Bonito Run to Beat All Previous runs at Balboa Pier Yesterday

#1
Yesterday it was fantastic! There were bonito from the end to the surf all day! All were big. They all ran from 5 to 10 pounds. Some of them had to be netted if the line was to light to lift them. There were six of us doing the majority of the catching and retrieving so we had three people also doing the netting and the getting of more lures when needed. It was chaos a lot of the time, but oh so much fun. I hadn't seen this in almost 40 years.

Today there were only a few big ones caught, and the wind picked up to about 17 knots. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and have thunderstorms. We"ll see.

Snookie
 
#4
Yesterday it was fantastic! There were bonito from the end to the surf all day! All were big. They all ran from 5 to 10 pounds. Some of them had to be netted if the line was to light to lift them. There were six of us doing the majority of the catching and retrieving so we had three people also doing the netting and the getting of more lures when needed. It was chaos a lot of the time, but oh so much fun. I hadn't seen this in almost 40 years.

Today there were only a few big ones caught, and the wind picked up to about 17 knots. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and have thunderstorms. We"ll see.

Snookie
No Doubt Snookie, I just came out on a whim yesterday and that size & quantity of fish I haven't seen since my teens (1980's) LOL my hands are all cut up hand lining up (sometimes with sea lion attached >.<) those brutes... Can't believe the the stark turnaround today ...
 

Rusty

Active Member
#7
I was there too! But not expecting anything like what we saw, those huge boneheads attacking jigs like they did, its been a long time since ive seen a bite like this on the pier. Amazing to see these giants landed, they fight like crazy!
I landed 1 out of 8 hookups, lost 3 to sealions, pulled hook on the rest, my croc was way too small! But plenty happy!

The previous Sunday i was out there and the ones i was catching were a lot smaller, 2-3 lb. Planning to go out there tomorrow, hopefully they are still around. 0737197D-BAC0-451A-8DA2-FFACEB0406FC.jpeg
 
#8
Hi Snookie!

Quick question: Are you using any particular terminal rigs other than the basic 'bubble feather' lures for the bones down there? Any sage advices for the bone game?
Haven't got any chances to hit the Balboa pier again since I met you and the sr. pros group down there last month. I got 100 % skunked on the halis that date..!
Tight lines!
larry
 

Rusty

Active Member
#10
So i went down there on this past Sunday, got there about 11:00am. Didnt see any action, asked around a few of the regulars and no one has seen any Bonito at all since that rain. Bait was easy to catch, i tried live bait (smelt, sardine, grunion?), tried various jigs, tried splash fearher, jigs on the bottom of sabiki, and nothing. Caught 1 med mac on a live sardine, and thats it. Saw some small macs being caught by others one at a time and thats about it. Stayed til about 3pm, then i gave up :(
 
#11
Hi Snookie!

Quick question: Are you using any particular terminal rigs other than the basic 'bubble feather' lures for the bones down there? Any sage advices for the bone game?
Haven't got any chances to hit the Balboa pier again since I met you and the sr. pros group down there last month. I got 100 % skunked on the halis that date..!
Tight lines!
larry
 
#13
Larry, I can only speak for myself, I stayed on the end and I hammered them only on splasher. Of the large ones, I landed 3 (many smaller ones before the brutes came), lost 5 or 6 and had MANY unhooked attacks on the splasher feathers. Once the sea lions caught on they were relentless! I gave up with the bite still going. On Fri the few biting were blind yoyo iron strikes, I didn't even get a pass on splasher
 
#14
Are the conditions this week anything like it was on the day of the bite. What i am looking for is maybe somebody could give us forecast, based on there knowledge of the pier & weather.
 
#15
The conditions were the anglers, bait and pelagics all arrived at the same time. Thurs saw Tons of smelt with roving pods of 5" sardines, the Bonito were slamming all the bait, along with some of the lures tossed out. Fri had much smaller amount of smelt amassing around the pier. The water (at the end) was much dirtier due to the pounding surf pumping sand in a river under the pier out to the end. The inside water was clear and that's where majority of the Fri bites were.
 
#16
Thanks for that info. I fish the San Clemente pier, we have only had a few bonito caught this year. There is lots of bait, but water has been dirty for a long time & has never really been good for bonito. They like that clean water. Last year was great with lots of small fish caught. I'm still waiting for a day when I catch 8-10 pound bonito from the pier.
 
#17
Thanks for the hints, Snookie & Angler67. Sounded like you folks really had a ball on the 'Bone Tango of the Fall' early this season! Hope I can join the open ball room soon with you! :)
 
R

roy

Guest
#18
Was looking to go fishing on fri or sat. Are the bonito still around Balboa right now? Was going to go down to oceanside pier but if they are closer probably just stick close to home
 
#19
Was looking to go fishing on fri or sat. Are the bonito still around Balboa right now? Was going to go down to oceanside pier but if they are closer probably just stick close to home
Not Today, Macs only, NO Bonito activity on bait, splasher or iron. Even the half day boats that were limiting on bones scratched hard and the bite seemed to move back South, Oceanside boats did well today