Hi everyone. I'm sorry that this post isn't about pier or shore fishing, but I just thought I'd post this report anyways.
After hearing the reports of the wide-open Mahi-mahi and Yellowtail fishing along the coastline, I decided to head out on the Daiwa Pacific out of H&M Landing, San Diego yesterday. We left the dock at about 9:00 PM. I tried fishing at the dock, although it was difficult as I only had heavy tackle. I used an 18 gram Jig Rock from Daiso Japan with a 12 lb flurocarbon leader and a 25 lb mono mainline with no luck. Other anglers on the boat were also attempting to fish the bay with a 1.5 oz Pink and Silver Hookup Bait, and another using a large surface popper with no success. We left at a high tide. Opaleye were swimming around the rocks, while I saw what were probably Spotted Bay Bass boiling on Topsmelt in the deeper water near the docks. A sea lion was circling the boat due to the crew dumping excess bait from the previous trip.
At the bait barge, we also had no success. The sea lions were extremely aggressive due to the large amounts of dead bait being dumped from the barge. The captain reported that due to the change in water temperature between the open ocean and San Diego Bay, most of the Pacific Sardines in the bait barge had died of watershock and would likely die off during the trip. I noticed that there were lots of Pacific Chub Mackerel mixed in with our sardines in the bait tank. As we left the bay, we were told that the trip would be targeting Bluefin Tuna, as the previous trip had returned with a decent amount of fish. We would be traveling to somewhere about 15 miles southwest of San Diego Bay and just south of the United States-Mexico border. We were instructed to tie a "sinker rig" which consisted of a standard fly-line rig with a torpedo sinker tied to the leader knot with a rubber band, and not to use egg or splitshot sinkers to descend our bait. We were also told that at night, the tuna would be targeting knife jigs, and were told to tie on heavy irons.
We arrived at our first spot at 12:30 AM. I was told by one of the deckhands that the Yo-yo iron that I had tied on was too small for the BFT and was given a knife jig to tie on. The fish were lingering at about 150-200 ft. Our boat caught 3 BFT at the first stop, with the largest being about 60 lbs. We made one more move at about 3:00 AM with no luck.
At about 7:45 AM, we arrived at our next stop. This time, we would be using the sinker rig. I used a sinker rig with a 4/O live bait hook, a 5 oz torpedo sinker, a 25 lb flurocarbon leader, with 25 lb mono mainline tied to 65 lb spectra with a live sardine. Another BFT was caught here, along with several hookups.
At 10:30 AM, we arrived at our final BFT stop just west of North Coronado Island before dedicating the rest of the trip to targeting Yellowfin Tuna and Mahi-mahi. I noticed the angler to my right land a small Mahi-mahi, so I switched over to a flyline setup with the same tackle as my sinker rig, minus the sinker. After about 30 seconds, I hooked up on a BFT. The fish pulled me to the bow of the boat, but sadly, the knot connecting my mono to the flurocarbon gave out and I lost the fish.
For the rest of the trip, we pulled up on kelp patties for Mahi-mahi and YFT, however, no schools were willing to stay and bite. We left at about 4:00 PM. The jackpot fish was the 60 lb BFT we caught at the first stop.
As we entered San Diego Bay, I noticed a few anglers fishing at the Shelter Island Pier with sabikis on an incoming tide. I do not know if they had any success. We also stopped at a fuel dock before pulling into H&M Landing, where an angler was throwing a silver crankbait. He did not appear to have much success. I saw Topsmelt boils again off in the distance, as we arrived back at the landing. I noticed that other boats had limits of Mahi-mahi, but the anglers did not appear to be carrying as much fish home as the anglers who caught BFT. We arrived back at 7:00 PM.
Tips:
-Unless you are 100% sure that you won't use something when you're packing for a fishing trip, bring it
-When fishing for tuna or other pelagics, use a 40 lb mono leader instead of 25 lb mono
-Jigs that are meant for Yellowtail and jigs that are meant for BFT are not the same
Total Fish Count (for the Boat):
-19 Anglers
-7 Yellowfin Tuna
-5 Bluefin Tuna
-4 Mahi-mahi
After hearing the reports of the wide-open Mahi-mahi and Yellowtail fishing along the coastline, I decided to head out on the Daiwa Pacific out of H&M Landing, San Diego yesterday. We left the dock at about 9:00 PM. I tried fishing at the dock, although it was difficult as I only had heavy tackle. I used an 18 gram Jig Rock from Daiso Japan with a 12 lb flurocarbon leader and a 25 lb mono mainline with no luck. Other anglers on the boat were also attempting to fish the bay with a 1.5 oz Pink and Silver Hookup Bait, and another using a large surface popper with no success. We left at a high tide. Opaleye were swimming around the rocks, while I saw what were probably Spotted Bay Bass boiling on Topsmelt in the deeper water near the docks. A sea lion was circling the boat due to the crew dumping excess bait from the previous trip.
At the bait barge, we also had no success. The sea lions were extremely aggressive due to the large amounts of dead bait being dumped from the barge. The captain reported that due to the change in water temperature between the open ocean and San Diego Bay, most of the Pacific Sardines in the bait barge had died of watershock and would likely die off during the trip. I noticed that there were lots of Pacific Chub Mackerel mixed in with our sardines in the bait tank. As we left the bay, we were told that the trip would be targeting Bluefin Tuna, as the previous trip had returned with a decent amount of fish. We would be traveling to somewhere about 15 miles southwest of San Diego Bay and just south of the United States-Mexico border. We were instructed to tie a "sinker rig" which consisted of a standard fly-line rig with a torpedo sinker tied to the leader knot with a rubber band, and not to use egg or splitshot sinkers to descend our bait. We were also told that at night, the tuna would be targeting knife jigs, and were told to tie on heavy irons.
We arrived at our first spot at 12:30 AM. I was told by one of the deckhands that the Yo-yo iron that I had tied on was too small for the BFT and was given a knife jig to tie on. The fish were lingering at about 150-200 ft. Our boat caught 3 BFT at the first stop, with the largest being about 60 lbs. We made one more move at about 3:00 AM with no luck.
At about 7:45 AM, we arrived at our next stop. This time, we would be using the sinker rig. I used a sinker rig with a 4/O live bait hook, a 5 oz torpedo sinker, a 25 lb flurocarbon leader, with 25 lb mono mainline tied to 65 lb spectra with a live sardine. Another BFT was caught here, along with several hookups.
At 10:30 AM, we arrived at our final BFT stop just west of North Coronado Island before dedicating the rest of the trip to targeting Yellowfin Tuna and Mahi-mahi. I noticed the angler to my right land a small Mahi-mahi, so I switched over to a flyline setup with the same tackle as my sinker rig, minus the sinker. After about 30 seconds, I hooked up on a BFT. The fish pulled me to the bow of the boat, but sadly, the knot connecting my mono to the flurocarbon gave out and I lost the fish.
For the rest of the trip, we pulled up on kelp patties for Mahi-mahi and YFT, however, no schools were willing to stay and bite. We left at about 4:00 PM. The jackpot fish was the 60 lb BFT we caught at the first stop.
As we entered San Diego Bay, I noticed a few anglers fishing at the Shelter Island Pier with sabikis on an incoming tide. I do not know if they had any success. We also stopped at a fuel dock before pulling into H&M Landing, where an angler was throwing a silver crankbait. He did not appear to have much success. I saw Topsmelt boils again off in the distance, as we arrived back at the landing. I noticed that other boats had limits of Mahi-mahi, but the anglers did not appear to be carrying as much fish home as the anglers who caught BFT. We arrived back at 7:00 PM.
Tips:
-Unless you are 100% sure that you won't use something when you're packing for a fishing trip, bring it
-When fishing for tuna or other pelagics, use a 40 lb mono leader instead of 25 lb mono
-Jigs that are meant for Yellowtail and jigs that are meant for BFT are not the same
Total Fish Count (for the Boat):
-19 Anglers
-7 Yellowfin Tuna
-5 Bluefin Tuna
-4 Mahi-mahi