Author: Joe Sarmiento

Last week I wrote how I was getting ready to head out on the Pacific Queen for a 1.5-day trip targeting bluefin tuna.  I was excited about our prospects because in the weeks leading up to our trip, the fish were biting bait and it was happening on reasonably heavier line to give you a shot at landing them.  The weather outlook was good, so hopes were high as we departed Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego last Friday night. Trip Report – Pacific Queen 1.5-Day We went long to the far side of San Clemente Island where the fleet was concentrated…

Bluefin Still Biting One of my big goals this year was to get one of these local bluefin over 100-pounds.  Unfortunately, the way things have lined up, I haven’t had many opportunities. Hopefully that changes this weekend. I’ve got my 1.5-day charter leaving tonight (Friday) on the Pacific Queen.  I was just on the boat last month.  It was my AFTCO sponsored 2-day trip.  Typically, the longer trips have been the ones to be on to get after the bluefin, but that trip ended up focused on yellowfin tuna (right). Naturally, I’ve been keeping my eye on what the boat…

Local Fishing Spots I have a couple buddies looking to get out this weekend, and they posed this question to me… Do you think the yellowfin will still bite this weekend? If you follow along every day like I do, you know that the yellowfin bit really well this week.  So if you were just to look at the counts, it would be a no brainer. Several boats fishing the Full Day or Overnight length trips this week were into limits style fishing on them.  Another cool thing to see this week was the emergence of some yellowtail and dorado mixed in…

It’s difficult to believe that it’s already October.  The way the last few years have gone, it seem like it’s been one long, never-ending season.  It might continue going on in this fashion, but… What if it doesn’t? What if things play closer to a “normal” year?  If things end up going that way, October could end up being the last big month of the season. Yellowfin Tuna Yellowfin tuna fishing is about as good as it gets right now with many boats reporting limits this week.  Even nicer, you don’t have to go long to get them.  That’s my…

Advice For Socal Anglers – Game Advice Socal Anglers Offshore fishing can be really tough. Driving across a vast ocean, hoping to find a kelp paddy, birds working, a dolphin school, jumping fish etc. can feel like stumbling across a desert in search of an oasis.  It can be easy to lose interest.  After multiple empty kelps, or just fish that don’t want to bite, a nap in your bunk might seem like a better option. Don’t do it.  stay in the game I’ve seen it dozens of times.  Not just offshore, but on all kinds of fishing trips. There was…

When the yellowfin first showed this year, it was weird in the sense that they were often unusually finicky. Basically, the yellowfin were acting like bluefin. Sure there were individual instances of boats running into the right school, but this week the exception became the rule. In my article last week, I gave you all a trip report from my ride with Capt. Rick Slavkin on the Oceanside 95.  They came from a 2.5-day charter with the Oceanside Senior Anglers on Tuesday.  The old guys ruled with full 2 day limits of yellowfin tuna for 23 (230 fish), adding 100 skipjack,…

I told you last week about spending Labor Day up in the 805.  That bite is still going on.  Actually, it seems like it picked up steam this week.  The picture (right) comes from Tuesday on the Gentleman, 3/4-day boat out of Channel Islands Sportfishing.  They caught 23 that day and was just one of several boats on the catch this week in the 805.  Hopefully, some of you who read my article took the initiative to get out and enjoy that bite. After consecutive weeks up north though, I felt like it was time to get in the game and put…

My first job out of college, I was a financial investment adviser.  In the fine print of all the various investment materials, there is always a disclaimer… Past performance is not an indicator of future results. The same disclaimer could be applied to fishing as well.  Tell me if this scenario has happened to you.  Boat has a great trip and posts a big count of (fill in the blank) fish.  You see the count, tell your best fishing buddy, and you both get on the boat the next day.  But as we all know, every day on the water…

How’s your summer been?  Hopefully, you’ve had a good one.  It’s not time to put away your gear though.  For many of us of the salty persuasion, Fall is primetime to the season.  The kids are back in school.  A lot of the seasonal anglers have moved on to other things.  And as we head into the Labor Day Weekend… We have an abundance of fishing opportunities! Super Cows Make A Splash The Pacific Queen returned from a 3 day Daiwa sponsored charter Wednesday with 9 fish over 200-pounds, headlined by the 305# super cow pictured above. Not to be outdone, the Outer…

I know everyone is excited about offshore fishing right now.  Be it the traditional paddy hopping yellowfin and dodo kind of affair, or chasing after the giant bluefin, offshore is dominating the fishing conversation right now in SoCal.  What you might not have noticed is… the yellowtail fishing is pretty good right now at the Coronado Islands. I remember a time when if the boats were getting 20 yellows a trip, it was time to make the run to San Diego to fish the islands again.  Right now, the bar is well north of 20 fish a trip! I had the…

Two weeks ago, the Toronado went out to the Tanner Bank on a day and a half trip looking for bluefin tuna.  Capt. Ray Lagmay found them and they put 12 on the boat.  They had live squid and the fish responded well to it.  Twelve is a good number considering the boat pressure and how these ultra finicky fish are responding to that pressure. That wasn’t the big story though… Out of nowhere a school of seabass showed up and stuck to the boat.  Galley boss, Kevin Martin, told me that the school stayed with them from about 8am to past…

In my last post, I mentioned how I was fishing 20# and a small hook on a kelp paddy.  I got bit and ultimately lost one of those larger kelp yellows we’ve been seeing this year.  It was heartbreaking, but I accepted the outcome.  And next time, given the same circumstances, I’d make the same decision again. That’s one of the things about fishing in general, but it’s a dilemma that seems to be magnified offshore.  You can be fishing all day, and you may only get a few bites for that time… How do you balance getting bit vs. having enough…

When I wrote my article in June, Why Aren’t They Going?, one of the reasons why people gave for not going offshore was that they were waiting for the offshore scene to develop into more than a bluefin only, boom-or-bust scenario. All it took was a little bit of time. Just over a month later, we are now into that offshore fishing scenario.  The water has warmed up considerably, into the 70’s in many areas, and that warm water has resulted in many more pelagic species being added to the offshore mix. I was out this week on a 2-day trip aboard…

Weekend Fishing Outlook You know how you get those notices in Facebook…your memory 2 years ago or whatever?  I got one earlier this month, July 6th to be exact.  One year ago, I was on a 1.5 day trip on the Oceanside 95  with my buddy Cody Reynolds.  Cody had never caught a seabass.  I had an inkling we might get a shot on that trip.  The morning grey didn’t pan out as hoped.  The day was a plunker bite on yellows, hanging one or two every drift just offshore from San Clemente Island.  As the day turned to dusk,…

I had a chance to fish this last Monday offshore to chase bluefin tuna aboard Fortune Sportfishing. It didn’t start out to be an offshore trip. The original plan was to fish the islands for white seabass. It was on the Fortune last year where I got my personal best fish (62 lbs.). Looking back at 2017, that trip was easily at the top of the list of my favorite outings all year. On Friday last week (July 13), they put 29 seabass on the deck (above), so I was really excited about the prospects to catch them on our…

Summer Fishing For the last couple months, I’ve spent a lot of time telling you that it was a good time to get out. The math that I go through in my head when deciding where/when to fish goes something like this… Fishing Opportunity – Crowd Factor Actual Cost + Opportunity Cost I don’t actually plug-in numbers, but it’s a way for me to sort out what makes the most sense. So for example, WSB are really biting (awesome fishing opportunity), it might make sense to take a vacation day to fish midweek (opportunity cost of doing my paid job), knowing…

 Should it be red crab, white seabass and bluefin? One of the things I try to do with the column is give you things to consider as you plan ahead for your trips. Whether that’s where the bite is now, what setups are catching, or a guess as to where things might be headed…it’s all with the intent of helping people be better anglers and have better trips. I mentioned here last week that a lot of the chatter as it related to bluefin was that they had moved into US water. I noted that now that they had arrived…

July Fishing Fireworks So let’s start with the news of the week…June is closing out with a BANG! In the Bluefin Excuses article I posted last week, one of the reasons given that people weren’t going out was that they are waiting for other pelagic species to show up before committing their sportfishing dollars to heading offshore. We got a glimpse of things to come when a handful of boats reporting running into some more hook-friendly yellowfin this week (and a few even got caught!).  That’s a great sign as we head into what might be a vacation week for many…

Bluefin Excuses A couple weeks ago, I was supposed to be on a 2 day offshore trip on Tomahawk Sportfishing. The trip ended up getting cancelled(Bluefin Excuses).  We were a little light on the boat’s break even number to go and the weather was supposed to be up.  Rather than go light with poor prospects, the owners cancelled.  I’ve noticed a lot of that going around lately.  Boats looking to go offshore targeting bluefin are going out light, or not getting out at all because of the lack of enough headcount to make it work. All the while, it seems like at…

Fathers Day Weekend Fishing Edition: My daughter asked me what I wanted for Fathers Day. “I just want to spend time with you.”  And maybe fish a little.  I’m hoping I can talk her into a halfie or some time at the beach. For the rest of our angling community, I really like the prospects of getting out this weekend. Lots of species are out there biting…bluefin, yellowtail, white seabass…all of them and more are in play.  What’s your flavor?  Where are you willing to drive to?  How much time do you have? Bluefin Are Biting The SAC plane was…

I was really excited this weekend to get offshore. You’ll remember last week I reported that Tomahawk Sportfishing  was the big winner offshore with 3 bluefin tuna over 100-pounds as the big cherry on top of some schoolie class fish and paddy yellowtail.  Great trip. There was quite a bit of that 20-50-pound class of bluefin caught this week.  The SAC spotter plane was also up this week and spotted vast fields of bluefin just waiting to be caught (above).  All of it had me really excited to be out on the Tomahawk this weekend for my charter.  I had…

Fish Bass Tuna SoCal Fishing Something that has me excited fishing-wise right now is that the bass bite seems to be heating up. There was a time when that wasn’t the case. There’s kind of a progression to the fishing we do. Rockfishing was the first style of fishing I became proficient in. Bass fishing however is an entirely different animal. There isn’t the comfort of feeling your weight hitting the bottom to know you are in the right zone. There’s the importance of knowing how to pick a good bait and being able to properly handle it so that it’s…

Memorial Day Weekend Ghost Hunt My recommendation for last weekend was overnight offshore from San Diego. As I look back at the counts over the weekend, I see that didn’t work out too well. The weather was a little tough and the counts reflected it. Seems like even the paddy yellows were hard to find (or was it the paddies themselves?). Early season bluefin fishing…it is what it is. Do I like the opportunity any less?  No.  They are around and they’ll bite sooner or later.  I’ll put it to you like this…if you want to catch tuna, then go.…

SoCal Fishing Outlook It’s my birthday weekend. So it was a foregone conclusion that I’d be doing a lot of fishing this weekend.  I’m doing back-to-back overnight trips.  I’m riding with Capt. Tucker McCombs (right) of the Outrider on Friday.  Saturday, I get off the Outrider and board the Eldorado with Capt. Sal Salazar for a second overnight on my Sav-On Tackle sponsored So Cal Salty trip.  I’m trying to give myself opportunities for white seabass.  It’s not dead on in terms of moonphase (this weekend), but I’m counting on a newfound abundance of squid at Catalina to fuel our success.  It’s time…