Bluefin, Yellowfin, Yellowtail, Albacore, Dorado, Marlin and More!

The summer fishing season continues to march toward the late summer and fall and the opportunities currently exist to catch a wide variety of fun and good eating species whether you choose to fish offshore, at the local islands or along the coast.

 

The offshore fishing continues to grab most of the headlines and the fishing for bluefin tuna to 200+ pounds continues to top the list. In addition to bluefin tuna the offshore fishing is producing a few yellowfin tuna, a few albacore, a few dorado, some pretty good numbers of kelp-paddy yellowtail and a chance at a striped marlin.

 

The bigger bluefin have been biting best in areas above San Clemente Island with the region of the 711 Spot being the best in recent days. The bite on the bigger bluefin has not been as good as it was a couple of weeks ago but they are still around and biting with a private boater reporting loosing 3 hookups to 150 pound and bigger fish that he hooked on flying fish while fishing around the 711 Spot on Saturday.

 

There have also been near limit to limit numbers of the 20 to 40 pound bluefin and good numbers of yellowtail biting for boats fishing around the Cortes and Tanner Banks. There has also been a chance at catching one of the bigger bluefin in the deep water between the Cortes and Tanner Banks.

 

The bluefin tuna have been mixed in size and have been running from 15 to 260 pounds. Bluefin have been biting both night and day with some of the best bites on the larger sized bluefin being found in the dark.

 

The bluefin have been biting on a variety of baits and jigs with sardines, frozen flying fish, live flying fish, California Flyers, knife jigs, Colt Snipers and trolled Nomad Madmac jigs being the top baits and lures. Anglers have been encouraged to include within the tackle that they bring a 25 pound test outfit and a 40 pound test outfit for flylining live baits and a rail rod outfit spooled with at least 100 pound test line for fishing the sinker rigged sardines, the sinker rigged flying fish, the kite fished baits and the knife jigs. One of the ways to help target the bigger bluefin is to use flying fish for bait as the bigger sized bluefin tend to bite better on the bigger sized bait.

 

There has also been an occasional 20 to 40 pound bluefin caught around some of the local offshore banks outside of Los Coronado Islands such as the 302 Spot, 230 Spot, 224 Spot and the area out to the west of North Island. There has also been an occasional bluefin caught at Los Coronado Islands incidental to fishing for yellowtail.  Those same banks outside of Los Coronado Islands have also been producing an occasional yellowfin tuna along with a few dorado and yellowtail. The dorado and yellowtail seem to be moving up closer to Catalina with the 182 Spot, 181 Spot, 289 Spot and 209 Spot starting to produce some dorado and yellowtail activity in recent days as well.

 

During the past couple of weeks there were a few albacore caught incidental to fishing for bluefin tuna. I got reports of 2 boats having caught albacore in the region of the 499 Spot off the back side of Catalina and in the area above the West End of San Clemente Island. The information I have is that one boat caught three out of one stop and that the other boat caught one. It is good to see that a few albacore have ventured into our local offshore waters! Let’s hope that more are on the way!

 

The fishing for striped marlin picked up and was good over the past weekend with what I am estimating to be 15+ marlin caught and released by boats fishing 1 to 3 miles inside of Catalina in an area ranging from the Isthmus up to the West End. Most of the bites were found on the troll in areas where there were balls of bait being seen and an occasional feeder showing. Most of the marlin hookups are coming on fish that are raised on the troll and are then hooked on a trolling jig or a dropback live mackerel bait.

 

In the San Diego area the marlin fishing has been slow but things seemed to be picking up yesterday with a few marlin encounters being reported by boats that were targeting tuna, yellowtail and dorado in the region of the 302 Spot, 224 Spot and 9 Mile Bank.

 

The surface fishing at Los Coronado Islands has been good to sometimes very good with a mix of yellowtail, calico bass and barracuda biting to go with the chance of an occasional bonus bluefin tuna or halibut. In addition, the bottom fishing for a variety of rockfish species remains very good.

 

As an example of the recent fishing, San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing had a full day trip with 41 anglers catch 19 yellowtail, 80 calico bass and 34 barracuda. Mission Belle out of Point Loma Sportfishing had 20 anglers on a full day trip catch 33 yellowtail, 2 calico bass, and 1 rockfish.

 

The best spots for surface fishing have been the area to the north of the Middle Grounds Islands, the area to the south of the Middle Grounds Islands and spots along the lee side of South Island such as the Ribbon Kelp. Also productive has been the weather side of North Island, Pukey Point, the north end of South Island and the Lighthouse at the south tip of South Island. If you want to try for a halibut, a productive zone has been drifting the sandy bottom areas along the lee side of South Island.

 

Try surface iron, yo-yo iron and flylined or dropper loop fished sardines for the yellowtail with surface iron and flylined sardines also being good choices for barracuda. A private boater might also want to try slow trolling nose hooked sardines for yellowtail and barracuda. Anchovies have been great baits for the calico bass. Good choices for surface iron for barracuda and yellowtail include Salas 7X lights and Tady 45’s in blue and white, sardine or mint colors.

 

The bottom fishing remains very good around Los Coronado Islands and the best areas for the mixed bag bottom fishing have been to the northwest, north and northeast of North Island in 25 to 60 fathoms. Also productive has been the rockfish fishing on the Mexico side of the border at the lower end of the 9 Mile Bank.

 

As an ongoing reminder, Southern California anglers need to take note that between July 1 and September 30 that the take of “Nearshore” rockfish species, “Shelf” rockfish species, “Slope” rockfish species and lingcod may not be taken seaward of the 50 Fathom Rockfish Conservation Area Boundary Line. The 50 Fathom Rockfish Conservation Area Boundary Line is a series of connected waypoints as defined in Federal regulations (50 CFR Part 660, Subpart C).  You can view the specifics of the regulations regarding this seasonal closure in detail at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website at wildlife.ca.gov.

 

The fishing along the San Diego County coast has been good for a mix of calico bass, sand bass, rockfish, sculpin, barracuda, sheephead, whitefish, halibut and an occasional white seabass or yellowtail.

 

The Imperial Beach area is still producing good numbers of sand bass but the  hot bite area has shifted from the sandy bottom zone outside of Imperial Beach to the hard bottom zone that is from 1.25 to 1.75 miles to the southeast of the Whistler Buoy at Point Loma. Skippers are finding meter marks and sonar marks to locate the fish over the hard bottom and then anchoring over the meter marks. Anchovies have been the best bait when available.

 

Daily Double out of Point Loma Sportfishing fished the sand bass on their half-day trips on Sunday and had a morning half-day trip with 30 anglers catch 127 sand bass. On their afternoon trip, they had 20 anglers catch their limits of 100 sand bass.

 

The Point Loma Kelp Beds have been good for calico bass along with an occasional legal size barracuda and an assortment of bottom fish species. Look for kelp bed areas between the Point Loma Lighthouse and Point Loma College where you find your warmest and cleanest water with a downhill current flow. The kelp in the Point Loma College and Green Tank areas tends to be the best.

 

La Jolla has been good for calico bass, a few barracuda, an assortment of bottom fish species and a chance at a yellowtail or white seabass. There has been some squid available to catch for bait at night off Pacific Beach and off the upper end of La Jolla and there have been a few white seabass biting at night on the live squid. There has been a chance at yellowtail while fishing off the upper end of La Jolla and around the outskirts of the MLPA closure area at the lower end of La Jolla.

 

Productive baits for yellowtail have been sardines, mackerel and squid. In addition to the live baits, yellowtail and barracuda have also been biting on surface iron with good choices for surface iron including Tady 45 and Salas 7X light jigs in blue and white, mint and sardine colors.

 

Going further up the San Diego County coast, Captain Joe Cacciola of Sea Star with Sea Star Sportfishing and the Oceanside Sea Center reports that there has been good fishing for a mix of calico bass, sand bass, rockfish, sculpin, sheephead and whitefish along with a chance at a bonus halibut while fishing kelp bed and hard bottom areas off Del Mar, Solana Beach, Leucadia and South Carlsbad.

 

There have been a few halibut biting along the San Diego County coast. Productive halibut areas include San Diego Bay, Mission Bay, the sandy bottom next to the structure of the Imperial Beach Pipeline, the sandy bottom areas adjacent to hard bottom spots outside of the Imperial Beach Pier, the sandy bottom adjacent to the Yukon Shipwreck, the sandy bottom adjacent to the sunken NEL Tower off Mission Beach, South Ponto Beach, the sandy bottom next to the Buccaneer Pipeline and the sandy bottom next to the artificial reefs off of Oceanside.

 

The last day of summer is September 21 and I hope you take advantage of every opportunity you have to get out on the water and enjoy the remainder of the summer fishing. That said, we are so blessed to be in Southern California where we usually have excellent fall fishing seasons to enjoy as well! Keep on fishing and I hope to see you out on the water sometime soon!

 

    Bob Vanian is the voice, writer and researcher of the San Diego-based internet fish report service called 976-Bite which can be found at www.976bite.com. Vanian also provides anglers with a personal fish report service over the telephone at (619) 226-8218. He always welcomes your fish reports at that same phone number or at bob976bite@aol.com.