West Coast Report San Diego/Mexico Tuna!

[jwalker]

Guys, Quick update and a few photos on what's happening out of San Diego, CA.
We leave from S.D. ports 8-10 PM steam 60-120 miles South into Mexican waters and have lines in at first light and have hit/landed 15-50+ tuna per day over the past 3 weeks. Albacore to 40+ lbs and Bluefin to 40 Lbs. Albacore and Bluefin are of the smaller variety on this side but massive schools of them and the distances keep the fleet somewhat reasonable, although yesterday we had to weed through about 40 charter boats a handfull of recs and one massive purse seiner with spotter copter (we beat that bastard to one nice school and picked up 4-5 nice fish before he rolled in)
Out here live bait is king. We stop at the bait reciever every night and load up on 100's of chovies and sardines. The deal here is to trolll just to find the bite, (trolling out here is about 2 decades behind the times, I put out 7 lines once this week and they thought I was nuts, they run 4 lines on average and these are 40-90' charter boats) immediatly toss over a couple scoops of live bait and free-line livies back on 20-30 Lb tackle and set-up on live bait on 2/0-3/0 hooks, lt's of fun and multiple hook-ups are the norm.

If anyone ever wants almost guaranteed tuna action this is the place to be as well as plenty of yellowtail, a shot at a daytime swordie (several caught last week) and the stripeys will be showing up any day as the waters are warming.
Notes: They consider a one day trip as such: leave at 9PM back at the docks the next night between 6-10 PM
We run one of only a handfull of 6 pack boats, the majority of the boats are head boat's with 20-50 anglers.
It's somewhat freaky to listen to the Mexican Navy talk over the VHF while steaming at night in pitch black conditions, hope those nuts aren't trigger happy.

Side Note:
Heading back East for The Monster Shark Tourney in OB, Who is fishing it this year from SF?
JW

[Short Right Rigger]

Thanks for the report JW it is good to hear what is going on, on the west coast.

[Phillyfisherman]

Thanks for the report jwalker. San Diego is my most favorite vacation destination. I stay at Bahia Resort; love the Mission Beach area.

[jwalker]

Thanks for the report jwalker. San Diego is my most favorite vacation destination. I stay at Bahia Resort; love the Mission Beach area.

It is nice, that is for sure.
We fish out of Seaforth Marina in Mission Bay
www.limitlesssportfishing.com

Hey, Just noticed the Thermz shirts in the pictures, working great out here in Sunny So.Cal....

[Captain Fred Archer]

I've had the pleasure of meeting and fishing with JW and consider him a new and good friend, as do the rest of our guys. He's got his east coast techniques wired and now is one of those rare fishermen who is getting a great dose of different ways of fishing for what are the same fish on both coasts.

This young fellow is skilled enough that he landed the job as second skipper on our top tuna six pack, Captain Tom Paterno's "Limitless" right off the bat. That is no small feat and is much like a west coast captain coming east and after "showing his stuff" to the captain of a top east coast six pack, getting hired on immediately. Those unfortunate east coast/west coast prejudices fostered mostly by those with limited experience except in their own backyards on either coast are strong and it takes a solid, all-around fisherman to get past that and be accepted quickly in a new area as what he is...a solid, experienced pro. Johnny has managed to do that and do that well here.

We just have to get him some striped marlin time (kissing cousin to the infamous Whitey) and he is going to be that rare, bi-coastal pro. As you can see from how he writes, he isn't cocky or arrogant about his successes out here, yet another example of a "gunfighter who lets his guns speak for him."

I'm sure that John will say it up front...his team is going to be trolling up at the Vineyard in the upcoming shark tournament. He's got the game down pat, the tools are ready, and his team is both confident and completely committed. If they get around the fish there is going to be hell to pay!

I know that at least one team that has had multiple wins clandestinely trolling in that tournament is mighty unhappy to be reading this, if they are. Me? I'm lovin' it! I am not one to make loud claims about myself or anyone else winning tournaments, but my money says that this team is going to weigh in solid numbers of both threshers and makos and they might even bring home the roses.

Any takers?

Go get 'em, JW and team!