I remember June 13.1979 at Balboa pier-it was overcast and around 10am there were 10 people total at the end of the pier. Myself, my brother and a few other guys fishing. I was fishing with a lucky joe rig and caught 2 small bonito. Within a few minutes, THE WATER TURNED BLACK WITH BONITO. There were millions of them. You line wouldnt even sink. we caught quite a few and brought them home on the bus. I remember a few weeks later there was a boil that stretched as far as I could see from the wedge past newport pier and birds diving all along the line that went for miles. The bonito moved in again and the pier was packed with fishermen and thousands were caught that day. Guess what i saw in fed mart for sale in the fall in the food section. CANNED BONITO-guess what 1980 had 1 bonito run for the entie year on balboa pier-easter sunday-the seiners went after the bonito and they dissapeared. 1983 had an amazing run on balboa pier on august 27 1983 when there were 3-5 pounders mixed with 1-2 pounders that bit solid for hours- never saw another day like that again.
The seiners in Mexico are killing off the bonito as a wall of death exists down there so they never make it up here. Only the little ones get through the nets. A few guys at the pier keeping small fish make zero impact on this fishery. The cat food industry has massacred the pelagic fisheries, not the guy with a crocodile and a small bucket.
in the summer of 1987, i had my driven my datsun pickup and my small skiff down in ensenada for a weeklong trip and was out about 5 miles and the entire bay from the launch ramp to the bufadora was one big flotilla of small bonito casually jumping out of the water. The schools stretched for miles and miles. No guy in a skiff with a splasher or diamond jig could make a dent in that.
The fishery was destroyed by commercial fishing, not recreational fishing. It struggles to come back year after year. Because the small ones came up in the warm water, they will grow here and by the fall they will be 1-2 pounds.
