Saw 4 or 5 fish (marlin) yesterday about 4:30pm between the 152 and the East End

A strong wind and current line about 3 1/2 off Church Rock and all the yellowtail you want. It was sloppy (15 to 20 knts) between Clemente and Catalina but it seems to have backed off a bit (12 to 15 knts) closer to Catalina, 9:30am Giant Squid under the patties!   Osborne Bank, not a lot going on, lots of porpoise, some fir,   It in came on a short one and stayed up on the bait, but wouldn't eat it, (10:20am) 

Another tailer up off the East End 11:20
Mackerel was hard to get at Catalina,
The Church Mouse Marlin Tournament Kicks off tomorrow , Best of Luck!
JD release as many as you can!
A jumper? maybe seen near the oil islands 1:05
Another Jumper 1:15 - 25/45 All you wanted! ( I think food fish)
Inside the 267, Swordfish Up 2:20 7 1/2, , 24 degrees to Dana
8 miles off San Onofre, lots of birds, dorado 33:07:793 / 117:34 :381

Overall it was a fair day, some boats scored well on the yellowtail or dorado, some yellowfin, other not.

Again bait was the issue today, several boaters complained about having 4 and 6 inch anchovies, seems they weren't as active as a baitfish they would have liked them to be, !

Other's this morning make their own bait, catching 60 smelt for bait! Fishing against the coastline in their small 18 ft, boat they scored over 50 fish for the day ,releasing most of them. Catching halibut, Sand and Calico Bass, Lizard Fish, sharks, and bonito for the day,

There were a dozen boats working the West End today, , Some bait and life was seen and prospects look ok for some fish (marlin) to move in.

MARLIN - Allcoast Sportfishing   squidroe  Aug-26-00 at 04:13 PM (PST)
Caught my first local marlin on Fri. The fish was hooked while fishing for dodos under a paddy about four mile straight out of Newport. It was purly luck and god given ability that I landed this fish. The marlin was caught on a Calstar 670 and a Newell 332 with 25lb big game.( NO LEADER )

We went around the West end, saw as swordfish off Cat Canyon, baited him but no luck   33: 06/117: 41 , a single Dorado and a double on the yellowfin, 1:00 pm 

The West end looks good, the waters blue and 71/to 73 degrees, a few seals but we saw no marlin

This is the third jig strike (marlin) I've had today. Between the 152 and the slick towards the East End, ( a marlin caught) 4:20pm

1/2 dozen swordfish seen below the 267 today by the stickboat and spotter airplane fleet. one Marlin seen 10 miles from the slide towards the Mackerel Bank this morning another one seen 5:45 pm yesterday afternoon only 1/2 mile off the slide. Another one just outside the 14 today

Worst day of the year, but I love being out here.

Albacore! 32:25 117:54, 32:11 117:37 between 371 and 390 lot of jig strikes some patties

302 slow

MARLIN - Allcoast Sportfishing   Craig Gilbert Aug-25-00, 09:24 PM (PDT)
"Swordfish Friday" Baited two swordfish today east of the 277 and north of the 367 at the following L/L:
#1: 33.11.806 / 117.59.036
#2: 33.12.713 / 117.56.479
Neither fish was interested but each fish kept popping up for about 30 minutes, and finally sunk away. One decided to give us a look and jumped several times in our direction. Size estimated at 300 lbs. Quite a show. Did not see any marlin in this area. Also saw 100lb mako jumping in this general area also. Water temps from 72 to 76, mostly 72-73, also saw 78 inside near the 14 mile bank. Craig

MARLIN - Al Kelly 8/24
Score= Marlin 1, HideOut 0. That marlin mentioned in Marty's Wednesday's report may have been ours. The report Rich (my guest) gave on the radio was close but just a little off. We drifted off a paddy after hooking about 6 good size Dorado and were slow trolling 'dine back toward the paddy when my bait rod went off. 20 lib line straight tied to a circle hook only held for about 10 minutes but what a show and ride! He came right out of the water behind when he took the bait, right in front of Skips view. I heard the clicker and turned to get the rod as again and then he came out halfway twice more before he really split and the line screamed off my Newell 229. About half my line was out in a giant bow when he start "greyhounding" he did that twice then sounded and the line eventually broke. I wound in and tied on a marlin bait rig I had and resumed slow trolling the biggest bait I could find in the tank again but no takers. We will all remember the show that fish put on, he was lit up as blue as any picture I have ever seen. The radio report went out when I tried to let Mark know of the event. We couldn't reach Mark but we 6 or 7 other people come back asking for our location.
    Other than that the bite was slow. We didn't get our first fish for an hour and a half after we put the jigs out. Our first stop was on a paddy we were trolling around, a guy on a Parker (Fish Magnet) waved us in. We hooked 6, landed 5 Dorado that were 40-50% larger than the ones we got the day earlier. No tuna for the day, no yellows, and one more Dorado that hit a marlin jig on the way in about 2 miles outside North Island.    
    Finished cleaning up the boat at the club around 6:30 and got to bed around 9. We were all too tired to do it again and slept in til 6:30 this morning. I wish I could live with less sleep! Tomorrow we plan to do the Coronado's, I plan to have 2 Marlin jigs on the Riggers while trolling.
Al

MARLIN - Allcoast Sportfishing   MarkW on Aug-24-00 at 07:13 AM (PST)
"NW-NE of the 14" Left HH before the crack,got cured chovy/sardine mix from Bills,caught a few macks,and was off. Headed for the area we've been fishing,2 to 4 nw/ne above the bank.Found a sleeper at 16 miles from HH, n/g,got in the glasses, found a bird school about a mile toward the beach and ran it down. Straight dorado on a meatball,no kelp around,WFO!!! Tacked back to marlin area but didn't see any more, worked west a bit, found a kelp that was loaded,caught a few/released a few more,put the #'s out and ran down to the bank.Very little sign on the shallows but wanted to give it some time, anchored in 62 fth on sw corner, chummed/chunked as I cleaned fish,no sign of yft or bait.Water 71-73 with current barelytrickling to the ne.Pulled anchor,many more kelps with dorado towards A bank,but much less life compared to above the 14.LOTS of wind in the afternoon. Good luck, MarkWisch

Oh, by the way. We ended up with limits for Yellowfin Tuna today. Not counting the 10 to 15 fish the Great Whites ate. I'm sending a picture of some of the guys with their Yellowfin Tuna. Happy Fishing,

MARLIN - Marty Morris -    8/24/00
In the previous 7-10 days or so lots of life (birds, bait, porpoise, and a fair number of marlin) had been seen in the waters off North Island, down well into the upper "finger." Yesterday, however, Skeet Simmons ("Key to the Sea") made the rounds and saw absolutely nothing. Today we traveled the canyon north of Punta Barfo, out past North Island, up to the middle of the "9", down to the 101 and back up and saw - zilch! No porpise, no bait, virtually no birds and, of course, no hint of the "real thing." Rich Johnson ("Marie B") saw 1 or 2 at 11 miles 235 (just outside the "9") and a jumper later in the day at 11 miles around 210. One of the paddy wagons got bit on an albacore jig (straight 25 pd line) at the 425 - didn't stay with him for long and another of the "mosquito" fleet saw two tailers 7 miles north of the 425. The water was a little off color in most areas and highest temp was 72.4. Looks and sounds bleak - for now. Marty

BIGEYE - Rory Hughes - Whaler 27 on Aug-21-00 at 03:10 PM (PST)
"8 Hour Bigeye Battle.." - Having caught my first bigeye two years ago, a 76 pounder on 25lb. p-line, I have both a fond repect and an eagerness to pursue them constantly. As this weekend approached, I literally dreamed on putting us on one of those magnificent creatures. With some numbers from 976-Bite, we headed out of Point Loma with two nice scoops of dines and flat calm weather for the 76 mile ride south on a 151 heading.

Arriving on the spot @ 4:30am, Brian Wilson drops over a sardine on his new Trinidad 20 that he won on my boat this New Years when we caught the first albacore of the Millenium. Instant hook-up, he cried, as he woke us up from a brief nap while we waited for grey light. Soon Brian was calling for me to follow his fish as he was getting spooled. We followed, and followed, and followed. Brian what pound test do you have out?, 25lb flourcarbon w/ cxx p-line, he says.Holy, moly.. Finally, after chasing the fish around for an hour & a half, it finally settles in for a dog fight. After putting tremendous pressure on the fish for 2 hours, forty five minutes, Brian is fading and the fish is getting stronger. Roy Rafferty takes over. Three hours later we've got him at color, we swim him up closer to the boat, damm, its just out of gaff range when it lays its head over and almost spools us again. This fish is doing hugh tuna circles.Up, down, around the boat from one side to the other. Were all thinking that this fish has been hooked before. It really knows how to work the fisherman against the boat and current.

Having caught tuna from 100 - 200 pounds, we all assessed this fish at from 150 - 200 pounds. After 3 1/2 hours Roy passes it off to my cousin Gary Hughes. Gary puts his 6'5" frame to work, with fresh muscle. The fish acts like we haven't even hurt him yet. After over an hour Gary looks to me, the captain!, you pull on him Rory, this tackle/drag pressure is not even getting the fish! I go to work, with Brian at the helm, we go into a full effort with swimming  the fish up and down the current, me pulling as hard as I could. The only way I could gain any line was to thumb the spool a little. Soon the monster was nearing the corner again. With gaffs at the ready for the fifth time we all thought this was the end we had been working toward.

With his head up and swimming almost within gaff range I could see that the line was wrapped across his gill plate and down the pectoral fin. Just then, the big boy, rolls over, flaps his tail with one powerful move, and the line pops.

I fall to the floor in utter agony. Not physical, just mental. Our only solice was to consol each other, talk it out and learn from the unreal experiences, and marvel at this magnificant creature that KICKED OUR A## for 8 hours. After putting away the crying towels, we put out the jigs and nailed 14 yellowfin, 8 yellowtail and a dodo for the ride home. Now I can only think of BIGEYE, BIGEYE, BIGEYE..See you out there next week. And I'll have that 12 foot gaff I needed this weekend on - board!!

 P.S. forgot to mention the 4-5 complete idots that trolled around us while hooked up to this fish. Were not near a paddy, were clearly hook-up and bent straight over, what the heck, there are no more fish around us!! A Mexican charter skipper on an old 24' something decides that there going to cut us off!! He comes right at me, I'm screaming both in English and now Spanish..I'm 6'6", 260, I know he saw me, I know he's not deaf!! He and his crew look at us with blank stares and they all draw their hands across their throats to portait us being cut off by their boat, they are 25 feet from my transom as they go by. I'll see him again someday soon, it won't be pretty. Rory Hughes - Whaler 27

=============================================

JD'S Tip: from Capt Kenney Dickerson 'El Tigre", Rig Squids for Swordfish with 400lb cable wire, the weight of the cable helps sink out the squid in a better presentation, and it's strength helps in the battle as the fish rolls in the leader. The Fish Spotter http://fishspotter.com JD's Tackle has rigged Jumbo Squid available now!

Dorado, hard to get them to take the baits, try live sardines or small mackerel
Inshore waters:   Schools of Sand Bass and Barracuda have been constant off the Huntington Flats and San Onofre mud bottoms.

$10,000 BIG FISH RESULTS.....
1st Marlin - Kevin Weber - 157# 5oz Striped Marlin
2nd Marlin - Chris Evans - 150# 8oz Striped Marlin
3rd Marlin - Gerald Cherist - 89# 7oz Striped Marlin

1st Tuna - Lou Douchane - 96# Bigeye
2nd Tuna - Pete Ferhagan - 33# Yellowfin
3rdTuna - Mike Bratten - 31# Albacore

1st IGFA  - Rick Deitz - 34# 12oz Dorado
2nd IGFA - Louis Barry - 31# Dorado
3rd IGFA - Lee Mayo - 26# Dorado

Awards 9/7 - Bali Jai Restaurant - 7pm

MARLIN - Chet Spreen  ..So Cal Offshore Reports ..Aug-21-00, 02:12 PM (PDT)
"More Reports for Monday, August 21, 2000 02:08 PM
Marlin- Interesting weekend with not many catches reported up north, but quite a few reported to the south. Also for those of you who haven't heard fishspotters.com are charging now and it's not cheap, something like $5 a viewing. On to the reports, there was a fish released Saturday morning by a boat fishing for marlin for only the 2nd time in his life just inside the Avalon Bank. There were a couple of other jig strikes from that same area on up to off Long Point 2 to 4 miles. We saw an est. 60lb. striper free swimming 2 miles west of the 209(cute little guy). A boat at our dock reported seeing 6 fish in an hour 8 miles off Dana Point, jumpers/tailers/feeders on Saturday as well. There were boats working the 499 for the rumored huge concentration of fish reported by the spotter planes, they found good conditions but no marlin seen. Boats also worked the lee of Clemente and found a lot of swordfish gear in the water but no marlin other than a few jumpers. A couple of fish were seen between the 209 and 181 and also between the 125 and 182 but didn't hear of any caught there. A marlin was hooked off a kelp paddy 8 miles off Oceanside but broke off. There were some fish seen along the ridge between the 152 and Church Rock with a few jig bites.

To the south it was a different story with fish released off the Coronados and the Upper Finger Bank. From 1 to 7 miles west of North Island to 1 to 7 miles Southwest of South Island looked good with feeders, jumpers, and sleepers reported. Also the area from the outside edge of the Upper Finger Bank to the 425 had marlin sightings with at least 1 fish taken on the 425. It's hard to get a handle on exactly how many fish were caught and released but it sounds like as many as 10 could have been caught. These areas near San Diego were by far the most productive for the weekend.

Yellowfin Tuna - Moving on up, moving on up! Ready or not here they come!!!  The Yellowfin went off yesterday and all weekend below the Coronados, with the sport boats reporting over 1,300 tuna Sunday. The fish have been coming off of paddies, porpoise, and jig strikes. They are averaging 15 to 20lbs. with some smaller and some as large as 40lbs. Between the Finger Banks was the most productive area, no further than 20 miles from the coast. Further offshore there are fish to but the meat is in tighter to the beach. If I were going tomorrow I would start my day at 32.00/117.00, that area is loaded with tuna and the other exotics. There have also been Yellowfin reported at the 279, 14, 209, 289, 277, 182, 302, and the Mackerel Bank, mostly under the porpoise but there have been spots of breaking fish to. I heard on Saturday a boat just below the Mackerel Bank reported seeing acres of Yellowfin up crashing on the surface but couldn't get the fish to bite. Wherever you go fish those porpoise!! One last thing we found that the black/purple and red/white rapalas got bit best in the cd-14 and cd-18 sizes.

Paddy Dorado - It's looking a little bit like Cabo!! Except the boat traffic,  it was insane, I have never seen so many skiffs in my life! The dorado are everywhere from Newport to the East End of Catalina to the West End of Clemente to the 43 to the 425. Most every paddy is holding, but the fish are not right under them. You have to spend some time on each kelp and not just bounce when you don't see fish right away. We found fish as far away as 400 yards from a kelp and they are not all biting. There are larger number of fish closer to the beach that seem to be biting better. On Saturday the box from Dana point to the 279 to the 14 to Newport had the best fishing. We got 28 fish on a 3 hour stop 3 miles inside the 279. Fish are also hitting the marlin jigs in that area really well. I have never in my life seen so many free-swimming schools as I did on Saturday in this area! One last thing the Dorado moving in down south are getting bigger with fish over 40lbs. taken, I love it!

Albacore- Looking for me? Well fuel up cuz your going to have to go far! The Dumping Grounds area was holding a very large area of 20 to 40lb. Albies on Saturday, for the boats that made it out here it was WIDE OPEN! Another area with big numbers is out west of the Tanner Bank and west of the Cortes Bank 15 to 25 miles. This area is where many of the multi-day sport boats were hitting the fish before the Yellowfin showed up off the beach. There are still a smattering of Albies closer near the 302 and 371 but the Yellowfin will outnumber the Albies in this area big time. If you really want the chickens of the sea you have got to go west and far west.

Bluefin Tuna - So much for these guys showing up in bigger numbers within 1 day range. The Bluefin have followed there little buddies the Albacore and headed offshore out to the west. Out 20 miles west of the Tanner and Cortes Banks is where you might run into the bigger schools of Bluefin, with fish up to 100lbs. reportedly caught in this vicinity.

Bigeye Tuna - Well, well, well looks like the Giant Squid have shown up right off the beach near Oceanside and have been reported offshore. It is time for my favorite tuna to make it's presence known. There have been some Bigeye caught in the same areas as the Yellowfin so make sure you are trolling with heavy tackle. If you want to target only Bigeyes I would troll marlin jigs or large tuna jigs with some spreader bars starting in the dark and working till around 10am then go get some of the other species until 5pm and then put the Bigeye stuff back out and fish till dark. Also you can try drifting at night in a productive area with some fresh giant squid.

Paddy Yellowtail - Up north there are not as many Yellows as down to the south on the kelps. We found in our travels on Saturday that only 1 kelp was holding Yellows with Dorado, the rest only had Dorado. I would look down below San Diego or outside Catalina and between the East End of Catalina and the West End of San Clemente.

Mako Sharks- They could be anywhere you go. We saw makos as close as 2 miles off Laguna to between the 209 and 289 and everywhere in between. Most of the fish are smaller 20 to 60lbs. but there are some larger girls around, with some of the spotter planes and stick boats reporting fish over 500lbs. seen on the ridge between the west end of Clemente and Santa Barbara Island.
Go get em', Chet Spreen/ www.socaloffshore.com

MARLIN - Marty Morris -    8/20/00
"Sunday Report"  The albacore are generally well outside in the colder water and heading towards Cortez and up to Morro Bay. But the Yellowfin Tunas have invaded the southland and are providing a target for the locals. Lots of Dorado and Yellowtail to keep the kelp crowd happy.  Today, the MC weighed in two more. One (Kenny Schilling's third of the year) came from about 1 1/2 - 2 miles off North Island (off a group of feeders) and the other (an 11-12 yr old young lady) about 4 1/2 miles southwest of South Island. Several reports over the week-end of sleepers and feeders being seen below the islands, towards the 425 and down the outside edge of the upper finger. If there were any releases today - we haven't heard. The "Mil-So-Mar" was prowling around out there all week-end, but Rich doesn't say much and one must be one of the "good guys" in order to get an answer. Hopefully, the warmer water bringing the Yellowfins up here is also bringing more Marlinos. This week should be bringing more attention to the "finger." (Thinking positively - or is it wishful thinking? - I think I already see fish back there in the jigs on Wednesday).  I don't know about you, but North Island is a hell of lot closer than the 499. But don't dismay - if there were a lot of fish out there earlier then, like last year, they are going to pop up a lot closer. Where? I give up! (The East End isn't all that close either) Marty

Things were quiet from noon till the mid-afternoon tide swung (1;27pm) then a little action developed on some of the dorado hitting marlin lures and a few marlin seen/ baited. The stick boat Pilikia ( 65' Dittmar-Donaldson) on the rocks at Clemente? Another Radio hoax on channel 16 (unrelated)  110 miles to 115 out of SD all the 30-40lb Albacore you want.! 4 or 5 off the Head, we got a sample of everything, good fishing! Wide open San Bass Fishing

YELLOWFIN - Allcoast Sportfishing  Yutaka on Aug-21-00 at 10:08 AM (PST)
"Awesome Tournament Weekend"    What an awesome weekend of fishing! I feel like I just returned from another Long Range trip! I had the opportunity to fish in the San Diego Rod and Reel Club's $10,000 Big Fish tournament on my friend Craig Meyer's 35' Viking sportfisher this weekend. We concentrated on the tuna division, and let me tell you, we had a blast and caught an obscene amount of fish. Here's the full report:

After fighting the usual Friday afternoon rush hour and the weekend get-away traffic on the I-5, I arrived at Harbor Island to meet Craig and the rest of the crew. Craig, Rusty, and Tom were already packed up and good to go. Since I was in charge of galley duties, we unloaded all the food from my car and we were out of the slip by 7:15. Both Craig and I had been monitoring the reports pretty closely to come up with a game plan, and after cross referencing our data, we decided to make the 100 mile run out west to the Dumping Grounds. While there were plenty of small yellowfin closer to home, the outside area was still kicking out a tremendous number of good grade albacore. Our plan was to put some big fat longfins on board the first day, and also look for bluefin (which had put on a disappearing act last week). The second day would be spent looking for the elusive Bigeye closer to home.

A stop at the bait receiver revealed what we had expected. Baby 3" and 4" sardines mixed with pinhead anchovies and a few regulation sized sardines. We picked up a couple of scoops and cleared the point by 8:00. Looking into the bait tank, I said, "Well, looks like we have plenty of chum."   We cruised out to the Dumping Grounds at a leisurely pace of 9 knots under great weather. Numerous overnight and Long Range boats passed us as they headed in towards San Diego. A nice bright three quarter moon lit our way during the long smooth ride out to the promised land. I took the helm as we approached the 60 mile bank and watched as the water temp dropped from 70.3 to 69.5 over a few miles and then abruptly plummet to 68.2 degrees. As we moved farther off shore, the temperature kept dropping, at one point registering 64.6 as we approached the Mushroom bank.

My helm watch ended at 0400, so I went down to the cabin to get a couple more hours of rest. But that was cut short abruptly when I was awakened by our first jig strike at 0500. It was still dark out, and the albacore had already found us. It was a single jig fish, so we continued on our way as we were still a few miles from our destination of. A little while later, another albacore jumps on a feather. Both these fish are about 20#, and both go into the kill bag.  At 0630 we arrive at our numbers in beautiful purple-blue 66.4 degree water. 31.47 x 118.50 is what the GPS showed. This area was where the LR boats had been getting wide open albacore, and was also where the Tabi Ho II trip on the Tracer had experienced an epic bite earlier in the week. We had expected to see other boats in the area, but at this time we were all alone.

The jig strikes on the longfins continued in the early morning hours, but none of the schools wanted to stop for us. But at 0930, we get a double jig strike and I braile out a scoop of bait. The fish come boiling up on the chum, and we have a good stop going. Craig and Rusty clear the other trolling lines first, and then bring in the fish, while I continue chumming slowly. By the time both fish were landed, we had fish crashing all around the boat.  We grab our bait sticks and pin on the little sardines. Tom stays on the helm and keeps the boat pointed into the swell and moving forward slowly to help get our baits away from the boat. Almost instantaneously, we have a triple going on the bait and these turn out to be better quality fish in the 25# to 30# range. As we fight our fish, we would occasionally reach back and scoop a few pinheads out of the tank and continue chumming to keep the fish near us.

As we bring each fish up to the boat, we would look at it and assess the size. If it looked like it was bigger or at least as big as what we already had on board, we gaffed it. Otherwise we reached down and released it. All we needed was to weigh in our three largest fish, so there was no need to kill everything.   The Bite continued for over an hour, and for most of that time we were basically hand feeding the longfins. I would throw out one piece of chum at a time, and we would watch as a fish came up and boiled on it seconds after hitting the water. It was a beautiful sight. We caught somewhere around 20 fish in that hour, keeping the largest 6 or so.

The rest of the day was punctuated by frequent jig stops and more albacore. It got to the point where a line would go off, and we would stand there looking at each other hoping someone else would reel in the fish. It was obvious this area was completely blanketed with a large volume of fish, but the funny thing was that we never saw another boat all day long. The location was reported by Fishspotters.com, and the LR fleet was well aware of it, but no one came to join the party. We figured that this was an indication that the yellowfin had gone off pretty good close to shore.  Having gotten our fill of albacore, we motored back to the 60 Mile bank to spend the night. We would troll around the next day, looking for a lucky Bigeye strike in the warmer water, as the Bluefin had eluded us on Saturday. Our largest albacore weighed 30# on the Cardoza scale, and we knew we needed something bigger if we were going to be in the money.

We deployed the sea anchor and settled in for the night. No sooner had we turned on the deck lights, then a bunch of giant squid come floating up. These babies were 18" to 25" and very aggressive. I had already set up a squid rig for night fishing, expecting to use the dead stuff bought at the Asian market, but seeing that the live stuff was available, I jigged one up and pinned it on the hooks. I sent the rig down 100 feet with a cyalume stick and told the boys I would take first watch.

As I sat in the helm chair on the flybridge, I watched my rod closely. Half an hour goes by and the boredom starts to settle in. Just then the rod goes bendo, and I scramble down to the cockpit. I pull the rod out of the holder and start to crank. Hmmm… Wrong kind. It's coming up too easy.   Sure enough, it's a blue shark about 5' long. I get him to the side of the boat and contemplate how I'm going to handle the situation. I don't want to lose the rig, but I know the boys wouldn't take too kindly to being woken up to help release a blue shark. Luckily while all this contemplation is going on, the shark apparently reached up and unhooked himself and swam away. I jig up another squid and this time I send it down 200', but nobody came to visit for the rest of my watch.

At 0500, I am awakened by Craig who says the wind has really kicked up and we need to retrieve the sea anchor before it gets worse. It's still dark, the swell is up, and the wind chop makes it sloppy. For some reason, the trip line is at a 60 degree angle from the boat, and we inadvertently run over it. The line gets caught on the rudder and prop. We are able to grab the line and trip the chute but we can't risk putting the boat in gear. We pull in the chute and assess the situation.   Craig decides to grab a light and jump in. Unfortunately he does not have a mask on board, and it seems we had collected a good number of blue sharks around us during the night. They weren't big, but still made us uncomfortable about putting a person in the water. Small blues, like small children, have a habit of putting things in their mouth and chewing on them out of curiosity. I free gaff a couple of them and they go away, but there are still a couple swimming around. Well, Craig jumps in, and dives down but it's quickly apparent that he can't see a thing without a mask in the dark. We have to wait until daylight.

During that time we talk about the best and worst case scenarios. If it's wrapped around both props, we could be really screwed. If it's just the rudders, it should come off easily. Craig jumps in again and comes back with the entire rope. Luckily it was just caught on the rudders and we back in business.  After that morning crisis, we knew we would be rewarded with good fishing. And we were right. Soon after we got underway, trolling towards home, the yellowfin started jumping on our jigs. Every few minutes we would get a jigstrike - doubles and triples. These fish were in the 15 pound range, so anything not gill-hooked went back.

At 32.08 x 117.41 we run into a series of nice kelps and all of them are loaded with dorado. While they provide some nice entertainment, they weren't going to help us in the tourney, so we leave them behind and keep looking. No sign of that Bigeye yet.     A little while later we get a double jig strike, and it turns out to be bigger grade Ahi. We land two that weigh in at 26# and 24#. Those were kept for the grill. More trolling produces more yellowfin, especially on the little Braid Speedster I was using for the first time. I made a mental note to get some more before my 10 day in October. At noon, we reached the 371 and called it quits for the trip. We pulled in the lines and headed in to the weigh station at the SD Marlin Club on Shelter Island. We arrived at 2:00 PM just as the weigh-in was being started. We found it puzzling that we were the only boat there, especially since the cut-off time was 3:00 PM. But a closer look at the rules revealed that fishing was to stop at 3:00, but weigh-in continues til 5:00. Oh well, so we came in a little early.

Our largest albacore weighed in at 29 pounds 4 ounces, just 4 ounces short of the leading fish at 29-8 weighed in the day before. But the weigh-in was just starting for the day and there was plenty opportunity for us to be bumped down from our current second place standing. After photos were taken, we headed back to our slip on Harbor Island and cleaned up the boat.  I returned to the Marlin Club at 5:45 for the final standings, but they had all packed up and left by then. I did catch word that a 90+ pound Bigeye was weighed in. Well, as it turned out that Bigeye came in first, followed by a 33# Yellowfin and a 31# Albacore. So we didn't end up in the money, but it was a fantastic weekend of fishing nevertheless.

Thanks to Craig for inviting me to be part of his team. Hope he gives me the call for next year too. And this time we will sweep all three places! Yeah Baby!      Carpe Noctem...  Yutaka

DORADO -  Chet Spreen -   "BITE ME" Aug-21-00, 10:10 AM (PDT) 
"Saturday's Exotic Show"  Saturday August 19, 2000 Final Count: (3 anglers) 28 Dorado, 12 Yellowfin Tuna Area Fished: Dorado taken on the evening tide change off a medium sized paddy a couple miles inside the 279, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm it was every bait= a Dorado. Tuna were taken from under a fast moving porpoise school between the 209 and the 289, they didn't want the bait or feathers, but climbed all over the black/purple cd-14 rapalas and the red/white cd-18 rapalas. Water Temps: 72-75 Bait Quality: Horrible pin sized bait from Newport Harbor. Trick for the Dorado: Chum very heavily if you can right away to get them excited and try to fish a paddy that is holding dorado during the tide change it makes all the difference in their aggressiveness. Also cut the tails off a couple of the live baits right at the tail bone, making sure they do not bleed and chum them, the dorado went insane on these baits when we chummed them late, chet spreen

MARLIN -  Rich Johnson-Marie-B      Date: 20 Aug 2000 18:05:21
Trip on August 19, 2000 The voyage of the Sea Trek. At first light 30 miles- 150 degrees from Point Loma We bait 3 seperate sleepers in the area before 1000. No go--we only have small mackeral--grrr. The area is loaded with small school yellowfin that are a real nuisance on the marlin lures. Excellent area that we fish during both slacks before trolling up the edge to the Coronados. The tuna are on the cold side of the temperature break. Water blue although off color at the end of the Finger Bank. Rich

MARLIN -  Southern California Marlin On-line   Bob Hoose Aug-21-00, 00:02 AM (PDT)
"local YFT 267-209-289"  hey Guys: - Just checked in with the BAC and our first local Tuna Flag went to Brandon Hunt Friday on his boat SEA HUNT. Was caught on a zuchinni 7STRAND Hex Head under the porpoise on the 267. Another BAC boat on the same porpoise school hung a pair of 30 lb. YFT's. Sat. a fleet found the yft west of the 209 to the 289 to the 43. Mostly kelps and porpoise schools, fish from 12-35 lbs. Dorado building in numbers and size... Bob Hoose

MARLIN -  Southern California Marlin On-line   Stan  Aug-20-00, 01:34 PM (PDT)
"In Search of Marlin"  Team HOOKER chased marlin in vain Friday thru Sunday. Followed the super-secret dope up to the 499 Friday, only to find out it wasn't that big of a secret - everyone was there! Worked 499 around to Avalon Bank without success save a single dorado. Not sure why everyone else finds filled paddies and we just find weeds! Wish the marlin would make their appearance - they're running late.

This looks like the work of Chet Spreen...
..So Cal Offshore Reports ...    Thursday, August 17, 2000 01:49 PM
Striped Marlin Reports - The marlinos are moving around! www.fishspotters.com has been seeing the marlin in some new locations. The first spot is 33.05/119.00 they spotted a single finner here which is approximately 1/4 of the way between the west end of San Clemente and San Nicholas Island. The next spot was at 33.17.30/118.40.60 which was a group of 5 sleepers, this area is about 7 miles outside Ben Weston at Catalina. Another area with recent report of fish for this week is inside the 279- 6 sleepers baited by a private boater with no fish biting. Other than that the spot 3 to 4 miles southwest of Pukey Point off North Island Coronados is still happenning, Marty Morris had an interesting day seeing 6 fish in a about an hour. He got a jig strike and saw some feeders, this is the same area that went off during the weekend for SD boys. There was a tonnage of bait in there with the tuna and dorado as well.

Albacore- The question is, where did they go? We had fish counts of over 2,000 fish last Friday but nothing close to that lately. I think the answer is the full moon, those Albies are on the move and it seems they are moving out to the west. The last area of fish close to home was the Butterfly Bank but the water got warm and the fish took off further west to a bank called the Bell Bank which is over 100 miles from the Point. The sport boats are working that area and doing well on multi-day trips. Forget these things and go slam the tropical species the DORADO and YELLOWFIN are going off. They are still getting a smattering of Albies mixed with the Yellowfin and Bluefin.

Bluefin Tuna - Nothing has changed from last week. There have been some Bluefin outside the 302 in with the Yellowfin as well off the Coronados, but nothing spectacular. The paddies have been holding a few Bluefin in the same areas as the Yellowtail/Dorado/Albacore. The best Bluefin fishing is 130 to 200 miles anywhere from 180 degrees to 220 degrees. Haven't heard anything new about out near the Cortez, just know that there were fish being caught there last Friday by some of the multi-day boats. The fish are from 20 to 40 lbs. and have bit best when using fluorocarbon leaders of 30lbs. or less and small hooks. On the trolling leaders I would also use fluorocarbon leaders between 60 and 80lb. Private Boaters have had some success with small mackerel, so it's worth it to have some in the tank. But again, forget these guys and go after the DORADO and YELLOWFIN while they are running, you might run into a few Bluefin in the same areas.

Yellowfin Tuna - THEY ARE HERE!! Man you have to love these aggressive little tunas, they will hit anything and come to the boat with reckless abandon. There have been Yellowfin on the 209, between the 279 and 209, the 181 down the ridge to the 182, and off the 9 mile bank down to the 425. Those are the local areas, down below there off Ensenada the fishing is very good with fish 10 to 15 off Todos 220 degrees all the way out to the 295. The fish are under the porpoise and the paddies, but they are also hitting jigs in open water. Zuchinni Zukers have been working along with cedar plugs and Mexican Flag Zukers. They have even hit marlin jigs, these guys are hungry! WORK THOSE PORPOISE but be courteous to other fishermen! Here are some numbers for down south 32.24/117.23, 32.27/117.32, 32.09/117.14.

Bigeye Tuna - These guys are starting to show up between the 9 mile bank and the 425. www.fishspotters.com reported spotting 6 Bigeye at 32.24/117.27.50 moving to the west. Another traditional Bigeye haunt is the 302 which would be worth a try. The 1 day boats are starting to get some Bigeye in the same areas as the Yellowfin and the Dorado, but nothing more than 1 or 2. Down south 150 miles the multi-day boats are getting a few Bigeye. If you are looking in local waters try fishing in the pre-dawn hours from 3 am to sunrise, fish structure, like the Banda Bank or the 9-mile Bank, the Bigeye bite much better in the early morning and late evening. Also try spreader bars, marlin lures, or large tuna jigs.

Paddy Yellowtail -The yellows are swarming around the paddies down south, especially around the 302 down to the 425, they have been eating the dead sardines, but watch out for boat traffic! Every kelp paddy seems like it has between 2 and 10 boats on it on the weekends, it's really out of hand! The yellows are spread over a large area with good catches especially down south from the 302 to the 425 out to the 295 and then to the inside off Todos Santos. Up to the north the best paddies have been along the inside from La Jolla to Newport but watch out for the traffic!!!! I would check more offshore if you want mostly tails and get out of the congestion. I like the area between the 289 and Mackerel Bank and from there to San Clemente Island. Have a marlin outfit ready, there have been quite a few fish seen in that area.

Paddy Dorado - Once more I say, "AHHHH GET OFF MY PADDY!!! :)" .This will be the motto for everyone over the weekend, I have a feeling it is really going to be UGLY! The Dorado have moved in close to shore once again making it even more important to be courteous to your fellow private boater. Look from 3 miles off to 35 from South Island, Coronados to Newport Beach. This area is holding a ton of Dorado but not on every paddy. But the ones that are have had some large schools. Slow trolled dines have worked well, but mackerel have really been the best bait, especially the MINI-MACKS. There really isn't a best area because the fish are spread in good numbers over a large area. I suppose the best area would be a paddy loaded with Dorado that you don't have to share:).

New Tuna Club Record, "Hot Reels" 8lb dacron for a 21 lb Yellowtail 2 miles east of the Avalon Bank Yellowtail! Dorado on the 152 this morning, jumping all over the place!

MARLIN -  Rich Johnson-Marie-B   18 Aug 2000   06:35:32
BROKEN LEADERS????  Last Sunday I broke leader and Wednesday Marty did the same. I have just started using these double barreled jobs from an outfit in Carlsbad that are sold at Fisherman's Landing and Hook Line and Sinker. I ran out of the old dependable A-7 ones from Sevenstrand. When I pulled like Heck on some of my other rigs to check them, a few failed as well. The leader seems to pull out of the crimp unless it is done just right. The answer may be to double crimp thanks to instructions from One on High who is knowledgable about such matters, but who will remain nameless to protect my secret source of valuable wisdom. So it might be a good idea to tug on your rigs before a marlin does. What a frustrating sport!!!!

Albacore- The question is, where did they go? We had fish counts of over 2,000 fish last Friday but nothing close to that lately. I think the answer is the full moon, those Albies are on the move and it seems they are moving out to the west. The last area of fish close to home was the Butterfly Bank but the water got warm and the fish took off further west to a bank called the Bell Bank which is over 100 miles from the Point. The sport boats are working that area and doing well on multi-day trips. Forget these things and go slam the tropical species the DORADO and YELLOWFIN are going off. They are still getting a smattering of Albies mixed with the Yellowfin and Bluefin.

Bluefin Tuna - Nothing has changed from last week. There have been some Bluefin outside the 302 in with the Yellowfin as well off the Coronados, but nothing spectacular. The paddies have been holding a few Bluefin in the same areas as the Yellowtail/Dorado/Albacore. The best Bluefin fishing is 130 to 200 miles anywhere from 180 degrees to 220 degrees. Haven't heard anything new about out near the Cortez, just know that there were fish being caught there last Friday by some of the multi-day boats. The fish are from 20 to 40 lbs. and have bit best when using fluorocarbon leaders of 30lbs. or less and small hooks. On the trolling leaders I would also use fluorocarbon leaders between 60 and 80lb. Private Boaters have had some success with small mackerel, so it's worth it to have some in the tank. But again, forget these guys and go after the DORADO and YELLOWFIN while they are running, you might run into a few Bluefin in the same areas.

Yellowfin Tuna - THEY ARE HERE!! Man you have to love these aggressive little tunas, they will hit anything and come to the boat with reckless abandon. There have been Yellowfin on the 209, between the 279 and 209, the 181 down the ridge to the 182, and off the 9 mile bank down to the 425. Those are the local areas, down below there off Ensenada the fishing is very good with fish 10 to 15 off Todos 220 degrees all the way out to the 295. The fish are under the porpoise and the paddies, but they are also hitting jigs in open water. Zuchinni Zukers have been working along with cedar plugs and Mexican Flag Zukers. They have even hit marlin jigs, these guys are hungry! WORK THOSE PORPOISE but be courteous to other fishermen! Here are some numbers for down south 32.24/117.23, 32.27/117.32, 32.09/117.14.

Bigeye Tuna - These guys are starting to show up between the 9 mile bank and the 425. www.fishspotters.com reported spotting 6 Bigeye at 32.24/117.27.50 moving to the west. Another traditional Bigeye haunt is the 302 which would be worth a try. The 1 day boats are starting to get some Bigeye in the same areas as the Yellowfin and the Dorado, but nothing more than 1 or 2. Down south 150 miles the multi-day boats are getting a few Bigeye. If you are looking in local waters try fishing in the pre-dawn hours from 3 am to sunrise, fish structure, like the Banda Bank or the 9-mile Bank, the Bigeye bite much better in the early morning and late evening. Also try spreader bars, marlin lures, or large tuna jigs.

Paddy Yellowtail -The yellows are swarming around the paddies down south, especially around the 302 down to the 425, they have been eating the dead sardines, but watch out for boat traffic! Every kelp paddy seems like it has between 2 and 10 boats on it on the weekends, it's really out of hand! The yellows are spread over a large area with good catches especially down south from the 302 to the 425 out to the 295 and then to the inside off Todos Santos. Up to the north the best paddies have been along the inside from La Jolla to Newport but watch out for the traffic!!!! I would check more offshore if you want mostly tails and get out of the congestion. I like the area between the 289 and Mackerel Bank and from there to San Clemente Island. Have a marlin outfit ready, there have been quite a few fish seen in that area.

Paddy Dorado - Once more I say, "AHHHH GET OFF MY PADDY!!! " .This will be the motto for everyone over the weekend, I have a feeling it is really going to be UGLY! The Dorado have moved in close to shore once again making it even more important to be courteous to your fellow private boater. Look from 3 miles off to 35 from South Island, Coronados to Newport Beach. This area is holding a ton of Dorado but not on every paddy. But the ones that are have had some large schools. Slow trolled dines have worked well, but mackerel have really been the best bait, especially the MINI-MACKS. There really isn't a best area because the fish are spread in good numbers over a large area. I suppose the best area would be a paddy loaded with Dorado that you don't have to share.

Mako Sharks- Makos are here! There are hordes of them along the inshore areas from La Jolla to Newport out to the ridge 209, 277, on to the slide off Catalina. The stickboat AVISPA spotted a 900+lb. Mako on the 209 on Sunday, so the big boys are around. Overall, the fish are generally small but there are some larger fish around, you just have to weed through the puppies(tag and release the little guys). Where the dodos and tuna are the makos are around, and probably some large specimens at that.

Now Go Get Em'! When you get back file a trip report it only takes a few minutes of your time and it is so helpful to everyone!

Tight Lines,

32:26 /117:44 Yellowfin. Just west of the 302 Yellowfin and Dorado! 

"I Dream of" just caught a Marlin @ 33:17/ 117: 51 A tailer came up on a jig and ate the dropback!
10:30 am

Sounds like alot more boaters out this morning , the radios been jumping with reports around the high slack tide this morning 3 miles south of the 371, blind strikes of a triple of yellowfin 117 33 12

Dorado on the Mackeral Bank. Maybe yellowfin of the 14 Mile Bank, a few dorado towards the 209 from here.

YELLOWFIN - Allcoast Sportfishing   Aluminator on Aug-15-00 at 06:33 PM (PST)
"PLUGGED AGAIN YFT!!!!!!!!! TUES"   Slept in and left SD at 5am ran a 222 degree for 19.5 miles and the fun began. Tuna jumping all over. Yellowtail jumping all over. Dodos jumping all over. What can a guy do? Filled limits within a very short time with all three fish. The nice thing was that we were all alone!!! I am sure that Jim Day/ no boat and Mike/ Lady Bay will give you a report that is more fun to read than mine. Was still catching them 6 miles from North Island on the way in.  Dennis Hytinen (ALUMINATOR)

BOAT SINKING - Allcoast Sportfishing   Tarpoon on Aug-15-00 at 05:40 AM (PST)
From the LB Press Telegram:  8 saved from sinking   By Joe Segura    Staff writer LONG BEACH A wake-up call quickly turned into a Mayday distress call early Monday morning for eight sports fishermen.  Returning from a weekend fishing trip off San Diego, the crew of eight was forced to abandon the 42-foot-long boat (Lydia Lee) at about 1 a.m., after it slammed into the rocky breakwater and sank about two miles east of the Long Beach entrance into the harbor area, said Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Pillsbury. There were no injuries, according to Pillsbury.

The boat took only five minutes to sink after hitting the rocks, but it was enough time for the passengers to send out the Mayday call, which was received by Fire Department lifeguards, Pillsbury noted. Just before the accident, the operator of the boat, who was not identified, put the vessel on automatic pilot so that he could awaken the seven other fishermen, since they were close to their destination, Pillsbury said. While the operator was below, the boat slammed into the sharp-edged barrier, which is designed to reduce shoreline waves that can cause serious sand erosion problems, among other things. The eight sports fishermen quickly put on life preservers and jumped into the water. Two Lifeguard Rescue Boats and one Harbor Fire Boat picked up the eight about five minutes later, Pillsbury said. The eight were treated for minor bumps and bruises they suffered being thrown about in the boat, the battalion chief noted.

Hook Line and Sinker Fishing Contest   Affordable Marine      Tue, 15 Aug 2000 14:00:00 -0700
Current Leaders....
Albacore: 41.1# Mike Bingham, Poway.
Halibut: 45.8# Jack Pearson, San Diego
Yellowtail: 40.0# Sybil Lovaas, San Diego

MARLIN -  Chet Spreen - "BITE ME"   14 Aug 2000  21:38:12
August 14, 2000 Marlin- Another weekend of spread out fish. ESPADON released a fish Friday afternoon 3 miles off the Slide, another Friday fish was Alan Sheridan on COMANCHE releasing a jig fish off the San Onofre Domes which was quite large with the fight lasting 2 hours. DOUBLE D released a fish 2 miles off Church Rock on Saturday morning, Don Blackman released a fish on his boat RETRIEVER 15 miles 184 degrees from Point Loma on Saturday,  John Ashley on TENACIOUS released a fish as well on Saturday fishing south of North Island about 16 miles 180 degrees, FIJI GIRL took a fish 4 miles inside the 181 on Sunday. Also on Sunday, three marlin were caught above, outside, and below North Island. Feeders were seen in various areas including 9 miles, 200 (on the lower edge of the canyon or "notch" just north of Pukey), outside of Pukey, southwest of the island and about 4 miles further south. We found two amongst meatballs of feeding Dorado. When we slowed to drag a bait through it a fish came up!  on the slow moving bird/jig, but failed to bite when I punched it. Kenny Schilling on a new boat destined for charter service at the Cape caught one on straight 40 with a sardine slow trolled over a feeder and released it. An hour later he had his 11 year old son wired to a jig fish. It came up tail wrapped and weighed in at 153. About 4 miles south of the island John Ashley on his "Tenacious" wired a jig fish. It was a "small one" and John released it. In the afternoon Joe Lops ("Jigger Joe") found feeders at the "notch." They dumped a bait which was eaten immediately and had a jig nailed. First, the jig fish came off and later they got the hook back on the feeder. More reports: A couple feeders and sleepers seen between the 289 and Pyramid, feeders on the Mackerel Bank, www.fishspotters.com saw fish at 33.09.70/118.28.60 and another at 33.11.00/118.30.50 which is west of the Mackerel, group of tailers seen by TIGHTLINES 3 miles from the Avalon Bank, WILD BILL baited a "drunk feeder"(it was at least acting like it was drunk, swirling on trash, very peculiar) somewhere near Clemente Isld. TYEE baited or saw around 6 fish near the 152 Saturday afternoon.

Albacore- The albies are trying to make a comeback from Friday's slaughter of over 2,000 fish. Today the boats out of San Diego were spread out over a large area south of Point Loma. Fish were again taken near the 425 down to the Banda Bank off Ensenada but nothing like Friday. Today the sportboats did best out at the Dumping Grounds which is too far for me for albies at this point in the season. A good area to look would be from 31.50.12/117.21.50 to 31.40/117.01.40, this area will have kelps that are holding albies along with the other species. The 390 today also had some fish on it but nothing blockbuster. I am sure a private boater would do good on the inner banks off Ensenada, no worries.

Bluefin Tuna - The paddies have been holding a few Bluefin in the same areas as the Yellowtail/Dorado/Albacore. Some boats did decent with some double digit counts at the 295 and inside that towards Todos. The best Bluefin fishing is 130 to 200 miles anywhere from 180 degrees to 220 degrees. There have also been some big counts by the sportboats out at the Cortez Bank. The fish are from 20 to 40 lbs. and have bit best when using fluorocarbon leaders of 30lbs. or less and small hooks. On the trolling leaders I would also use fluorocarbon leaders between 60 and 80lb. Private Boaters have had some success with small mackerel, so it's worth it to have some in the tank.

Yellowfin Tuna - Evidently a private boater got some Yellowfin from under the porpoise at the 209 over the weekend!!. The 1 day boats are also reporting catches of Yellowfin in the area inside the 295 towards Todos Santos and then up towards the 425. Fish have been on kelp paddies and porpoise schools throughout that area. Some 1 day boats had double digit counts on Yellowfin in the past few days. Other than those reports we don't have much to work with except the fish being taken at Guadaloupe Island by the multi-day trips out of San Diego. Work those porpoise!

Bigeye Tuna - BIG CATCH made 25 miles south of SD near the 425. A 121lb. BIGEYE was taken on a Mean Joe Green Marlin Jig and weighed at SD Marlin Club. The 1 day boats are starting to get some Bigeye in the same areas as the Yellowfin and the Dorado, but nothing more than 1 or 2. Down south 150 miles the multi-day boats are getting a few Bigeye. If you are looking in local waters try fishing in the pre-dawn hours from 3 am to sunrise, fish structure, like the Banda Bank or the 9-mile Bank, the Bigeye bite much better in the early morning and late evening. Also try spreader bars, marlin lures, or large tuna jigs.

Paddy Yellowtail -The tails have been a little line shy on the paddies the Dorado are on, probably due to the heavy private boat traffic. Every kelp paddy seems like it has between 2 and 10 boats on it, it's really out of hand! The yellows are spread over a large area with good catches especially down south from the 425 out to the 295 and then to the inside off Todos Santos. Up to the north the best paddies have been along the inside from La Jolla to Newport but watch out for the traffic!!!! I would check more offshore if you want mostly tails and get out of the congestion. I like the area between the 289 and Mackerel Bank and from there to San Clemente Island. Have a marlin outfit ready, there have been quite a few fish seen in that area.

Paddy Dorado - AHHHH GET OFF MY PADDY!!! was still the motto for the weekend. We got our Dorado between the 14 and 209, and south of the 209 on the 312. The kelp paddies from the 209 south to the 182 had less boat traffic Saturday but by Sunday the traffic was out there as well. The dodos have been offshore between 15 miles and 35 miles off from La Jolla to Newport. Not every paddy is holding but the ones that are have had some large schools. Slow trolled dines have worked well, but mackerel have really been the best bait, both chunked and flylined. The best area is between the 14 and the 277.

Mako Sharks- Makos are here! There are hordes of them along the inshore areas from La Jolla to Newport. They are generally small but there are some larger fish around, you just have to weed through the puppies(tag and release the little guys). Where the dodos are the makos are around. A 776lb. Mako was taken off the backside of Anacapa Island 2 weeks ago near the barracuda schools and some other large fish were encountered over the past weekends.

Go Get 'em, Chet Spreen/ BITE ME

Sunday started off the slide but saw little life, so we worked down to the 152. We saw a couple more blue whales, some schools of sauries lazily puddling on the surface, scattered bird life, 6 small makos, and more sunfish than I care to count. Seeing nothing of particular interest we went south back to the 209 for some more dorado. Only 1 marlin seen today, a jumper about a mile away near the 312 again. Water temps 70 to 74 and beautiful hot flat calm weather. Good fishing but bad catching!! later,  Chet

MARLIN -    Barry Rockwell      Date: 14 Aug 2000 08:03:59
Sunday, August 14 - Marlin fishing with Sybil Lovaas (yellowtail lady). When Kenny Schilling started catching fish we were already outside the 182 and I was cussing myself for going the wrong way again. The ocean was glassy  and the sea temp was 73 degrees. Just short of the 43 we found a paddy where I caught a dorado and Sybil got two yellowtail, all on bait. The seatemp on the 43 was 75 degrees by my guage but there didn't seem to be any life anywhere. We turned and started trolling toward the Coronados and started getting the occasional dorado on the marlin lures. About noon I had a real screamer of a bite on a Mean Joe Green Collector Peanut, 20# line, on the 1st wave but never saw the fish. It fought like a marlin but never showed and the hook pulled after 35 minutes. We were at 31 miles, 258 degrees, just inside the 43 and the seatemp was 75.4. Caught several dorado to 15 lbs in the area on the marlin lures. When we got to a point about 3.5 miles south of the 182, my sea temp guage said the water was 76.1. None of the area looked fishy - no birds or bait - but we had a lot of action between the 43 and 182. Sybil was thrilled to have caught her first dorado (she caught three). Barry - Drift-A-Way

MARLIN -  Rich Johnson-Marie B    14 Aug 2000   06:04:58
Saturday August 12--Marie, Son Pete and his 2 kids Peter and Olivia from Colorado. Mid nine to 178 to fish temperature break at ther slack-0, off to the 302--little green faces. 302 purple and dead. In to 3v miles west of north island--lots of life-possible feeder in school of dorado--little faces pale. Sunday August 13--7-up and Saltines for the little faces. A bounty is offered for marlin- $10 and any other fins $1. 200 degrees 8.8 miles $10 feeder--no go on huge mack. 2 more feeders--no go on large mack and sardine. 0715. Hear about Kennys fish. Joe and Marty seeing fish off North Island. I swear I see a feeder in dorado pushing sauries. Marty hooks a dorado inside of us--big school. Work down to Kenny at 180 degrees 14 miles--what a fisherman. Huge paddy and bird school outside--get in the bird school-  marlin stike 3.5 Zucher mean Joe Green Big fish -hot and big-about 200 -right at the boat all silver belly-will it stab the kids!-much black smoke   and blue water--much screaming from little faces. Broken crimp!! Don hairshirt and whip myself-being an imperfect human being is tough, deep breathing, it's the journey not the destination, life is a process, blame it on the Lupron. Porpoise start to feed-birds gather-man-there are a bunch of marlin feeding with the porpoise. Let's feed them the plastic--All over the black and purple Collector in the port rigger--drop back a hefty mack-- marlin hits ahead of the lure and won't take the mack. Olivia said she would see a blue whale on her trip--You think it may be my face but no-- we now actually do see 2 blue whales. Another bird school in the gyros-down when we arrive hours later--I try and call Kenny who is just above all this nonsense not to leave. Joe and Marty are up ast the nine mile spot having their own frustrations. Boat covered with Saltine crumbs, crushed 7-Up cans and shining little faces. A great day --fish spread in the life from 12 to 18 miles south of the Point. Water  purple--off color at the 9 mile spot.

Today, three marlin were caught above, outside, and below North  Island. Feeders were seen in various areas including 9 miles, 200 (on the lower edge of the canyon or "notch" just north of Pukey), outside of Pukey, southwest of the island and about 4 miles further south. We found two amongst meatballs of feeding Dorado. When we slowed to drag a bait through it a fish came up on the slow moving bird/jig, but failed to bite when I punched it.

Kenny Schilling on a new boat destined for charter service at the Cape caught one on straight 40 with a sardine slow trolled over a feeder and released it. An hour later he had his 11 year old son wired to a jig fish. It came up tail wrapped and weighed in at 153. About 4 miles south of the island John Ashley on his "Tenacious" wired a jig fish. It was a "small one" and John released it.

In the afternoon Joe Lops ("Jigger Joe") found feeders at the "notch." They dumped a bait which was eaten immediately and had a jig nailed. First, the jig fish came off and later they got the hook back on the feeder. Up above Kim Sage on the "Fiji Girl" took a fish 4 miles inside of the 181 - weighed in at 109.

Around three the MEATBALLS, FOAMERS, BREEZERS, were up. Nice mix of Blue-fin and big Albies. One note here why do some people have to charge right into the middle of the foamers and chase everything down.. Learn to come at them from upswell and move NEAR them at troll speed, not Mach 5, and shut down and let them come to you. They will come over and see what that big dark object is. A little chum in the water and your in there.....See Ya TRITON

Allan Sheridan-COMANCHE     12 Aug 2000   15:13:25
Comanche caught its first Marlin of the year today off the domes near Dana Point. It was a blind jig strike on a custom Melton black and purple small Marlin Jig. The fish was released after a short amount of CPR to live another day- The fish was big and the fight was about 2 hours.

MARLIN -   12Aug 2000   15:13:25
8/12 Shirley Blackman - Caught 105 lb. stripper on 20 # test, Lure. Took 55 min. Hooked at 10.35 am., 184 degree from Point, 15 miles out. Boat - Retriever

BIGEYE - Allcoast Sportfishing    Holi_e_Mackeral on Aug-11-00 at 06:43 AM (PST)
"Thursday tuna coordinates" Fished on a charter on the Gallalean on Thursday. We caught a mixed bag of bluefin (smaller variety 18#), Albacore (nice grade up to almost 30#), dorado (smaller) and some very nice yellowtail on the paddies (I caught one close to 30#) Here are the numbers were we fished at..
Started the day at: 3147.198 x 117 23 777
Lots of kelps at 31 43 854 x 117.26 063
Weather was pretty snotty with wind and swell out there.... Good luck to you.... may your decks run red...

MARLIN - Ed Waldman    10 Aug 2000   20:47:00
Marlin: Ed Waldman -Sunshine Too - Thursday fished for marlin on 302  --nothing. Then went to 226 - zilch. Then up ridge to 182 - zero. Then to 178 where we saw a jumper at around 100 yds. Worked for him but no go.  Weather was sloppy. Temperature 69 F on outside and 70 at 178 and 9 mile  bank. Score for the trip -- NOTHING.

Bluefin Tuna - Some boats did decent with some double digit counts at the 295. There are fish hitting the rapalas and jetheads down inside the 295, with most jig stops resulting in a few baitfish. The fish are from 20 to 40 lbs. and have bit best when using fluorocarbon leaders of 30lbs. or less and small hooks. On the trolling leaders I would also use fluorocarbon leaders between 60 and 80lb. Private Boaters have had some success with small mackerel, so it's worth it to have some in the tank. The best Bluefin fishing has still been at 135+ miles 200 degrees from Point Loma, but the seiners are hitting them HARD and making the fish skittish.

Yellowfin Tuna - Evidently a private boater got some Yellowfin from under the porpoise at the 209 today!!. JD www.jdsbiggame.com is reporting that fish in the 40 to 60lb. class were seen near the 14 mile bank breaking water on Tuesday. The 1 day boats are also starting to report catches of Yellowfin in the area inside the 295 towards Todos Santos. Some 1 day boats had double digit counts on Yellowfin in the past few days. Other than those reports we don't have much to work with except the fish being taken at Guadaloupe Island by the multi-day trips out of San Diego. Work those porpoise!

Bigeye Tuna - BIG CATCH made 25 miles south of SD near the 425. A 121lb. BIGEYE was taken on a Mean Joe Green Marlin Jig and weighed at SD Marlin Club. The 1 day boats are starting to get some Bigeye in the same areas as the Yellowfin and the Dorado, but nothing more than 1 or 2. Down south 150 miles the multi-day boats are getting a few Bigeye. If you are looking in local waters try fishing in the pre-dawn hours from 3 am to sunrise, fish structure, like the Banda Bank or the 9-mile Bank, the Bigeye bite much better in the early morning and late evening. Also try spreader bars, marlin lures, or large tuna jigs.

Paddy Yellowtail -Today if we wanted to catch yellows we had to weed our way through the dorado, what a horrible problem to have. The yellows are spread over a large area with good catches especially down south from the 425 out to the 295 and then to the inside off Todos Santos. Up to the north the best paddies have been along the inside from La Jolla to Newport but watch out for the traffic!!!! I would check more offshore if you want mostly tails and get out of the congestion. I like the area between the 289 and Mackerel Bank and from there to San Clemente Island. Have a marlin outfit ready, there have been quite a few fish