Sunset Bluefin Run (7/9)

[Latimeria]

So I get a text at 1:30 asking if I want to go Bluefin fishing since they are literally less than 10 miles off the coast.  I was expecting him to ask me about Saturday or Sunday, but I would be wrong.  He said let's go now and call it at sunset.  His buddy gave him all his numbers from the night before where they got into them.  I kind of felt like this was a catch 22 since they would be somewhere else today, but at least I know this would be a shorter trip and I could test out some new gear along with my shoulder.

Dropped in the water around 3:30 and headed out to beautiful conditions.  He said that we need to stop and drop at some point for a few rockfish since his wife was looking forward to tacos, but that was only a blip in the plan.

I have a new Torium 20 left handed for casting the iron that I have yet to try, so I was pretty stoked to see how that went as well as casting with the new shoulder.



I only brought 2 rods, and the other was my beefier 60# stick and 2-speed in case they weren't line shy.



We fished multiple kelps... all loaded with bait and birds sitting on them.  We got a half scoop of lively beautiful sardine, so was ready for anything.  These kelps had so much bait on them....



As a matter of fact, there was bait and terns everywhere!  We chased big marauding schools all over.  Some turned out to be tiny dolphin, and others looked to be bigger BFT, but the sunk out as we were getting to them, so it was really frustrating...



Apparently west of the South Island, there were 100 pounders foaming everywhere, but heard mostly the same radio chatter that they couldn't get them to bite.  We tried and tried, but to no avail.  The sun started getting low and we decided to drop down a few rigs to see if we could get a few requested rockfish as the sun went down over the horizon.



Success and really nice fish to boot!



One had to be a Salmon Grouper of course....



Besides the red puking up fresh squid, I also reeled up a few pyrosomes.





Well, we called it quits after the sun went down and headed home.  With the amount of bait and birds in the area, the fish will probably show up today, but that's how it goes.
Thanks for reading and nice to know my shoulder did well with the constant casting jigs and reelin from the deep.

[jrodda]

I was hoping you’d get out and take a peek at the tuna, too bad none hit the deck. Good try though.

[vdisney]

Glad the shoulder's holding up Tom, wish you guys would have found the tuna

[Tim524]

Looks nice out there, the shoulder is slowly getting a workout for when the time is right

[Latimeria]

So, I just heard that area we were in went wide open around noon time, so we were about 4 hours behind the bite.  Figures.... but I'll keep trying on his boat until I can get mine fixed.

[jrodda]

So, I just heard that area we were in went wide open around noon time, so we were about 4 hours behind the bite.  Figures.... but I'll keep trying on his boat until I can get mine fixed.

Good to hear you have the Plan B boat, I almost forgot your sled was out of commission.

I'm studying up a bit on when the bluefin are most active. Sounds like slack tides are prime time. I realized the birds that I were seeing resting on my trip were actually shearwaters, and apparently they can be the mark of a school of tuna deep below them. If I'd known that, and if I'd gotten enough sleep, I would have/should have stopped on them and jigged, or followed them til slack tide. Makes me think I should prioritize sleep a little more over a start at sunrise, given a suitable tide.

I'm thinking about scouting behind Anacapa on Tuesday. I wanna take a break this week from all these ridiculous runs down to OC/SD. Water got warm in the VC anyways, 67-70º. But golly, have I been bit with tuna fever this week.

[skrilla]

Cool way to kill a few hours.

[KogaHead]

Wow!!! Exciting pictures of fishing rods.

Pyrosomes? Looks more like to condoms you use, so I have been told.