Trip Log 7/8: Backyard Bluefin

If You Haven’t Heard, There’s a Bit of Bluefin Around….

Speechless. I know I haven’t been in the game for nearly as long as others but it’s hard not to recognize how truly special the times are. Here’s a very quick teaser for this report:

So we arrived at the boat at 10AM and pushed off from Dana Landing circa 10:30-11 with a bait stop. Our course pointed us due west to a zone that I had just spent the day Wednesday in for a Local Knowledge shoot. Which, is going to make for an epic episode highlighting our So-Cal Bluefin fishery of late. Another quick teaser than I promise to get to the report part….

As we rolled onto North 9-mile bank, we arrived to find extremely fishy waters. Paddies + birds working + clean blue water + metering bait throughout the column (scope set at 300′). As we soaked baits on a paddy with a single reluctant to eat Yellowtail, I scanned the zone in the binos. Something along the lines of “HOLY (choice explicative) – BRING EM IN!! BRING EM IN!! WE GOTTA RUN”

What we were running to was a bird-nado of Terns over some massive spots of foaming fish! Based on what I saw yesterday, I was expecting it to be 40-60lbs grade fish. Boy, was I wrong. On approach the size of the splashes & some quick glimpses of the backs – we were in for a world of hurt.

What ensued was stubborn persistence and blind optimism in the heat of the moment. The result – absolutely smoked on 0/3 popper fish with 60# leader (RIP fav Mag Poppers + Chug Norris) and 0/2 on 40# live baits. We were under-gunned and under-prepared for that moment. In hindsight, I wish I would have told myself – Stop. Breathe. Get the kite up & get the right gear ready.

After, our stupid persistence and eagerness to fish every Nat geo spot of foamers, we did just that. No more than 2 minutes with a flying fish out – we were bit and Max went to work on a nice bluefin. While he fought – I rigged another flyer and before I could even deploy, “I see the indicator. Oh, I have color.” Max put the wood to this fish with Accurate ATD-30T + Seeker OSP 2×4. My personal favorite for the frozen flyer program.

We ended up with just the one fish, minds blown from the show, and a nice ride home to cap an epic day. I know it’s been said many times but success in fishing is where preparation meets luck. We had the latter but need to be a little more proactive on the first element. Nonetheless – get out there and enjoy this truly amazing cycle we are in!