Tuna Bite Erupts in Southern California

Frenzied bluefin tuna action greeted anglers in one-day range of San Diego for the best bite of 2011.

“We have been waiting for this all year,” said Buzz Brizendine of the Prowler from Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego. “It’s as good as it gets right now.” 

On Wednesday, several boats caught the Mexican limit of five fish by midday. The vast majority of the tasty tuna are in the 12- to 18-pound class with a few fish near 50 pounds.

In addition to the bluefin tuna, there have also been a few albacore, yellowtail and yellowfin tuna.

The nearby bite has also opened the tuna door to Los Angeles and Orange County-based landings, too. Boats from Oceanside to San Pedro have been having good to extraordinary fishing on their one-and-a-half-day trips.

On Monday, the Amigo out of Newport Landing caught 80 bluefin tuna for 16 anglers, while the Thunderbird out of Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach caught 43 bluefin for only 15 anglers. The Toronado out of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach had 60 bluefin tuna for 24 anglers on its latest trip.

While most of the tuna are being taken on live anchovy and/or sardines, one of the most efficient ways to take the hard-fighting gamefish is on lures. Small heavy jigs, to use the vernacular, are super-effective for catching all members of the tuna family. Anglers should sink their jigs to more than 100 feet down and retrieve them in a brisk fashion. To set the hook, never rear back on the rod—just keep turning the handle of your reel until the fish pulls line against the drag for the best and most reliable hook-set. Tuna like lures with chrome in them, so keep that in mind when adding to your fishing arsenal.

There are still lots of tuna for the multi-day fleet out of San Diego. Fishing 150 to 170 miles south of the border has been excellent and indicates that there may be more fish on the way up here.

Local bite slows

The coastal bite slowed significantly this week. Calico bass have been biting slow to fair, and there are a few nice halibut and some white sea bass still around. Sculpin and rockfish have been filing the sacks in the meantime.

The Redondo Special reported better conditions and a 15-pound white sea bass on Wednesday morning.

Water warm at Catalina Island

Captain Chris Batts of the Gail Force reports good calico bass fishing along with lots of perch, sheephead and some rockfish. The water temperatures are still warm at Catalina, which bodes well for an autumn bite.

San Clemente Island

A few yellowtail are still being taken at San Clemente Island, and there is also some good calico bass fishing. The Westerly from Long Beach Sportfishing caught limits of calico bass, including an 11.6-pound giant caught and released earlier this week. Ron Sutter from Long Beach took a 27-pound yellowtail on the same trip. 

The Outrider out of 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro had 17 white sea bass weighing up to 50 pounds as well as some good calico bass fishing.

Blue whales spotted off Long Beach, Redondo

Gail Force skipper Chris Batts was on his way to Catalina Island on Wednesday when he came across four blue whales lunge feeding and showing their flukes only three miles from port. “I called the guys from Harbor Breeze Cruises to let them know, and they had a fantastic day of whale watching later on,” said Batts.

Dana Wharf, Newport and Santa Barbara have also been great whale watching venues this week. The Voyager out of Redondo Beach has been seeing lots of blue whales only five miles from King Harbor.

More great white shark sightings

Captain John Ackley of the Westerly was about two miles off the front side of San Clemente Island when he came across several large mako sharks feeding on giant schools of sardines. Ackley estimated the mako sharks weighed more that 800 pounds.

He was shocked to see a great white shark that dwarfed the makos. “The white shark we saw was at least 15 feet [long] and I would guess 2,000 pounds,” he said.

Private boaters filmed an up close and personal experience with a great white shark attacking a sea lion at Catalina Island in West Cove. The shark can be seen circling the boat trying to get at a second sea lion.

Dolphin slaughter at Taji

The blue waters in the cove at Taji, Japan will turn red as the dolphin slaughter begins Sept. 1. It is estimated that more than 22,000 dolphins and small whales are killed each year in remote bays in Japan. Sea Shepherd will be bringing a second wave of Cove Guardian volunteers to Taji over the next six months.

Their goal for this time period will be to prevent the slaughter of as many dolphins as possible. “We will need aggressive, courageous, resourceful, and disciplined volunteers along with passionate and dedicated people to support them,” said a post on the Sea Sheppard’s website.

Paul Watson from Sea Sheppard will be on Philip Friedman Outdoors on Thursday, Sept. 8 from 9 p.m. until 10 p.m. on AM 830 Radio, live from Angel Stadium with an update on Taji.

Rare catch of the week

Pete Thomas Outdoors reported a tiny member of the billfish family caught off Cabo San Lucas this week. Chris Fuller was fishing for tuna aboard the Petrolero when he accidentally hooked the diminutive sailfish. The billfish did an acrobatic display before being photographed and released. Its weight was estimated at about three pounds and scientists, after inspecting the photo, guessed its age at about 4 months. 

Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing, which has been operating off Cabo San Lucas for more than 30 years, supplied Pete Thomas Outdoors with the image for this story. She had heard of only one other tiny sailfish being caught. The first was a slightly larger specimen in 2009.