Big Kahuna
07-30-2010, 01:57 PM
Arrived at Seaforth Landing Monday night, 7/26, with great anticipation. Everyone was stoked because of reports of late afternoon/early evening bite was WFO on Saturday. The Endeavor was coming in from a 2 day trip that left Sat night, so we knew that Captain Dave would have the latest scoop on the albies/bft. Left the landing around 9p with 18 anglers. Loaded up on mid to large dines and small, pinhead chovies. Started trolling around 5:30a at approximately 100 miles sw of the point. It looked like a parking lot as there were numerous long range boats - American Angler, Excel (Hey Greg: I saw your report on your 5 day. At least you guys slayed the yellows), Q-105, and Vagabond plus the usual San Diego armada - Legend, Pacific Voyager, Apollo, Holiday, Bright & Morning Star and even the Freedon out of San Pedro. The weather was nice - overcast, but cold, seas with slight chop. Water was clean and blue. Well, we trolled and trolled and trolled and trolled. Nothing. We stopped at a few large kelp paddies, but nobody home. Finally at 1:30p, Captain Dave decided to make a move to another area where some fish were caught. We trolled and trolled and trolled. Finally, at 7p we got our first jig strike. A couple of 15lb class albies hit the deck. Was this the start of an epic evening bite like we had in 04 and 05? Well, we landed another five albies all on the troll before hanging it up for the day. Day 1 Count: 7 albies.
The next morning, started trolling again at 5:30a. Once again, I counted close to 20 boats in the area as we were approximately 85 miles from the point. The area looked promising as Sueno was seeing more fish in the area. Long story short: we caught only three fish (two on the troll and finally, one fish on bait) before we had to head to the barn around 12:30p. Day 2 Count: 3 albies for a grand total of 10 albies.
Observations: It was very cold on the offshore tuna grounds. As kgselect (who happens to be married to my cousin) said in a previous post, it was jacket weather. The water was relatively calm with just a slight chop. I was surprised that there were no seiners in the area when we were fishing in mexican waters. One of my friends on the boat said that the commercial boats have already met the annual quota for bluefin. So the million dollar question is: Where are the fish? Albies are being caught off the San Juan Seamount, No Cal, and off of Oregon and Washington. Could this be the start of another down cycle for albacore like the mid-80's to mid-90's?
Nevertheless, everyone had a great time on the Endeavor with Captain Dave, Diron, Russ, John and Eddie. Until the next trip, tight lines everyone.
The Big Kahuna
"If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago." Zane Grey
The next morning, started trolling again at 5:30a. Once again, I counted close to 20 boats in the area as we were approximately 85 miles from the point. The area looked promising as Sueno was seeing more fish in the area. Long story short: we caught only three fish (two on the troll and finally, one fish on bait) before we had to head to the barn around 12:30p. Day 2 Count: 3 albies for a grand total of 10 albies.
Observations: It was very cold on the offshore tuna grounds. As kgselect (who happens to be married to my cousin) said in a previous post, it was jacket weather. The water was relatively calm with just a slight chop. I was surprised that there were no seiners in the area when we were fishing in mexican waters. One of my friends on the boat said that the commercial boats have already met the annual quota for bluefin. So the million dollar question is: Where are the fish? Albies are being caught off the San Juan Seamount, No Cal, and off of Oregon and Washington. Could this be the start of another down cycle for albacore like the mid-80's to mid-90's?
Nevertheless, everyone had a great time on the Endeavor with Captain Dave, Diron, Russ, John and Eddie. Until the next trip, tight lines everyone.
The Big Kahuna
"If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago." Zane Grey