Bluefin Hunt!

Met up with Tim, Jack, Mike and Eddy at Dana Point Harbor to go chasing bluefin tuna yesterday on Tim's Striper.  We picked up a mix of sardines and mackerel at the receiver and were out of the harbor by 6:30 am.  Tim pointed the boat west, southwest.  

Around 7:30, we found an area alive with birds and dolphin everywhere you looked. We decided to fish one of the many scraps of kelp in the area.  It wasn't long until Jack hooked into a fish on a flylined mackerel.  The fish pulled hard and ran straight out.  As Jack got the fish close to the boat, we could see it was a nice yellowtail.  Just then that fish spotted a kelp and raced into it.  Jack just drug the kelp to the boat and Eddy gaffed it and the kelp.  A 20 pound yellowtail on the boat!  Nice start to the day.

We were sure this was going to be a catching day.  We worked the area for another hour or so then decided to head south where bluefin were caught the day before.  We trolled and trolled and looked for kelps.  We worked all the way down to Oceanside and back to the original area we fished in the morning.  That area had changed.  Kelps, birds and dolphin were gone now.  Around 3 pm we called it a day and headed in.

Although we didn't catch anything else, it was a beautiful day on the water.  Calm seas with water temps from 68.4 to 72 degrees.  Mostly overcast skies but warm air temperatures.  A very nice day to be on the water.