December 9, 2004 By Bill Roecker Previous Report <--- John Storch off the Shogun caught the biggest tuna, a 226.3-pounder on a squid under the kite

Bite Makes History
"You know, a good bite lasts maybe five days," said Frank LoPreste at Fisherman's Landing December 8. "This one's been going at least 15 days, maybe more! Neither Steve Loomis nor I have seen it better at the Hurricane Bank.

"Right now, the Royal Polaris is cutting off all fish under 200 pounds. The Hurricane has never been a producer of 300-pounders; just one or two, is all.

"It looks like Shawn Steward (Excel skipper) will have 40 or 50 200-pounders. I think on my best trip ever I had 37 200-pounders and four 300-pounders. It has to be written up that this is the best fishing in history at the Hurricane Bank."

Red Rooster III will return from the Hurricane Saturday morning, December 11. The Excel will dock December 13, and LoPreste's Royal Polaris will return December 19. All three boats should have remarkable loads of cow tuna.

Jackpot On Jig
Brian Kiyohara docked American Angler at Pt. Loma Sportfishing December 8 after a ten-day trip to Baja's southern banks and islands.

"We started out on one of the lower shallows," he wrote December 4, "and didn't like the sign that we saw. We followed the birds and they led us to a very fishy looking area of twenty to forty pounders that for some reason wouldn't bite. We had fish laying under and downwind of the boat the whole time we were stopped and we would struggle to keep one going. Any other time, one would look at the machines and think that when he looked outside everybody would have one on, but that was not the case. We then left the area in search of biting fish and came upon a zone of terns and shearwaters, whales, bait and scattered sign of big fish blowing out. We got on several nice bunches of big fish that for some reason unbeknownst to man, would not bite."

That experience was common to boats fishing the area below Mag Bay the past couple of months. Big fish everywhere, but few biters. Small tuna and yellowtail have been taking up the slack. On the outside, however, big tuna have filled the Red Rooster III twice and plugged the Excel with what may well be the best catch of 200-pound tuna ever.

At the dock, Billy Chow of Stockton won first place for a 105-pound yellowfin he bagged with a blue and chrome Sumo jig on 50-pound Maxima line, a Trinidad 40 reel and a 670-8H rod.

"He bit on the drop," said Billy. "I got him in 40 minutes."

David Boes of Seattle was second, for a 79-pound tuna, and John Arndt of Huntington Beach was third, for a 48.9-pound wahoo.

Storch's Double Whammy
Fishing aboard the Shogun with skipper Norm Kagawa on a Seeker-Soft Steel ten-day charter, John Storch of Newport Beach caught the biggest tuna, a 226.3-pounder on a squid under the kite. Storch not only won the jackpot, he won a new rod and the Seeker trophy for catching the best tuna on a Seeker rod.

The battle for the big tuna lasted an hour and 15 minutes, said Kagawa.

"We didn't see the bite," said Norm, "and he acted like a small fish for about five minutes, and then he woke up, and ran out and then down."

Kagawa said Storch fished with the boat's kite rig: a squid on an 11/0 Mustad 7691 hook and an 18/0 Mustad circle hook, tied to 130-pound Soft Steel Ultra line and 130-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 50SW reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH Black Steel rod.

Les Corriea of Morro Bay was second for a 125.4-pound tuna, and Brian Davis of Acton was third, for a 123.3-pounder.

"My first 100-pounder," said Davis.

Fishing was tough, said Kagawa, and made a little tougher at times by offshore wind, but his anglers put together a fair trip with tuna from 80 to 200 pounds.

"They bit good one day," he said, "but the next day they didn't."

Brian Porter was the Seeker rep aboard Shogun, and Carl and Rose Burns for Soft Steel. Rose took a nice tuna of about 90 pounds, featured in an on-deck photo.

Security Gates Installed
All of San Diego's sportfishing landings now have gates across the head of their docks. Anglers leaving on long range trips must present photo ID to authorities at the gates before boarding. The gates are meant as a security measure, and so far are regarded as a nuisance by some, and welcomed as important security by others. The real test of their public acceptance may come next summer when crowds of dayboat anglers again descend on the docks.

Incredible Surface Bite
"Finally we have something other than good weather to report;" wrote skipper Tim Ekstrom aboard his Royal Star November 5, "this time the fishing we experienced being the highlight. There is no doubt that the yellowtail action we enjoyed yesterday easily rivaled any of the best bites in my memory. Twenty-five pounds was the average and full speed was the pace during a three-hour drift that easily fulfilled all of our yellowtail desires.

"This bite was best characterized by the unbelievable surface show where schools of voracious yellows were tearing up balls of sardines that we were pouring over the side. The surface action was insane with every well placed surface cast yielding an epic top water display of a big yellowtail hammering the jigs or poppers. Naturally with this type of action on the surface iron, every form of bait fishing from dropper loops to fly lining was absolutely guaranteed to get bit. Needless to say the therapeutic effect of this trip ending ripper was sensational and combined with relief was a sense of pure elation."

At the dock December 6, Ekstrom commented, "The best thing about this trip was that everywhere we went there was something to fish for. That yellowtail bite was the best top water show you could imagine. I released at least a half-dozen big yellows I got on the surface iron."

Three tuna swept the jackpot on Ekstrom's ten-day adventure. Nate Rose of Canoga Park won first place, for a 92.6-pound yellowfin that bit his sardine on a 7/0 Eagle Claw hook. He said he fished with 60-pound blue Izorline and 80-pound jerry Brown Spectra backing on a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar 6460 XH rod. The fight went 15 minutes.

Joe Velasquez of Carpinteria was second, for an 86.4-pounder, and Bill Dunn of Santa Barbara was third, for a 79.2-pound yellowfin tuna.

Dorado On Carcass
"Today we had beautiful flat calm weather," wrote Qualifier 105 skipper Brian Sims December 2. "We had a little action with yellowtail and tuna, then hit a gas bag for a wide open bite on (dorado). Some porpoise in the afternoon provided an adrenaline rush as a school of tuna erupted on the corner. The bite unfortunately was over as fast as it started as the fish split with the porpoise after one around."

At the dock December 5, passengers on the 10-day trip said the offshore wind got so strong on the southern banks the anchor wouldn't hold, and they had to go in to the beach to fish. Sims remarked on some good yellowtail fishing there.

Kevin Varnell of Aurora, CO won first place, for a 96.5-pound tuna. He said it bit on a sardine and a 7/0 Eagle Claw circle hook on 60-pound Big Game line, 80-pound Spectra backing, a TLD 30 reel and a Shakespeare six-foot rod.

"He fought like hell for about 40 minutes," said Varnell, "for about 40 minutes. Every time he saw the boat he ran again. I caught bigger fish last year that didn't fight nearly that hard."

Alex Sapp of Mission Viejo was second, for a 95.7-pounder, and Greg Morper of Wenachee, WA won third place for an 84.3-pound yellowfin tuna.

Vag 10-Day
"We missed most of the bad weather," said Mike Lackey, Vagabond owner-skipper December 6 after a ten-day trip to the southern banks. "The offshore wind was really strong, so we went way outside and looked for kelps.

"We released a lot of small fish," continued Lackey, "and we got most of our wahoo off one kelp."

"The tuna were tough," said jackpot winner Richard Conrad of Murietta. He won first place for an 85.8-pounder. "This one took over 300 yards of line in the first round."

Conrad said he fished with a sardine on a 6/0 Eagle Claw hook, 60-pound Soft Steel Ultra line, 80-pound Spectra backing on a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar 6465 XH rod, and that the fight lasted 20 minutes.

Terry Pushnick of Ls Vegas was second, for an 81.5-pounder.

The Usual Species
"The last 2 days have been spent fishing the ridge for the usual species," wrote Mark Pisano aboard Independence December 3. "We had decent Wahoo fishing to go with plenty of school size Yellowfin Tuna and a good snap on 10 to 25 lb. yellowtail along with a few misc. fish. Our weather has been great the last 3 days. We are now headed north to finish up on some yellowtail on the coast."

At Point Loma Sportfishing December 6, Mark related experiencing very strong Santa Ana winds. He headed south for the Jaimie Bank and Cabo, and found the wind calm on that bank, where he re-anchored. Then he took his anglers north for some yellowtail fishing, where they found fish to nearly 50 pounds. John Jakubiak of Downey nabbed one on the flyline with a mackerel; that mossback weighed 49.6 pounds.

Dan Hoover of Irvine won first place for a 108-pound tuna (there was also a kite-caught fish, ineligible, that weighed 116) he got with a sardine on a 4/0 Owner Offshore hook, on 50-pound clear Izorline and 65-pound Izorline Spectra backing. He said he fished with a Penn 113 HN reel and an 865 L rod, and that the fish fought 35 minutes; "...a pretty good battle," as Hoover put it.

Roger Eckardt, manager at Save On Tackle in Santa Fe Springs, was second for a 102-pounder. Ed Cazares of Baldwin was third, for a 95.1-pound tuna, and Bob Kelley of Inglewood stood in with the winners in the jackpot lineup with the trip's best wahoo, an 84.7-pound whopper.

Stand-Up Fishing Show Schedule

Bill Roecker owns Oceanic Productions and provides promotional services for the San Diego Sportfishing Council.