Marlin Club Monday Fish Report   Marty Morris    7/30/01   7:00pm
San Diego Marlin Club - First Marlin of the year.  Congratulations to Ed Waldman, Caught on his new 29' Blackman, the Moonshine Too, at the Rockpile on his way up from Ensenada. The fish weighed 119.5 pounds, caught on a Mean Joe Green Zuker Zipper...   landed in 25 minutes on 20 pound test....   Dave Verdugo was the closest picking 8/1 for the first Marlin Club Marlin ...

Ed Waldman will always remember the first whopper to hit the deck of his sparkling new boat, the Moonshine Too.

Waldman checked into Point Loma just before dusk last night with the first marlin of the season for a San Diego Marlin Club member. Waldman weighed in a 119.5-pound striped marlin he caught at the Rockpile, below the Coronado Islands, 24.5 miles off Point Loma on a 158-degree heading.

The San Diegan not only caught the fish, but also gaffed it while his skipper, Garven Herring stayed at the wheel of the Moonshine Too, a custom 29-foot Blackman built locally by Don Blackman.

"I'm 73, and Garven is 82; yes, we're an experienced crew," Waldman said.

The marlin hit a Zuker's Mean Joe Green lure on 20-pound test line, and Waldman had it to the boat in a quick 25 minutes.

Waldman's old boat was the Sunshine Too, but he switched to Moonshine Too for a reason. His construction material business is Sunshine Supply, and all his previous three boats, all named Sunshine Too, were tan in color. But this boat is gray, thus Moonshine Too.

A Marlin Club member since 1978, Waldman said this is the first time he weighed in the club's first marlin of the season. "I've tried many, many times before," Waldman said.

Dave Verdugo, back for his third year as president of the Marlin Club, said Waldman's marlin is the fourth caught in Southern California waters this summer. Two others were caught and released, including one on the Dawn Patrol by San Diegan Kirk Mitchell last Thursday, and another was kept and weighed in at Avalon. None of those fish was caught by Marlin Club members.

Off to the secret spotted bass spot and first two drifts hook a few nice ones, so set the anchor. Serious spotties, every few minutes for the next couple hours. All fish legal. Mixed in short halibut. Courtney becomes the halibut princess, because every drop she brings up a short. Erin becomes the bass queen, because she catches the biggest spotties and then a nice 18" juvenile white sea bass. After a while, the bass slow down and we get a lot of short strikes which look like halibut. I tell Michelle to let them take it for a good 10 count before setting the hook.

Now, taking three young girls is a serious commitment to being the ultimate deck hand. I’m baiting Erin’s hook when it gets quiet on the other side of the boat…..

Daddy…., DADDY, DADDEEEEEEE!!!! --- I look over my shoulder and Michelle is pinned against the rail. The fish is stripping line. She finally get’s control and we work on pumping it up. She gets walked around the boat a couple times and we finally get color. - Huge halibut. At least 36". Finally, get it up to the side and release it. Very nice fish. Michelle’s pooped and sits out fishing a while to recover after being crowned Halibut Queen. Great job!

Pick up another legal and a couple more shorts, then move for a few more bass and short bite halibut. All fish released in good health.

Great day on the water. As good as any wide open Albie bite. Watching them get so excited was wonderful. Now if I can just get them to bait their own hooks…..

Tight lines! 
Scott

Sunday SD Off Shore    GatoGordo   Allcoast     Jul-29-01, 09:12 PM (PST)
Hey Guys,  Here's the story... 
Grabbed a decent scoop of mixed baits at the barge and cleared the point at about 5:30 AM heading straight into a 1-2 foot mixed swell. I pointed it toward the Butterfly and ignored the bouncing. Swell wouldn't have been bad, but we had to run right into it to get to the fly. Anyway, about 12 miles short of the fly we stumble on a smaller kelp and throw a few baits. Nothing. Then after soaking baits for about 5 min, my buddy gets bit. From then on it was pretty much WFO for QUALITY Yellows ranging from 15 - almost 40 pounds. Most fish were a solid 20lbs. except for one small fry at 8 lbs. We drifted 1/2 mile off the kelp and brought the fish wish us. Also trolled up a couple albies in this area. Awesome.  We got a limit of Yellows in the boat by 9:30 and decided the Bfly sounded slow so we would run to the 421/390 area. About 5 miles short of the 421 we hit another decent paddy with breaking fish all around. More YT. We released a few of those and trolled the outside of the paddy hoping for a BFT. Then the rapala line goes nuts, doesn't sound like an albie or YT. I'm hoping for a BFT or BET. After a couple of minute fight, I land a 40lb Mako and quickly released him.

Nothing going on the 421, we were the only boat down that way so we packed it in and headed for the 371. Started trolling a few miles short of the bank for nada. Just as I was ready to pull the lines, Jigstrike. We land 2 nice big albies and decide to call it a day.    All told 140 miles, 40 gallons (I love my 4 strokes), 10 YT (many released), 6 Albies, 5 rat blue sharks and a little Mako (released).  Also, we saw jumping and boiling YFT and tried trolling and baiting with no luck. There is a ton of fish on the banks just waiting to REALLY bite. Should be a fun summer.  I'll try to post a pic of the big Yellow that my buddy Dave caught tomorrow. CYA,  GatoGordo

East Butterfly Sunday  TailChaser   Allcoast    Jul-29-01, 09:34 PM (PST)
Bloody decks and boiling chickens!   I'm exhausted. Short story today. East butterfly, 19 albacore, mostly jig fish. Three anglers. (yeah yeah...no need to open a debate - we were in the US legit -and all of the fish will be consumed by happy friends and family) Fish were everywhere, just keep trolling. Boilers in the afternoon for a couple bait fish. Water temp 67.3 to 67.4. Standard colors in 5" to 7" jetheads worked all day long. Seas sloppy but no real ground swell to contend with. Made 20 knots out - 35 knots on the way back.   May your rod bend with the weight of a thousand fishes.  

"Knot Now" tuna 7/28   SWAG     Allcoast     Jul-29-01, 11:38 AM (PST)
Ran way down South trying to connect on big Bluefin but we failed you OB1  The weather early was a little swell and alot of wind. The drift was very rolly-polly. Later in the day it was still windy but the swell subsided some. Water temps 66.5 to 67.5 before my temp guage went nuts and displayed 99.9 degrees. We did have some very good Albacore fishing and did get 2 Yellowfin around 18lbs. The Albacore were not as large as the Buttefly Albies but a nice grade of fish 15-20lbs. Thanks to "Happy Hooker" and "4Tuna" for sharing the information on the Bluefin. They had a very good day with some very nice Bluefin.   Please see the "XXXX-no spam-XXXX" for the location details. The purpose of that board is to keep the information about Bluefin from the seiners.   At first light we had a hook-up on 20lb ablbies and got one bait-fish but farmed some and they sunk out. We did not get into the action again until around noon. They came up chewing and it was very good fishing on the Albacore. We found a paddy early that yielded two yellowtail but the rest of the paddies were completely dry. Ran Northwest still looking for the Bluefin and got a good Zing on the Jigs that turned out to be Yellowfin. We got a double-jig strike and pulled in one troller for an Albacore. I tossed some bait and ZAP, good pull, but doing that characterisitic zig-zag that the yellowfin often do. We had left one hanging in the corner and at color those 2 decided to do a flag pole dance around the prop. The skipper started shouting some rather incoherent babble, something about a cluster**** in the corner. The crew thought the skipper had gone insane and in fact he had - for a moment. The skipper proceeded to unravel the prop like a mintstrel playing the fiddle. A few moments later and two fat yellowfin are flopping on the deck.   Total score: 15 Albies, 2 yellowfin and 2 yellowtail

Saturday......More Albies..     Smelt_one   Allcoast   Jul-28-01, 10:36 PM (PST)
Quick report here.....a little tired. Went on a 225 heading and ended up going 50 nm. Spoted breaking fish (tuna) at 15 nm, 20nm, 25nm, 30nm, 35nm, 40nm, 45nm, 49nm. Well maybe exaggerating a little, but not much. Caught plenty of albies, but no yft or bft. We just lost so many on the bait, I can't remember if we even boated a bait tuna. Most on jigs, and many bait fish farmed. Best spot was 42nm@225 approx.
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7985
Good night now!   Chris

BFT     SeaShepard     Allcoast      Jul-29-01, 01:48 AM (PST)
Landed 5 BFT from 30 to 40 pounds all on bait and farmed 4 (Rookies) at 31.37/117.37 These numbers are just south of the doble 220. We also landed 3 albie on the jigs from 15 to 20 pounds. Quick note If we would of had more bait we would have put more BFT on the boat they were just going on a chew for the dines. Sorry for the short report but going out again tomorrow and need to get some sleep. Last but not least a big thanks to Pat on the "Got Bait" for calling us in on the epic BFT bite. Tight Lines Jason

Friday/Sat     divedemo    Allcoast     Jul-28-01, 07:29 PM (PST)
Was going to head down to the upper 500 and heard the Butterfly was going off so we went out there on Friday. Not wide open for us but lots of fish out in the area of 32.22/118.03. Sleepy time on the boat friday nite and get underway at 0100 on Sat. Allready a line at the bait barge, not a good sign. Headed out to those same numbers and it was a steady pick of albies to 40lbs most of the day. I was going to head out again on Sunday but decided I needed some rest and my GPS quit working on the way in as well. I am sure the fish will be out there again. Seas where a little bumpy out there today but very fishable. Keep it reel.

Butterfly-302      SeaDancer      Allcoast     Jul-28-01, 04:02 PM (PST)
Short Report:  45 miles from Pt Loma: Albies, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, bluefin tuna in area of East Butterfly.
Detail Report: Thanks to other Allcoasters for their reports, which always makes it easier to at least where to start and where to avoid, since I don't get out more often than every couple of weeks or so. Also, Bites On.com and Terrafin charts for good data. Craig and Ed fished Friday on the Sea Dancer, 26' Sea Ray. Launched Shelter Island about 4am. Bait receiver had only sardines, no anchovies (they ran-out 15 minutes before we got there). Ocean flat calm, no wind, warm, no humidity. Overcast all day, which was nice. Last trip was Victory at Sea, so this was a nice change. Ran out to the area about 5 miles above the 302 to start, worked to the east butterfly area. Scratched-out a few albies from about 6:30 until 12:30, trolling. Stopped on a few paddies - got nothing. Also worked a few porpoise schools for YFT - got none. Saw quite a few small yellowfin tuna schools popping-up that would go down as soon as we got close. Would not hit any feathers. We heard of other boaters getting them to hit on small, stainless steel/chrome type rapalas. Anchovies would probably work also, especially if you had enough to brail and bring them back up.  Albies became wide open from about 1pm and on. We did not get any on sardines, only jigs. Best for us were Loose Cannon mini jigs, also black/purple Zukers (regular-size) and Zucchini Zukers(regular size). Ended up with 15+ albies, from 20-30lbs. Lost one albie at the boat between 40-45 lbs. Heard of others over 40lbs from other boaters.  Heard radio reports of others in the area were getting bluefin tuna to 50lbs, yellowtail to 25lbs, and yellowfin tuna to 35lbs. The yellowfin tuna that we say jumping and boiling only looked like 10lbs or so. Yellowtail were caught on the paddies. Also heard of one dorado, but not sure where.  The best fishing (albies, BFT) was within a 1/2 mile radius. About 10 boats or so were working the area. There were no party boat in the area and a couple of six-packs. Mostly just private boaters/skiffs.  At one point, all boats around us were hooked up at the same time. About half a dozen boats were drifting with live bait, and getting hooked up also.  Started cleaning fish on the way in, and we were still catching jig fish when we decided to stop and head-in, at 30 miles. Flat seas and able to run in at warp speed.   Closest fish were caught at 30 miles off the point, approximately 240 degree heading.  
More Specific Details: 
Center of 1/2 mile radius of wide open fishing:   32.20N /118.00W   We did best in the afternoon. Not sure how this area was at first light and through noon since we were somewhere else, but not too far away.      Craig Gilbert    Sea Dancer    HB

BFT    me         Allcoast     Jul-28-01, 08:34 PM (PST)
Just said no to the 'fly crowds and went towards the double 220 for an epic stop on BFT off a tiny little kelp. Three rookie anglers aboard the "got bait," along with me and my GF managed to get into a three hour stop on the 30-45 BFT (we actually used a scale), plus a few albies to 30 pounds and a 22 pound yellow. Drifted 1.7 nautical miles. Got ten BFT, lost count of the ones we lost. I probably hooked fifteen, and handed them to my guests, who weren't really ready to pull on these fish on 25 pound. The BFT stayed with the boat the entire time, boiling and splashing around. Passed of the spot to Sea Shepard, and watched him get four or so. He probably had more later. I'm sure he'll report. Funky chop in the morning backed off as the day wore on!   Lots of extra mileage and fuel, but the quality of the fish couldn't be beat, and no aggravation from the weekend crowd.  31 37   -    117 37

Mex Limit for two on Friday    geofish     Allcoast   Jul-28-01, 10:06 AM (PST)
Left MB at 3:30 with nice Chovies, no dines. Arrived at 302 at graylight and set the dark feathers, trolled to 230, headed SW and got a double (albies - both purple/black zukers), then landed 3 baitfish (farmed one). Last one a 23pound albie on 12 pound test (corsair reel on a bass stick). Fun, but a lot of work. Saw dodos, but no takers. Headed for the 371, got another double and 3 more on bait. All this by 9am. Felt good, saw breaking Yellowfin between 230 and 371, I never saw YF leaping out of the water like dolphins, amazing....really gets the heart pumping......no cigar.....tried everything but the kitchen sink....  Trolled all morning trying to land the first YF of the year. Started patty hopping, few and far between....Found one yellowtail, landed one and lost two......  Headed for the barn....  Numbers of two jigstops:    32.21.047/117.42.223 &  32.19.433/117.42.603  From the sounds of it, we got lucky. tightlines, geo-fish  

Butterfly friday     Rhandfield   Allcoast   Jul-28-01, 09:57 PM (PST)  
Sorry for the late post... I hear that it was was WFO again on Sat. North east of the east Butterfly. Tons of fish. Great size....all 25 plus...and a 34lb yellowtail and a 31 lb bluefin. All the albies you want and plenty of other stuff mixed in. Digital camera took a S*#& but I will have film done in a few days and I will post. Plain cedar plug took the bluefin and the albies were biting on everything. They chewed the sardines but not as well as I heard the guys with anchovies.  Go Get em! 
Total:  7 Albies ( over 80 lbs of meat when dressed)  3 Yellowtail (one 34 pounder)  1 31 lb bluefin. Rick "Sniper"

You guys don't wanna hear this report 27th July 2001    kepdawg     Allcoast   Jul-27-01, 03:03 PM (PST)   
Fished the 302, 230, and all around for 5 paddys and 3 yellows and my buddy farmed one of them. Really fishy areas and some right kind of meter marks, just no jig fish on the troll. NO eye ball fish, and the radio sounded really dissapointing in the way of hookups. There were some eye ball fish closer to the afternoon out around the 230, and I watched a boat catch 2 dorado (nice grade of fish too) off a really small paddy north east of the 230 at about 5 miles. Don't pass up any paddys no matter how small. There was a mother of a paddy that some guys got 20 yellows off off of before the small blue sharks took over. Seems like every paddy had blue sharks on it.  Our last paddy 4 1/2 miles from the point we got our last yellow. Kind of seeing the transition from albie to yellow fin happening just like a few years ago. Lots of 68-70 degree water and those same jelly fish down 15-20' deep.  I saw the same sea monster today, it did not want to get close to the boat for a good I.D. but now I belive it was some kind of small sea turtle.   Anouther good sighn that a warm current will invade our area.  NO JIG STRIKES.   Hmmmmmmmmm?  The radio also said nothing at the 425, 302, 230 except one or two fish, and paddys being the mainstay. Some yellowfin on the porpose out past the nine, and some breezer tuna around the 230 in the afternoon. I'm 1010 or upper 500 bound tonight, maybe even the butterfly. Will report general info if I'm allowed to-----LOL-------- Good luck you local bank's guys this weekend and be kind to eachother. Most of all come home safe and post your report PLEASE. Kep

The 2nd Annual Dana Point Mako Madness Tournament was an outstanding event and very successful keeping each team vying for positions, points, whilst searching high and low for the tagged mako and the big one to claim the $ 50 000.00 cash reward for the released Mako. In addition to beautiful Ford Truck F150 from Sponsors Burch Ford which was on display tempting each team.

Saturday mornings Shotgun start went without a hitch and all 39 teams checking in for the start racing out to their secret spots. The beautiful 35ft Cabo Express was loaned by Cabo Yachts to the tournament as the official tournament boat filming this event. First Hook up came at 6.34 am and will receive a special reward of a beautiful signed original Mako artwork from Boyce Images, one of the tournament sponsors.

The tournament channel 71 was non stop from this point onward with teams calling in their hook ups and releases all day. Many tournament boats reported double and tripple hook ups. Then came the first boated fish for the day called in from Team West Marine also a huge sponsor approximately 66 inches (100 lbs) creating a buzz at the weigh station.

Leading Saturday for the most releases were Team Huh-Dad (9) from King Harbor, Team Line Dance (9) from Marina Del Rey and Team Joan Boat III (9) also from Marina Del Rey. The word soon got around Team West Marine were coming in to weigh their fish which weighed in at 110 lbs and rocketing them into first place with the extra 410 pts.

The story of the day left Team West Marine in first Place overall on points but they had not entered all the daily side pools and were kicking themselves for not. The success of the release format saw 147 released mako's and one landed fish on the first day keeping all very busy and the teams on edge with each hook up, proving that we can all go fish a tournament, have fun and release fish.

Leading for Saturday heading into Sunday were:

1st Team West Marine 410 pts
2nd Team Joan Boat III 400 pts
3rd Team Line Dance 360 pts

Sunday got off to a good start once again with the Cabo Yachts tournament boat in chase filming the whole start, hook up's and releases. Sunday at 6.30 am saw Happy Times from Marina Del Rey with the first hook up of the day and releasing the fish at 6.41am.

At 1.41pm Team Tamara called in and landed their fish at 1.48pm and were heading in with a large mako which was brought to the scales weighing 199.2 lbs pushing them into first place with 597 pts. A radio transmission was relayed that the Boat Goat II was coming in with a 600 lb fish and sent the whole dock a buzz with press, media and the crowd swelling in anticipation. The tournament Cabo raced out to meet them while they were heading in dragging the huge fish behind the 24ft Skipjack at 21 knots and filmed the fish been towed in. Everyone was rooting for them to see if they were going to make it in before the 6.00pm cut off time since they were +- 23 miles out after 5.00pm.

The huge mako was brought to the scales and took several ppl to hoist this massive fish out the water onto the docks. Now Dana Fuel owner John van Dixhorn had a challenge, could this fish actually be weighed in this size since it looked larger than the 600lbs and ropes and pulleys were adjusted accordingly to try and make it fit. The first attempts failed and the fish had to be lowered again and all adjustments made.

The huge mako was caught by Tom Brooks of Torrance with his two sons on board Toby 16 and Tyler 14 weighed in at 832.6 lbs, 125 inches in girth and 68 inches around, this had placed team Goat II well into first place and set to claim the Burch Ford F150 Truck.

Several teams filed protests which had to be reviewed and considered in the meantime the first 3 placed team Captains had to submit to lie detector tests which were conducted on site immediately by a leading independent Polygraph specialist. Whilst polygraphs were conducted all tournament participants enjoyed

Listening to the Blues- Jazz band " Limited Vision" which was fantastic while the Claim Jumper Restaurants served up an incredible BBQ Baby Back ribs, BBQ Chicken etc with their famous desserts.

The Claim Jumper staff and food were a highlight of the whole tournament with very hungry tired contestants waiting out the results. A big thanks to Claim Jumper and all our sponsors for making this event as successful as it was.

Sundays unofficial standings pending protests and polygraph results were

1st Place : Goat II 2539 pts
2nd Place : Joan Boat III 1120 pts
3rd Place : Line Dance 640 pts
4th Place : Tamara 637,6 pts
5th Place : Trolling For Skirts 600 pts
6th Place : Team West Marine 450 pts
7th Place : Happy Times 440 pts
8th Place : Lucky Devil 440 pts
9th Place : Fish n Chips 400 pts
10th Place : Corina Corina 360 pts
Team TNT 360 pts
Team Chapparal 360 pts
Team Breakwater 360 pts
Team Cheers 360 pts
Team Wine Cooler 360 pts
Team Fits The Bill 280 pts
Team Marimac 240 pts

The polygraph tests conducted were a tournament rule signed for and acknowledged by each and every Team Captain and once the results were in and all protests concluded the official results are as follows:

1st Place Team Line Dance Captain Russ Witman from Marina Del Rey
2nd Place Team Tamara Captain Ben Travis from Dana Point
3rd Place Team West Marine from Dana Point
4th Place Team Happy Times from Marina Del Rey

The winning Team Line Dance will be sent to the qualifying IGFA Rolex World Championship in Cabo San Lucas May 17th -19th 2002 to compete against all this years tournament winners from all IGFA qualifying events.

The success of Finnseeker's release format has resulted in sponsors already requesting to sponsor next years tourney which will be held the last weekend of July 2002 for the 3rd Mako Madness Tournament out of Dana Point Harbor. The sponsors made the tournament a success said tournament Director Chris Badsey and all the participants acknowledge this was the biggest Mako Tournament and most successful ever to be held out of Dana Point with the 2002 tournament slated to be even larger. Since both the Ford F150 Truck and the $50 000.00 tagged Mako were not claimed we are hoping to do this again next year. Proceeds from the tournament benefit Make a Wish Foundation which we hope to once again be supporting.

We have proven that we can all fish in tournaments and enjoy ourselves by releasing fish to conserve our fishery off our coastal waters said Chris Badsey and he hopes that all future tournaments would follow his

Lead in making their tournaments follow similar guidelines and formats. We had 239 released fish and only 3 weighed in at the scales which proves it works. We would like to thank David Holts of the Scripps

Institute for attending and accepting the reproductive organs for research donated by Mr.Tom Brooks and Mr.Keith Poe for making Shark Tags available to all participants.

Photo's Below
Tournament waiver copy
Tournament rules attached
Chris

7-26 albies, yt   sushiholic    Allcoast   Jul-27-01, 10:48 AM (PST)   
started out MB at 4:30...only chovies for bait. Got around 4 dines. Started at the 3o2, trolling west-south west got 5 single stops around 6 miles from the 302. 5 on a large natural cedar plug, one on a small black and purple feather. went to the 371 got two stops 3 miles short, one cedar plug, on the same feather. two unbuttoned, so we had 5 nice albies to 25 lbs in the box. trolled north towards the inside of the 302 for YFT, but found a nice paddie (3rd of the entire day) got 5 yellow tail to 20lb plus, farmed almost as many. had to head for the barn, but ran through fishy 68.7 water to get to mission bay. Weather really nice most of the day, but fairly choppy running in. covered a total of 113 miles on the GPS ~ 40 gallons.  All in all a great day. The fact that my trailer brake seized (again) on the way home, and my cummins did not feel it, well thats another story (talk about a flat spot )  -Sushiholic Fishing is so much better than working  

Upper 500 7/26      Bravo 6    Allcoast Jul-26-01, 09:32 PM (PST)  
Went to the upper 500 area. Started at 68 statute miles from Mission Bay went as far as 76 miles. By 8:30 a.m had two 30lb class yellowfin and about a dozen Albacore. Finished the day with 16 tuna and 7 yellowtail. Albies were 15 to 25 lbs. Could have fished more and caught more, but no sense getting too greedy. Tired, more later. All numbers were provided to me the night before off the 976 tuna members page.   Gary (Bravo 6) P.S. YFT ate the sardines, What a rush on 20lb test.

Thursday West of the 302    Jezebel Affordable Marine July 27, 2001 05:16 AM
My crew never showed up. Finally I decided to go it alone. Cleared MB Jetty without bait at 8am heding for the 230fa spot. Put the line in at the 224. In 56.5 degree water got a double on smaller albies 6 mi W of the 302. Boxed and figure 8ed the area for 2 hours and ended up with 10 albies up to 30 pounds. Trolled 1 mex flag and 1 mjg and 3 pb. All got bit well but half the fish came from the 6 fathom short lines.   Henry on the WorldCat, Jezebel.

 Thursday's Report       J.D.'s Big Game Tackle      
-317 held some Albacore this morning,
-4 1/3 miles west of the 302 looks good waters clear and blue, seas are nice, sun's just coming out.
-302 is 65.6 degrees, got to go, 11:27am
-Boats working around from the West end of Clemente Island found no fish, working to the southern end of Clemente for a couple of fish just South of China Point 6 miles, the better bite developed towards the Butterfly Bank or off the 118 line below the 43 Fathom Spot
-From what I heard there is a better bite (Albacore) on the Butterfly Bank
-13 miles outside the 302, Marlin just released, on a tuna feather! 11:30am
-We're at 32:38 / 117:58 we're picking at them, a jig strike every fifteen minutes. One's about 40lbs, funny we haven't goat one bait fish and all our strikes are on the short flat line. they're all around in about a four or five square mile area. 11:50am
-32:21/117:40 more albacore.
-Avalon bait barge lot of anchove good hook size, open all night, Newports Bait receiver open all night, anchovies, San Pedro/ Long Beach also has cured anchovies and sardines.
-62.8 degrees along the coastlind from Newport to Huntington Beach, spotty red tide, slow fishing so far this morning
-14 miles from Clemente Island down the ridge, 32:34;800/ 118:08;300 breaking schools of Bluefin , we've taken two on the fish traps, slow trolled a long ways back, one fish we caught is about 50 lbs. approx 8.6 miles from the 43, 240 degrees. (12:56pm)
-Very good fishing for Albacore on the Butterfly this morning
-32:23 /118:00 for a two hour stop! 1:04pm
-the 43 fathom spot was quiet this morning
-Beautiful weather out there today
-we been getting one about every 20 minutes were up to about 11 now, weathers nice.1:45pm
-The VHF radio reception was not that clear today,
-32:21/ 118:01 from 8 am on, we ended 25albacore, 5 bluefin and 2 yellowfin, in about a mile area, we left them biting!, We had a jig strike on a yellowfin that turned into a hour long bite on the albacore and ended up with a 40 bluefin. The CD 14 blue mackeral backed Rapala , it was the only thing we could get them trolling.'
-The front side of Catalina, leeward side and to the west was slow.
-66 albacore, 5 bluefin,1 yellowtail, all on rent rods, we lost a bunch of them,
-Sounds like good sand bass and baracuda fishing off San Onofre
-69.3 off the Avalon Bank, not much happening there either, a few birds, life. tide changes at 3:24 this afternoon we'll see what happens then.
-70 degrees on the 181
-16 miles south of the 43 we killed them, 32:22 / 118 .00 From 30 to 40lbs even Yelowfin, we ended up with 10 fish Green/ back feathers or the purple/ black Rapalas, meter marks, breaking fish. most of the fish came this morning then after noon it was a scratch

The 43     chugey Affordable Marine July 26, 2001 12:39 AM
43 was pretty slow today, nice break, no fish, found some yft 10 miles SW, but not very interested, hope this helps Chugey

RPT-7-24-Prowler Albies, BFT,YFT,YT   Visserc  Allcoast    Jul-25-01, 06:35 AM (PST)
Taking a day off from my intensive Job Search, went fishing on the Prowler Tuesday and slayed em, bunch of albies and I caught my first Bluefin of the year, 15lb fish. I know this is for PB'ers, but wanted to give my PB buds some info, just in case your going fishing soon and could find this helpful, as you have all been so terrific to me on this board. Fishing with 30 other folks the boat landed 110 albies to 40 lbs, 8 YT, 3BFT, and a YFT, 25lbs, we lost a 40lb yft at gaff. We were fishing SE of the 295 "31.35 117.13" about 70 miles from Point Loma, last stop was 62 miles for 12 fish at 3pm. Fish had moved east and in from Mon. from 80 miles, that's 18 miles in 2 days, so tommorrow could be different again. Our heading out was 172 degrees, back 354, since the fish moved east new heading for today would possibly be 165 for 62 miles, east and in north of the 295. We had Water temp 66, no breaks, deep purple, got to get out of the murky stuff north of the 295, temp was still 66 at 45 miles? We had 17 jig stops and everyone had bait fish, we put the jigs in at 5:50 am and didn't get all the rigs out before we were bit. All colors working today, I trolled twice and caught a fish each time on a Blue @ white jethead. Old reliable for me, my hot jig this year and last. The fish only wanted anchovies, mostly 20 lb test and a #1 or 2 hook. We had only big dines and were rationed on the chovies. Many fish on the slide, I could not get bit on the fishtrap, but several folks did catch some on traps. I stopped using it as everytime I through a chovie I was bit. Could of caught a lot more fish but couldn't chum as the bait barge from short on choves and had to ration them out. Chummed with dead and half dead bait. Crew was asking everyone to save their bait after using and put in a bucket for chumming, that's how bad it was. The dines were simply too big and the albies didn't want them. Until 8:30am we didn't go 5 minutes between stops, then it was 15-20 minutes. Fish bit all day, longest between stops probably 30 minutes. As always the crew and accomodations were outstanding on the Prowler and saved many fish from tangles, etc., they worked hard and furious. Fantastic day, overcast, 12-15 mile wind, some whitecaps, 3ft swell, very fishable. Hook up! Cory "tunaslam"

Un-official results:
1st Place : Goat II 2539 pts
2nd Place : Joan Boat III 1120 pts
3rd Place : Line Dance 640 pts
4th Place : Tamara 637 pts
5th Place : Trolling For Skirts 600 pts
6th Place : Team West Marine 450 pts
7th Place : Happy Times 440 pts
8th Place : Lucky Devil 440 pts
9th Place : Fish n Chips 400 pts
10th Place : Corina Corina 360
Chris

Pictures: Vicyory At Sea !!     JerseyBro  Allcoast     Jul-23-01, 08:23 PM (PST)
Don't forget this shot John.   http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot?id=7910 Jersey Bro.   Jimbo

Go Baby Go!!

I think the Mrs. and I departed around 10 PM to get a little shut-eye before I had to be back on the dock at 5 the next morning to work the tournament. Sure was tough all weekend being on that Teal/Turquoise 35 foot CABO EXPRESS. The boat hauls A$$ and came out of the water a few times, and has to be the biggest puddle jumper I've ever been on. Anyway at 6 AM the 59 boats were sent-off in search of Makos, and were checked in just prior. Throughout the day you'd hear so-n-so boat say "hooked-up" then they'd get a confirm number, take a picture of the fish and then a picture of something else. This went on all-day. I'd guess 75+ Makos caught and released day-1 and 1 fish weighed-in by HBhardcore/Chris at, if I remember correctly it was 109 pounds. Just a hectic 1st-day trying to get everyone checked in at the FUEL DOCK, but the owner John did an outstanding job of coordinating and then allowed the tournament folks the use of his skiff to run some 2nd-day check-in packages to some boats in the harbor. By 6 PM everyone was in, but the boat that had caught and released the most Makos. They had 11 and heard they were DQ'd for not being back in by the 6 PM cut-off. OUCH, but rules are rules!

Saturday morning about 8 AM we decided to hit the Mello Bros. bait receiver, and much to my surprise I was called by my first name by the owners wife who happened to be working the receiver. I thought 'how did she know my first name?' Uhhhh must have been the hat that said FloMar on it. LOL! We grabbed a bunch of Sardines and Anchovies. I was pleasantly surprised to see a very good quality of Sardines and Anchovies loaded into both of the 35 CABO'S bait tanks. I was also given a "Thank You John" as we departed to do a little paddy-hopping. Later Saturday evening Sam Mellos wife and I would discuss and talk about STUFF. I found her very positive, and very easy to speak with. I also counted 24 individual receivers that they now have. That's a bunch IMO. If we could just keep those Party Boats from getting bait there would be plenty for US Private Boaters. LMAO!

We did a lot of filming of boats and fish being caught and released. We did a lot of driving around in that 35 CABO EXPRESS. I'll post some pictures tonight. One fine boat, but the 700K+ price tag is just a tad out of my league, just a little. The owner of the Fuel Dock (John) is a great guy, met him for the 1st time Saturday morning, and the rest of the guys working it were also pretty cool to us over the weekend. Allowing us to do whatever (well almost) and whenever (well almost). I did fish the dock briefly Sat/PM catching one short Butt, and farming 2 nice fish, well minus a trap rig though. LOL! Boy did Chris/Finnseeker let everyone know that FloMar farmed 2 nice Halibut from the dock. Thanks Chris! Yelled at Jimbo/JerseyBro on the water in the harbor and he came over and said hello to Chris and I. Next thing we knew he'd put HIS boat away and was down with us on the 35 CABO EXPRESS, and then was invited to go along the next day.

The Mrs. laid around the pool all-day at the hotel. She deserved it IMO! She also needed the rest. Later we'd head out for dinner and then back for a movie. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehahhhhh! A little shut-eye and then all over again on Sunday.

Sunday morning arrives. I slept in until 5 to make the dock by 5:30, extra 1/2-hour woohoo. The Mrs. again stays behind to bask in the Sun around the pool all-day.

Arrive at the boat with everyone there but me and being told 'Let's go now'. Out to the barber poles again for the count down start at 6 AM, a little filming of a few of the boats, and then back in to Mello Bros. for some bait and a shot at a few paddies. Saturday's 3 kelp paddies produced NADA, huge paddies, but nobody home. How nice to be sitting up in the 35 CABO EXPRESS tower and looking for paddies. Just felt like being on top of the world. Anyway we hit the receiver and were greeted with the same friendly smile from the owners wife as we'd been greeted with on Saturday. We grabbed some very nice quality Sardines AGAIN, but not before going back to the dock and grabbing MAKO tournament T-shirts for all the workers on the bait receiver, and then we headed straight towards the 277 to begin looking for paddies. We found a bunch. Jimbo and I were picked up once on separate paddies but never had a chance to swing. We saw 2 different big fins with Chris telling us they were Makos, and he baited one with no success. We also saw something go under the boat that was huge and White. I still don't know what it was, and we were later told that there had been a 20+ foot Great White Shark in the area. I know the camera man saw it too, and I'm not sure if he has it on film or not. It was FN HUGE! We ended up at San Clemente Island poking around briefly and found a motherlode of Kelp paddy a mile off the island. I was dragging a bait back to the boat when Chris screams "look at the Yellowtail", but they had lockjaw. We ran 2/3rds up the front and then angles back towards DP. I decided to take a nap and was in LaLaland when I'm almost thrown from the bed. Then again and figured that was Chris' way of saying time to get up. Personally I think an alarm clock would have worked just fine. LMAO!

More filming of boats and released fish on the way in. Seems like we couldn't go anywhere without seeing one of the tournament Black-Flags. Everyone on the water was having a good time, and being very courteous & professional IMO. A lot of boats relaying other tournament boats info back and forth to MAKO CONTROL tournament headquarters when people were out of range. Working together, it can be done. A lot to be said for that IMO. Once again I fished the dock with Jimbo/JerseyBro who'd thrown the lines out while I was up doing STUFF. I came back down, jumped on the boat, and one of the 2 rods is side-swiped. Of course I grabbed it, and a couple minutes later I was on the swim-step of the 35 CABO grabbing a nice 23 inch Halibut. We put it in the tank to get an accurate measurement, and then a few minutes later I released it after a few pictures were taken. Then I caught a nice WSB, not legal, but close. Then Jimbo would catch one. As I turnaround the owner of Claim Jumper is standing on the dock and we say hello. I walked him

up to meet Chris, and then we chatted about STUFF for a few.

We'd heard at least 2 fish that needed to be weighed-in, and then all of a sudden we hear "I have a 600+ pound fish to be weighed-in" and of course being the Black Belt Pessamist I am I thought 'yeah rite'. Then we hear the guy has it strapped to the boat and will be heading in. At 5 PM we decide to hop in the 35 CABO EXPRESS and go see for ourselves, and at about 7 miles out we spot the boat GOAT II going 23 knots with what appears to be a HUGE MAKO hog tied and roped to the stern. We get close enough and all couldn't believe it, but there it was. We all let out screams of joy and gave them a thumbs-up. Filming it them tow it in as we were side by side for 5 miles or so was really pretty neat. We then headed in as there was work to be done. As I got back to the dock there was a Mako waiting to be measured and weighed. I measured and weighed with the help of Frank (nice to meet you) and then hoisted it up. I believe it went 199 pounds. Then another was hoisted up, forget the weight, as I was watching the PIG Mako being lifted onto the dock. It took a bunch of guys and a couple tries but kerplunk there it was. The fish was measured at 10 feet 5 inches. The fish was hoisted by a bunch of folks, but it was leaning against the dock with the scale bouncing around 825 pounds. We decided to bring it down, make a few changes, and then hoist that PIG up there again. Just unbelievable specimen hanging there, and when I finally shouted out the weight the crowd that had gathered cheered and went nuts. 832.5 pounds. The band playing in the background, Claim Jumper cooking Chicken and Pork Ribs, and just a festive atmosphere developing. 

As the Shark hung there waiting for a representative from SCRIPPS in Sandy Eggo to arrive to measure the girth properly, and then cut it open, what looked like a small Sea Lion was making it's way back out the stomach. Originally as I examined the Shark it looked like a gunny sack, but IMO it was fur and a small Seal Lion that the Shark had eaten.

Then DINNER! Oh Boy. I never saw so much BBQ sauce on so many peoples faces in my entire life. IMO Claim Jumper caters events like this LIKE NOBODY ELSE CAN. What a spread of food!!!!! BBQ'd Pork ribs, BBQ'd Boneless Chicken Breasts, their private stash of Potato Salad, fresh Watermelon, and then those 3 inch thick Brownies to top it off for desert. Plenty for 2nds and 3rds too! Nobody that fished the tournament or was involved with the tournament was turned away from the food. Just loads of it. I'm eating Pork Ribs today for lunch! Let me also say the owner of Claim Jumper had his apron on, and was handing out food to all. Down and dirty with BBQ sauce in the trenches. You gotta Love it, I know I did. All the Claim Jumper staff was extremely friendly and went out of there way for whatever we needed.

Also the Burch Ford truck looks like it may have been won, not sure yet though. Minimum weight was 250+ for that to be done, but with a few other teams lodging a few protests I believe it's up in the air for the moment. Many thanks to Marty for his involvement once again, and Don for driving it down.

This was a 100% charity tournament with all proceeds going to the March of Dimes. Chris can fill in the fine points and details. Personally I had a blast with the film folks Alan and his wife Shiela, Jesse, Frank, Chris, Jude, Ivan, John, and many other tournament staff folks. My wife and I were put up for the weekend and enjoyed ourselves immensely. As I drove her back to house this morning

before heading into the office she said, "boy did I need that weekend!". I felt very satisfied at that point, even with her broken toe she was a trooper all weekend.

Chris thanks for allowing me to help and participate, good to see some friends, good to make a few new friends, and Chris relay to Jude that she did a great job IMO with this tournament.

2 hours and counting until I eat more of those Claim Jumper Pork Ribs. I CAN'T WAIT!

Thanks to all the sponsors, especially Claim Jumper. Thanks! I smell BBQ sauce.

I'm out.    John.

W of 302 & 43 report  Sea Hag     ALLCOAST       Jul-23-01, 08:38 AM (PST)
Fished with Gaffer Ron yesterday on his 20' Skipjack Paddy Patrol. This is the boat Formally Known as Lawfortuna. Last owned by Dennis Allen of AMS & his partner. Needless to say this little baby is one fine running machine. I met Ron here at Allcoast and he just so happens to live in the same area only about a mile away. Ron's a cool guy & needs to do more posting & less lurking. We started our day out by launching from Dana Shore's. I think? Forget the exact name. Only after we made sure both alarms were set on the truck and the trailer was cabled, chained, locked and nailed to the parking lot. Bummer that our society forces us to these extremes. Picked up bait about 0300 and were on our way. Reached the 302 around gray's light set our gigs & patterns and started trolling West to about 11 miles off the high spot. But no hookups so we trolled & trolled & trolled but nut-n-honey. Stopped off on a few paddies but nut-n. Now were starting to get that kinda it's going to be a Sushiholic type of day feeling. So we start working our way towards the 43 with about 15 other boaters all spread out in a huge pattern in hopes that someone will get bit. At about 10 miles off the 43 most of the boats have spread way out finally we come across a small school of breaking fish stop the boat almost on top of them and start to dump all our bait most of it is all dead anyway. Pinned on a Nice Sardine and let her fly. Looks like the fish have sunk out. A few minuets later I get picked up set the hook and I'm on. YEEEEEE HAAAAH! Then Ron gets picked up and he's on and we got a double going YEAH BABY! These fish feel like a nice grade and fight hard but we need these ones bad and are not about to loose them. Ron gets his to the boat first on 30lb. and gaffs it himself. Mine takes a little longer with 20lb. Ron gaffs it for me not a very clean shot for a guy that calls himself Gaffer Ron. But the fish is in the boat a couple of twin 30lbers. Nice. High fives and our day is saved. We work the area for awhile longer but it looks like the school is pretty much gone. So back on Troll all the way to the 43 for nut-n. Let’s wined them up were out of here. C-ya.     Ron, I had a great time thanks for the ride.

832.6, and lbs Mako on the Goat II     Keith Poe    ALLCOAST     Jul-22-01, 10:02 PM (PST)
Caught on NEW FISH ALL CHUM at the 172 56 NM run at 22 kts.  Gotta love them SkipJacks their Mako machines.  Congratulation Tom.  Keith

W of 302 & 43    ReelBruin      ALLCOAST       Jul-23-01, 12:46 PM (PST)   
That's how we did too - 3 big albies in 2 1/2 days Friday and Saturday all generally west/nw of the 302/224 area. We did see two big spots of breaking fish but couldn't get bit on those. We did box an area of breaking fish and get one to hit a fish trap! trolled way back, but it didn't stick. Ended up with 3 albies 25-35# (weighed them, biggest 35.8#) all caught on a Zuker's black and purple with a lime head in a daisy chain with black/purple mini-squid dealies (hoochies I think) ahead of it. Hoping to go next weekend, maybe gonna try for a pinnochio next time. We'll see. Josh Reel Bruin GO BRUINS!!! 

7/21 albies W of the 302     Johnny      ALLCOAST      Jul-23-01, 09:11 AM (PST)
Sorry for the late report. Left at midnight 7/20 headed out to the 302 from O'side. The red tide looks awesome at night; disturbances in the water make the plankton (or whatever the tide is made of) glow a phosphorescent blue. The wake from the boat glowed dorado blue for the first mile or two out of the harbor.  Almost collided in the middle of the night with a couple idiot yahoos who had programmed numbers into their autopilot and BOTH gone to sleep.

Got to the 302 area about 6 am, put jigs into the water and started to troll. Saw some jumpers right away and boxed the area for nothing. Could see 10-15 boats around us at any given time. Around 9 am we finally got a jig strike for a good 25 pounder, followed by another single jig strike for a 12 pounder. I soaked a dine down deep and got bit just as the troll fish was boated. Landed a nice 28 pounder after a few minutes, and we started to troll again. Had a short strike on one of the outriggers, then another short strike on the same lure, then a third strike that stayed on. I figured that if there were that many fish wanting that one lure, there must have been some volume to the school, so I threw the bait kind of heavy, and they came up really good. Never crashed the corner, but every bait in the water was a bite for 5 solid minutes. Might have lasted longer if I hadn't forgotten to keep chumming.

Never did get another jig strike after that melee at about 10 am. Trolled north inside the 43 into 68 degree water and decided to call it a day and run home at about 1 pm. Great day on the water, ended w/ 9 albies and 4 yellowtail off a paddy we stopped on in the morning...  

 J.D.'s Big Game Tackle       Saturday, July 21, 2001,
Lasted reports, 7:00 am, Albacore and Bluefin 6 miles 32:43/118:22. approx 6 miles off China Point, San Clemente Island, Another area outside of that held most of the sportboats out of SD, at 32:40/118;37, If I was going tomorrow I'd go to that spot off China , Prime time 9:30 - 10am , lots of bait fish taken, we got 41 fish, there must have been 75 to a hundred boats out there.
-67 DEGREE WATER AND i SAW TWO BIRDS,
-33/57 WE JUST HAD A SINGLE JIG STRIKE, 3 on bait, three or four boats stopped, we could have done better we lost a few, 8:22am
-Five minuets ago we had 5 fish hooked up, ended up with two, pretty nice weather it's backing down a bit, look better, 8:45
-Great color break, we've got several on board 32:24.0/ 118:13.091
-One swordfish baited off the 181 fathom spot, 10:50.am, high tide today 11:16am, yesterdays marlin that was seen was on the tide change also.
-Another marlins lost on a jig strike in the albacore grounds, 10:51am
-boat five jig strikes in the past mile, caught 13 fish were at 32: 20/ 118: 03 .6 1:30pm
-Solid jig strikes this morning from dawn till10 am, Some fish up to 46lbs! most of the fleet fished south of Clemente Island or even 12 off the head towards the 43
-We found a paddy with a dozen , no 20, no 50, no a hundred yellowtail, not one took a bait, lure, jig, live anchovy, sardine, mackeral nothing, they just weren't hungry!
-70 degrees on the 181. Very few kelp paddies found near the offshore banks,
-Broadbill Special, Fish for Broadbill Swordfish during a night time drift aboard our 46 sportfisher , Trips forming for next weekend, give us a call for booking, $200.00

Yellowfin On The 302   Affordable Marine    Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 23:03:04 EDT 
Hi Dennis, Just got home from cleaning the boat. Very tired. There was a big spot of Yellowfin Tuna piled up on the temperature break (67.3 rapidly down to 66.9) just outside the 302. Here are the numbers...32.26 - 117.34. Alot of fish breaking surface in a 2 mile radius around these numbers. The bad news is they were really finicky. We did see a couple get landed on the troll. We scratch up only one on a sardine in the middle of breaking fish. The one we landed went 30 pounds. Ass kicking fish compared to those albacore. Trolled south on the other side of the beak and didn't get any albacore until the water dropped to 66.3. Scratch bite at best for us (2 albies). We did manage three nice big yellowtail off a patty (all three we 30 pounds). All fish were taken within 30 miles of Point Loma. Slow day but nice variety and excellent quality. Hope this helps someone for Sunday.   CodFather     

fish report Sat. 7/21      Affordable Marine    Date: 21 Jul 2001 19:51:40 -0700 
We left San Diego bait reciever 12:00am. Headed towards 390. Got there at 4:00am and shut her down on some meter marks and got some sleep. Woke up and fired up the fish finder, there were fish stacked under the boat. Started to throw bait and got a good bite going on choves. Then a blue shark came and shut the bite down, eating our chum and baits. Started to troll and as soon as I put the jig in the water I got hooked up while still letting my line out. I couldn't get more than one line in the water without getting hooked up. What a wonderful problem! We ending getting albie limits by 8:30am. Little sloppy out there in the morning but the ride home was nice. Most fish were small,but we did get a 30 pounder. Tight lines and bloody decks, Deep Colour

BIG ALBIES . W. 302    FishLounge    ALLCOAST     Jul-21-01, 08:47 PM (PST)
Short: (9) 24-30# Albies with tons of meter marks west of the 302. Launch SI at 3:45 and the day didn't start good. Half way to the bait barge I notice my bait pump is not working. Tried fixing that in the dark with every other boat zooming by creating a wake. Not fun! Fixed bait pump. Vapor lock I think. Finally got some horse dines and left the bay. Go straight or turn right to the 43? Decided to run to the 302 because I had some buddies ahead of me going that way, Good choice. Reached the 302 a little after graylight. Metered fish everywhere. Put lines in and headed west and within 20 mins saw jumpers and a Single and one lost bait fish on 15#. 5 mins later saw more jumpers a another single with 2 bait fish. One being 29.8# Still metering tons of fish, another 15 mins and a double and one bait fish. All fish in the area were above 24# . Bite slowed but the fish finder was still lit. Traveled to reports at 10 miles west of 302. On the way picked paddies for 2 YT and 1 dodo (1lost dodo also) Then heard WFO bite 8 miles south. Ran to and pick up several more Albies. This grade was a little smaller

West of 302    Boiler Maker    ALLCOAST      Jul-21-01, 05:26 PM (PST)
Spent about 8 hours (grey light to 1300) trolling the area due west of the 302. All we caught was two nice 25 pound albies. Water temp was 68 at the 302 and gradually went down to about 65.5 at the 117.50 line. This is where I caught my first fish on a green and black feather. I wanted to work the area but the wife wanted to be back home by 1500. Had to start working back . At about the the 117.44 line there were several boats hooking up. I caught my second fish here on a daisy chain with a plain cedar plug at the end. Possibly one more short strike but that was it for me. The weather was nice and the seas were fairly calm for my bayrunner. Talked with Land Shark throughout the day and he had two fish on the boat somewhere south of the 43. I just know he's gonna report the bite went WFO in the afternoon.I heard the 390 was the place to be to catch small albies. A boat called Deep Colour limited out by 0800 in that area. Also heard some nice YFT were caught in various area. Story of the day seemed to be the fish were around (I saw several jumpers and boilers) but didn't want to bite. Most boats only scratched a few or got skunked in the 302 area.  Good Luck,  Jerry on the Boiler Maker   

7/21 hotspot       bry       ALLCOAST     Jul-21-01, 10:06 PM (PST)
The butterfly was very hot today. It was as many fish as you wanted. Hot colors were the Abortion With a brush tail. Blue/white and cedar plug. It took a while but by 10 am It was wide open. Good grade 20-35lbs albacore. Also caught a bluefin.  L8  bry

WFO Albies 7/19/01      noworries     ALLCOAST       Jul-19-01, 07:48 PM (PST)
Short version-10 fish-Chris will post #'s when he gets a chance.  Instead of fishing Friday I wound up fishing with Chris (Yachtsman) on his whaler23. I met him promptly at 2:45am, and realized I forgot my backpack full of all kinds of goodies. Oh well, we decide to go w/o it. So far my "start the tuna trip by doing something stupid" good luck tradition is in full effect. (last time on the tunacious I locked the keys in the head)  We pull up to the bait receiver and I wake up the bait guy(what great service!). We get one of the last of Newport's chovies, and head to the 43. It was too rough to sleep flying at 29 mph. We get down south and start trolling. We get about 5mi south of the 43 into some nice 64.3 degree water. Jigstrike--Chris's fish--nice one, 23lbs. We work the area for nada, and then wind up fishing a kelp paddy for nada. Start trolling south again and wham, jigstrike, I get this one, and Chris get's a bait fish. All fish over 20lbs.  One more fish and we might as well go home (since I have the 4 fish jinx). We hear somebody give some numbers that are about 8 mi away, saying it's wide open. We pull the lines and run to the numbers. We get close and see a small fleet trolling. We're putting out the spread and wham hookup! Another 20+lber, and we've got 4 fish in the box. Good #'s! I tried fishing the spro at this stop for nada.  It's getting late, we're far from home, and we're low on gas, so we start trolling away from the fleet towards home. WHAM the port rigger gets hit, and comes off. WHAM the starboard corner gets hit, comes off. WHAM the port corner gets hit, and we land fish 5. Woo hoo five fish, we broke the 4 fish curse!  So we reset the lures and keep trolling towards home. It's about noon. We are far from the fleet. We get a double. Every man for himself! This turns into an epic bait stop. I get my first pb bait fish, line breaks. I throw my 15lb setup out, wham hookup, snap line breaks. I tie another hook on and get another bait fish--it almost spools me on 25lb Big Game. After a long, grueling fight, it does the same thing my BET did on the Indian, rolls over and pops the hook. ARGH! I hook another fish, fight for a while, then get sawed off! ARGH! I keep losing fish!!!! Chris keeps throwing more in the boat. I end up landing one bait fish on Chris's rig. Blood everywhere, fish thumping, back hurting, there's no room in the fish hold for any more. We ended up doubling our fish from 5 to 10 at this stop. Shoulda been more, but hey, I'm still a newbie.  It was amazing seeing these big albies come jumping out of the water. They were milling around the boat, you'd throw a bait and watch them come up and take it!! Everyone was hollering on the radio during this time (around noon), it sounded like anybody in the area was seeing similar action!   No fish under 20lbs. Home by around 4pm.   So last year, I got my first albacore on Chris's boat. This year, I got my first WFO bait stop. What's on the agenda for next year? Maybe something over 50lbs? I'll be there!  I apologize if this is incoherant. I am barely awake as I type this. Slept during the red lights on the way home. Trying to stay awake long enuff to eat some albie grilled w/ ginger teriyaki!   Thanks Yachtsman!   No Worries

Numbers      Yachtsman        ALLCOAST    Jul-19-01, 08:38 PM (PST)  
First - I would like to say that it is a pleasure to fish with Jason, he is helpful, cleans the boat after stops, helps clean fish (and does a better job now than last year) and is just an overall pleasant guy to be around.  With that said, out first stop was at 118.01 32.34 - we were called in on some numbers - 117.49 32.32 and landed another. Saw alot of boats stopped here.  Our best stop - and there were a few knock downs before they stuck - was 117.46 32.36. It was a great stop, the fish hung around the boat forever on just a little chumming.  Weather was great. Will post a photo of Jason and the catch after I get some ZZZzzzzzzzz.  Yachtsman

7/18 @ 43 – Albies   entropyGain   ALLCOAST    Jul-18-01, 05:52 PM (PST)    
30# class albies @ 32.26.9 x 117.57.5 approx 4-5 miles south of the 43  Launched mission bay with my buddy Jean at 3:30, sardines and chovies, then out the channel by 4:00. Headed for 43, but called south by Money Pit who had found the herd. 29# and 23# albies on jigs. Saw others boiling but couldn’t get. One 25#+ came unbuttoned just before being gaffed. Pulled a yellow off a paddy. The Scripps Flip up research ship provided a landmark for all, and heard many reports both on the 43 and south, of fish being caught and boiling fish. Good place to start tomorrow. All reports were of quality fish in the 30# class. For you marlin nuts, saw two jumpers near 117.37 x 32.49 on the way back in. Couldn’t mess with them as it’s the wife’s birthday and I’m out fishing?! Had to get home to cook her some nice albies and make some hamachi sushi. Also saw a big whale, finback or blue(?) at the north end of the nine on the way in. Very large and very light colored, white underside. Good luck to the rest of the mid-week croud. Scott

Latest marlin dope for those out today or tomorrow, 65 degrees and off color on the Mackeral Bank, look towards the "Dome" off San Clemente Island, as tight as the shrimp gear!

Albacore
-We've got 8 on board, three different stops, using small purple and black jets, I don't know exactly where were at right now, approx, 10 miles west from the 302, these fish average 30lbs big fish. 8:45 am
-6 1/2 miles S/E of the 43
-32:32/ 117:58
-We've got one in the box, just got to the 43, couple pf boats stopped around us, we just got started, 10:15am
-A couple more nice sized 20/25lb White Sea bass came from 60 ft of water off the Huntington Power Plants, good sand bass fishing up the line off the Huntington Pier.
-It was choppy earlier this morning but it's nice now! 10:30
-"Breaking fish right in front of you!", "They're going off right now"
-Albacore report off the backside of Clemente, by 10:00am it was scratchy for most boats working west of Northwest Harbor, although one cattleboat had some 65 fish so far but many of the boats had only a handful
-Still selling Squid off the East end of Catalina Island, White Sea bass still being caught in the dark off Ship Rock tight to the beach .
-32/48, 32? 52 we just had a triple, lost another one, 12:25pm
-"They all over the place!! All you want, come and get em"!
-Over the last hour the fish has come up, maybe an hour after the change of tide, same thing yesterday and the day before.
-Another Swordfish was baited this afternoon, in the lee of Clemente Island, casting four times the fish it took a swipe at the second bait knocking in off the hook , ignoring the third and forth baits, "Got the blood rushing!" 1:20pm
-At little afternoon bump between the channels, some white cap, but good traveling
-260 degrees 15 off the West end of Clemente was where some of the San Diego cattleboats were fiishing
-we just got another 3 on board, yea, we've got about 20 so far, two different stops on the way in, we're still getting strikes now, 2:20pm

The Albie bite was wide open on large fish from 4 miles outside the 302 and out another 10 miles. A good bite was also reported around the 43. Today I fished the 267 and the water temp was 70.1 with big kelp paddies holding big dorado and big yellowtail, I have just got in and heading out again tomorrow morning. 

While fishing we had a big Mako knock down, big enough to break the pole holder, clip and take my brand new custom rod and brand new Shimano  Tiagra LRS 50 wide with it......if you catch it its mine I want my $ 1500.00 rod  reel and equipment back please. This was the first time it was ever out on the water, guess its doin a good sea trial now. Boy was I upset with my buddy for loosing it after telling him so many times I have seen this happen and .................

Oh well I am out again tomorrow getting those dodo's and yellows so short and sweet Oh the numbers : 33 17 and 117 49 are the dorado under the paddies.  Chris  

Jugged West of SCI 7/15    Whaler27      Jul-15-01, 11:15 PM (PST)
Wondering if I will ever get my boat finished this season, but thanks to my brother and cousin I have been able to fish on some great fishing machines this year. After what seemed like 20 hours preparation, with pulling the deck, running a new transducer, pin pointing a gas leak, etc., etc. we set out of Huntington Harbor on Gary Hughes's Whaler25 (my old boat) @ about 1:00am with two scoops of Chovies. A little lump for the ride over put us with the fleet on the backside of West SCI. A one degree break had us dropping back the jigs with the b/p rapala cd-14 going off before the pattern was set. This stop rolled on with a nice pick on the bait fish for a total of 12 on the deck. I got three bait fish on this stop with 30lb Seaguar flourocarbon leader & a #1 Gamagatzu hook.  We basically boxed the general area in for good pick and scratch fishing with a super grade of fish, most from 25-35 lbs., with two twins going @ 38 on the hand scale. Had to stay on top of things as the swell, wind, & waves keep us hopping. Stayed for the start of the afternoon bite where we finished up with another 10 fish bait stop @ 2:30 before heading for the barn. Ran home @ 24 knots, with the channel between Catalina & the mainland laying down real nice for us. Lost count after 35+ fish, throwing back anything under 25lbs.  

7/15 Albies   Patr     Jul-16-01, 09:31 AM (PST)  

My friend Bruce was out Sunday in his 32' custom aluminum "Bad Influence" They fished W/ the fleet west of SCI for 21 fish up to 33 lbs. Fish bit any color feather with 1 or 2 on bait after each jig strike..........Pat  

Clemente Albies 7/15   cookie Jul-15-01, 09:40 PM (PST)
Met oozacgt and Joefisherman at our house at 3:30 left got to bait barge at like 5, gave us great bait but almost too much bait (Nacho). Nice calm weather until we got just past the east end of Cat. then it just turned nasty, wasnt no wind chop or anything just big swells close together so slowed down after we thought about turning around but kept going. Calmed back down after about 4 miles past the east end of cat but not calm just medium. We were following the Capt. Hook but couldnt keep up, got to the west end at 9:00 put rods in 1/2 hour later "HOOK UP" a nice 36 pound albie but no bait fish, kept going for about an hour till we got to the fleet of boats (every overnighter you can think of plus yachts) then my dad gets excited and puts in his fly rod to troll with and boom soon as its out he gets hit nice 32 pound albie trolled around with all of the bigger boats for a while getting jig strikes, then started heading in and 1/2 hour later hook up 1 jig fish and 3 bait fish. Cleaned fish and headed in for a rough ride at 2:00. WE were definetly the smallest boat out there that i could see but ohh well we were there and catching fish. All in all great day of fishing with medium to rough seas with 9 albies from 22 to 36 pounds.  Dream Catcher  Josh Koch

Fishing        Affordable Marine         Sat, 14 Jul 2001 14:40:45 -0700
Hi Dennis, well here is what Andy and I did at the 371 this morning...we were home by 12....gotta love those short days...  Micah

Fishing 7/12/01      Affordable Marine         Fri, 13 Jul 2001 12:55:48 EDT
Dennis: We left the bait barge at 2:30 AM with a slight breeze. The trip to 32 04 117 21 was not bad arriving before greylight. Trolling for 2 hours in the area was non-productive although there was a large school of porpoise around us. The wind continued to pick up from the NW . We started trolling north and were called in by two boats in the area of 32 03 117 28. As we joined in we had a double troll hookup of small albies with no bait fish taken. One of the boats 200 yards away had a double jig strike so we ran large circles around them without success. After that there were no more fish caught in the area by any of the three boats. The water temp was about 66.5, dropping to 63.8 nearby. We returned north at about 9 knots in "Sloppy" seas.

Report, Avila Quick Run Down       Bellybuster      ALLCOAST   Jul-07-01, 10:28 PM (PST)
Very tired and a long story but wound up with 4 20lb fish today out of Avila with more than that farmed. Fished a bit too far South. We were 10 miles Northwest of the weather bouy. If your going look at the Terrafin map and try a bit further North than we did in the splotchy 62 degree water. Sounds like that's where the hot spot was today. Some were getting counts in the high 20s. Good quality in the upper 20lb range. Two other Allcoasters did better than we did with around 8 fish each I believe generally the same area we were in. Like I said, further North sounded much better!

Terrafin Map   http://www.terrafin.com/sstview/samples/freesocal.htm
Ken with Albie  http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=7589

Osborne Albies, 7/7-7/8      Over The Edge       ALLCOAST    Jul-08-01, 05:07 AM (PST)    
Left CIH at 3:00 pm on Friday with my son for an overnight stop at the SBI Landing. About mid-way down we heard Bill (WJW) talking to VA and checked in with him to find out that he was limping home from the Osborne to CIH with damaged running gear. We offered assistance and monitored his progress via VHF in case we had to intercept him. Fortunately, he made it back in to CIH OK. The SBI Landing was quiet with only a few boats laying over for the Osborne fishing.

We left SBI at around 6:00 a.m. for the more southern numbers (around 33 08 X 119 05) and started trolling in about 3-5 miles above that area. Immediate strike on a purple/black feather for a 27# that got the juices flowing early. Picked up another as we entered the area. Broke out the Coronas for an early celebration as Todd picked up his first ever tuna. There were quite a few boats in that area but spread out pretty well. We worked it for about 2 hours without another strike and the traffic was thinning out (for obvious reasons). We talked to Tom & Donna on Double Vision and found out that they were knockin' them dead (20 in the box) about 9 miles North of us. We went up there to find the bite slowing down but managed to pick up another one on blue/white as the sun tried to break through the cover. Just as the bite was shutting down at late morning, Todd picked up another and it came unbuttoned near boatside as it dove into the running gear. That was it for us but we did end up with 3 nice quality fish in the box. Back in the slip at CIH by about 2:00 after a smooth ride home. No complaints but next time I gotta pay more attention to the activity and temp breaks. We should have been further north from the start. We'll be back. Walt

sat 7/7 osborne albies     Jollyroj      ALLCOAST     Jul-07-01, 08:52 PM (PST) 
-quick report, I'm beat, but I owe you guys for all the info you gave me.
-Left king harbor at around 6:30 am, took about 30 min to get bait, bait was large anchovies, most of them survived.
-got out to the area around 9-9:30. Was aiming for the middle of the coordinates I've been collecting from the board, something around freddie's numbers or maybe a little more south, something like 33 08 x 119 06, I think.
-Drove past a bit of the fleet just short of that, but didn't want to stop. Sometimes suckers stop early just because another boat is stopped there taking a leak, you know? so we drove on. We should have stopped.
-Caught one around 10 on a mex flag. Heard from jim day around then and drove back NW toward the fleet we had seen, picked up a second on a bright daisy chain in the area jim was fishing. By then jim's boat had 8, I think. The good area was around 33 14 119 02, if I remember. Sorry. I