Small report. Some reports started coming in about albacore caught local(!!!) and heard separate reports about mahi, bluefin, yellowfin....all spotty but confirmed sightings nonetheless. Weather report went from bad to good and Chris coaxed me out to scan out of DP while he went out of Oside.
Launched 0615. Really nice conditions early on. Very slight breeze, able to chug full speed. No real boat traffic, except this fkn guy, 5 miles out, I'm the only boat in sight, and he runs through my wash 50 yards back just as I set out my mackstick and a bullet head. Miraculous that he didn't saw me off. I threw my hands up like, whaddaya doin' guy? Ocean is just not big enough.
Purple water. Googan birds flying south but no sign of terns or bait. Rode toward the 279, found some dolphins. Nothing with them. Nothing in the realm of the 279. Started back east toward the coastal shelf. Wind started picking up, from the SE. Weird. Warm! Muggy. Maybe 5 miles of visibility outside, maybe 3 inside.
Once I hit the coastal shelf the chop was a consistent bumpy 1' but nothing crazy. Slowly started building though. Up to consistent 2', pretty darn bumpy, decided to start my way back.
Picked up to 3' tight chop. Getting hairy. Tacking NW/NE okay though.
Still don't even have sights on the point with limited visibility. Starting up to 3-4'+ chop. Burying the bow every couple minutes. Thankfully the water was 70º so it was oddly refreshing amidst the chaos. Tucked behind San Mateo Point just in time for the chop to be so bad I could barely even make headway. Woooo.....Still 2-3' chop the rest of the way back but a cake walk in comparison. Back to the ramp 10:30.
I need to wash myself of all this mediocrity and do some damage inshore this week, but wanna continue hunting what might be there. Saw an article today about how we might have extremely warm water now through spring, a late El Nino as it were, so maybe it'll get even weirder than albacore?
Maybe Chris will chime in on his observations. We were able to keep in contact the whole time and he had a fun ride as well.