Author: Bill Roecker

Long Range Fishing Reports Puzzle Pieces “With a little bit of a different time schedule than yesterday,” posted American Angler on Valentine’s Day, “we hung tough and put together another nice day. Though it was last minute, we will take whenever we can get it and a slow start wasn’t such a bad thing because the last two hours of daylight we had great success with fish from 100 to 198-pounds. Very encouraged with the sign we’ve seen so far, we hope to keep piecing the puzzle together on these beautiful grade fish.” Regulation Biters “The fishing today was regulation…

Long Range Reports Plenty Of RT American Angler reported for January 30:  “We had a very slow scratch today as we went through some long dry spells between bites. It seems like the ocean is in a funk with the current being either slack or switching all over the place. All said and done we ended up with some nice fish as it seems like there were the hot sticks that had multiple bites or there were the folks that did not get any. We still have plenty of time left so I hope things pick up for everyone. On…

Long Range Reports Headed North Skipper Mike Ramirez checked in from the Excel, just finished fishing the lower zone for the last couple days. He reported had some pretty good fishing. “We were targeting the larger grade yellowfin tuna. We had one that will push 300-pounds and a few over the 200-pound range. Most of the fish were in the 100 to 150-pound range. We are now starting to head up the line. We will be targeting wahoo, yellowtail and those school-sized tuna. We will check back in a couple days and give an update.” Internet Problems This Independence…

Skins Along The Way “As we continued rigging up for the first half of the day,” said the American Angler’s report December 4, “lunchtime called for short pit stop on some wahoo. By no means were they jumping on the boat or anything but we managed to scrape up a nice afternoon and stretch our legs a little bit. With a nice starter kit on the skin we are continuing down to our southern destination. Long range veteran Chris McClary shows off one of the two wahoo he was able to snag on the jig today.” Location’s Everything “We got…

American Angler Winners “The American Angler returned late this morning,” posted the office, “and the tuna were beautiful, from school size to 253-pounds. Thanksgiving just got interesting. Congrats to big fish JP winners: 1st place  Steve Leonhart      253-pounds 2nd place  Doug Rodricks     195-pounds 3rd place  Jay Love                156-pounds Disqualified due to lack of JP funds: Mr. Randall 241-pounds. “We arranged the schedule a little different this season to give the guys a few days home with their family and friends during this holiday time and after thanksgiving.  We depart again on Dec. 2 for the Seeker 14-day trip.” Coverage Pays “Lots of water covered…

Cow Tuna and More Tres Vacas Excel skipper Justin Fleck reported November 10: “We fished the lower banks for a couple days. We had good fishing for tuna 60 to almost 300-pounds. We had three cows and one that weighed 295-pounds. We then made a move to The Ridge today and we had good wahoo fishing again. We had 43 more wahoo for the day! We are moving up the line hugging the beach. We will try offshore tomorrow.” Intrepid Winners “We returned today from our Larry Brown 10-day trip,” reported Jesus Companioni for the Intrepid November 12, “and unloaded…

Long Range Reports: Chins To The Wind American Angler posted November 7: “With our chins up we headed into the eighth inning looking for vengeance and because the gang kept such a positive attitude, today brought good things to good people. Finally waking up to beautiful weather, it was a good start from the beginning. Working together with our fellow code boats like a well-oiled machine, we were able to get on some frisky tuna action that lasted all day. User-friendly 15 to 30-pound yellowfin bit, just how we like it, stop after stop. Bites came fast and so did…

All Kinds Of Luck Ordinarily, anglers aren’t in a big hurry to get to trolling when the boat leaves port. In most years, there’s been little but small dorado, yellowtail or schoolie tuna to catch by trolling close to home, with the big fish waiting at least at day’s cruise away. This El Nino year is different, with many long range boats scoring wahoo just an hour or two from port. Check out the posting for Royal Star that follows, and you’ll see why–there’s Phil Wade with a 67-pounder! Phil is a pharmacist who’s had more than his share of…

Skins & Grinners “Arriving at our destination shortly after lunch,” posted American Angler on October 6, “Mother Nature quickly made it apparent that today was going to be a challenge. As wahoo are hard enough to land by themselves, those pesky sharks made it even harder. At times we had good action on wahoo but the enemies were consistently relentless, but we made the best of what the ocean had to offer today, and it allowed some of us to capture our first wahoo. New to the club is long time angler Janet Ashikaga and Ryan Smith with their first wahoo. Still,…

Thanks To The Reelers American Angler posted October 4: “Ken’s Custom Reel’s seven-day trip, with Wes in the sponsor’s seat, returned early this morning. A huge thanks to Ken and Wes for your continued support and generosity to the American Angler! “Congrats to JP winners: 1st     Dick Brown      32.5#-pound wahoo 2nd    John Lingenberg   28.8-pound wahoo 3rd    Todd Craig   27.8-pound yellowtail (we’ll remember that weight for a while) Capt Ray turned around for the first 10-day of the season – check back!” Controlled Chaos Captain Justin Fleck called in to the office October 3 with an update from the Big X.…

Long Range Reports Good Skinning Excel skipper Mike Ramirez checked in from the Excel, out on Big ALs nine-day trip: “We have been whacking away at the wahoo for the last couple days. We have had very good wahoo fishing at the Rocks and everyone will be taking a few home with them. We are going to make a move tonight and look at another area, we will check back in again later.” Scratchin’ Schmoos “We scratched 15 dorado on kelps and one wahoo,” said the Red Rooster III report for September 20. “We had 56 yellows this morning and…

Incredible Tropicals A Day Away Reports from the past few days show that fishing for yellowfin tuna and wahoo at the San Benitos Islands has never been better, nor has it ever been anywhere near as incredible as it is presently. There have also been reports of a strong uphill current, so maybe the body of fish now a day away will ride northward. If it does, local fishing will be historic as well. Hang on to your rods! American Angler reported September 15:  “We had outstanding fishing on 25 to 35-pound yellowfin tuna and several bonus wahoo. Usually we…

Amero Charter Home From Intrepid Sportfishing, “The Amero four-day charter returned this morning, August 31. Thanks again for a very fun trip. See you guys next year for five days. Jackpot winners: Jonathon Elias, 47.8-pound Bluefin Tuna Scott Moll, 44.2-pound BFT Fred Rodriguez, 44-pound BFT.” Rare Shortbill on Long Range Trip Excel’s office reported September 1: “Captain Mike Ramirez called in late last night with an update: “We are done fishing for big bluefin. We decided to go fishing offshore today. We had some nice big dorado and school sized yellowtail. In addition, we caught a couple shortbill spearfish. The Okuma 5-Day…

Skins Go Off “We had an epic day of wahoo fishing down below,” reported American Angler August 23, “which in modern times does not really come that often. With all the fleet running mid to longer trips it is tricky to find the right timing for a window of opportunity to run down below. Reading this every angler wants to be here but many times it is tough due to everyone’s schedule. This trip it worked out great as the place had many days rest, the weather is flat calm, and we had lots of wire. Today was a tackle…

82 On The Ridge Excel skipper Justin Fleck reported for August 11: “We have spent the last 1.5 days down at the Ridge. We had pretty good fishing. We wish there was more Tuna. We did catch 40 yellowfin tuna, some wahoo and grouper too. The yellowtail fishing was very good. The water is 82-degrees and a beautiful blue. We are working out way back up the line and will let you know if we find some good action!” Aiming For Shortfin “Good evening everybody,” wrote Independence skipper Jeff DeBuys August 11, “today was pretty much like the past few…

Bill Roecker rounds up the long range fishing reports Some Wahoo Independence reported via skipper Jeff DeBuys August 4: “We spent the day trying for wahoo today and had some moderate success on them. Most of the gang on board here had not caught them, so today was special for them. The weather was a bit choppy, so conditions were not stellar. We are going to try something else tomorrow; everyone is having a great time.” Wind Coming Up Intrepid skipper Kevin Osborne posted for August 4: “We are out on our Larry Brown trip with all the great friends…

Long Ranger Passes We all knew her as Skii, but Hiroko was her given first name. She was a cheerful figure and a devoted angler who fished with her husband Robert Kubota for decades aboard the Royal Polaris and other long range boats at Fisherman’s Landing. “My beloved wife of 67 years passed away this morning, April 23, at the hospital at Huntington Beach,” wrote her husband Bob in the LA Times. “She was born in Hiroshima Japan, came to this country at three months of age, and grew up in La Jolla and San Diego.” Skii loved all kinds…

They say that every dog has thIER day, and nothing could be truer than this report from the Royal Polaris via Bill Roecker. Rookie’s Luck: Supercow Yellowfin Tuna This report came from Royal Polaris, posted March 25 by Dharyl Shelbourne: “As I start out my report, I talked about a young fisherman last night. His name was Ali Chahine. The largest fish he had caught before this trip was a 15-pound bluefin tuna. What a difference a day makes. Not only did Ali get his yellowfin over 200-pounds, but he also caught his yellowfin over 300-pounds, in one day. Ali…

Long Range Reports March 19 They’re Back Kevin Osborne from the Intrepid posted the winners from his latest trip: “The Catchy Tackle 18-day Limited Load trip returned March 17 with great results. Here are the jackpot winners: Bruce Watters – 218-pound yellowfin tuna Rick Cha – 208.5 Bad Bud Ruschhaupt 183.6 Honorable mention goes to Tony Oconnell for his 68-pound whopper wahoo. Thanks guys and gals and we will see you next time.” Picking Skipper Andy Cates of the Red Rooster III noted March 17: Nali picked off a nice fish about 220-pounds. Very poor but we still see a…

Long Range Reports – San Diego Long Range Fishing Wahoo Bite For Rooster Red Rooster III skipper Andy Cates posted late February 5: “I thought this was a cool picture of a big wahoo caught on the troll, on an Accurate 50 and Cal Star rod with 100-pound Izorline.” Earlier, Cates posted: “We fished wahoo today from just before lunch until dark. it was a bit scratchy but still enough action to keep is busy throughout the day. We got close to 40 wahoo today and about 20 nice yellows into the dark.” Bank Robbery Royal Polaris provided this summary…

Long Range Reports February 2 – Caught A Break American Angler reported for February 1: “We finally got our break today as we got to stay in one place and pick away all day. It started out with a lot of worry because unlike last trip and the beginning of this trip we drove around in the predawn hours and saw no fish. Plans A, B and C were pouring through our minds until our first fish, which was a 101-pounder and our next one caught by Doc Metcalf which weighed 256-pounds made us stay put for a while. We…

January 2, 2015 Biggie Gobbles Chunk Excel’s office reported January 2 that Capt. Justin Fleck had checked in from Hurricane Bank: “We arrived here yesterday. There has been a pretty good sign of fish around; the ones we have been getting so far have been from 100 to 180 pounds. We do have two cows onboard. Bob Busling got a 201-pound yellowfin and Dave Sanders got a 274-pounder on the chunk, his first cow. Most of the fish have been biting early in the morning around 4:30 to 5:30 A.M. That seems to be when they swim through. The last…

For any angler, a long range fishing trip is a special experience to be sure. And to enhance that experience, novice and experts anglers alike will benefit greatly by being prepared for the trip ahead. In fact, part of the joy of a long range fishing trip is the preparation of one’s tackle and gear and fantasizing about the good times to be had and the fish to be caught. Each angler should remember that this special opportunity to go long range fishing should be approached with a positive spirit of fun and excitement. Of course each fishermen will need…

Back And Out Independence skipper Jeff DeBuys posted November 28: “We unloaded the beautiful catch from Stan Vandenburg’s 13-day trip and tallied up 12 cows and lots and lots of quality tuna for everyone. The jackpot winners are: 1st place Jeff Larson 270 pounds, 2nd place Bob Riddle 264.7 pounds, 3rd place Alex Romans 235 pounds. In no particular order the following anglers also caught cows: Mike Smith 209 pounds, Robert Worthington 207, David Echeverria 212, Johnny Jones 225, Dave Sokoloff 203, Tyrone Burton 225, Chris Johnston 240, Tim Moreno 240,Abraham Feltus 202. We want to thank Stan for everything…