I leave on the Pacific Voyager August 27th on a 4 day.
Don't know if we're fishing US or Mexican waters yet but wanted to see if any AT guys have their fingers on the pulse.
Don't always trust the Landings fish counts.
Anyone local?
Really can't offer anything more than take a high level approach to the fish counts, and maybe do a little research on what the boats doing 3-4 days are catching....a lot can change overnight but you will have an idea...Bill
In all probability THEY don't even know where they will be fishing. Everything is so "all over the place". But part of your question Re: Mexican Waters: if you don't have a passport get one - you never know! - john
Mark and crew are great. I had a 2 1/2 day trip over Memorial Day weekend. The Pac Voyager is my favorite short range boat!
Cost of the boat ride includes the Mexican license and Visa, if we don't use it like last year it goes to the deckhands for fish processing and tips.
Been watching the 3-4 day reports.
Don't fully trust the landing website reports.
Mark, Dominik, Mitch, Coz, Cody, and the red headed night captain (sorry I can't remember his name) are AWESOME!
I leave Sunday on a 1.5 day trip and then "stay" on the boat for the 3 day immediately afterwards so I'll give you some intel after I get back....
I think the landing fish counts are close to accurate but might be inflated by 10%.....
You can also check 976tuna.com
Quote from: pjstevko on August 12, 2021, 03:21:02 AM
I leave Sunday on a 1.5 day trip and then "stay" on the boat for the 3 day immediately afterwards so I'll give you some intel after I get back....
I think the landing fish counts are close to accurate but might be inflated by 10%.....
You can also check 976tuna.com
That would be great!
Most of the 1-3 day boats have been going north the past couple weeks fishing bluefin. The fish have been close to the coast (~10 miles off the beach) in Orange County waters. But they seemed to have moved up the back side of Catalina Island the last couple of days.
I've been out a couple times in my boat. No lack of fish, but getting them to eat something with a hook in it has been challenging. I've never seen so much bluefin foaming seemingly everywhere. Most are the 50-80 lb size from what I saw. The last one I hooked got immediately run over by another boat that didn't know how to fish foamers very well and sawed me off.
Thanks OnoEric, the west side of Catalina is where we went the year before last. Big fish but only a few came over the rail.
We crushed them at Cortez and Tanner Banks last year.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-118.3/centery:33.2/zoom:10
Looks like a lot of boats between Cat And Clemente
That is a cool website.
Couldn't find the PV but I know it's out there.
Thanks,.
I'll be on a 2.5d Aug 23-26 so hit me up if you want our report. The fleet will follow the fish, wherever they may be headed. This time of year the outer banks (Tanner & Cortes) are a good bet for a multi day, but the fish maybe closer like on or even inside the ridge running between 182 & 209. If you download a boat chasing app like Marine Traffic, you can get a good idea where the sporties are fishing pretty much in real time.
Good luck!
just got off a 1.5 day on the new lo-an. the fish were close (40 miles) and small (20-40 pounds). 200 gram knife jigs and #4 ringed j hooks were the ticket.
Quote from: alantani on August 15, 2021, 04:00:43 PM
just got off a 1.5 day on the new lo-an. the fish were close (40 miles) and small (20-40 pounds). 200 gram knife jigs and #4 ringed j hooks were the ticket.
One, how light did you have to go on your fluorocarbon leaders for fly lining to get bit consistently?
I just returned from a 4 day on the Searcher... BF limits 20 to 40 lbs with a couple over 50... fly lining 25 to 40 fluorocarbon mostly. I stuck to 40#. Night time flat falls and knife jigs worked also. When we went to the Yellowtail grounds blue and white, green and white and red YoYo jigs produced a really nice grade of Yellows. Also a couple of
Yellowfin were also landed... great trip for me as my last trip 2 yrs ago out of Seaforth was not fruitful. I'll try and get some pics up...
The Searcher is a great boat and crew...
Cool
Thanks to Alan for helping me out with some gear I didn't have !
The man is Aces!
Quote from: CooldadE on August 16, 2021, 03:15:40 AM
I just returned from a 4 day on the Searcher... BF limits 20 to 40 lbs with a couple over 50... fly lining 25 to 40 fluorocarbon mostly. I stuck to 40#. Night time flat falls and knife jigs worked also. When we went to the Yellowtail grounds blue and white, green and white and red YoYo jigs produced a really nice grade of Yellows. Also a couple of
Yellowfin were also landed... great trip for me as my last trip 2 yrs ago out of Seaforth was not fruitful. I'll try and get some pics up...
The Searcher is a great boat and crew...
Cool
Thanks to Alan for helping me out with some gear I didn't have !
The man is Aces!
(https://i.imgur.com/aYO52AJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UXADGgc.jpg)
My first Bluefin and my first Yellowtail...
(https://i.imgur.com/0AsobkZ.jpg)
My haul, less what the taxman took...
Looks like quite a trip. Lots of good eating for sure.
The Man
Looks like you got a visit from the tax man in that last picture!
Nice haul.
Nice haul! And for paying tax, that was a pretty small bill to pay!!!!!! - john
Speaking of the Tax Man...damn. :o
At least he got the collars ! Yum !!!
Cool
NOOB question.....does that count against you daily limit? Bill
Bill - That is a great question! I mean, rationally I don't think anyone would say it does. BUT how mutilated does it have to be (the last two photos pretty much cover both ends of the spectrum!) I would have to say that technically, if you brought in a tuna head that it qualifies as "take" since limits for that only specify species, not size (OK so it was only a head). And of course for the record breakers out there, my understanding is you could have a world record but if it is shark hit, it's now exempt even if the remains of the fish are still a world record. But I cannot imagine any boat ever holding a head as part of the count, I am only being theoretical here. -john
Cool - That really is a nice pile, did you have commercially processed or get to enjoy taking them home to clean? I have done that, and I respect that is some WORK.....- john
John,
I live in northern Ca. So it's a 9hr drive home... I had it processed at 5 Star (the cost was crazy $$$) I bought a huge cooler loaded it with rock hard frozen fillets and packed 10lbs of dry ice on top and away I went. One and a half 5hr energy's later I pulled into my driveway. Heck, I didn't even have my land legs yet. The dry ice was gone so the top layer of fish had started to thaw a bit. I put it to the side to fully thaw to be eaten raw and smoked later. If l lived closer I might process my self, though my back aches just thinking bout it...
Cool
Quote from: Brewcrafter on August 20, 2021, 03:36:59 AM
Bill - That is a great question! I mean, rationally I don't think anyone would say it does. BUT how mutilated does it have to be (the last two photos pretty much cover both ends of the spectrum!) I would have to say that technically, if you brought in a tuna head that it qualifies as "take" since limits for that only specify species, not size (OK so it was only a head). And of course for the record breakers out there, my understanding is you could have a world record but if it is shark hit, it's now exempt even if the remains of the fish are still a world record. But I cannot imagine any boat ever holding a head as part of the count, I am only being theoretical here. -john
Yeah, but John, a dead fish is a dead fish from a management perspective. That second one must have been a big shark.
If that head was mine it would have went into the galley for cheek steaks and collars, maybe poke', for that nights grub.
I live in the Sacramento area and drive too, which really sucks because I'm always alone.
I get the deckhands to loin out the tuna and slab the Yellowtail. They place the simi-processed fish in plastic bags on the boat.
I line the bottom of my ice chest with unopened ice bags, place the fish, and cover the top with unopened ice bags. Never had an issue.
I was told never to let water directly touch the meat thus the unopened ice bags.
I'm a big believer in commercial processing, yes it is not inexpensive but neither is the fish or the trip, and boy does it really hold up better. Money well spent. And I actually enjoy cleaning fish but this is one where I let the pros handle it. BTW, everyone be careful with that tub or cooler of dry ice if you are in some sort of SUV or wagon with the tubs in the back of the passenger cabin - cruising along with the windows rolled up, tunes cranking and the AC turned on, as that dry ice "melts" (sublimates) it turns into CO2 gas. Basically odorless, you just start to get really, really sleepy....and then bad things start to happen. CO2 is just part of what I deal with everyday (but it does make the bubbles in our beer :D). - john
I agree that professional processing is money well-spent. I usually bring one large ice chest for every 4 days of fishing time. I have almost always used "5 Star fish processing", the last SD stop before my long drive (up to 12 hours depending on traffic and stops) up the valley.
I request 1-2 pound fresh product packs and rely on crushed ice to start with. I may have to pack more ice on one of my stops, and I don't drain the water. The slurry is cold and fills the voids between the packs better. I may drop off some of my packs with friends and family that I may meet on the way home.
Well I leave on Friday.
Reports from Seaforth Landing aren't great for larger class fish but they are crushing the footballs and and sub-60-pound fish.
Lots of Yellowtail coming over the rails as well but nothing big. 15-25 pound class fish.
My boat pulled Mexican visas and licenses for the current trip they are on so I have a good idea where we're going.
Crabpot - I feel for you, but things at this time are "up in the air". Why? It's fishing! But you're not looking for smart #### answers, so I apologize, but one of the things that I think (only my opinion) that is/was shaking things up was the tropical storm/hurricane that started down off of Baja last couple weeks, and headed out into the Pacific. What does that have to do with fishing this week? Well, over the weekend SoCal beaches had some pretty big surf and got HAMMERED (a coworker was down at the Newport Wedge - pretty serious (for SoCal) wave action). And that was on top of some serious tides. Bottom line is that a LOT of water has been getting moved around. Not only will it do fun things to a Terrafin Chart, it affects all of the things that have brought the fish we are seeking here in first place - forage (bait). Looking at AIS the boats are all still hanging out in the spots that they have been, but that only means that is where the fish are, not necessarily that they want to play! And there is not a lot you can do about that, but try to fish your best. Also, watching the regular reports from Evernham, bait can be kind of variable. Some days they are reporting firecracker 'dines and other days the nice 6" stuff, and they are out there doing their best to grab what the gamefish are focused on (and supply and insanely voracious sportfishing fleet as well as all the private boaters and skiffs). Good luck! I'm expecting some pretty cool photos, I think you will be OK! - john
Fingers crossed, hope to have some good stories next week.
Thanks for the weather info Brewcrafter.
returned from a 2.5 day yesterday that fished bft nw and west of Clemente on Tue & Wed. We had great weather, maybe too good to go with coming off the FM, as the bite was very tough, almost non-existent. For us anyway, a couple boats (PQ, Outrider) fishing our zone did better. Had to drop to 20/25# just to get a bite. Flatfalling just after dark got a little more action on fish up to 60# - no real rhyme or reason to jig size/color, just get it to right depth at right time.
Today (Fri) looks like fleet is split between the bft zone in US waters (see above) and south in Mexican waters I assume looking for kelps that are still holding dorado & yt. Like previous poster said, be ready for anything! Good luck!!