patties at about 32.06 117.14. Trolled by it and two small yellows rip the jigs. Move in for the first pass and start to chum. There is a total assault of good grade yellows charging the boat. We break off 4 at first (these are my first tails of the season). Pulled out my cal star 8' jig stick with 20# and bait up. Next thing I know a tail rips 100 yards off my reel. Awsome feeling and fight. 30 minutes later a 30 pound (28 as wieghed at the dock) hits the deck. We end up with 6 tails with 3 over 20#'s. BY this time its 1100 so we troll to the 425 for nada !! Start to head in from the 425 at 8 knots with swells crashing over the bow every 3 to 5 seconds. 4 hours later and soaked to the bone we got our catch to the dock. What a long and miserable ride back. To end it all my water pump goes out againX( Met an allcoater at the dock but I was kinda out of it after the long ride so I didn't talk much...Sorry LandShark usually after a good fishing day I can't shut up. Summary for the day 3 albies to 15#'s 6 yellows to 30#'s. The albies are in the area south of the 425. Most people had to scratch them up but some had mexican limits. I'm tired so please make corrections as you see fit.  Jerry (Boiler Maker)

WED Fishing     Affordable Marine       Thu, 28 Jun 2001 22:15:15 -0700
Dennis, Thanks for the great site, I check it nightly. Left Shelter Island @ 4:00 AM, got some nice bait and was lking for a smooth ride to the 43. Once we got arount the point the harsh reality set in. A very bumpy 2 hour plus ride. It sure paid off though. We saw meter marks deep between 100' and 200' 2 miles short of the 43, started trolling in 67 degree water. We got our first single jig strike by 7:30, 4 miles SW of the 43, a small 12# Albie, we managed to get a single, double or triple hook up every 45 min to an hour. Ended up with 9 Albacore between 12# to 22# by 1:00 PM. We started to head home, pulled all the fish out to fillet and BAM, BAM double hook up right over the high spot, and landed 2 more fish both were 30#. Ended up with 11 Albacore, 1 Bonito. Only 2 on bait, 5 on natural cedar plugs and 4 on jet heads, green/black and purple/black. My father met us out there on his new Grady White around noon with a couple of sickies, he stayed within one mile of us for 3 hours and he did'nt get one hook up. Sorry Dad. Very wet ride home, great fishing trip. Chris on the LONG GONE.

Wed Fishing      Affordable Marine       Thu, 28 Jun 2001 13:32:24 -0700
Went out on a buddy's house Tuesday night to start fishing the West Butterfly at sun up. Single Jig strikes on dark colors produced 5 small Albies (mostly @ 8# with the biggest @12#) and a paddy gave up two small YT. Water was 66ish and winds strong. By 8 AM decided to troll north toward the 43 in search of bigger fish. Scratched up a few more small albies on the way off the butterfly but no more action until the 43. Some boats reported bigger 25/30 # albies there but we didn't find any. There were several paddies in the 43 area holding YT but not all of them were hungry. We did manage 8 nice ones off of one paddy a couple miles south of the #'s. Final score for 6 people: 10 YT, 9 Albies. Seas were really too bumpy for the small boats, but there were a few brave and wet diehards out there doing it! Ken - normally on the "Money Pit"

Thanks VA      hukedup      ALLCOAST         Jun-28-01, 07:17 PM (PST)
Was in the Ensanada Rodeo with Pops & a good buddy.Left towards Todos 10 miles past,started trolling got huked up on a 33lb YFT,started trolling some more to no avail. Started to head back to the Coral but the GPS had taken a turn for the worse,so we tried to get to land on our own before calling out,fuel was going down,Pops back was going out,and daylight was leaving,picture that scenario.Had to find a place to drop anchor with the little fuel we had left, so we had something to work with.Called VA they couldn't make it out for a few hours, so the Mexican Navy C-86 battleship found us with their panga with 4 soldiers & 4M-16's, it wasn't pretty, but nevertheless they were great, they gave us 20gal of gas, told us to stay in their sight.Then around 5:30am the radio said this is VA do you still have "BAD TO HTE BONE" with you,OOOHHH music to the ears.Skipper Milliken & his right hand man from Shelter Island asked for permission to take over,it took 3 times to ask, but the Mex Navy did.Then VA gave us 20 more gallons of gas,saying we were still 17 miles from the Coral,we had to still go around Punta Banda.We got there took showers and left for home.All in All I would like to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO THE MEXICAN NAVY (C-86),ALSO WITH MUCH APPRECIATION TO VESSEL ASSIST. (MILLIKEN out of SHELTER ISLAND)

Report 6/28 PSL/Avila Albacore     Robalo Ray     ALLCOAST      Jun-28-01, 08:10 AM (PST)
What a great day on the water, however, there was some talk of "Shoulda been here yesterday" as far as the bit was concerened. Fish were scattered from 17-40 miles, on a 240 past the weather bouy. We got five of eight hits, with two fish in the 20 pound class and the other three 12-15. All troll, just about every color got hit as predictable: Purple and black before noon, zuchini after.  Please be at or support the Mello Boy/Deke Wells Fundraiser this evening at the Port San Luis Yacht  Club, base of Avila Pier. See Benefit Fundraiser thread for more info.  Ray

Arriving in the area we soon got bit and managed a half dozen or so of these Marlin baits (great for the tuna tubes). All jig fish - no bait fish. We fished above, below and to the East of the bank. It is sad that so many of these current fish are in the 4-6 pd class and are the mainstay of the fleet counts. But every-so-often 8-12 pounders show up. The water was 68.5 above the 390 area and a break to just below 68 where the fish were. After scratching out about 8 "keepers" we decided to head up towards the area "10 miles below the 425." The wind had been up during the night, but no swells. During the day it blew 20-25 ALL day long and never laid down. But with the absence of swells it was tolerable.

After we had gone 4.5 miles we suddenly had a quadruple on creatures of substance. While the three of us were trying to fight the 4 rods "they" crached on the chum bait, boiling all over and even leaping out of the water chasing those poor little chovies. After boating the 4 jig fish (25-27 pounds) Kenneth hung another on bait we then had a nice bait stop with the smaller fish getting in on the action.

All told we caught about 25 fish, released 10 of the peanuts and kept our limits.The sad part of the fishing is - as mentioned above - so many of these "babies" are undoubtedly being sacked on the sport boats. One can only wonder what the average size of all the caught fish has been. And hope that the fish down below are becoming larger as we speak. From what I could tell the Sporties were fishing in the Double 220 area (too far for this nasty weather). We also saw Dorado chasing exploding schools of sauries and the ominous report of Skippies in today's count doesn't sound good for the summer. Oh well, there is always Morro Bay. Marty Morris ("Ken-Dan")

Report/ 27th    Aluminator      ALLCOAST      Jun-27-01, 06:06 PM (PST)
We changed our minds at the last min and went for the 43. We got beat up more than the tuna. Weather was a repeat of last Sat. The fish did show late in the morning and we kept 4 around 25lbs and farmed as many. Rapalas, feathers, and that funny looking Big Hammer seemed to do the job. Sorry D. I had to say that. 1 mile east of the high spot a triple, 1 more mile east a double and 6 miles east of there a few singles. It didn't sound like a red hot day for the 4-5 boats working the area. Did hear that some were caught SW of the 43 by 5 miles. I am still rocking and rolling. Tomorrow will be the inshore stuff and if it lays down I will try again Fri.  Dennis... We ran the rapalas in close and then the feathers back twice as far and keep the Big Hammer as far away from the boat as we could. Even picked up another while clearing lines on a P/B feather soaking from the outrigger.

Report 6/27 Albies at the 213      flp       ALLCOAST       Jun-27-01, 08:41 PM (PST)
I had family in from Utah and Washington and they had kids who had never fished before. They wanted to go fishing for albacore on the 27th and I was getting worried with the counts down and the fish scattered. I then noticed that on the 26th 976 tuna reported several boats with limits again so I called and got some numbers. We left at 11pm and went out with the rest of the fleet from point loma. Most of the fleet stoped west of the 390. We decided to head on down to the 213 and stoped south of the 213 at 31.45 and 117.53 We started picking up singles inmediatlyand lots of pesky bonito. We could not get a bite going on bait. The water was 67. We headed north east and hit a nice temp break at 31.50 and 117.43 it went to 66.5. We had all the kids hooked up on jig fish and as soon as they were done with the jig fish they each handled several bait fish. We would pick up and troll for 30 seconds and be hooked up again. We could not move more than a couple of yards and we would be right back into them. They were not large but just perfect for the group of first timers. We used 15 and 20 lb test line good jigs were small green jet heads. WE picked up limits of albacore and then we picked one yellow off of a paddie. It was very snotty out there and the waves were steep and close together. We were all by ourselves and only saw one boat once on the horizon. We beat our way to the coronados and then up the beach hame at 8:30pm and tired.  Floyd

Report: SD Monday     Landshark      ALLCOAST      Jun-25-01, 11:12 PM
straight chovies-no dines  looking for kelps,ran to the 371,then towards the 390. Stopped on 5 empty kelps. Started trolling towards the butterfly.Found another kelp with albies zipping around under it. They wouldn't touch 20lb. Dropped down to 15lb and got 2 fish then a blue shark moved in and no more chickens. A hour and a half later got a single on a zuker(lime green head,black/purple feathers). We trolled to the butterfly then started working back towards Pt.Loma. No more fish,so we pulled the jigs and looked for more kelps on the way in. Tried 4 or 5 empty kelps. At the ramp one guy had a 35 lb albie that he got just below the 230, his only fish. Another guy found a good kelp 33mi from the point,but more inside,below the 425,for about 7 yellows and 7 albies. Dfg guy said another guy had two flatheads from the 302.

Report: Saturday East Butterfly  REELZEN    ALLCOAST    Jun-24-01, 01:34 PM (PST)
Sorry for the late report, it was a long day. Went to the East Butterfly and started trolling about 10 miles shy. Had a double jig stop within 5 minutes, none on bait. Went on and about 8 miles shy of the spot had a triple jig stop and 2 on bait. Probably could had more on bait we had them boiling on chum all around us, but as soon as other boaters had seen us hooked up they came trolling all around us and one boat had got to within 50 feet of my boat and ran over my line I had out with bait. Got to love those weekend warriors. Fishing is suppose to be relaxing, but Saturday was not a good day to keep your blood pressure down. Left the circus and went on West, picked up 4 more on the East Butterfly high spot and 4 more out close to the Mushroom. Found a really nice temp break out between the 60 mile and the Mushroom but on caught 1 fish out there. Went towards the 421 and the water really warmed up alot to 69. At about 6 miles west of the 421 we found a patty loaded with yellowtail. Counts for the day - 15 Albies to 30lbs, 18 yellowtails to 25lbs. Seemed the bigger Albies where in 68 degree water and the smaller ones in 67. Water temp out at the Mushroom went down to 66 but hardly no life out there. On my way back to SD ran across some 70 degree water also. I heard a few Allcoasters out there but like Bravo-6, Aluminator and quite a few more but using the radio wasn't much of an option with everybody out there. I will be heading South Tuesday and Thursday to get away from the morons up closer to SD. Hope to see you out there.  Frank   REELZEN

Report: Sunday below the 43  Seapop    ALLCOAST     Jun-25-01, 08:25 PM (PST)
Went out Saturday night from Oceanside and ran down about 10 miles past the 43. Dropped in jigs at 6:00 and had almost instant hook up on a stray bonita. They took off and a few minuites later had a double albacore hook up and stop. Our first albacore ever on the boat. Worked the area of 65 to 66.8 degree water southwest of the 43 most of the day and ended up with a total of 15 albacore and 3 bonita. Didn't find any fish at all in water over 66.8. Heard other guys report that they got bigger fish in the warmer water but we didn't. Found fish around 118+06 and 32 30 line. Had a pretty fair number of boats in the area sunday but only one sportfisher. (The Truelune from Long Beach) plus the tailchaser from Newport.  For us a very satisfy day to break our cherry on the longfins.\ Half the fish we caught on zuccinis (I can't spell). Others were  on various lures and we had one fish on the slide on a channel island chovy. Tight lines  ... practice catch and release and stop when you have your limit

 Report: SW of 43 6-22 & 23    tre    ALLCOAST   Jun-24-01, 09:32 AM (PST)
SHORT AND SWEET:  Beat up and tired from 2 long days outta Newport. Day 1- fought something big for 1:15 minutes on 30#. Initial run @ 200 yards, never saw color then popped after making almost no ground for the majority of the fight.---Big Bluefin, Big Eye???  Got back to the slip @ 11:30 PM, departed again @ 4:30 AM. @ 10 miles more West than South of the 43 in 67-68 degree water I found an area holding fish and pulled 6 of the 8 in an hour between 1-2:00 pm. All singles on Zuchini, green/yellow, green/orange feathers @ 6.5-6.8 Knots. Nothing over @ 16-18 pounds (guesing) today. Had 6 guys on the 31'- 5, including myself, scored our first Albies ever. Rough water made for a completely wet ride home, but still ran at 23 Knots on the new diesels. Pictures-
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7310
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http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7312

Albacore at the 60     Aluminator     ALLCOAST      Jun-24-01, 07:05 AM (PST)
It sure feels good to post again after 9 months of boat and out of town work!  Left San Diego Friday night with lots of other boats and headed to the 60 mile bank. Most of the others headed a little more North and when the sun came up we had the spot to ourselves. We looked for the cooler water but never found any less than 67-68.   Picked up the first one on a silver feather but none came to the live bait. Lots of small sharks on the paddies. So much radio traffic and crap that it was hard to talk 10 miles away. The seas were up a bit and made for the kind of morning that you had to be seated or holding on to something. As the day wore on it layed down and we started to work North to the Butterfly and picked up one more small tuna. From the radio info the fishing was sloooooow for many and with nothing better to do, tempers grew thin. I heard Sea Shepard calling the CG to file a report of a sport boat that charged him and turned at the last second and ran his lines over while he was stopped and fishing bait. Lots of paddy poaching and everything else that happens when ya get 100 boats together. Lots of our Allcoast family were down this way Sat and I am sorry that the radios wern't working better. It is back to mid fishing for us now and hope to get out a lot in the next two weeks. I will let ya know the new motor story when I get my gauges working and the tach calibrated. I love the Cummins!!  Dennis (ALUMINATOR)

Saturday 6/23 15albies       SeaShepard     ALLCOAST    Jun-26-01, 02:22 AM (PST)
Fished Sat between the butterfly and the 43 spot for 2 bones, 2 YT, and 15 albies from 10 to 25 pounds. Seas were a little choppy in the am but laid down pretty nice by afternoon. Great day on the water except for the $80 worth of jigs ripped off the lines. It was an absolute parking lot out there this weekend, but everyone seemed real considerate out of all the private boaters out there this weekend. Sorry for the late report had to get all my honey do's done when I got home. Here are a couple of photos I hope they come out Alright.
http://seashepard.freeservers.com/images/jun23-1.jpg
http://seashepard.freeservers.com/images/jun23-2.jpg

Saturdays tuna report        Smelt_one    ALLCOAST    Jun-24-01, 08:22 AM
Man....was it bumpy Saturday. What a difference a day makes. 140 miles round trip and the boat ran out of gas on the trailer (16 gal spare on board) Licking wounds today....glad it is not Monday. Headed to the butterfly at 3:30 am for the bumpy ride. Found a kelp (though we we not looking) about 8 miles short of the highspot and the yellows were buzzing the boat soon after some chum. You could watch your bait get slammed as it hit the water. My less experienced fishing buddy had trouble with backlashes and found out that ain't the way to go on a WFO bite. Got six quick fish on board with only one under ten lbs. We had a double and were off the paddy by about 100 yds and a big fvcking boat decides to pull in and fish. So what does he do...the rocket scientist parks his slut machine between us and the paddy....go figure. Not only that, he was closer to us than the paddy. We decide we had enuf anyways and moved...only to find another paddy about 300 yds upwind. LOL,,,and the yellows crashed us again.   We pulled out soon after...to get to the tuna. The last 10 miles out were a bit bumpy?.....and finally we were there and trolled for three hours for a bonita. All the way out here for a bone head. Not much was happening for the rest of the gang either .....few here and there.  We finally headed north west and ended up scratching three albs for the day.  Hit the gps for home at about 2:30 and it said 51 nm ......DARN!   Five hours to the ramp......averaging 18 knots and stpping for some paddys and also cleaning the fish.     GOT EXCEDRIN ?
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7303
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7304

Saturday: Rough but big fish!    Affordable Marine   Sat, 23 Jun 2001 19:05:18
Dennis, Left MCRD at 4:00am Saturday morning. Really rough right outside the point but I just kept rationalizing....it will get better outside....its just got to get better outside. No such luck. I have definitely become spoiled lately by the calm water...I had planned to fly out to the b-fly in 2 hours or so. Yeah right!!! After three hours of beating and soaking we were about 1/2 way between the 302 and the b-fly (117 55 / 32 25 vicinity)only 40 or so miles off shore we put out the spread. At the same point we hit a temp break from 67.5 to 65.6. Within 15 minutes we hit a single on an mini-mexican flag feather and pick up another on a purple haze fishtrap on the slide. These fish were big! One 25lb and one 30+. 15 minutes later we hit a triple on mini-mex flag, mini-purple and black and a full size blue and white jet. Again big fish.  We picked up 2 more singles on the mini-mex and another on the blue and white jet. We decided not to push our luck and to head in early. All fish were in excess of 20lbs and the biggest 3 were over 30lb. The mini feathers seemed to be the trick today. Good luck out there tomorrow! Alex on 21ft Bayliner Trophy (SharkBite!)

Saturday fishing    Affordable Marine    Sat, 23 Jun 2001 21:12:10 -0700
LEFT SHELTER ISLAND 4:30 AM--HEADED FOR THE BUTTERFLY--NADA--HEADED FOR THE 43--NADA--HEADED FOR HOME AT 3:30--6 MILES FROM THE 43---CAUGHT 1ST ALBIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 25#. FIRST TIMER FEMALE, REFUSED TO EAT HEART, TRIED TO EAT PIECE WITH WASABI BUT FAILED!! HAD A FANTASTIC TIME FIGHTING THE FISH AND CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW WE CAN FISH ALL DAY AND NOT GET TIRED OF FISHING!!! BOB ON THE NUTWHACKER (I'M A VETERINARIAN)

Almost Butterfly 6/23       FishLounge   ALLCOAST    Jun-23-01, 05:41 PM (PST)
After getting some good reports from friend on how good and nice the fishing was the last couple of days I decided I'll try Sat and take a couple of newbies and get them thier first Albies. Left SI around four. The bait barge was a zoo. Boats on both sides and going in both directions. And it never fails someone always has to gun it right by the barge, this I will never understand. Got a healthy scoop of chovs /with some horse dines. Needed to make a trip back to the truck for a license. Finally cleared the bay and noticed it's a little bumpier than what was told to me. Set GPS for some numbers near the E-Butterfly. After the long up hill run to a spot 9 miles short of the butterfly where there was a huge paddy that was overworked by the time we got there newbie #1 got sick. First of 8 times. 8 TIMES!!!! My stomach hurts just thinking of it. Anyway after trolling that area for a while in rough weather I decided enough is enough for the two now green faced passengers. And of course as soon as we head oh 10 miles back it starts to lay down and we hear people catching fish at the E Butterfly. Long day on the water and no fish The best or worst part of the day was when we drifted for Butts in the bay and yep #9 He got sick in the bay!! Poor Kid..  I am amazed at the quick and drastic weather changes from day to day. Moral of the story is- if ya want to go fishing, do it then because the next day might not be so nice. Good Luck all   FishLounge

saturday butterfly     Landshark    ALLCOAST    Jun-24-01, 07:32 AM (PST)
Finally back on the water after 8 weeks. Had a valve problem with on 75 hours on the motor.   The last few days everyone said the water was flat,not today. The first 40 mi. had a bump,but the last 10 mi.were snotty. Not much of a swell but,lots of wind.   Started at some numbers that javahead posted. We got three singles. No bait fish. Got tired of fighting the wind and moved back inside to look for kelps.That was a mistake. Only saw one kelp that was getting pounded by 6 boats.Didn't see any more kelps. Only three fish(2-12lb,1-20lb).  I have the whole week off.Heading back out mon. and tues. to get some more before the water gets to warm. Heard several allcoasters on 72 but could get through.I think tunacious,total chaos ,bravo 6,aluminator were out there. If anyones out there monday or tuesday give me a holler on 72. 

Legacy Report: 30 albies / 3-guys  moorefish   ALLCOAST      Jun-23-01, 08:56 AM (PST)
Fished out of Mission Bay on Friday for 30 albacore to 25-pounds. Sport boats only averaged 1.5 to 3.0 fish per rod. Couldn't get any Northern sticks to join in the fun but enjoyed the company of two of Rory's close friends's, Troy and Brian. What a great bunch of hard working anglers! Nice to be on the water with some new friends catching fish. Started the day at 45-miles in 66.6 degree water. Brian lost one nice yellow on a kelp. No fish 'till 9am. Found em' and eventually left the smaller fish to try and find the bigger fish. Worked out to the Butterfly for multiple jig strikes. Best bait stop today yielded 5 fish on 'choves and 'dines. Released many of the smaller fish to bite another day plus a few nice ones due to pulled or straighened hooks, bad crimp, and should I mention one incredible tangle? Finished our day on a high note by getting into 2 stops for 6 fish in the 15 to 25-pound-class. Nice way to go out. A special thanks to Rory and his crew of Whaler 27 for calling us inside for a shot at some bigger units. The water is warming very fast so you know what that means; dorado for Diego with albies at Morro! Mike, Legacy

Thursday fishing      Affordable Marine    Fri, 22 Jun 2001 09:08:42 -0700
Dennis - we went out 12 miles southwest of the 43. Landed 8 albies in the 20-30lb range. Someone on the radio was giving out numbers 16 miles south at 3214-11801, and calling in everyone on epic bite. We arrived at noon with about 50 other boats including sporties and commercial guys. Fish we caught were the medium grade 12-17lbs. Boated 8 more and headed home over flat calm conditions. Great day on the water!!! Craig on the Vanator.

Albie & YT Limits Thurs. 6-21 on the 60 mile bank.     Affordable Marine     Fri, 22 Jun 2001 08:05:49 -0700
Short version????????????????????????????????????????????? 15 Albies and a dozen Yellowtail for Gabe, myself and Gabe's 14yr old son. On Gabe's 22' GB Cat. Launched out of SI at 1:45am, cleared the point by 2:12 and headed for the SW portion of the 60 mile bank, 63 miles on a 210 heading. Checked in with Jeff King on the Reel King at 3am as agreed, Jeff was already on the 390 and he reported catching a 125lb Mako at night. We told him our plans and they elected to stay at the 390. Arrived 4:50 am could see the fleet in the distance, put the jigs in the water at 5:10am and trolled toward the fleet on a NW heading, we were about 8 miles from the bank. First jig stop a single on the B&W jethead at 6:20am, threw bait, no boils or nibbles. Continued on the same heading toward the Big Game 90 in a stop for at least an HR, about 1/2 mile from the Big Game, a triple jigstrike, on the B&W again, and B&R feather daisy chain and a cedar plug. Threw bait, threw a big hammer, instant hookup, boils everywhere, jumping fish, we had five fish going at the same time with 5 jigs in the water, a bait fish by Gabe and my big hammer fish, "utter chaos" landed my fish, gaffed by Gabe who put his rod in the holder with a fish on, gaffed a jig fish brought in by Ricky, gaffed Gabe's fish, Ricky started to wind in another jig fish, I grabbed the third jig fish after pulling in one of the empty jig lines, as did Gabe, then the jig fish came off the cedar plug, 4 out of 5 not bad, gaffed Ricky's second jig fish,4 out of 5 not bad. All three of us threw bait and all three hooked up again, landed all three, Gabe and I both unbuttoned the next two fish, but we were both on again the next cast, 2 more bait fish, end of this bite, 9 total on this stop, 10 on the boat, although we released one of the rats. By the way Jeff called me during the bite and that's when I unbuttoned my fish, told him it was WFO get over here and would call him with the numbers as soon as I could. We lost track of the fleet and boxed the area for another 4 single jig strikes all rats and released, I've caught bigger Calico Bass this year. Jeff arrived and we trolled together at a distance for a couple hrs before returning to the spot of our morning bite, it was now about 10 am, Jeff didn't have a fish on the boat except the Mako. I hear a call get over here it's WFO, six fished hooked. Can't talk too busy, I wasn't sure but figured it was Jeff and looked off in the distance and he was a about mile away right on our numbers. We arrived to see both Jeff and his friend pulling on fish, and Albies boiling and jumping clear out of the water everywhere, we slid up on them stealthily, but couldn't get bit and just like that they were gone. Trolled til noon and then pulled in the jigs and headed to the 213, this area seemed dead, Jeff got one more single during that time, they didn't have the gas to stay with us, so we bid adios, but kept in touch all day. The 213 was dead and the water temp out of sight, we caught our fish at the 60 in 66.5 degrees, it was soon up to 67.7 and it was 68.5 to 69.6 at the 213, although we found one pocket of 67 degree water with nothing. Boxed the area and headed NE 61 miles from the point, 2 hrs later at 56 miles a single jigstrike for out 15th fish. talked to Jeff no more Albies but they found some paddies for 4 YT. We kicked her up to 20 knots at 3;30pm, all our kelps were empty, and at 4pm 46.7 miles from SD, we found what looked like kelp in the distance a floating pilon, 2ft wide and about 16ft long covered with green moss and barnacles, what a navigational nightmare, woe to whoever hits that in the dark. As we pulled up close Yellows started crashing everywhere, we threw bait, I threw a CP105 scrambled egg lure and on the Yo Yo was instantly hammered. Both Gabe and Ricky also threw lures and both got bit and unbuttoned their fish, I put 3 fish on in a row, Gabe couldn't get bit on the jig threw out a bait setup and wham. I caught 2 on bait and Gabe ended up with his limit and Ricky with 2 for a total of a dozen. It was 5:30pm and we were 46.7 miles from home at the dock at 7:45pm and home by 10: 45, so tired I couldn't hardly stand up. Hit the hay at midnight after cleaning the fish. Yikes, what a day, incredibly water conditions, but the temp is going to chase the Albies away, I hope not? Screaming reels! Cory "Tunaslam"

butterfly albies...    chefboyrz   ALLCOAST       Jun-21-01, 05:28 PM
Stayed the night at San Clemente Island. At 0-dark 30 headed to the Butterfly, jigs in at 6:30, 1st strike at 7:00. It was consistent jig strikes all morning. Had limits by about 9:00. I have fished the area quite a bit and have never seen it this flat. They hit all jigs...cedar plugs, BP, mean joes, mex flags, I mean everything. Did not get many bait fish, it was just me and the old man and he has hard time getting down the bridge stairs. Singles, doubles and two triples. Loads of fun and a great day with my Pops!!! Go get'm guys!!!!!!!!!   RZ

Wow! What a day -- Thur 6/21    Shark_Meat    ALLCOAST      Jun-21-01, 11:41 PM
Bustered out to the 43 for a nice single albie 22 - 25 lbs; 1 more knockdown; and then nothing. The sea conditions all day were some of the finest I have seen in a long time -- even uphill. An unknown-allaround-good-guy gave out great numbers of continuous doubles and triples 18 miles south of us at 32 20 / 118 02 in 69.3 to 70.3 degree water. What a payoff. Thanks! You are awesome!  8 Albies (most between 18-26 lbs) 1 double all rest singles. A double on Dorado (lost one on the fly), but got one -- our first this season.   EVERYTHING that we hooked today was on trolled Fishtraps on light line (set long) except 1 big albie was taken on my proven lucky natural cedar plug. I am now a complete believer... I went through 7 Fishtraps in exchange for approximately 170 ibs of Albies/Dorado. What a tradeoff.     And now for the rest of the story....:  On the way home my left outboard just rolled back and died all of sudden 28 miles out of Pt. Loma. I thought it just flamed-out, but we showed plenty of fuel remaining and the right never flamed-out. Did my low oil alarm fail me? No there's oil in the containers and in the reservoir. I'm hoping all it is is clogged fuel filters.    I could only maintain 8 knots comfortably with the other engine. I even called Vessel Assist for NO Assist, but I did get placed on a comm schedule,... so I had that going for me, which was nice. Finally, I got the left engine back on line albiet with reduced thrust -- enough to get back on plane and sustain at least 24 knots. We got back at 1830 vice 2030 single engine.    What a day.  

Albacore Wed 6/20     Shark_Meat       ALLCOAST     Jun-20-01, 10:08 PM (PST)
Late start out of S.D. toward a good-tip-spot from yesterday... Pt Loma 193/73. First jig in the water at 0845 got bit by 0846 (after only one bite from my sandwich). Double on Yellowtail on Purple Mackerel Mauler and P/B Cedar Plug. One hell-of-a knockdown at 0920 again on the cedar that was spit out then nothing for a while except for 1 bonito.    Heard reports near the 43 (out of reach) and then west of 390 that were promising so we decided to investigate them and they proved very worthy 32 00 00 / 118 00 00 (working the 32 118 line) -- we were rewarded with 4 Albies 14-18 pounds (3 on Fishtraps long and 1 on Blue / White feather jethead long)   Thank you very much for the heads up, Skipper! It made the 201 Mile round trip worthwhile and the 258 dollar fuel/oil bill more palatable.

ALBIES  Affordable Marine   Wed, 20 Jun 2001 19:55:34 -0700 (PDT)
We started 3am. Anchovies-sardines mix. Got to the Butterfly about 7. We drug around for awhile. Saw different boats stopped for quite awhile. We were metering fish but they were DEEP. 100' and more. So we through all caution to the wind and sat on a meter mark. On of the fellows on the bridge (JACK) was calling out the depth of the fish . As we chummed he would call out the depth. 100', 90' 75' 60' 45' THEN singggggg. We landed some good sized white meats. 20 + # . So if you can't get them to come, HAVE PATIENCE. Chum a LITTLE at a time and all goo0d things will come to you. Managed 14 nice Albies and was home early. JULLIE DEE - Stay Well And Live Long   

Fish Report Wed 20th  Affordable Marine Wed, 20 Jun 2001 21:28:11 -0700
Me & Ski launched from SI and cleared the bait reciever (Chovies only) by 03:30 for the 390 again. Few speed bumps in the morning so we took our time. Jigs in by 07:30 on the #'s, first hook up 5 mi west. Continued west to the 180 line & the fish woke up. The 180 line was hot (fishing wise) all the way up to the 43 spot & above. The 390 bite started early then the 43 picked up and they were both good most of the day as well as east of the E-butterfly. We had 8 Albies in the box by 09:30. We had one Quad hookup, but the 4th one which hit just as the throttle came back got off. Hit a dry spell and headed north @ 11:00. Some folks west of the 43 were reporting limits by then (even though there are no limits on Albies in US waters). Some guys fishing out of Ensanada were wide open on YT & albies 10 Mi out of port and all of the Kelp down there was holding. Water temp on the 180 line was 66ish, but people heading in from the 43 were getting hit in 69 degree water also. We picked up 2 YT on a good paddy 45 mi from the point on the way in, but it was infested with small sharks so we moved on. Found more Kelp on the way in with fish that wouldn't go. We farmed more fish than we caught today, but still ended up with 10. Nice ride home at 25 KTS in the afternoon. Overall a very good day. Tight Lines...

390/Butterfly Albie Report 6/19      Red Drum      ALLCOAST       Jun-20-01, 01:14 PM (PST)    
Went out of Shelter Island yesterday with my buddy at 4am.  Started trolling about 6 miles shy of the 390 Bank. Came across a patty and caught a 10lb Yellowtail and lost 2 bigger ones to the kelp.   By 7am we got our first jig strike. A triple for 3 10lb Bonito. Trolled all around the 390 for the next 3 hours for nada. Then at 10:15 we finally got a 15lb Albie on a sardine Big Hammer around the north end of the bank.   We finally started to hear reports of other guys both south and north of us getting into the Albies. We were hoping it was a "Time of Day" bite and sure enough it was.  Made a move north to the Butterfly because some guys were getting into alot of fish. About 6 miles shy of the Butterfly we saw a jumper and put the jigs the water. Two minutes later we had a double. Soaked a few chovys for a couple of minutes and got 3 bait fish.  Made it to the southeast wing of the Butterfly and followed the edge of the bank north for some more double, triple and quadruple jib strikes. Left them biting at 1pm and headed back to Point Loma.  Heard some reports of guys doing very good about 7-8 south from the 43 Bank.  The wind was light and water was very nice. Made for a comfortable day on the water.  Can't wait for the Dodo's, Bluefin, Yellowfin and Big Eye to show up. HOOK-UP!!  Vince 

Wide Open albies/yellows, Tuesday     HBHardcore      ALLCOAST      Jun-19-01, 10:39 PM (PST)
I couldn't find anyone to fish with on Tuesday, so I decided to go fish with Harlan on the Galilean out of Fisherman's on the limited load overnight trip. There were twelve guys on the boat, and I made thirteen. What's that about thirteen being unlucky? I think not! I woke up at daybreak to a jigstrike and guys running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I threw a bait and got bit immediately. Unfortunately someone sawed me off, but I was confident. One jig stop later and the bite went wide open on everything you could throw at the fish. We all ended up with limits by 8:00 AM and ran further out for yellowtail later on. We found a school of breezers to eat the tuna feathers, and we put 23 on the deck that bit bait.  Almost every single bait I put in the water today got bit. I knew it was going to be a great day when I stepped on the boat and realized that not only did I forget my icechest, but I also forgot my Xtratuff boots.   I showed up with three setups (20,30, and 40) and a box of hooks and I was the high stick on the boat. I lost count after 15 albacore, and I ended up with 4 yellows.  We were headed for the barn by 10:30 A.M., with final counts as follows: 
13 Anglers: 120+ Albacore, 25 Yellowtail.
I also took the huge $65 jackpot with a 22+ pound albacore. Most of the fish were in the 12 lb. range with a few pushing 15-18. The water was beautiful cobalt blue, and the wind died down right after daybreak. Our first stops were approximately 63 miles SW of Point Loma. For those of you who have the range and are planning on going out tomorrow, the best counts came from the area surrounding 31.50/117.57 - all the way to the Mushroom.

Not all of the boats did as well as we did. Many of the fish were metered and them given a smal brailer to get them to come up, and once they were up, they seemed to stay up and under the boat for at least 30 minutes, if not more. The fish are still scattered about quite a bit, so it may take a little work to find the right school, but the fishing is fast and furious when you do. I'll be headed out this weekend for another trip, but on a private boat, perhaps my own. By then I'm sure the numbers will be different.  All in all, a beautiful day, and much more than you could hope for on any party boat. Watch out for the scavengers at the landings right now, though! - Chris

Monday albies      happyhunter        ALLCOAST      Jun-19-01, 10:37 AM (PST)
Left SI 2:00 A.M. on Steve's 25' Farallon. Picked up a couple scoops of mostly chovies and headed out on a +/-200. Saw water up to 69.7. Water had been very gradually cooling when at about 58 miles finally found a decent temp break of .7 (65.4) Put in jigs, and it was instant hook-ups. Four guys on board including my grandson Kevin, and we all caught as many as we wanted. They hit every color jig we put out there, and chovies too. Water was sloppy and uncomfortable (Kevin got sick ) till midmorning when it started laying down. Early fish were the small ones, but the later it got, the larger they became (maybe we should fish after dark ). Great day with friends and family. Good luck, Bruce

Saturday below the 390      Z      ALLCOAST     Jun-18-01, 04:12 PM (PST)
Clif Scott, Paul Seckendorf, Chris Martin, and I went out Saturday on Clif's 26' Trophy, Great Scott. Ended up with 11 albies (12 to 18lb) and 3 YT (8-10lb). Overcast and cool all day but the seas were pretty flat and got flatter as the day went on.  Readers Digest recap:  met at boatyard at midnight, cleared the point about 1:30 w/ 2 scoops of nice chove and few dines, it was pretty flat so we ran straight to the 390 at around 22mph (Clif drove and we slept), got there around 4:15, too dark so we drifted and slept for about an hour, started trolling round 5:15, worked our way to the SW because the water was still a little too warm (65.5), found a break to the upper 64's about 8 miles past the 390 and then trolled SE along that toward the 1010, first single jigstrike at around 8, another about 8:30 followed by 4 bait fish, never got more than a mile or so from there without a jigstrike and usually a baitfish or two, had a lot of jumpers and puddlers up on top, bite died about 10:30 or 11:00 and we headed home at 11:30, ran the 62 miles home in 2.5 hours. 
Important details:  Mostly single jigstrikes (one double) even though we did the 10 count in an attempt to load them up. We pulled only purple/black (feathers, jetheads, daisychains) until mid morning and then picked one on blue/white and one on Mex flag. The 3 YT came on slow trolled dines thru the puddlers we saw during our second jigstop. All the fish were in 64.4 to 64.7 water. We had more bait fish than jig fish (especially when you count the 3 we farmed on light line). I checked their stomachs when I cleaned them and they were mostly empty (except for a few that were plugged with our fresh chummed chovies) so I guess they're pretty hungry.   No customs at SI when we returned (probably because we had actually filled out our declaration forms for the first time), just one DFG guy that asked how we did but didn't even look at our catch.   There were only a few boats visible around us when we first started hooking up and by the time we left, it was a parking lot (50+ boats). From the radio, sounded like that was the spot and not much else going on. I was pretty amazed to see guys that far down in little 17 footers (must have had a bunch of jerry jugs on deck).  Z   got fish?

6:30 a.m. Now What?    jj       ALLCOAST       Jun-17-01, 07:25 PM (PST)    
Fished on my buddy's boat out of S.D. Left S.I. with a great 2 scoops of anchovies (maybe a dozen died all day) and cleared the Point at around 2:30. Headed for the 1010 trench.   Started trolling at around 5:45 or so. Water was about 64.9 if I remember right and we were right over the trench. Two lines in the water when the p/b cd 14 goes off. Skipper has a deer frozen in the lights look and didn't take the boat out of gear for what seemed like a hundred yards. But in his defense he was trying to rig up his own rod when the line went off. By the time the boat was stopped the fish was off. We threw bait but nothing. Kind of bummed.  

Started the troll again. I think we got all rods in the water. This time it was my p/b chrome jet head. Tossed bait and the fish were boiling. Fish started small but kept getting bigger. Probably up to about 25 lbs. or so on the bigger fish. By 6:30 we would have had limits but kept throwing them back. It was insane. Decided to troll and look for bigger fish so switched to single hooks for easier release on the troll fish. We even picked up and ran a few miles just to get away from the smaller fish. Even then it didn't take more than a few minutes to get bit. It was straight C&R until mid morning or so. I have no idea how many fish we caught but we figure in excess of 40. Finally got one to fill the limit that went over 20 lbs. Then it was off to look for yt.  We were actually trolling looking for paddies when I saw some boils off the starboard side. Turned the boat towards them and as we got close one of the rods goes off. Turned out it was a yt. Not a paddy in sight. Tossed bait and the fish were everywhere. Instant hook up on anything tossed in the water. The fish stayed with the boat for close to an hour. Even picked up an albie on bait (released). We didn't keep count but we kept 8 and figure as a total we must have caught over 20 easy. Fish went up to about 15 lbs.  Strangest catch of the day was a scad on the iron. Never seen one before. Albies fought hard for their size. We were pretty surprised. Nice sea conditions. Water was as warm as 70' on the way in. Great time on the water.

1010 albies (very few)      sushiholic        ALLCOAST       Jun-18-01, 06:24 AM (PST)
I am developing a pattern here. Went for the "hot" area the 1010 trench, all the reports were in favor of that decision. Looong run down there, trolled for 6 hrs, way longer run home. the Area once again was not hot for me. we trolled around others that consistently got stopped. we matched their speed spread etc...to no avail. well eventually we got stopped twice in short order a single and a double (one unbuttoned) then continued to work the area doing what we had been doing, but no mas.

Stopped at a monster paddy, wide open yellows, managed to boat two. I had a crew of a regular and two Danish tourist farmers (did not even know how to hold a pole) I did it Cabo charter style, I hooked them, and handed off, they farmed them. My regular bud kindly handed over his TN30 on a grafighter to one of these guys (I pictured it going overboard and felt sick) and proceed to soak a chovie on an old back up fenwick and jigmaster I had in the cuddy. He start yelling and the fenwick is doubled over, the line going straight down, big fish, he tightened the drag too much to stop it, and pop, the line broke. I am thinking large albie or bluefin.

The long boat ride home was a nightmare. headed in at 1 (punched in MB on the gps and it came up with 72 miles, at that time barely able to make 12-15 mph's it was going to be a long ride in nasty windy cornering seas. came in SOAKED, black and blue, and sore all over. Managed to stay on the "mechanical bull" for 4 ½ hours. Will be awhile before I do that trek again, like  a week ? -Sushiholic   Fishing is so much better than working

Bellybuster Albie special       Jim Day         ALLCOAST      Jun-16-01, 11:15 PM (PST)
Some boats raise fish some don't. Norms 18 Parker can do the job......   Last Norm and I fished tuna we had the best fishing I've ever seen. Up north out of Avila we ran into a good bite of high grade tuna. I had my first strike as I set my first rod out, then baited fish after 40lb fish till we quit at 9:00 from exhaustion.  What the fish missed today in size they made up for in pure aggression and numbers.

Left Shelter island for the 1010 at 3:00 AM by 6:30 were almost there. To be honest we all were having doubts. It's a long ride and Norms Parker is small. The last thirty minutes were hard to take, We wanted to fish "NOW!". All the guys yelling "HOOKUP!!!" on the radio didn't help much. We stuck to it and I'm glad we did. The 1010 aleady had ten boats on it when we got there. Just short Norm metered fish. He said: "What do you think?" I said sure and grabbed a stick. As I put out the first stick I thought about Avila, actually held on an extra second. I sure wanted that rod to go. Should of held on just a little longer, when I reached for another stick it got slammed. 

A little of history repeating itself,  I had no rods to clear so I handed off the rig to my nephew. Steven's a smart Kid and a quick study. He's never fished offshore before. I handed him the rod told him to keep the line tight and lay it level on the reel. He said OK and didn't have to be told twice. My collor hooked chovie made it two feet from the skiff before he got nailed. Sure love a good bait bite. Norm tossed one and hooked up as well. Within ten minutes we had five fish on the deck. Two baitfish for me, one for Norm and one for my Nephew who managed to deck his fish, grab a bait rod, then hook up while I was busy with one of mine. I was too busy to be proud right then but I am now, the kid did good.

Cleaned up, iced the fish then started up again. This time I actually managed to get four sticks in the water before the strikes started. The place was obviously just loaded. Fish after fish smacked the jigs, but didn't hook up. We had maybe ten strikes in a hundred feet or so then hung. Steve's and mine this time a maylay ensued: fish were fought, jigs spit, bait thrown, reels screamed. fifteen minutes later later we had four more albies bleeding on the deck.

For our third try we just headed back toward the first strike zone. Didn't make it too far. An instant jig strike followed by four more bait fish. 13 fish within 100 feet of each other all in under an hour. I don't think I've ever seen so many fish in such tight area. Absolutely unreal.

We took a rest and assessed the situation. Obviously we were going to get our limit on the next pass. I tried calling some Allcoasters in but everyone near by was on fish so it was pretty pointless. Did manage to chat with Capt Sport. I guess SWAG had plans, he said they might head our way but were already working the 390. All the guys nearby were slaying ten to twenty pound fish. One (I believe Samurai) had been on one bite for over an hour Down at the 220 but wanted bigger fish, so did we!!

Since no-one seemed to interested in coming, and we were essentually at the limitbefore 9:00 again) we decided to head outside. I figured we might work the ridge for a stray Bluefin or Yellows. WE could of stayed and released but we decided to take our chances.... Kind of the ultimate leave fish to find fish thing

Headed out to the 213 only to find more Albies. Completely wide open, but same quality. I did hook one fish that might of been a higher grade on a mean joe green bigeye feather. I was fishing thirty and had trouble lifting him above deep color. At an rate he spit and the rest were in their teens. Moved on out to the 450. Same fish with even smaller in the mix. In fact the further North we went the smaller they got. I know this doesn't jive with what some of the guys said but hey; it's the way it was for us.

By the time we made the "Hot sw 390 bite area we were catching Albinito's: tiny albacore too small to have long fins. I'd been fishing 17lb fluro for a while, Norm the animal he is switched to fifteen. They got so small I hung up the rod and broke out the camera.  On about the third stop of micro tuna we called it a day.

The run back was just beutifull. Sunny, warm, very flat. Talked to Bravo6 who never made it to the fish (problems) and fealt bad for him. It was a great day. We could of used a paddie with some yellows but certainly could'nt complain. If I had it to do over again I'd of stuck to the first spot and played with the bigger variety (catch and release).

Well tried to do the right thing and find other fish. Like I said: I can't complain. Brought home fourteen albies between ten and twenty released maybe double that, and certainly fished the most wide open bite I've seen out of SD in years.

Here's some pics:
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7175
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7176
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7179
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7177
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7178
...and last but not least:
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7180
All and all a very good day.  Tight lines Jim 

Bellybuster Albie special      ohfishal      ALLCOAST      Jun-17-01, 05:28 PM (PST)
Headed out of Pt. Loma around 5am with Scubapro (Roger) trolled the 302 for nothing. Headed toward the Butterfly and got tired of running, so threw out the jigs again. The day started very slowly, our first jig strike came around 9am on a black and purple cedar plug. Trolled for another hour before getting another single on a green and black feather. Picked up another single another two hours or so later near the 390 on a blue and white feather. Got some numbers that put us about 2.5 miles south of the 390 and got two more singles about 5 minutes apart (one on green and black the other on black and purple Yo-Zuri). Worked our way back toward Pt. Loma and about 8 miles from the 390 got a triple jig strike. Landed two of the three and picked up a bait fish out of that stop as well. Due to fuel constraints we decided not to troll anymore and head in. We stopped at the Coronados to relax and clean our fish. Got back to the launch ramp around 6pm.    Final count 8 albies, 7 were between 20-32lbs and one dink at around 9 pounds.  Overall a nice day on the water, calm seas and overcast almost the entire day. We ended up with about 15 gallons of fuel left over so we could have trolled a few another hour or so to try for limits, but didn't want to push it. Afterall 8 fish was plenty.  We called Starboard list a few times, but got no response. Though we did hear other Allcoasters out there, Noworries, Sharkmeat, etc. Hope you guys did well also. Matt (ohfishal) 

390 Wide Open      SWAG       ALLCOAST      Jun-17-01, 08:52 AM (PST)
I was just too tired last night to post. I got home at around 9:30pm after not getting any sleep the night before and putting on over 200 miles on the "Knot Know".    It just doesn't get any better than this. Plently of Albies and yellowtail out there. The better grade of Albacore have moved in now. No lack of opportunity here! We departed around 0400. Got the right size chovies but they were not cured very well and some rolled early. The plan was to start near the 213. About 12 miles Southeast of the 390, found a paddy. Brailed some bait...the yellows charged the boat...everyone got bit. After a few fish, I got a solid hit, the rod went bendo, but what's this? Up came a 19lb Albie...Brailed some more bait...albies boiling...bait in the water and now we are hooked on Albies. Farmed some here and then they sunk out. I tried to get some boats in there to help us raise them again, but no takers.   Okay, no need to go any furthur...hung around and boxed the area for the rest of the day. Multiple stops produced boilers around the boat and we would pluck one or two on a stop. Trolled the dark colors since it was hazy overcast. Caught fish 4-12 miles South of the 390 in 66-67 degree water.   Took 3 Allcoasters: Capt. Sport, JimSan, Tailchaser These guys filled up the fridge with all sorts of goodies!  All kinds of snacks too! The yellowtail jerky that Tailchaser brought was GREAT! Also the Sweet Corn that Capt. Sport brought was really good. JimSan brought all kinds of drinks and snacks that kept me fueled all day. Another great day on the water with some great company. Thanks guys for sharing in the adventure!

Wide Open at Double 220 Sat     Samurai       ALLCOAST      Jun-17-01, 03:12 PM (PST)
Talked to Bob Vanian Friday nite and got numbers from him for Friday's bite. Left Point Loma at midnite Friday nite, stopped just short of Bob's numbers on a 1/2 degree temp. break, down to 66.5 (my gauge is probably .6 deg high). Got bit as soon as we started putting trolling lines in the water at 6:00 am(probably 1 minute or less from when we started). Ended up that stop 3 hours later with 75 albies (63 released) and 2 open water yellowtail. The albies were 10-15 lbs, with a couple of 18 lb fish mixed in. They bit the fishtraps well; chovies were bit instantly. Could have done much better, but most of us (5) used 20-25 lb. line for sport; they would have bit 40.   Scratched the rest of the day, troling from the Double 220 1/2 way to the Upper 500, then back, then up to the 390. Although there was a good bite at the 390 ( or just south of it )for others, it must have been a time of day bite; we just scratched fish. Ended the trip with 90 albies (24 kept) and the 2 yellowtail. Back in to Pt Loma Saturday nite late. Great trip. Tom.  

Saturday 302 Albie Report    Albiebac      ALLCOAST     Jun-16-01, 08:20 PM (PST)   
Started out at the 302 this morning in hopes of not having to go too far, and managed to pull 11 Albies out of there. We basically had three different jig stops (multiple hook-ups) throughout the morning, and picked up bait fish at each stop. The first stop saw all rods go off at 7:00am, so we knew the fish were in the area, so we stayed. Only one fish of the day was under 20 pounds, the rest were 20-25 pounds. It was not as WFO as other areas, but it also wasn't as far. Sea conditions were terrific.  -Eric (Albiebac)  

390 Report for 6/17       Russ       ALLCOAST      Jun-17-01, 07:44 PM (PST)    
Rod (High Spot) & I launched in his boat at 0400 from the SI zoo. On the way out we picked up a generous 1/2 scoop of chovies (2 dines in the mix) and headed to the 390. Water was Tuna Blue and 66 degrees. We passed the 390 due to negative reports (Radio said the 1010 was hot) and continues SW. Our first numbers 31.57.00 & 117.54.00 gave us a beautiful temp break from 65.8 to 65.1. Out went the feathers & daiseys (Green & purple/black) and a few minutes later we had our first double. That was followed by 2 on bait. Cruised some more SW and got another double & more bait fish. Still 65.1 degrees. Boxed in the area & the bite died down (Temp started to rise). Headed North to 31.58.00 & 117.50.00 and started hooking up on singles & doubles. Rod spotted a small patch of kelp at 31.58.469 & 117.53.006 and we proceded to pull Albies, Yellowtail and Blues off that paddy for an hour. One Mako boat was watching us but couldn't spot the paddy & didn't call us on 72. We were one yellowtail from our limit & turning the paddy over when they poached it.. Tis the season... We lost it in the chop & headed back to the barn. 60 miles off Pt. Loma & could only average 12 MPH. Very long & wet ride back. We ended up catching 14 Albacore (4 released), 9 Yellowtail & 3 Blue sharks (Released).  With the chovies being small (4-5") I had to go with light line. Caught most of the bait fish with my Penn 525GS & Calico Special 8' Rod. Albies went up to 18# & YT went up to 13#. Jig fish were on purple/black Hootchie rig, Purple/black Zuker, Small Purple/black jet head, and a Green Zuker.   Many thanks to Rod (High Spot) for the trip today!! Also, thanks to those boats that generously gave out the above numbers!!  Good Luck,   Russ

On Tuesday the dreaded two word combination "North-West" hit with full force - just like the wind and the morning report was for the pits. Since we were committed to make the trip on Tuesday night "committed" seemed appropriate. But encouragement came from the fleet with the report that the ocean was laying down in the afternoon and the bite picked up. In addition, the weather report was not too bad except for morning South-East winds.  And so - baited up with very nice mixed anchovie/sardine bait we cleared the "whistler" buoy about 0300. Possibly an omen it was blowing out of the south-east coming straight up the channel - with one white cap after another. But after turning # 5 and heading in the direction of the 390 we never saw another white cap for the day. It was a little sloppy with the swells coming from the west, but we moved along at 12 knots without a problem. Incidently, the weather all morning was fine and as the day progressed continued laying down until it was plain "beautiful." Because of slightly late departure we started trolling at 5:45 well short of "the spot." No bites, no birds, no bait - no life. At 0720 we arrived on the numbers. No longer were there 60 boats in the area - only one!. When the GPS said "0.1 miles" I announced that we were right on the spot. Within 5 seconds we were bit followed by 4 bait fish - all in the 10-12 pd range. Shortly thereafter a single jig fish. Later a kelp patty yielded up 6 'tails. We kept on working the area, mostly 1-2 miles south and east of the bank and picked up 3 more of the 10-12 pders. And then, for a few hours,  it was steady 3-5 pders, no bait fish (they weren't big enought to bite the 'dines), and we released about 10 or 12 of the critters.

The water temp was 64.2-.4 all day. By noon we figured out the sport boats were south-east of us at about 52-55 up and 35 out. There was report that the Prowler was doing well just above the 295. It was getting kind of late to run to their area and so we started trolling north. Gradually, we picked up a few more of the 10-12 pders. Then - mixed albie and 'tail bites and the numbers were climbing. When it looked like things were slowing out came the fillet board and knoves - with the lines still out. Of course, as soon as you start cutting - you get bit. And this time - quite a bite. A quintuple, all bigger fish and they charged the boat inhaling bait as they came. We (five of us, Harry Okuda, John Ashley, Dr. Ken, David Thomas, and this one) hung one after another and all quality fish. The two largest were  about 27.4 and 27.3 with all about 20 pds and up. This area was 8 up and 37 out - not an area known for structure of any kind. Final score was "limits" (would you believe 27?) of Albacore, about 12 of the peanuts released, and a handful of 'tails. And, of course, all of  this action took place outside of the Mexican 12 mile coastal limits And it sounded like the sporties did quite well - wherever they might have been.  And the weather forecast is, apparently, for anouter "high" moving in with excellent weather for the rest of the week. So, if you make it out - good fishing to one and all. And, no - we weren't alone all day. As the hours passed we saw possibly a total of 6 boats here and there. I think a lot of people heard the report from Tuesday AM and stayed home. Marty

Nothing new on the "marlin on the 43" report from last week, nor has there been anything new on that front. But keep your eyes open, and let us know if you see something.

In my last report, I mentioned the incredible winter we had at the  Offshore Fishing Forum. It is truly humbling to see both the quantity of postings, and the quality of both the messages and the people posting them. We literally have the cream of the offshore fishing world sharing their talents and experiences with our visitors.

Which brings me, in a typically roundabout manner to my point: We in Southern California live on the fringes of an offshore fishery. Yeah, we catch some tuna and scratch out a few marlin, but compared to the home waters of our worldwide posters we might as well be landlocked. They spend a lot more time and a whole lot more money to catch much larger and more challenging fish. If anyone had a reason to keep things to themselves in the name of competition, it would be them. And yet, while they happily share their experience to help make us all better fishermen, most of our local billfishermen jealously guard information as though it were the crown jewels. Seem whacked to you? Me, too.

So, here's a challenge for my fellow SoCal fishermen: Get over yourselves. Look, I know you come here - I read the access records. You know how useful SCMO is, but just can't bring yourself to be a part of things. I'll have more to say on this in a End of the Line editorial I'm writing, but for now, get over it. If Bart, Peter, Apiwat and so many other world class fishermen can come out and play, so can you. No one will think less of you - in fact, you just might become a hero to the many who come here and will learn from your words. No one is asking you to betray secret dope - heck, I don't even do that. Just answer a question at the Marlin Club once in a while or post the occasional report at the Trip Reporter. It'll feel good - trust me!    Stan Ecklund Jr.

Monday albie report SD       Reel Nasty    ALLCOAST     Jun-11-01, 09:04 PM (PST)
Followed the fleet out sunday night to the general area of  31 55 482 and 117 35 397. pretty much all you wanted. 12 party boats all fishing in this general area. Unforyunately, the seas were up= 6+ swells close together. Headed for home at 10:00 am with a sea sick land lubber. Managed 12 fish 2 guys and a 10 year old kid. Same grade of fish on temp breaks. Black and purple small feather ran behind bright green hoochie daisy chain.  Couldn't find a paddy for my life today, had a tank of perfect sized macks hoping to serve some lunch on a paddy but no luck.   John "Reel Nasty"  

 Also on the 390 on Sunday 6/10     Brad2bmpt      ALLCOAST   Jun-11-01, 10:42 AM (PST)
Launched out of Point Loma at about 2:30am picked up some chovies and headed for the 390. Got there about 5:00am and put the trolling lines in th water ad headed Sw on a 230 heading had our first of many double hookups on the albies at abot 5:20 am. landed both 17 and 21lbs. Water temp 64.5. continued down same heading and had only a few short strikes until we headed back north toward the 390 and found the school of smaller albies 8-15lbs. South og the 390 and slightly west I believe 32.02 and 117.507 or so. Got hookups wih every pass through it seemed. tried to keep them coming to the boat by staying on the throttle for a few seconds after the first strike usually bringing on one or two more onto the troll lines. Had the best luck with the Zuchinni, blk and purple and they also hit the blue/white as well. Had a couple of bait hookups but had lines snapped. Also picked up a few yellows on the troll on the zuchinni and blue/white/orange both about 15lbs.

Bite slowed at about 9:00 there so we trolled northeast of the 390 where the radio chatter took us. At 32.04 and 117.489 we found another group with some bigger fish 15-20lbs. Ok well bigger for the day!!!! Had a quad hookup, then a double, and then a single all within about 40 minutes. By this time we had our limits so we headed toward Point Loma looking for some paddies but nobody was home at any of them. Ended the day with 15 albies and 2 yellows with one Albie released(too small) all fish taken before noon.

The water was indeed rough leading to a bit of sea sickness on our boat as well. All in all a great day of fishing. Sorry for the late post but way too tired after te long day on the water and the drive back up to Pasadena. Brad

What a differnce a day makes.       Clutchcargo    ALLCOAST      Jun-10-01, 10:48 PM (PST)
Fished Sat. and Sun. at the 390. Sat. was nice greasy calm and even hot at times. Fished with Bo and a friend of his on the Fish Lounge and brought home 13 albies. Our first stop produced the to largest wtih one jig over 26 and a bait fish a 29.8#  All said a very enjoyable day on the water. Highlights were watching all the boats speed into the Boilermaker after he gave at # for hot bite he was on. Also watching Bo's friend learning how to reel in fish. The best thing heard on the radio was the woman saying to the dude with 5#er he better throw the chicken in the water. We're not talking about fish either. Shut up the radio for a bit, probably because everyone was laughing to hard to talk. On the way home I saw SWAG with his new Blackman and he invited my friend Jason and me to go fish Sunday.

Sun. was a whole different game. I showed up tired and hungry eating the breakfast of old champions Hostess donuts. Thinking it would be nice like the day before I didn't prepare like I usually would and later payed for it. As soon as we left the bay I noticed it was bumpier than the day before. The farther out we went the worse it got. After tieing the jigs on on began to notice I wasn't feeling that hot and took some generic Bonine. At our first stop we put 5 in the boat, but the clean up wasn't helping me or my friend. We continued to fish in that wonderful slop of wind swell and chop. Then we had a little starter problem that was eventually figured out by Harvey. I celebrated this by trying to creat a nice hostess chum slick. This was after Jason had already done his best to do the same. But wtih the starting problem figure out we started fishing again ending the day with 13 in the fish hold/small bedroom. wwould be nice to fill that locker! Highlights of the trip;noticing that yellow stuff from my stomack didn't burn a hole in Harvey's swimstep(2nd time), starting the boat, getting to ride on a very nice boat, boiling fish 5' off the stern, and catching more albacore. The fish are out there, but today was completely different than yesterday. I'm not going to say anything wasa better, because in two days I heard and seen those fish bite everything put in the water. To those going out good luck and be careful. John   p.s. after you puke, things aren't so bad!

Sunday on the 390         WJW     ALLCOAST     Jun-10-01, 10:04 PM (PST)
I had the pleasure to be invited on Red Drum's (Vince) very nice 23 Striper to fish the albies today.   Left Ventura at 9:30 last night and at mid-night arrived at the Point Loma West Marine parking lot to meet up with Vince and his buddy Russ. They were sleeping in the boat and rig so I sacked out for a couple of hours in the front seat of my car. At three am we woke up and launched, baited, and cleared the harbor by about 4:00.    We arrived at the the 390 just about 6:00 am. The weather was a bit sloppy with a relative close/steep 5-6 foot swell (est) and 10 mph breezes. Unfortunately, Russ was throwing up within ten minutes of putting the lines out and remained very sick all day long. (By the way, don't fish with Vince if you tend towards motion sickness. He will not come in early. He is die hard and a little nausea will not result in a ruined day of fishing.)   We trolled around for a few hours putting a about four smnall ones on the boat by 11 am until we hit the motherlode area. There was a temp break about 5 miles SW of the high spot. That's where we found the fish. While fishing this area we rarely went more than five minutes between jig stops. The best action was on the fish traps of various collors run well back. The blue & white and blk/purp feathers worked well also. The rapalas (cd14) were also hot. Once we had 12 on the boat we decided to start trolling towards Pt. Loma in hopes of either running across some patties with yellas on them, or running into a new area of albies. We did neither, but it didn't matter as 12 fish between the three of us was plenty. The one area was definitely the hot one as strikes were few and far between out of that zone. There was no question that if we had wanted to we could have stayed in the hot area and easily hammered out limits in short order. They're out there guys.  Made it back to Pt. Loma by 2:00, cleaned fish inside the point, and back home to Ventura by 7:00. Long day.  The fish were mostly the smaller grade (about 5lbs or slightly better). One fish was about 15. We were trolling with 20lb test so they were all pretty fun. I managed to impale myself on a Rapala treble hook, requiring a bit of Vince's surgical skill to get me unstuck. (I keep forgeting to change out those damn hooks)
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7107
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7108
Sure was fun to pull on some tuna again.  Bill

Albies chewed hard      SWAG    ALLCOAST      Jun-10-01, 10:56 PM (PST)
Decided to take my new (to me) boat out for the first tuna hunt today. Had a prize crew with John (ClutchCargo) and Jason. It was quite a baptism. Red Decks all morning...no crowds, few boats and hungry albacore.  We decided to sleep-in and left San Diego Bay around 5:30. According to the radio, we did not miss much early morning action. Got into the area near the 390 around 8:30. Found the temp break we were looking for and dropped the jigs in. We were bit almost immediately and turned out to be the best bait stop of the day. Pulled 5 from that stop. The fish were somewhat scattered, so it was a few here and a few there. The Albies bit the "Mean Joe Jet" reel hard. The bait dudes served up some dynomite 'chovies. They ROCK!    The fish were not big: 12-16lbs. but they wanted to chew. Heard some radio chatter about some that had fish to 30lb. but we did not find any near that size. The temp breaks were in swirls, ranging from 64.5 to 66 where we fished. We farmed one yellow on the troll and found a few paddies that were empty. The weather was the usual "lump" that one expects 50-60 miles offshore. The swell was building however.   John and Jason cleaned the fish and made the boat sparkle!   Another great day on the water with great company.  

10 per rod on Albies..         Whaler27     ALLCOAST       Jun-10-01, 04:22 PM (PST) 
Sorry for the late post, the computer @ home went south late last night as I was just getting ready to scratch something out.  With everyone’s adrenaline running high Friday morning in anticipation of that night’s run for Albacore, I had just confirmed the crew list when my brother Sean Hughes called my office. We were going to run his new 29’ Boston Whaler on her first tuna trip, but his call didn’t start off good! He had injured his back, and was trying desperately to nurse it back to health while stretching out on the floor of his downtown L.A. office.    Sean gave me the go ahead to run without him, so Wes Trent, Brian Wilson, and Larry Wanway joined me for the run out of Mission Bay. We launched in perfect conditions, picked up quality anchovies and sardines, and departed in grease calm waters for our 85 mile run south to fertile grounds below the double 220 bank.   At grey light we slowed to put the jigs in. We only had time to get two in the water when both feathers went off! (green/black, purple/black) Brian was instantly bit on 20lb., an anchovy, and #2 gamagatzu hook. I hooked up on 25lb flourocarbon and a butt hooked chovy. (3136/11741). We continued to troll south in the luxury of the calmest waters in three years on the tuna grounds with a perfect flat gray sky to allow the eye sensitive albacore to come to the surface and feed.

We continued excellent pick and scratch fishing as we caught and released our way to beautiful fish on ice in the fish holds. (3130/11742.5) At about 95 miles from Point Loma I decided to turn up and in towards the lower end of the double 220 and then on in to the gap of the 373. ( 3133/11730). It was hear in the gap that we encountered a big 1.5 degree break for 65.9 water. Albacore were leaping out of the water everywhere. A triple jig strike on a purple/black cd-14 rapala, red/black zuker, lime green/black zuker set off a frenzied bait stop where we caught and released 18 Albacore from 16-26lbs. After we all had caught, kept and/or released 10 Albacore per rod we decided to leave more for next time. (5 fish per rod kept) Without limitations, both legal and mental, the bite would have produced easily 20 fish per rod!

With a lunch break at 11:30, we packed our limits of Albies on ice, cleaned up the Whaler a bit and got ready to paddy hop our way back up the line. We stopped on a scarcity of kelps as we ran 30 knots up the 11730 line over the upper 500, 371 and on in toward Mission Bay. Our efforts produced 6 quality yellowtail on sardines and anchovies.    All the fish were aggressive, striking baits with vigor. Looking for clues when on the troll, a search of the stomachs showed mostly empty, with one squid, evidence of red crab, and our freshly eaten anchovy chum! The lime green headed, green/black zuker and the blue/green sevenstrand tuna clone were the hot jig/feather. The black/purple cd-11 and cd-14 Rapala was bit on every stop but one! Wes Trent clued us all in on the use of the Owner light wire #1 circle hook. Instant bite and hook-set in the corner of the mouth for easy release with a collar or butt hooked anchovy.   

A big thanks goes out to John of J.D.'s Big Game Tackle in Newport Beach (Balboa Island), JD gave us the numbers on where to find the first fish of the day, as well as thoughts on my entire gameplan for the day. We trolled less than 200 yards from those #'s before our 1st jig strike. Support his business and he will improve your fishing, I guarantee it!    Rory Hughes – Whaler27

181 to 43, Not Today          Chumboy     ALLCOAST       Jun-10-01, 09:10 PM (PST)
With all the albies below we decided to take a look at the 181 to 43 area. Left Dana at 5:30. Dines & chovie mix. A little chop and swell early but less as the day wore on. Ran to the 181 and then trolled to the 43. No paddies found going out. The water temps ranged from 66+ to 63.5, cooler as we sent south. There was very little life at the 181 but increased as we approached the 43. I thought for sure we would pick a few in and around the 43. Trolled to the limits of 1/2 tank and then trolled back towards Oceanside. When we reached 65 degree water again we pulled the feathers and began a major look for paddies. Found only a few. One had bait and a few 10-15lb yellowtail on it. We fihed it hard for about 30-40 min. but no takers. We resumed course finding no more paddies. Got into a little cuda action off the Domes, mostly shorts. The sun was out about 10am and the water was great. Always good to be on the water.   I hope the albies push into this area, soon.  Good luck,  Bill Chumboy

boat cruise to the 43      bassnet    ALLCOAST     Jun-10-01, 07:59 PM (PST)      
Ouch- hit the 43 today with Remington, his father-in-law Fred, and buddy Bob, owner of an insane 30' Shamrock, Greylight- long story short, left Dana around 0400, long harbor cruise (about 180 miles or so) for nada- metered some nice bait balls, found some birds working, had to rip the sink out of the galley as it was the only thing we hadn't trolled. NADA- empty paddies too. Still a great day of fishing, insane conditions, purple 64-65 degree water, epic crew, and a few dead aluminum soldiers. Could hear the 390 crew wrecking it, that hurt our ears. Bob is a class act, epic rig, great meeting Fred as well. Finished off the day in the harbor getting a sore neck from the "strange" parade. That was worth it- Can't wait to hit it again. (the fish and the strange!) DP mafia let the fishes rest today, we'll hammer 'em next time! Tight lines!    P.S.- remington! care to elaborate on the working gal in the parking lot? That was classic!!!   

yet another 390 report 6-9             h2oboy     ALLCOAST      Jun-10-01, 09:20 AM (PST)     
willie, bobby and i motored out of a comfortably nearly empty shelter island at 0130 hrs. first off-shore trip for my buddy's new 24' sea swirl walk around cuddy. got tiny anchovies from the bait guy, gave him a porno mag as part of his tip -i think he liked it as i noticed his kung-fu death grip on it as we departed.   flat seas out to the 390 area. briefly spoke with another all-coaster on the way out and continued to hear familiar (from this board) names all morning. arriving around 0430, ate breakfast, rigged up and started dropped a purple and black, mex. flag and a natural cedar plug in the h2o around 0515.  general area, 32.06 x 117.52. "joan ruth's" temp gauge read 98.9 f. so i think it was broken, but the radio reported 64.6 to be the ticket. we travelled generally to the soutwest from the high spot.  first albie hookup at 0545, a single on the p/b. second came around 20 mins. later, on the same p/b. exchanged the cedar plug for a p/b and about 20 mins. later trolled by a small bit of kelp for a double. continued on and got another single about 15 mins. later. all fish were jig fish with no bait fish, yet.   then, all hell broke loose on the next stop. double on the trolling lures. with a few trailers swimming below the boat, we chummed the heck out of that spot and picked up two on bait and two more on iron, brass and blue and white. it was around 0900 when we finished and the "joan ruth" was a bloody mess, literally.

we cleaned up and debated to go for limits or just go home. while continuing this debate of conservation ethics, we trolled in the direction of point loma for about an hour and a half and then pulled them in and fruitlessly stopped on paddies looking for yellows on the way home. we talked with so many all-coasters it was like a who's who. fish lounge, clutch cargo, boiler maker, sushiholic just to name a few. the fishing seemed to be single stops of just wide open stops, but they're definitely there to be had.  bbq'd albie, also some sashimi style, rice, salad, and beer were in order as we had some friends over last night.  good luck to those who venture off shore and be safe. heard reports of "need oil, need gas, small electrical problem, and need vessel assist." i'm very thankful to have made it home safely and the fish was just a nice addiion. i look forward to meeting in person many of you who now have a voice to your all coast call-sign. you seem to be really nice people.  frank on "joan ruth"   h2oboyout

6\9 Butterfly      BlueHunter     ALLCOAST   Jun-10-01, 10:13 AM (PST) 
My brother Bob and I took my 22' GB Cat down to SD yeaterday.We left HB at 12:45 foregoing sleep to get an early start out of Mission Bay. I've never launched down there so we were wing'n it in the dark.Got a mix of dines/chovies and were out of the harbor at 3:00.   I go to put the numbers in for the 390....oops I don't have the right list of numbers.Now what? it's 3 in the morning pitch black,no radar..Luckily I asked the boat in front of us at the bait barge where they were headed.They said the Butterfly. We could see their lights out in the distance so off we went. At day break we found a area that looked fishy and started trolling.I should say I started trolling as my bro was still sleeping.He slept all the way out, slept while I got everything put out and slept most of the day.Why go?

People started calling out hookups from the 390 and also the Butterfly.The boat Intrepid put out numbers for the  Butterfly (thanks,class act) where he was catching Albies.Being closer we head out the last 12 miles.  We trolled around this area till about 3:00. We saw people hooked up,get hooked up in front of us,get hooked up beside us.Still coundn't get bit.Finally got a double on the BP feather and small brown jet.Got another single on the same jet,lost at the boat, oops don't worry about it bob I forgive you.Next time use the gaff though. The water was perfect today.I'd hate to be out that far when it wasn't.Water was 63.5-66 at the Butterfly with the fish comming off the cooler side. Made it home in time to filet the fish before dark.Looong day 175 miles on the water and three hours on the road for two 12lb fish. Why do I do it?.....Cause I love it!   Craig  "Mas Tequila"

sat 390 boatride        sushiholic      ALLCOAST     Jun-10-01, 08:47 AM (PST)          
went 168 miles for ONE 6 lb albie. Fished the 390 area all day from 6 am to 2 pm. caught the albie on a mexican flag at 1 pm. 50-60+ boats down there, insane crowds, even bowriders at the 390. people caught them left and right, but did not have my secret weapon to keep them off the boat.. banana colored cedar plugs, banana zukers, dazzled with banana oil.  back in with 1/2 a tank to spare. (fished the same colors same speed same location as people who limited out, guess the fish don't like the FICHT )   -Sushiholic   Fishing is so much better than working

390 8th and 9th         reel passion     ALLCOAST      Jun-10-01, 07:56 PM (PST)     
fish and learn, headed for the butterfly at 5am with chovies only from shelter, since we had to go to fishermans landing thurs nite to get mexican permits, no one else has em, the flatest water I've seen in years, looked like a desert so I decided to go to the 390, heard hook ups but did not get ours until a triple at around 3pm, one more albie,and yellows on the paddys, NOTE do not pass up any paddys even if you know they have been stomped on, drop down blue and white iron 200 ft. reel and you should get bit good size tails.  As we started back Tom says wonder if people spend the nite out here, it was as flat as a pancake,...we shut down and had fresh albie dinner and gave some to jethro boat also spending the nite who just got out late and had no fish.  Slept like a baby, up at grey to troll,...expecting quick reel   screaming, not for us,... boy was it crowded, perfect conditions, we only got 4 more and way to long waiting. Talked to boiler maker who did well, thanks Jerry for giving the #s.  lessons learned,  
A)Had been reading for days the fish were at 80 to 90 mi., now I know where. 220.
B) learned it is a good thing to sleep on the fishing grounds, saves a lot of time and fuel.
C) learned the value of these posts and sharing info.  
My 3yr old boy is climbing on me, (he went on this trip), pulling my amrs and wanting to put his hot wheels by the key board, gota go.  Good luck all, thanks for the responces to my prior post but we left thurs about 3 and I had no internet access since noon thur 7th  Jim - reel passion

ButterFly       soca4life    ALLCOAST       Jun-10-01, 08:25 AM (PST) 
Left Huntington harbor Friday afternoon. Headed for SCI. Anochored up in the Pyramid Head area. Caught all the Cali u wanted. Tryed for WSB, but no luck. Headed for the ButterFly 0300. Rigged up are poles and started trolling around five in the morn. Got are first Albi at six thirty. Nice 25lber. First Albi of the year. Continue to Troll the whole area. Had three triples hook-up, had us working pretty good, but was soo much fun. Final count was nine Albi's and three Yellowtail. Long ride home, but was smooth ride on the water.     CW    Tight lines

albacore at the 390   Reelobsession62    ALLCOAST       Jun-09-01, 10:34 PM (PST)
I am just beat up after 24 hrs straight of driving and fishing so I'll keep it short and sweet. 4 miles south of 390 was hot for some including us. We landed 22 albacore and 4 yellowtails. The tails came off of an early stop on a paddie north of the 390. The HOT bait for the albies was the Sevenstrand Mini Tuna Clones in purple and black trolled short at 7 knots. Solid jig strikes began after 10 am. Sorry this report is so short but I feel like a zombie and in serious need of some sleep but wanted to report for the guys fishing sunday

6/9 390 Albacore Report       Boiler Maker       ALLCOAST       Jun-09-01, 09:32 PM (PST)   
Left Shelter Island at 0200 and pick up some small anchovies from the bait barge. The ocean was flat calm and officially it was 2 feet at 7 seconds at the Point Loma Bouy. Was able to travel full speed to the 390. This is where the fish are !! I put the P/B Feather, G/Y Feather, and Natural Cedar plug the water about 0500 6 miles above and outside the 390. Got my first hookup on the green and Yellow feather about 0645 in 64.4 deg water at roughly 32.06 117.47. Next strike was a triple at 32.03 and 117.48 in 64.6 deg F. Landed two more albacore. That was it for me cause I had to start heading back (390 is my boats max range for this type of trolling). Heard the bite got better towards noon. By that time I was long gone from the 390 area trolling in 65.8 deg water through the 371 for Nada. Don't waste your time trolling this area IMO. I didn't hear anything happening much north of the 390. I hooked up 6 fish for the day and 3 made it to the cooler. They were 14,17 and 21 pounds after sitting in the cooler for 12 hours. I also heard further south at the 1010 and double 220 that the fishing was good but there were a lot of rats (small fish) mixed in with the catch.  It was a zoo out there but overall everyone seem to get along and fish. Got to talk with other AllCoasters (Reel Passion and High Society) and I they had some fish in the same area. Another boat (Fish Cat) really nailed them in the afternoon after getting shutout for most of the morning.  My recommendation would be to go towards the outside of the 390 and look for the 64 to 64.6 degree water. Troll this area and you should get something. Most boaters I heard on the Radio had at least one fish, others had limits.  Good Luck,  Jerry on the Boiler Maker

Red Decks at the 390        Otter       ALLCOAST      Jun-09-01, 09:09 PM (PST) 
Left Mission Bay @ 4:00 AM w/ my 2 fishing partners, Mark and Ron. Decided to head to the 390 based on Cory's earlier report. Stopped short of the 390 on a paddy for 3 quick Yellow's.  Decided to keep going for Albies. Got to the 390 and it was a parking lot, boats everywhere. Lot's of radio chatter, but we weren't getting bit. Decided to head south a bit when Mark noticed boiling fish about 12 miles south of the 390. Threw some chovies in for quick hook-ups on 4 baited Albies. Decided to troll the area and ended up w/ 13 Albies, we let another 3 or 4 go,small. Stopped on a paddy right in the middle of the 390 for 5 more Yellows. Final count 13 Albies / 11 Yellowtail and 1 large Bonita.    Goodnight - I'm bushed!    Jim

Sat. 6/9 Albie fishing/San Diego    Newnavigator          ALLCOAST        Jun-09-01, 08:02 PM (PST)  
Left Mission Bay receiver at 0320. Lost 20 minutes due to arrival of bait boat. Headed towards 421 spot. Baited 3 paddies between 0530 and 0630 for nothing. Put lures in the water 3 m from the 421. First hookup about 1 m south of 421. Got a double and a bait fish. Zig zaged area; about 4 mile radius. Got a single and a bait fish. Then another single and a bait fish. Decided about 1030 to look for paddies again. Headed north, about the 117.50 longitude line, more or less, towards the trench. Got a double, with no bait fish. Got a double with 2 bait fish. Then a triple, releasing one as our limit was reached. Lures out of the water at 1230. Looked for paddies and yt. Found lots of good paddies, but no yellows. Not complaining. Black and purple rapala, stainless steel blue rapala, channel island chovy fish trap, purple/black feather with holes in the head, and green/black feather (zuker) had more or less equal success. Bait fish on dines and chovies. Very little wind, but a little bit of swell at 1000 fathom curve; all mixed up. Saw a few blue whales. Not many boats in our neck of the woods. Most fish caught in areas of temperature breaks. Might have called other boaters in on our bite, but saw so many bendos, it didn't really matter. A great day, but it's been awhile.  Largest weighed 21 lb. on a hand-held scale. Smallest perhaps 8 lb. Avg. might have been 12-16 lb., but just a guess.

390 = Albies    cruznking       ALLCOAST      Jun-09-01, 07:04 PM (PST)
The 390 was going off, Albies all over the place. Picked 3 on live bait after a jig strike. Heard (and saw) dozens being pulled in on just about everything. Rapalas, feathers, Purple and black seemed to be the early am color, shifting to lighter greens as the day progressed. Yellows were taken from the 425 to the 371 to the 390 on patties. It was a great day out there, nice blue water, fish seemed to be in the 64 degree water, or colder. Water in some places was as high as 66. Good luck tomorrow!  TheReelKing

6/9 on the 43    Portugee      ALLCOAST      Jun-09-01, 07:48 PM (PST)    
Left Mission Bay ~5:00 with a good scoop of dines and headed out to the 43. We ended up trolling over, past and around the 43 all morning without a bite. All of the pattys were empty.   Temperature ranged from 63.5 to 64.5 'F.   It sounded like (radio chatter) the 390 would have been a better bet. 

Albies 390/421 Almost limits-Thurs 6-07      visserc     ALLCOAST      Jun-08-01, 07:20 AM (PST)   
Fishing Thursday with Gabe Delbuono on his 22' GB Cat, we managed to catch 9 Albies to 25 lbs, 3 total over 20 lbs, rest 10-14. We launched out of SD SI at 2:30am, stopped for a full scoop of anchovies, most were dead by noon, no bait fish anyhow? Headed straight for the 390 which is 47 miles from the point, hit fog 6 miles from the bank, not too thick though, slowed down and still reached the bank in under 2 hrs arriving before 4:30am. First hook up at 5:40am a Triple, all big fish, through bait, no boils, no bait fish. Second hookup at 6:20am another triple, one fell off the cedar plug, blue & white jet head and a black and red daisy chain were the hot ticket. These fish were 10lbs. Blocked the area for another 2hrs for nothing. Bernie on the Divedemo after fishing the 371 arrived shortly and said he got a doulble just west of the 390, where we caught our first fish. Talked to Bernie as it was dry for them also and we decided to head to the 420 together spacing ourselves about a mile apart. We spotted a kelp at 10:00am and Gabe threw a jig and hooked a small 9lb yellow which spit the hook when he tried to bounce it. 10 more casts for nothing so we pulled in the jigs and went to catch up with Bernie who was now 6 miles NW of the 420 heading to the Salvador Seamount and Butterfly East. At 4 miles NW of the 420 saw breaking fish and put the jigs back in the water, in 30 minutes a single, doulble ,single for our nine fish count. B&W got bit four times, B&R 3 times, cedar plug twice, and green, white and yellow once. At 11am it was all over, trolled 15 miles towards the Buttefly and then due east to the 371, stopped on some kelps for nothing, pulled the jigs and ran to 3 miles south of the 371. Trolled all the way to north of the 302, saw some huge kelps all empty. At 4:30pm 21 miles from Point Loma we headed for the barn, out of the water at 5:40pm, home by 8pm. Good and tired, but very happy. Screaming reels! Cory

Albies, yellows, 6/8   Gettin Ugly   ALLCOAST     Jun-08-01, 11:40 PM (PST)
well, just got home and it's 11:15 and i'm tired, really tired, so this will be short.    shelter island. got 3 albies and limits of 'tails. all 'tails taken from one paddy in about an hour in the morning. seemed like a lot of people had the same success. find a good paddy and it was loaded. a lot of people scratching up some albies here and there around the 390 with a couple of boats scoring very well. we got a double jig strike at 50 miles from the point on a 33 heading back to the point. we got that at 5:30 this evening with no bait fish. anyway, i'm so tired i have so few details right now so i'll say this. if you are going this weekend i'd troll around the 390 and maybe toward the west of it 5-10 miles. that area seemed to be the best, but like most days that guys in the right place at the right time scored well, the rest scratched away. one guy fished 15 miles south and in from the 390 and 3 of them got limits of 'tails and 10 albies. water temp was from 63.5-69. hope this helps a little. the albies were all about 12# and the tails were 10-14#. water was flat all day and we never saw a white-cap. we were wide open on the throttle the hole way home at 6:30pm. albies hit i think zuccini (spelling?), mexican flag, and i think purple and black jet head.if you want to know more send me an email and i'll get back to you ASAP (tomorrow when i've had some sleep and brain is functioning somewhat). long day, bed time.   Gettin Ugly 

And away we go ...  If you are willing to head south far enough, you will be rewarded with limits of albacore. No, I'm not clairvoyant - it's just that the fish are that well-spread. Boats heading down from the north have been starting at the 43 and 302 and heading down towards the 390 and Butterfly until they get jigstrikes. Those starting from Ensenada or Marina Coral have found success at the 290 and the northern end of the 1010 Trench. The fish are jigfish, with cedar plugs and jetheads leading the pack, although it sounds like you could troll that joke jig you've always had and catch fish with it now. Not a lot of baitfish being taken, primarily because the longfin have been gorging themselves with mini squid and micro chovies. Wherever you go, the key sounds like looking for the 63-degree water.

Go figure this one out ... a report from JD (and parroted repeatedly elsewhere) has two striped marlin being baited yesterday on the 43. I'm a little skeptical about that one, but it's worth keeping an eye on. But then, you know how rusty your eyes get after a long winter, and an early season mola can look pretty exciting ...

It should be interesting to see how this year goes. With El Niño, La Niña, and the rest of their family, I barely remember what a "normal" year looks like. This should be one, though.  You'll notice that I've made it this far without hyping any new features here at SCMO. That's because there really aren't any. Normally, I have to spend the winter working on the things that didn't work the last season, and adding all the things that people wanted for the new year. But last year, we finally reached the point where we had a world class site, and not a lot of tinkering was needed.

But fear not, kind reader, there will still be lots of new things for you to do. First, if you didn't spend the winter over at the Offshore Fishing Forum, you blew it - plain and simple. I don't know how, but the Marlin Club has become a truly worldwide phenomenon, with some of the best marlin fishermen in the world passing along their knowledge (I'm thinking our local guys could take a lesson on that ...). I've learned more about fishing in the last few months than in the last ten years, and it just keeps getting better. Now that fishing season is here, I expect all of you to file your  Trip Reports over there, too!  Stan Ecklund Jr.

Tough fishin'     divedemo  ALLCOAST     Jun-07-01, 07:28 PM (PST)
Fished the 371 went to the 390 and back up and way outside the 371 for 5 small fish. Scratched them from all of those places except the 371. If I was going out tomarrow I would head south of the 390 and that is just a guess. Sea conditions were excellent.     Keep it reel.

RE: Tough fishin    Russ    Jun-07-01, 08:41 PM (PST)
It was tough, but fun! Got a chance to fish with Bernie again & meet another AllCoaster, Mark aka whofish. Also got a chance to talk with No Slack, Corey, and PorpoiseEnvy on the radio. Heard lots of hookups but it was either where we just left or where we were heading to..     Brought 3 "Game Hens" home... too small to be called chickens and have them filleted out... Caught them all on jig strikes. Either Purple/black hoochie rig or purple/black cedar plug. Followed temp breaks and metered tons of fish & bait... Wonder if the full moon last night had anything to do with it..   A long but fun day.... sure beat working!!   Thanks, Bernie, for the invite..   Russ

Albies 390/421 Almost limits-   ALLCOAST     Thurs 6-07    Fri, 8 Jun 2001 07:43:39 -0700
Fishing Thursday with Gabe Delbuono on his 22' GB Cat, we managed to catch 9 Albies to 25 lbs, 3 total over 20 lbs, rest 10-14. We launched out of SD SI at 2:30am, stopped for a full scoop of anchovies, most were dead by noon, no bait fish anyhow? Headed straight for the 390 which is 47 miles from the point, hit fog 6 miles from the bank, not too thick though, slowed down and still reached the bank in under 2 hrs arriving before 4:30am. First hook up at 5:40am a Triple, all big fish, through bait, no boils, no bait fish. Second hookup at 6:20am another triple, one fell off the cedar plug, blue & white jet head and a black and red daisy chain were the hot ticket. These fish were 10lbs. Blocked the area for another 2hrs for nothing. Bernie on the Divedemo after fishing the 371 arrived shortly and said he got a double just west of the 390, where we caught our first fish. Talked to Bernie as it was dry for them also and we decided to head to the 420 together spacing ourselves about a mile apart. We spotted a kelp at 10:00am and Gabe threw a jig and hooked a small 9lb yellow which spit the hook when he tried to bounce it. 10 more casts for nothing so we pulled in the jigs and went to catch up with Bernie who was now 6 miles NW of the 420 heading to the Salvador Seamount and Butterfly East. At 4 miles NW of the 420 saw breaking fish and put the jigs back in the water, in 30 minutes a single, doulble ,single for our nine fish count. B&W got bit four times, B&R 3 times, cedar plug twice, and green, white and yellow once. At 11am it was all over, trolled 15 miles towards the Buttefly and then due east to the 371, stopped on some kelps for nothing, pulled the jigs and ran to 3 miles south of the 371. Trolled all the way to north of the 302, saw some huge kelps all empty. At 4:30pm 21 miles from Point Loma we headed for the barn, out of the water at 5:40pm, home by 8pm. Good and tired, but very happy. Screaming reels! Cory

RE: Marlin on the 43 ???????? Josh Burnam Jun-06-01, 10:35 PM (PDT)
I read that too. Report was that it was TWO, baited on the tide change?? I already have an albacore trip planned to that area Saturday (already killed em there once this year), and am now going to add a Lumo Phantom or Baby Ruckus to the spread! Bueler? Bueler? Anyone? Anyone?

Wed Albie and YT report     InlawOutlaws         ALLCOAST      Jun-07-01, 09:49 AM (PST)
Headed SW of the 371 looken for a sign. My temp gauge and furuno are in for repair, so all we had was Jeff,s TERRAFIN SST map from the night before and a report of fish 6 mi. SW of the 371. FoTUNAtely the GPS was still on line. The TERRAFIN SST map showed a temp change between the 371 & 390. Looking at the lat & long lines we estimated about 32'14" & 117'40". About two clicks inside Jeff saw a paddle that was BOILING, we had two drive away from the YT, 15 for the three of us. We called in the # for other AMS boaters. We headed toward the 390 (SW). We got about 17 mi. below 371 and decide to head back toward the spot on the SST map. BINGO 32'13.87" & 117'41.07" jig stop on rootbeer tuna jig, toss the anchovies, boils in the corner. Two short bites, we settled downed with one in the bag and got back on the troll. We fish a 1/2mi area of limits, one quad and three bait fish but only landed 6 fish. Most strikes came on the down hill troll. The jig fish were in the nice teens and a few bait fish in the high twenties. All on the chovies, #2 hooks, and small split shot about 2' up. Fish eat to thirty# string. Call in the numbers and left for home. A great start in tuna fishing THANKS to TERRAFIN SST MAPS!!!! Who needs a temp gauge or meter, a little info and some luck and a good SST MAP.CHUM

San Diego albies & yellowtail tue & wed   saltydoc      ALLCOAST       Jun-06-01, 06:01 PM (PST)
I just couldn't stand it so a buddy and I made the drive from Morro and fished tue and wed. We wound up with Mexican limits of albies both days and 6 yellows wed. The albies were small averaging 10 lbs. with a few 20#. The fish were mostly between the 390 spot and the 1010. lots of fish find the temp breaks and the trash lines. The yellows were a little East of the 390 spot. All 6 came off of the same patty. The albies were going on anything bright. Very long way to go, but I just had to get my tuna fix!

Tuesday Albies    Jim Day    ALLCOAST   Jun-06-01, 05:40 AM (PST)
I'll give the full story later: fished the 371, 226, 302,and 425 for a big zero..... over 12hrs on the water nine of them trolling a very long dry day. Looks like I just missed them. The water was 66.3 at the 371 I now hear it was limit fishing just a few miles southwest of where I made the turn north....   Ahhhh but that's fishing

They're still there, Albacore at 20 miles below San Clemente Island all along the Clemente Canyon's 500 fathom drop-off and its current breaks created by the upwelling was holding Albacore, from the canyon out to the Butterfly Bank . Purple & Black or Green and Black colored feathers or Ceder plugs were the hot jigs. Fish may be moving in closer as fish were taken at 60 out of Newport yesterday., The bite slowed down by 10 am, probably because of the full moon thing, given a chance to digest what they've eaten last night the late afternoon bite should develop later today.

Swordfish seen these past few days, Keep your eye's peeled!! Have an heavy outfit ready!

The full moon should increase the spawning mode in the halibuts, lots of shorts on the coastline shallow water now, watch for the bigger females to come in out of the deeper water for spawning.

San Clemente Island's Purse Seine Rock and White Rock was holding a few Yellows.

Equatorial SST conditions in May have returned to essentially normal values as forecasters have been predicting. Modelers suspect little deviation from these normal equatorial conditions in the next couple of months.

Southern California fishermen have already been catching albacore tuna in May. Although commercial fishermen had reported scattered catches well offshore throughout most of the year, albacore have been caught in May by sport fishermen fishing 200 miles south of San Diego off Baja California as well as 65-75 miles south-southwest and 120 miles westward. These early SST conditions approximate those seen in 1999 which was the top year for sport landings of albacore in southern California. Albacore migrating eastward to the coast at this time will essentially be funneled towards southern California and Baja California until SSTs in the more northern parts of the U.S. west coast warm above 14.5°C (58°F)."   
joe singer

Albacore report     Paul    ALLCOAST    Jun-05-01, 10:53 PM (PST)    
Left Dana Point at 0200 heading to the 43 for albacore. Some life birds porpoise bait near the high spot but no albies. Decided to head on to the SW corner of the b-fly. Water continued to cool and became lifeless. Headed back towards SCI and was not liking what I saw. Heard the guys down in San Diego talking about full speed albacore. Fortunately they were generous enough to broadcast their location. Ran 20 knots 35 miles to a temperature break about 6 miles SW of the 371. Got bit in short order and landed a baitfish. Several more stops included baitfish. Called it a day at 530 PM. Long ride back to Dana (77 miles). Made it to the dock in 3 1/2 hours.  Final tally 10 albacore for two guys. Hopefully this stuff stays put after the full moon. Good luck   Paul

Spoke to boats heading for the Albies and heard them hook up at 117.50 on the temperature break of 63 trolling black and purple with quad hook ups and limited out in 20 min according to them. Seems most were on jigs and very few bait stops. Heard boats started looking for the yellows but many paddies had been worked hard but one boat got a single 23lb yellow and was heading back to oceanside with it. I was informed the 302, 390 and the butterfly were doing the best With the great ocean today Clemente produced many yellow on the front and off Pyramid in 100ft of water with a 30 lb yellow coming out of there and good bass. Oceanside continued to produce small mako's and a 290 lb thresher been taken off the powerplant - Carlsbad. Bait .........aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh heard complaints about the bait, enough said , Chris

RE: Sunday 43 report    Smelt_one    ALLCOAST      Jun-05-01, 00:28 AM (PST)
We did the 302,230 area Sunday. What a snotty day. Finally had a knockdown on the flatline for one albie at 19 lbs. It took the black/purple zucker. That was it for 50 miles/n for the trip. Here is Bob with the fish http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7039 The first tuna of the year for us. Since we had a load of ice cubes on board to ice down our ton of fish (that did not happen) we made a salt water slurry and bleed and iced that bugger down in a hurry. MAn what a difference. The meat is as hard as a rock,,,,,,well...not quite,,,,but as hard as Britney Spears you know what.

Talked to several people, notably Fish On. Nice guy in a 26 Skippy. He called us in to an area he got 8 or so fish on. If he's an Allcoaster, Thanks for the call. He got mostly stragglers. A whole lot of boats converged in the area after he put those numbers on channel 72. Just where did all these people come from? Just as quickly as they all arrived, they all left looking for the sweet spot that would make the day. Our only hook up came around 11:30 on a Zuccini, my favorite tuna lure. Lost at the gaff when the leader was cut with the gaff. Almost got the first tuna on the Tunacious. It was lumpy all day. Lot's of guys complaining about how different it was from yesterday. Since I was running on empty from lack of sleep, we called it a day early and started trolling back around 1:00. Didn't see much life on the way back. One nice paddy with a few birds on it. No one home that wanted to jump in the boat. Saw a whale of some sort. The closer we got to home the nicer it got. It's nice sitting in the tower with a cold beer in hand. This was a typical early season trip. Fish are here one day and somewhere else the next day. Was nice to get the boat out on a longer trip. Hopefully, the fish will come up in mass, in the next couple of weeks.

Miles of Albies!!     divedemo      ALLCOAST  Jun-02-01, 09:08 PM (PST)
Went out to around the butterfly and put the lines in the water at 0535 and double hookup at 0540. Got fish to the boat and the wanted anything we put in, but seemed to like a real lively anchovy better but would bite the dines.  Found a patty and pulled 7 good yellows and waved a boat in and they came over and said no thanks we pulled about 200 off of that patty aready! We left and kept heading towards the butterfly with constant hookups most of the way. Headed back to the 230 for more fish and then to the 302 for the best bite of the day with the largest fish. Caught fish from 8 to 35 lbs. They were not line shy at all. Bite the iron, fish traps, beatup dines, and half dead anchovies. Really seemed to like the purple and black cedar plug, we stopped trolling more than two lines cuz we was gettin' bit so much. Acres of fish. You do not have to go out that as far as we did but it sure was fun. If I was going to fish tomarrow I would fish the 302. In 5 years of fishing out here I have never seen the spread of fish so large. Metered tons of fish and bait.  Great talking and fishing with Bravo 6, nice boat Gary! Also went out with an other allcoaster, Cluchcargo (John) who was a wonderful addition to our crew,   nobody worked harder getting the blood up off the deck the him, you just got a love a guy like that when your the captain, and a very good fisherman, he taught us all a few things today. Also had a first time fisherman with us who  work with and we had a great time handing off fish to him and watching him try and horse them in, sometimes winning, sometimes not, but it really added to the day Cancel all appointments, lie to the wife but go fishing! Lots more to tell but I got to jump in the rain locker and wash this blood off! Keep it reel.

RE: 6/2/2001 302 Albacore Report     Eric C. Meins    ALLCOAST   Jun-02-01 AT 06:59 PM (PST)
Nice Fish, quad hookup, and a nice size bait fish!!! Way to go. I think I ran over the good water on Friday. After hitting a dry paddy on the 302 we headed out towards the 230. I happen to look down at the temp gauge and noticed that the water had started cooling off a bit. I marked it for reference but forgot about it. We got 2 albies just like you, right after putting the lines in, just past the 230, but no more after that. We trolled south where the water was fairly dead looking. Later as we headed back northwest from outside the 371 to inside the 230 I spotted some fish working the sauries but had no takers. Water was up to 63.5 on my gauge. Did you happen to see any whales out in the area you fished? We saw a couple in an area just southeast of the 230 in some of the better looking water. Thanks for the report, Eric
Edit: Oh yeah, by the time of your post you made it back early! Wanted to beat the crowd at the ramp and get those albies cleaned for dinner huh?

6/2/2001 302 Albacore Report     Albiebac  ALLCOAST     Jun-02-01, 03:44 PM (PST)  
We headed out of MB around 5am this morning towards the 302 with hopes of either a yellowtail or maybe an Albacore. Well, we put the lines in at 7:30am and at 7:30:30 am we had a hookup of our first Albacore for the season! For the next 3 hours we had fun with hookups every 20 minutes or so, including the ever popular quad hook up with all 20+ lb fish. The trick was finding the "warm" water. We got bit at 61.8 or 62.0 degrees. The water temp cruised around 59.0 to 62.0 out there. Oh yeah, out there was a square mile area 2nm west of the highspot. The highlight for me was a 30lber on my 20# set-up using a sardine. Boy that was fun, and the fish is the biggest Albie I've caught to date. Technically it weighed 28lbs at Dana Landing (just in case someone is watching me), but hey I figure it lost at least 5lbs in blood and guts from the horrible gaff shot. So, I'm still low balling it at 30. The first few fish were peanuts, but then we got some quality fish. We caught them on p/b feathers, and a black/green/orange cedar plug. I'd like to specifically thank Sushiholic for posting the swell report a few days ago. I had planned to do boat work this weekend, but with 1 foot swells and 1 foot chop, that can wait. It was nice and flat out there today. I talked briefly with Bravo6, and it sounded like he and DiveDemo were getting into the fish at the butterfly bank, but I'll let them fill everybody in. And people were scratching up Bluefin out there! - Eric (Albiebac)
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7006
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7007

RE: 6/2/2001 302 Albacore Report     Albiebac    ALLCOAST      Jun-03-01, 09:24 AM (PST)
Mike, I knew I'd forget a few details in my post with only 2 hours sleep the night before. We ended up with 17 fish total, but only kept the 10 that would fit in the cooler. I use the cooler fill quota to keep us honest. The two peanuts were the first two Albies of the day/season, and we figured we would keep them because we had no idea we'd get into any more fish. We called it quits at 11:00am and still picked two more up North of the 302 highspot. It was great out there, only a few other boats but never within a mile, and puddling fish here and there, plus one kook(tuna) who cleared air 10 feet ahead of us. In regards to your boat, I wish. Mine is "only" a 24 foot skippie. I'm on the prowl for the right 25 footer. But she's been a great boat, with all the bells and whistles now. I finished "installing" the radar at 1:00am Friday  night. What a fun little toy. The enclosure is the ONLY way to go. I see a lot of guys without them, and I just don't get it. I wouldn't mind swapping rides to see what it's like to ride in the 25 footer, if your interested.   -Eric (Albiebac)

albies everywhere!!! 6-2   hermit       ALLCOAST    Jun-03-01, 09:38 AM (PST)
did a solo trip out of oceanside a headed straight out for the ridge drop off s. of the 43...started trollin at 32 33.00 117 55.00 and instantley started getting hooked up..worked my way to 32 34.00 118 00.00 and just boxed the area until 11:00 for limits of albies#####all running about 12 lbs. they were literally everywhere!!! just like "Divedemos" report-acres of fish!!! i heard reports all morning long of scores north of me,outside of me at the butterfly,and south around the 390 and 302...was nice to be in US waters for these things again...i ended up keepin 10 fish and letting my last couple jig strikes go.water was 63 degrees and real nice..u got to get out there guys!!! i was using small chrome head feathers in purple/black ,red/purple/black, red/brown/white, and purlple/silver and they were all getting slammed! plus i had a couple of hoochies lined in front of them which spelled out-gerrrraaaavvvveeyyy!! go get em..... the HERMIT

RE: albies everywhere!!! 6-2     hermit      ALLCOAST     Jun-03-01, 11:39 AM (PST)
i did 135 nautical miles round trip yesterday..the back side of the 30 mile/ 182 area might be worth lookin at...lots of bird/bait life and water was 63-63.5 around there..i wouldnt be surprised if the albies were in the region of 32 40.00 117 46.00- it just runs right up the line of where they have been for the last week now, and water temp is about the same....

As the Anchor Drags J.D.'s Big Game Tackle    Sunday, June 03, 2001,
Overcast with a early morning wind from the west, starting to cap by 9 am. A large swell and wind on the outside albacore waters  Birds and bait on the 277 ? Albacore? 20 miles below San Clemente Island all along the Clemente Canyon's 500 fathom drop-off and its current breaks created by the upwelling was holding Albacore, from the canyon out to the Butterfly Bank many reports came in from private boaters who have caught fish there yesterday, not a whole lot of fish and it seem it was over by 10am but they're there. Purple & Black or Green and Black colored feathers or Ceder plugs were the hot jigs.

The catch information we had was from 976-bite, which I believe is one of the best sources of information and worth the $2 phone call. We were heading to the 302 and 230. When we cleared the point, no one was going our direction. We got to the 302 around 5:30. We set out the lines, 1 Rapala, 2 B/P small Catchy, 1 Purple Haze fish trap and 1 small six shooter. At 5:50, we get the first hookup on the B/P Catchy. The fish was a 20 pounder. Unfortunately, we weren't organized enough yet to through those great Anchovies the get a bait bite going. Water was 62.8 degrees, clean and a beautiful blue/purple. We made one circle over where we caught the fish, then proceeded toward the 230.

We continued to pick up more Albies. We came across a boat that was stopped, a saw a paddy some distance away from the boat, so we trolled past and Al hooked up a yellowtail on a Purple Haze Fish Trap. After he got that fish in, we tried bait and Al got another Yellowtail and this one made a bee line back to the kelp, and got hung up in it. I backed the boat to the kelp and we got the fish. We left the paddy, continues to troll to the 230 and beyond. We never saw any other paddies, but picked our way to a limit of Albacore, plus the two Yellowtail Al caught. The last two fish actually came on the inside of the 302 when we were on our way back in and I was cleaning fish. This was something like 23 miles from Point Loma.

Skies were overcast, it drizzled off and on, but it want windy and the seas were calm. The boat ran great and got us back safely. Best of all, the program came together for two fishing buddies. Too often, we have these good catch days when novices are on board and they think it's 'no big deal'. They don't appreciate the work you do to make it happen for them.  So when it happens for the 'A' team, it's great.

VHF: 7 Albies @ 77-miles     moorefish     ALLCOAST       May-31-01, 10:01 AM (PST)
Overheard another boat (on my boat's vhf radio) saying they already had 7 fish at 77-miles! It was on Ch 79 and was coming in loud and clear parked at my Job site near Deep Hole. Mike, legacy

7 Albies US Waters today    tj     ALLCOAST     May-31-01, 12:34 PM (PST)
976tuna.com says that the Bongos II has seven albies in US Waters today. Did not say where though. Almost ready!!!!!!!!

Sunday...Diego paddy hopping!!   Smelt_one     ALLCOAST     May-27-01, 07:24 PM (PST)
About 10 fish for the day...flat seas....fish seemed to be on the inside of the highspots...on paddys. Spotted a sailfish about 6 miles east of the 371. Water was 63.5 and a little cooler down by the 390....62.8 degrees. No really wide open paddys..but the one with the sailfish (probably means Swordfish) went wide for a while...towards the end. Patience and perserverence was the key.

RE: ALBIES     hermit     ALLCOAST    May-28-01, 08:18 PM (PST)
Hey sea shepard, that was me w/ that bluefin off the paddie...we must have past each other as we switched spots! i heard ur report of albies out by the 390 and took off that way- and i think u did vice-versa..thats funny! man i should have trolled around that area where i caught the bluefin caus once i got out to the 390,i heard u report catching albies there....that area looked real promising too! oh well. man, did u score on those albies that day! im gonna be going out again this week, and maybe hit that same general area..but this time its gonna be strickly trollin. maybe well hook up some time out there. theHERMIT.

425 Saturday   Reelobsession62     ALLCOAST        May-27-01, 01:13 PM (PST)
Left Kona marina w/buddy's Lukas,his dad Tom and another friend Mike at 5am. Picked up bait at everingham brothers(nice dines and chovie mix) and headed out towards 425. Stopped on a bunch of paddies about ten miles shy and found nothing. Water temp there was 61.5. continued on towards 425 and about 3 miles shy we found a large paddie that was holding yellows. everyone was bit instantly on the dines. we landed 4 nice size yellows 15-20lbs w/ one farmed and one broken off before the paddie was swarmed by about five boats. A couple of the boats landed a few more fish but as usual one of the boats had to try to back up and park on the paddy and naturally shut the bite off. Won't these people ever learn? Continued on towards 425 then 371 then 302. found lots of paddies but no more yellows. Finished up the day on the inside of south island on nice pick on the 12-15 in. calicos and sand bass. Limits for all on the chovies. When we got back to slip found out that a neighbor had gotten two albacore at the 390 and lots of yellows there also

Largest School of Albie Ever Seen !  moorefish    ALLCOAST   May-26-01, 06:30 AM
Massive schools of Albacore are coming hard and fast! Per 690 talk radio, Capt. Dan Sampson onboard the American Angler said they had over 200 albacore for the day on fish ranging anywhere from 12 to 35-pounds. "I saw the largest school of albacore I've ever seen in my entire career fishing 200-miles from San Diego," stated the 35-year veteran. "There's also some bluefin, dorado, and turtles mixed in with the schools of albacore. The water is blue, 63.5 to 64 and the current is screaming to the NNE so I expect this stuff should be within 1-day range shortly. Get ready," stated Sampson. Wow. Is this sounding to be the motherload of all seasons or what? Do I have you fired up? Mike, Legacy

5/25 Tuna & Yellows   REELZEN     ALLCOAST     May-25-01, 10:12 PM (PST)
Here is a quick run down on how things went with us today on my buddies boat. Went south to the double 220, lots of paddies but, only one produced a couple of tails. Went 15 miles south of there and found even more paddies but, no one home. Headed towards the 238 and found a paddie about 5 miles south which we picked up 15 tails and 2 bonito. Moved on and between 2-3 miles south of the 238 we found a paddie with a small number of bluefin, but we tried everything and after more than an hour we gave up. They just didn't seem interested in anything we tried. Headed towards the 425 and about 7 miles south finally we had a jig strike, small 15 lb bluefin on black and purple feather. Called it quits just south of the islands and headed home. Water was nice all day, sorry can't tell you what the water temp was my buddies temp gage was OOC. Tails were 10-15 lbs, bonito 5 and 9 lbs. I'm taking my boat out tomorrow, hope to see you out there. Frank REELZEN

may 25, limits of yellows   sushiholic    ALLCOAST      May-26-01, 08:04 AM (PST)
left mission at 3, looked like good sardines with minimacs mixed in, however about half rolled early, here we go again with bad summer bait. about 15 miles south of the 302 we hit a dry paddy, then another dry one with a boil 2-300 yards off, headed to that and boated limits of 10-13 pound yellows in about 45 minutes, farmed too many, but with limits in the box we put out the riggers and trolled southwards torads the 390. we got a single and a quad on bonito, and a lonely 12 lb yellow on a black and purple zuker. We were hoping for a lonely bluefin or albie, but that was not in the cards. the water was glassy even close to the 390. back at the dock at 3, after running at 28 mphs from 40 miles out, that flat...just plain unbelievable.  Wonderful day  -SushiholicFishing is so much better than working

Tuesday May 22, 2001 Fishing Report  - Affordable Marine  El Bombero May 22, 2001 08:03 PM
Left San Diego bay this AM with a load of large sardines in hopes of finding some yellows. The ride to the 302 was smooth and pleasant. Search around the 302 and to the SW for nada. Small kelp paddies scattered all over but couldn't find that one big one. Only fish found were bonita. Water temp 64-65 degrees around the 302. Wind started to come up around 10 AM and began churning things up by noon. Could find a paddie unless you ran into it, so we returned to Point Loma. We were hoping to fish the kelp, but the wind made the drift to fast and we called it a day. 98 miles on the Shamrock. Still beats working. Hopefully this predicted warm spell will get things going again. Clyde

Monday Offshore Yellowtail   Livingwater  ALLCOAST   May-21-01, 08:44 PM (PST)
Left mission bay at 6:30am today, 5/21 for the 425. Could not find a paddy other than a couple on the nine for the life of me. Then towards the 371 we start trolling, the water looks real good, bait, birds, current breaks. A boat "Wildcat" is 8-10 south of the 371 finding some paddies and good conditions, but no fish, except for a lone yellowtail he saw near a kelp. We head that way, thinking I can at least spear this one yellowtail if it wont bite. We find a paddy, 32.08 X 117.31 that looks good, and has a bunch of yellowtail around it. It was wide open on blue and chrome, and live bait, every cast. We called in the two boats in the area, and they hooked up right away as well. We ended up with 8 fish, 8-17lbs, and lost at least 5 to light line and the kelp, and teaching a new guy how to fish.

Before leaving, I jumped in with my camera and speargun to see what was there. Saw a school of 20+ fish, 8-10lbs, and a group of 4-5 fish that were 18-20lbs. Also saw a 4' blue shark, and what looked like a mako jump out near the paddy. If we only found one paddy all day, I'm glad this was the one, and that we could all share info and fish.    Gene

Southern Yellowtail for Monday   fishonbro   ALLCOAST May-21-01, 11:52 PM (PST)
my budy and i launch from SI 5:30 am, figured we would head out to the 9. no life. then we headed for the 302, lots of carpet out there nun holding. then we went to the 371, few paddies, not holding again. thought this was going to be a bad day. we had been talkin to livingwater most of the day, he was on a wide open paddy, called us in to share it with him. we made the ten mile run to his paddy. (10-12 miles south of the 371) we slide up on the paddy slow trollin deans, zing double hookup. man that paddy was wide open. irons, deans, instant hook ups. limits for all. great day of fishin the yellows. i want to thank livingwater and wildcat for letting us share that paddy.  thats what fishin is all about. hope to find a paddy of my own someday and share it with a fellow angler. thanks again  livingwater and wildcat   fish-on-bro....

Offshore Watch for the Swordfish to show after the new moon this week!  Swordfish should be here by this time of the year, if your traveling offshore keep in mind the bigger fish move into these waters early spring, have a rigged squid or better yet an rigged barracuda ready! World record sized Bonito off the 43 Fathom Bank and the Ridge. When the Flying Fish show up, that's the time when things really gets going! JD

Good news for the Newport Beach boaters , the bait receiver has returned back to their spot at the entrance of the harbor, by this weekend it will be in full operation.. Call them on Ch 79 VHF, tell them JD's sent you!, Anchovies, Sardines and smaller brown baits all available today,

The Fin-Nor Inc was just bought by the Cape Fear rod co. just this past week, trying to drum up much needed cash for the deal, they were offering additional cash discounts to dealers.

Aloha Airlines will soon be flying out of Orange County directly to Hawaii, from there you can catch the afternoon's flight to Midway Island . Latest Fish Reports

As far as fishing goes over here...Well it's been a little slow on the Ahi lately, we had a run about two weeks ago of 15-30lbs. We do have a lot of Mahi-Mahi, and Ono right now. I just started seeing the Akus' (skipjack) today so the Yellowfins should be coming soon. Marlins were kind of slow New Big Game Lures From Roddy Hays!

Roddy Hays New Marlin and Big Game Lures! No one else in the world has these for sale, except us! Only 12 were available at this time, only a limited quantity are being hand build at a time. $69.95 :jdsbiggame@aol.com Roddy is off to the Canary Islands for the next two months representing the United Kingdom in a tournament there. We wish him the best of luck- JD

Baja Mexico 05/21/01
Private yachts traveling northwards from the Cape this week have found cool water after they left the Cape, 64 degrees off the Morgan Bank and a few porpoise, by Pt Tasco it had dropped another couple of degrees and turned green / offcolor, The Thetis Bank held only Yellowtail.

Cabo San Lucas, Baja Mexico. Fog Bank off Palmilla this week as the cooler pacific waters hits the warmer waters of the Sea of Cortez. The Atucha, had 3-4 Marlin on Jigs (at once) and observed several other boats with the same. The fish have not been on the surface because of the effects of the moon this past week. The Marlin were at 16 Miles off Palmilla. Excellent Marlin fishing to come. It is already good. 30-40 Lbs Tuna, 12 Miles 130 degrees from "Cabo Rocks" (free swimmers). 40-70 Lbs Tuna at Gordo Banks continuing to bite. Dorado are starting to show.   Good fishing ahead. Good Luck, Tony Nungaray

Want to charter a trip with the ATCHUA skipped by famous Capt. Tony Nungaray mailto:www.hookedoncabo.com or give us a call or e-mail us for a charter $1100 per day 42 Bertram. He know his stuff and we'll be glad to set you up! :jdsbiggame@aol.com

Another great angler e-mailed in his report this morning from La Paz, "(Chris Hull)
To: JDSBigGame@aol.com
Hi JD ... I've been fishing on the Sea Raider out of La Paz. Very nice dorado fishing 10 miles or so east of Isle San Jose and down to Espiritu Santu. Lots of skipjack in the area. We actually brailed 10 inch sardines from the sea on Sunday and 12 inch squid on Monday. Check out those brown kelp paddys. Some were live squid. See you soon. Chris

Mexico, Mazatlan . Improving weather and fishing for tunas and a few dorado

Mexico, Ixtapa/ Zihuatanejo Despite the cooler water temps on the inside there were some blue Marlin on the outside, 25 to 30 miles. Big 200lb tunas also!

Midway Sportfishing 7 Days 6 days fishing, air, rooms, $4,995 (for two people)

302 Sunday report  NoSlack    May-20-01, 06:41 PM (PST)
We worked the area outside and down from the 302 today for 2 yellows and a Bonita. The area looked great with flat seas, clean 63 degree water and bait all over the place. The area 5 miles south west was holding the most kelp with 1 out of 10 holding something other than bait. This area looks like it is ready to go off big time in the next few days. I finished the day off with a nice butt in Mission Bay while we were putting the rods away and getting the boat ready for the trailer. Mike

Finally at about 9:30 came across the "Mary Elizabeth" working an area about 200 yards off a paddy southwest of the 425. Trolled feathers around the paddy and got hit on a black and purple for one fish. Pick up the "Mary Elizabeth" on the VHF and she guided us in next to her where the water was boiling with yellows. Starting throwing bait. Just as soon as each line hit the water BAM!!!. All hell broke loose for about 15 minutes. We gaffed 7 yellows and lost about that many more because of insufficient line test. All fish in the 2025 lbs class. And that was it for the day. We headed home around 11 A.M.

I would like to thank the "Mary Elizabeth" for their excellent paddy etiquette and there help in guiding us to the fish. They got their limits and helped make our day.

And to top off the day we baited a swordfish (32 20 51, 117 32 14). This guy was really active but was not interested in the bait we slow trolled. Fish was sighted at tide (1410).   Dennis, thanks for all of your hard work on this site. Marc "Makaira"

J.D.'s Big Game Tackle  Monday, May 14, 2001,
Barracuda fishing rated good off the Huntington Beach Power Plant (twin stacks) or the Newport pipeline or red buoy. Short halibut, lots of them all over the flats. Almost all these small halibut are males, just getting ripe with milt, given a week or two the larger females will move in. Watch for the bigger fish next weekend or the following weekend.

Offshore reports say Yellowtail in the 12 to 20lb range were found in good numbers under drifting kelp patties around the 302 fathom spot. 

Swordfish should be here by this time of the year, if your traveling offshore keep in mind the bigger fish move into these waters early spring, have a rigged squid or better yet an rigged barracuda ready! 

Thresher Sharks off Newport, Laguna Beach to Dana Point! Good news for the Newport Beach boaters , the bait receiver has returned back to their spot at the entrance of the harbor, by this weekend it will be in full operation.. Call them on Ch 79 VHF, tell them JD's sent you!, Anchovies, Sardines and smaller brown baits all available today,

I spoke with Captain Buzz Brizindine of the Prowler out of Fisherman's Landing who went paddie hopping today for 20 yellowtail and 24 of the bigger bonito. Buzz reported that the yellows were scattered around on quite a few paddies offshore and reported that there were fish being caught by quite a few boats in the area. He was encouraged by what he saw offshore and reported that the Holiday had the 1 bluefin and 12 yellowtail fishing further down the line on a one day trip and that the Indian out of H&M landing had limits of yellowtail and an albacore on a 1 1/2 day trip fishing down off Colnette. Buzz is willing to keep running trips offshore every day during the week if there are enough reservations. Right now he said it looks kind of light on the reservations to get out on the weekdays this week but if you are interested, you can contact Fisherman's Landing to make a reservation and see if there are enough names gathered to put a weekday trip together. Sounds like it could be an opportunity to maybe get out on a lightly loaded trip.

Private boater Lee Mayo called and reported fishing local kelp paddies for limits of yellowtail and 4 bonito on the day. Lee said that the water was 62.7 degrees and a clean blue green color and that the yellows were 8 to 12 pound fish.