Despite
Seiners,
Anglers
Still
Take
the
Tuna
By:
Tom
Gatch
|
5/28/2008
2:43
PM
Photo by: Courtesy of Gordo Banks Pangas
Slipping by Seiners Skippers at Gordo Banks Pangas are now returning to port with plenty of quality-grade yellowfin tuna.
he
foreign
tuna
seiners
working
off
the
tip
of
Baja
may
not
be
making
the
job
any
easier,
but anglers
fishing
the
area
are
still
managing
decent
counts
of yellowfin
tuna,
along
with
taking
advantage
of a
solid
inshore
bite
as
well.
From
Gordo
Banks
Pangas
in
San
Jose
del
Cabo,
Eric
Bricston
indicated,
“The
commercial
tuna
seiners
have
been
netting
most
of
the
yellowfin
tuna
that
had
moved
into
the
area,
so
anglers
have
only
been
able
to
find
slim
pickings
of
any
tuna.
Some
yellowfin
are
still
being
found
2 to
5
miles
off
the
Chileno
area,
and
there
are
also
a
handful
of
football-sized
tuna
coming
from
the
Iman
area,
though
at
times
the
north
winds
made
that
area
impossible
to
fish.
“Dorado
counts
remain
much
the
same,
no
big
numbers,
though
most
charters
are
finding
one
or
two
of
these
acrobatic
fish
mixed
in
their
overall
daily
catch.
Sizes
ranged
from
10
to
40
lbs.,
with
these
fish
being
found
on
various
bait
and
trolled
lures
on
the
same
fishing
grounds
where
marlin
or
tuna
were
being
targeted.
Only
an
occasional
report
of
any
wahoo
encounters.
Though
the
water
is
warming,
it
still
needs
to
clean
up
more
and
it
would
also
be
more
encouraging
if
more
baitfish
such
as
bolito,
flying
fish
and
small
skipjack
would
move
into
the
area.”
Bricston
went
on
to
say
that
the
inshore
opportunities
have
remained
consistent,
with
a
good
mix
of
cabrilla,
yellow
snapper,
pompano,
Mexican
bonito
and
firecracker-sized
yellowtail.
Most
of
these
fish
have
been
hitting
live
sardinas,
Rapalas
and
chrome.
Along
stretches
of
sandy
and
rocky
beaches,
there
have
also
been
good
catches
of
sierra
up
to 8
lbs.
and
lots
of
small
roosterfish
in
addition
to
an
occasional
trophy-size
jack
crevalle
up
to
25
lbs.
Beach
Launched
Boats
Great
for
Baja
Bottom
Fishing
By:
Tom
Gatch
|
5/28/2008
2:41
PM
Who
says
that
you
have
to
own
an
expensive
sportfishing
boat
in
order
to
wet
your
line
a
few
miles
off
the
beach?
Certainly
not
Pete
Morris
and
his
fishing
buddy,
Miles
Smith,
who
are
both
unconventional
and
adventurous
in
their
angling
techniques.
The
two
friends
regularly
fish
the
waters
just
off
their
families’
respective
condominiums
at
K-38,
located
just
a
few
miles
south
of
Rosarito
Beach
on
the
Baja
coast
in a
motorized
Zodiac
raft
right
off
the
beach
in
front
of
the
condos.
They
have
been
doing
this
for
a
few
years
now,
and
have
become
quite
adept
at
the
practice.
Photo by: Miles Smith Photo
Although
we
have
been
blessed
with
many
more
hot,
sunny
days
this
year
than
is
usual
during
the
typical
‘May
gray,
June
gloom’
season
along
our
Pacific
coast,
there
have
still
been
plenty
of
foggy
and
overcast
mornings
immediately
adjacent
to
the
shoreline.
Because
of
this
fact,
it
might
seem
to
many
that
venturing
out
over
the
breakers
in a
small
raft
during
such
conditions
would
be a
bit
foolhardy.
But
to a
hardcore
veteran
saltwater
angler
like
Pete
Morris,
these
kinds
of
conditions
are
simply
viewed
as
another
small
speed
bump
on
their
way
to a
pile
of
fish.
Morris
explained,
“The
surf
was
down
and
so
was
the
wind;
perfect
for
doing
our
thing,
except
for
the
fog.
The
visibility
was
only
about
100
to
200
ft.,
but
not
to
worry
– I
had
my
GPS.”
On
this
particular
occasion,
Morris
artfully
skippered
the
little
inflatable
to a
specific,
undisclosed
GPS
waypoint
that
he
knew
from
experience
would
likely
put
them
onto
a
bite.
“You
must
trust
the
GPS,”
assured
Morris.
“Without
it,
we
might
have
just
as
well
have
been
on
Mars.
We
immediately
dropped
down
and
‘wham,’
we
hit
lings,
reds,
calicos
and
sandies.
We
were
fishing
about
150
to
200
ft.
down
over
a
rocky
bottom.
We
had
separate
poles
rigged
with
Krocodile
spoons,
plastic
leadhead
jigs
and
bare
hooks
baited
with
calamari.
They
hit
all
of
them;
when
they
are
hungry,
they
might
even
take
your
big
toe.”
Morris
continued,
“After
about
an
hour,
it
was
time
to
see
where
we
were
due
to a
strong
current,
so
we
headed
due
north
until
we
found
shoreline.
We
had
drifted
almost
a
mile
west
and
first
thing
we
saw
were
rocks
about
20
ft.
in
front
of
us.
Needless
to
say,
I
turned
the
boat
and
went
south
for
about
3
miles.
I
then
punched
in
‘home’
on
the
GPS.
We
hit
it
right
on
the
nose,
or
should
I
say
the
middle
of
the
huge
kelp
beds
out
front
of
K38.
But
we
were
home.
One
lucky
guess
on
the
breaker
sets
and
to
shore
we
went.
Thank
you
GPS.”
Despite
a
little
fog
and
a
strong
current,
Morris
and
Smith
still
scored
well
with
three
nice
reds,
two
fat
bass,
a
variety
of
smaller
rockfish
and
a
sweet
5-lb.
lingcod.
Not
a
bad
morning
for
fishing
blind.
San
Quintin
Anglers
Enjoy
Shallow-Water
Action
By:
Tom
Gatch
|
5/28/2008
2:35
PM
With
occasionally
unstable
weather
patterns
to
deal
with,
Capt.
Kelly
Catian
of
K&M
Sportfishing
in
San
Quintin
and
his
staff
were
still
able
to
put
visiting
anglers
on
the
fish.
Bottom Bag | Even though they were fishing under cloudy skies, members of the Orange Coast Rod & Gun Club cleaned up with an array of shallow-water rockfish.
Catian
reported,
“We
had
Denis
Quesnel
from
Action
Lures
and
a
few
members
of
the
Orange
Coast
Rod
&
Gun
Club
down
here
over
the
weekend
along
with
a
Bloodydecks
guy,
“tuna
slam”
Cory,
and
his
friend,
Bud.
On
Friday,
I
took
Denis
down
south
to a
spot
that
is
usually
stacked
up
with
groundfish,
but
this
time
the
big
squid
kept
us
at
bay
so
we
ended
up
heading
back
inshore
and
limiting
out
with
shallow-water
reds
and
rockfish.
“On
Saturday
I
took
Cory
out,
and
Capt.
Oscar
took
Denis
and
his
group
out
on
Offshore
IV.
Overall,
the
weather
was
great
except
for
the
perpetual
fog
bank
sitting
offshore
that
stayed
all
day.
We
went
out
to
San
Martin
Island
and
made
a
few
drifts
for
flatties,
and
Bud
was
able
to
put
one
on
the
boat.
We
then
went
around
to
the
backside
and
got
into
some
very
fun
shallow-water
rockfishing
for
some
fat
reds
along
with
a
few
big
calicos
that
we
released.”
Yellowtail
Bite
Off
Santa
Rosalia
By:
Tom
Gatch
|
4/30/2008
1:22
PM
This
fact
was
discovered
long
ago
by
Coloradan
Jim
Anderson,
who
is
now
a
resident
of
nearby
San
Bruno,
and
says
that
the
great
fishing
that
is
found
in
this
region
during
the
months
of
summer
and
fall
has
already
begun.
Photo by: Courtesy of Jim Anderson
San Marcos Yellow Rigo Ojeda, a commercial fisherman from San Bruno, holds up his sweet yellowtail that weighed out at nearly 38 lbs.
In
regard
to
recent
action,
Anderson
said,
“The
real
action
in
the
last
week
has
been
at
Tortuga
Island.
It
has
been
an
interesting
mixture
of cabrilla
and
some
real
toad
yellowtail.
When
the
fish
are
going
off
at
San
Marcos,
we
normally
use
a
sliding
sinker
and
let
it
rest
up
against
the
hook,
but
for
some
reason
at
Tortuga
they
did
not
like
the
bait
presented
in
that
manner.
So
we
had
to
tie
a
swivel
into
the
line
to
keep
the
hook
away
from
the
sinker.
“We
found
out
that
there
is a
difference
in
how
well
the
yellowtail
attack
depending
on
how
far
from
the
sinker
the
bait
is.
One
day
they
wanted
a
really
long
leader
and
the
next
day
they
showed
a
marked
preference
for
the
shorter
leaders.
I am
not
a
fan
of
dropper-loop
fishing,
but
one
day
that
was
what
the
fish
preferred
and
not
against
the
bottom
but
they
wanted
the
bait
to
be
moving
either
up
or
down
in
the
water
column.”
In
regard
to
future
local
events
that
will
be
of
interest
to
anglers,
Anderson
said
that
their
annual
San
Marcos
Island
Yellowtail
Tournament
will
be
held
May
17
and
18.
The
entry
fee
is a
modest
$30
(USD),
and
all
proceeds
will
go
to
the
Church
of
San
Marcos
Island
to
make
much-needed
repairs
from
damage
incurred
during
their
last
couple
of
tropical
storms.
