Author: Chris Dunn

What we have experienced the past two seasons off the Southern California coast was nothing short of amazing, as a combination of weather patterns and ocean currents came together to bring anglers something very special.  However, wahoo off Dana Point are in the past.  Hordes of hungry yellowfin for ½-day anglers:  Probably not happening this season…and don’t plan on targeting blue marlin in the Channel Islands in 2016. Technically speaking, the El Nino/La Nina phenomenon is defined by what happens in the Pacific Ocean down along the Equator. But the apparent impact here in Southern California that goes hand in…

“Oh yeah?  So WHERE is all this rain you say we’re going to get?” Basically, it comes down to this:  You can’t determine the outcome of a game based on the first play…let’s see what amazing things will happen during the rest of the game! A Facebook friend of mine recently asked since this is supposedly the biggest baddest “El Nino” in many years and yet the Weather Channel shows Zero chance of precipitation in the 15 Day here in SoCal…..just curious when all the “rain” is going to start… Patience! Patience! First, not all El Nino seasons (weatherwise) are…

Hurricane Patricia Chris Dunn brings us this quick shout out about Hurricane Patricia and her Cat 5, 200MPH winds. Chris said, “Hurricane Patricia a category 5 storm with 200 mph SUSTAINED winds in a small zone near the center!  Manzanillo will get clobbered and PV will get significant impact, but the worst of the storm will be just to their south. Probably the torrential rains inland will cause lots of flooding, damage and mudslides. Prayers for residents of Mexico who must endure this storm.”

Just like the spring/summer season of 2014, this year (2015) is shaping up to be another warm water year…and it could be a REALLY warm water year. The main reason? The drought. Oh, I know there’s been talk about El Nino for quite a while now. Yes, weak El Nino conditions do exist along the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, where a “true” El Nino is born. But like last season, not every warm water episode is El Nino. The real deal is this: It’s been a while since we’ve seen a steady stream of winter storms to break us…

Fish Food Feel Good You’ve had a successful San Diego long range trip. Good times, good weather, and some good fishing to go along with the experience. However, the trip has now come to an end and as the piles of fish are sorted out at the top of the dock you come to the realization that you have a LOT of fish! Oh man. I knew I had 10…or was that 12 tuna, plus the yellows during that one crazy stop when they were biting everything that hit the water. It sure is easy to get caught up in…

2015 El Nino Factor I think many were using the “El Nino” description for last summer’s warm water cycle for lack of any other descriptive term, even though it didn’t fit the definition of a true El Nino. It’s like calling a yellowtail a tuna: Looks kind of like a tuna and you can catch them on offshore tuna trips and many outside of the fishing community call them tuna, even though we know they are not. A “true” El Nino is defined by warm Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies near the Equator, specifically in the Nino 3.4 zone. Southern…

Eddie: A legendary Southern California sportfishing boat skipper, long associated with the Pacific Queen. Eddy: A current of air or water, running contrary to the main current, especially one having a rotary or whirling motion. Catalina Eddy: A circulation that forms over the coastal waters of southern California, most common in the spring and summer months and is associated with a deepening of the marine layer. Call it the “Gray of May” or “June Gloom,” this is the time of year we see the ocean’s influence on our coastal weather take a front row seat. The haze-clearing, dry Santa Ana…

It’s an annual cycle: The first few tropical systems of the eastern Pacific season form off mainland Mexico and typically either sweep westward towards the Revillagigedo Islands or inundate the mainland coast and quickly dissipate. During May and June the long range sportfishing trips that venture down to the far southern fishing grounds tempt fate with captains watching the weather very closely. Some years prove uneventful, but others are a little more active. As of this writing (June 13, 2014) we’re already on our third named storm of the season. Two of those (including Cristina shown above) have become major…

The summer season is upon us and for many that means even more time on the water under a more intense sun. Is there any way to prepare for it? Some people believe that developing a “base tan” before the summer will prevent them from burning later. Others believe a tan is the sign of good health and vitality. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a healthy tan! When it comes to getting the word out about protecting yourself against the harmful rays of the sun, the Aussies had it right all the way back in…

Having forecast weather in all parts of the country, I’ve found many areas have a unique weather feature or two worthy of its own name. In Colorado there are Chinook winds. In Seattle everyone has heard about the Puget Sound Convergence Zone. And, in Southern California we have our famous Santa Ana winds. As the summer comes to a close and October rolls around, we start to see a shift in the weather pattern that produces those dry, gusty winds that blow the marine layer far out to sea, fan the flames of large wildfires, and “can” produce some fine…

Like many other areas across the country, fall along the California coast is a transitional season. Instead of cooler days and shades of gold and red on the trees, offshore anglers in Southern California look forward to some of the best weather of the year. It may not be light winds and sunny skies every day, but overall autumn typically brings California anglers lighter winds, warm waters, and the opportunity to fish distant spots such as the Cortes and Tanner Banks that may be blown out much of the rest of the year. The reason for October’s great weather has…

I first heard the term El Niño in the winter of 1982-1983. No, it wasn’t from a television news report. Nor was it the topic of a meteorological conference. It was in the pages of a popular Southern California sportfishing magazine. El Niño refers to a warming of Pacific Ocean waters near the Equator, disrupting global weather patterns and ocean circulations. In the past, the effects of the warming waters were first noted off the coasts of Peru and Ecuador around Christmas, hence the Spanish name El Niño in reference to the Christ child. The warm water displaced the normally…