Tunaslam
12-04-2015, 03:08 PM
The call came from Jeff, I answered yes, and it was most likely the last hurrah for Tuna this year, but who knows? So I went Tuna fishing (chasing) with Jeff on his 24’Skipjack, the “Kolamono” with crew Frank and Jaime, Thursday, 12-03-15. I set the alarm for 2am, awoke at 1:55am and arrived at Jeff’s house at 3 am.
So we locked and loaded our gear and quickly headed south, Launching at Dana Landing in Mission Bay a little after 5am. We stopped for bait and picked up some lively Anchovies, pretty small, yet they all lived through out the day.
Our beginning destination was the 230 bank, where Tuna had been caught recently. The seas were a bit bumpy, with about 7 knots of wind. The conditions improved further and eventually became grease conditions by 9:30 am. Thus we could not blame anything on the weather, although the usual noon time wind and white caps showed up, the winds backed off by 2:30pm. So it was very fishable all day long, allowing for spotting diving birds, which were everywhere and porpoise, which we encountered only some small schools, none holding.
We began trolling when water temps reached 66.1 degrees, about 27 miles out. We worked a very large area from 32.29 to as far south as 32.16, between 117 39 and 117 47. Most of the area looked very fishy, birds everywhere, deep blue and mostly clear water and temps ranging between 65.8 degrees, to a high of 66.4 degrees.
I spotted a really nice kelp paddy with birds on it, and we chummed some anchovies with immediate small boils. Yep Micro Tails. We hooked a few and released them and moved on.
A few minutes later we had our first jig strike. A small Skipjack, and the chum brought boils all around the boat. We released a few and kept a couple. Hoping for the bite to turn into Yellowfin Tuna we continued to chum. The skippies sunk out and off we went.
We trolled by a few more good looking Kelp Paddies, with most holding more Micro Tails. We came across small puddlers of something, but couldn’t get bit nor could we identify the fish? The ¾ day boat San Diego got to the area around 10:30am, where we were some 40 miles from Mission Bay. We understand they landed 33 Yellowfin Tuna for the day, however, we never saw them stopped for any length of time?
At 11:30 am we got a triple hookup on the Skipjack. It was a very large school and we had boiling fish all around the boat. Every bait in the water was ate and Frank caught some on his Colt Sniper. A few Skipjack went 10 pounds, while most were in the 5-6 pound range. Jeff and Frank both thought they saw some bigger fish a bit deeper and brown, which looked like Yellowfin Tuna, however, we didn’t hook any. Whenever we threw chum the water exploded with boils. If you looked down below the boat you could see the fish zooming every which direction!
We gave up on this school and began trolling again, didn’t get ¼ mile before another double jig strike occurred. Same story all Skip Jack, and after 15 minutes we did not want to use up all our bait! The radio pretty much suggested we weren't the only boat striking out, as call out for the 302, 371, and 226, all came back with no action except Skip Jack. We heard of a few fish caught under the porpoise and at the north nine mile bank, that's all we heard.
We trolled until 2:30 pm before pulling the jigs in. The wind was blowing 12+ knots now. Jeff wanted to try a spot near shore that was holding Yellowtail. We got there at about 3:45 pm. There were some good marks in 200 feet of water, but nothing happened in the first few drifts as we Yo Yoed Iron. Late in the third drift I had just reeled in and Jeff said wind them up we will make a move. Well both Frank and Jaime hooked Yellowtail at the same time just off the bottom. For me it was too late, as I dropped back down and never got bit.
Frank with his nearly 20 pound Yellowtail:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4303%20680x510_zpszea0ii6j.jpg
Jaime with his 17-18 pounder:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4305%20680x510_zpsw9bxu4xg.jpg
We finally called it at 4:50 pm. The sunset as we entered the harbor:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4307%20680x510_zpsqvrtmtrl.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4306%20680x510_zpsn9cdqyai.jpg
On the trailer at 5:30 pm and at Jeff’s house at 7:35 and I was home in Diamond Bar at 8:20 pm. An extremely long day.
Thanks so much for the invite Jeff, you gave it your all! Nice fishing with you again Frank and Jaime.
Hook up! Cory
So we locked and loaded our gear and quickly headed south, Launching at Dana Landing in Mission Bay a little after 5am. We stopped for bait and picked up some lively Anchovies, pretty small, yet they all lived through out the day.
Our beginning destination was the 230 bank, where Tuna had been caught recently. The seas were a bit bumpy, with about 7 knots of wind. The conditions improved further and eventually became grease conditions by 9:30 am. Thus we could not blame anything on the weather, although the usual noon time wind and white caps showed up, the winds backed off by 2:30pm. So it was very fishable all day long, allowing for spotting diving birds, which were everywhere and porpoise, which we encountered only some small schools, none holding.
We began trolling when water temps reached 66.1 degrees, about 27 miles out. We worked a very large area from 32.29 to as far south as 32.16, between 117 39 and 117 47. Most of the area looked very fishy, birds everywhere, deep blue and mostly clear water and temps ranging between 65.8 degrees, to a high of 66.4 degrees.
I spotted a really nice kelp paddy with birds on it, and we chummed some anchovies with immediate small boils. Yep Micro Tails. We hooked a few and released them and moved on.
A few minutes later we had our first jig strike. A small Skipjack, and the chum brought boils all around the boat. We released a few and kept a couple. Hoping for the bite to turn into Yellowfin Tuna we continued to chum. The skippies sunk out and off we went.
We trolled by a few more good looking Kelp Paddies, with most holding more Micro Tails. We came across small puddlers of something, but couldn’t get bit nor could we identify the fish? The ¾ day boat San Diego got to the area around 10:30am, where we were some 40 miles from Mission Bay. We understand they landed 33 Yellowfin Tuna for the day, however, we never saw them stopped for any length of time?
At 11:30 am we got a triple hookup on the Skipjack. It was a very large school and we had boiling fish all around the boat. Every bait in the water was ate and Frank caught some on his Colt Sniper. A few Skipjack went 10 pounds, while most were in the 5-6 pound range. Jeff and Frank both thought they saw some bigger fish a bit deeper and brown, which looked like Yellowfin Tuna, however, we didn’t hook any. Whenever we threw chum the water exploded with boils. If you looked down below the boat you could see the fish zooming every which direction!
We gave up on this school and began trolling again, didn’t get ¼ mile before another double jig strike occurred. Same story all Skip Jack, and after 15 minutes we did not want to use up all our bait! The radio pretty much suggested we weren't the only boat striking out, as call out for the 302, 371, and 226, all came back with no action except Skip Jack. We heard of a few fish caught under the porpoise and at the north nine mile bank, that's all we heard.
We trolled until 2:30 pm before pulling the jigs in. The wind was blowing 12+ knots now. Jeff wanted to try a spot near shore that was holding Yellowtail. We got there at about 3:45 pm. There were some good marks in 200 feet of water, but nothing happened in the first few drifts as we Yo Yoed Iron. Late in the third drift I had just reeled in and Jeff said wind them up we will make a move. Well both Frank and Jaime hooked Yellowtail at the same time just off the bottom. For me it was too late, as I dropped back down and never got bit.
Frank with his nearly 20 pound Yellowtail:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4303%20680x510_zpszea0ii6j.jpg
Jaime with his 17-18 pounder:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4305%20680x510_zpsw9bxu4xg.jpg
We finally called it at 4:50 pm. The sunset as we entered the harbor:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4307%20680x510_zpsqvrtmtrl.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4306%20680x510_zpsn9cdqyai.jpg
On the trailer at 5:30 pm and at Jeff’s house at 7:35 and I was home in Diamond Bar at 8:20 pm. An extremely long day.
Thanks so much for the invite Jeff, you gave it your all! Nice fishing with you again Frank and Jaime.
Hook up! Cory