Tournament accomplishments
Thirteen-time Junior Angler Champion, Thomas Orozco, 14, of Union City, California placed first in his age division at the International Game Fish Association Young Anglers Tournament held at Shelter Island Pier in San Diego on Aug. 9. Orozco caught and released calico bass, sand bass, mackerel, jacksmelt, bat ray, scorpionfish and midshipman during the 3 ½ -hour tourna- ment in which 150 kids ages 6 to15 participated.
fishrap.com
Thomas has captured first place for his age divi- sion 13 times at IGFA tournaments.
SAN DIEGO REPORT
Anglers have been returning home with large catches of yellowfin tuna, dorado, yellowtail and wahoo dur- ing this summer’s superb fishing season. Both pri- vate and commercial fishing captains have reported good fishing action.
tuna to compliment the excellent yel- lowfin tuna fishing. Meisel remains impressed with how far and wide the catches of yellowfin tuna are spread over many miles of ocean. Private boater Capt. Ron Bowers of
Salt Fever reported about a two day trip where he fished the area between the 224 Spot and the Corner and found limit yellowfin tuna fishing. Bowers reported finding a kelp paddy on the morning of the first day of the trip that led to a yellowfin stop that lasted all day long. It was outstanding fishing and they had the long stop while fish- ing out at 30 miles 241 degrees from Point Loma. Private boater John Carroll of
Yellowfin, bluefin, dorado, marlin and yellowtail biting offshore
By Bob Vanian
SAN DIEGO — The awesome offshore fishing season continues to roll along with yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, dorado and yellowtail combining to provide some fantastic fishing. Marlin fishing has also improved, and there are rumors about a wahoo being caught at the 302 Spot. There might well be something to the concept of there being some wahoo around in local offshore waters as there have been reports of mystery bite-offs on live bait outfits and trolling gear that could logically be attributed to the razor sharp teeth of a wahoo going up against something other than a steel leader.
One negative thing to report is that the bluefin tuna closure in Mexican waters is still in effect as of the time of this writing. A couple of weeks ago there was an indication that the clo- sure was going to come to an end but the end of the closure has not yet been memorialized in writing by the Mexican government. In conversations with Conapesca representatives in San Diego their directive is that all bluefin tuna caught in Mexican waters should be released until such time as the
Mexican government issues a written document ending the closure. At the time of this writing, a document end- ing the bluefin tuna closure has not yet been issued or received.
The offsetting good news is that
there are some bluefin tuna to be caught on the United States side of the Mexican border. The bluefin have been mixed size fish that have been running from 15 to 80 pounds with most in the 18 to 25 pound range. Most of the yel- lowfin tuna have been falling within 8 to 30 pound range with a few larger yellowfin (that might actually be big- eye tuna) reported that go up to 50 pounds. The dorado have been run- ning from 10 to 20 pounds and the yel- lowtail have ranged from small throw- back sized fish on up to 20 pounds. There are tuna, yellowtail and dora- do biting from the 14 Mile Bank in the Catalina Channel all the way down to the region of the 238 Spot outside of Ensenada. The best catches in recent days have come from boats fishing around and about the 181 Spot, the 182 Spot, the 312 Spot, the 43 Fathom Spot, the Corner, the 224 Spot, the 302 Spot, the 230 Spot and the 371 Bank. The stops have been coming from blind jig strikes, drifting around spots
of working tern birds, drifting near spots of breaking fish, porpoise schools, meter marks, drifting around kelp paddies and drifting around ham- merhead sharks. It is unusual, but good yellowfin tuna stops are regularly being found by stopping and fishing near a hammerhead shark in similar fashion to the way you would stop and fish around a kelp paddy. Productive jigs on the troll have been natural color cedar plugs, black and purple color cedar plugs and mackerel color cedar plugs. Good color trolling feathers have been the broom- tail zucchini, black and purple, black and green as well as Mexican flag. Black and purple color X-Rap Rapalas have also been reported to be working well on the troll. Some reports from the past few days of fishing start with a report from Capt. Scott Meisel of Condor out of Fisherman’s Landing who reported about a recent 1.5 day trip. Meisel had a great trip with 111 yellowfin tuna and one yellowtail. He also mentioned his prior 1.5 day trip where they caught 134 yellowtail. Near limit to limit yel- lowfin tuna fishing has been reported on recent trips with a chance at adding a mix of yellowtail, dorado and bluefin
Huachinango reported fishing a recent trip where they had to settle for mack- erel for bait as the bait receivers in San Diego Bay had run out of sardines and anchovies. They caught three yellowfin tuna on the day but it was a frustrating day of fishing for them as they were in an area where they were looking at other boats that were limiting out on yellowfin tuna while using sardines and anchovies for bait. They caught one of their yellowfin on a mackerel that was fished deep with a 2 ounce sliding sinker, another of their yel- lowfin was caught on a Megabait iron and the third was caught on the troll. They had their action while fishing out near the Corner at 35 miles 248 degrees from Point Loma. Private boater Randy Verhooven of
the Grainmaker made a late afternoon run out to the tuna grounds and reported catching lots of yellowfin tuna from a two hour bait stop that started with a trolling strike. They found the hot action while fishing out to the west of the 302 Spot at 24 miles 228 degrees from Point Loma. Verhooven reported that the yellowfin stayed with them and kept biting until they ran out of bait. They easily limited out on yellowfin tuna and caught and released additional fish until they had used all their bait. Private boater Rex Finney reported fishing in the San Diego Rod and Reel Club’s monthly tournament and catch- ing three yellowfin tuna. Finney report- ed that their yellowfin weighed 24, 22
See SD Report page 29
FishingVideos.com photos
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