Big bluefin tuna providing late-winter fishing action

SAN DIEGO–The spring fishing season is upon us and the good news is that offshore anglers have bluefin tuna to target in areas that are as close to San Diego as the 9 Mile Bank. That said, the best of the bluefin fishing is being found at a further distance from Point Loma for boats fishing 1.5 – to 2-day trips to the water outside of Punta Colnett.

The bluefin fishing outside of Punta Colnett was good last weekend and the catches coming from the locality included a good number of 100 – to 170 -pound fish and ranged in width from 20 to 170 pounds.

Some tallies from the weekend’s fishing start with Fisherman’s Landing that reports that Pacific Queen fished a Saturday 1.5 -day trip with 32 anglers who caught 47 bluefin tuna. Fifteen of their bluefin were reported to be in the 120 – to 170 -pound range and the rest of the bluefin were reported to be in the 20 – to 70 -pound range.

Fisherman’s Landing also reports that Tomahawk returned from a weekend two-day trip with 18 anglers having catch 36 bluefin tuna and 10 yellowtail. The bluefin aboard Tomahawk ranged in immensity from 30 to 170 pounds. Eleven of their bluefin strayed from 150 to 170 pounds, 8 of their bluefin were between 100 and 140 pounds and the rest were in the 30 – to 70 -pound range.

H& M Landing reports having Old Glory fishing a 1.5 -day trip with 16 anglers who caught nine bluefin tuna and 6 yellowtail. The bluefin aboard Old Glory ranged in size from 100 to 132 pounds.

H& M Landing likewise reports that Poseidon fished a 1.75 -day trip with 16 anglers who caught 13 bluefin tuna that strayed in size from 50 to 110 pounds.

The past weekend also envisioned a lot of private boaters out looking for bluefin tuna in neighbourhood offshore seas within 30 miles of Point Loma. The weekend’s fishing in this local zone viewed some disbanded bluefin tuna task being reported by crafts fishing the Coronado Canyon, the upper culminate of the 9 Mile Bank and the deep water inside of the 302 Spot. The shows of bluefin were mostly situations where the fish were up and down quickly and hard to get to before they would clang. The best report came from a private boater Skipper who reported the fish bided up well for them and they caught three bluefin out of a mid-morning showing of bluefin at the Coronado Canyon.

The fishing around Los Coronado Islands remains very good for reds, rockfish and an occasional lingcod. The face fishing has generally been slow, but there has been an occasional spurt of bonito or yellowtail action. Good news about the surface fishing is there was improved yellowtail action to report from the most recent trip on Liberty out of Fisherman’s Landing. The fish count on Liberty was 18 anglers catching nine yellowtail, 40 wines and 100 rockfish.

The Rockpile has been the best zone for an opportunity at locating yellowtail around Los Coronado Islands and the Rockpile area has also been providing good angling for maroons and rockfish. The best bet once yellowtail are located has been to fish with yo-yoed iron. The yellowtail fishing has been difficult for most private boaters as most of the yellowtail action has been originating from stopping on sonar celebrates spotted with scan sonar. The hurdle for most private boaters results from the fact that most private ships are given with traditional up and down style fathometers and are not gave with scanning sonar.

The fishing for the purposes of an potpourrus of bottom fish remains good around Los Coronado Islands. In addition to the Rockpile, productive ranges for the bottom fishing include hard posterior areas to the north , northeast and northwest of North Island while working in 25 to 55 grasps of sea. Also beneficial has been fishing the lower part of the 9 Mile Bank while keeping on the Mexico side of the border and fishing in the 60 to 80 grasp degrees. Another productive rockfish area around the Coronado Islands has been fishing blots along the South Kelp Ridge below South Island in the 20 to 40 see depths.

Boats fishing fields along the San Diego County coast have been finding good mixed bag fishing for wines, rockfish, bass, sculpin and whitefish and are also catching an periodic halibut. The face fishing has been scratchy but there have been periodic exhibitions of yellowtail off La Jolla, around The 270( to the west of Mission Bay ), in its area of the Whistler Buoy at Point Loma and outside of the Imperial Beach Pipeline.

Productive coastal areas for reds and an array of rockfish have been the International Reef situated a short way above the Mexico border, hard-bitten foot areas to the west, southwest and southeast of the Whistler Buoy at Point Loma, the Point Loma Pipeline, the hard bottom outside of the Green Tank at Point Loma, The 270 to the west of Mission Bay, the range outside of the lower and the upper outcomes of La Jolla, the crest outside of Del Mar, the hard bottom outside of Leucadia, and Box Canyon.

The rest of the fishing along the San Diego County coast has been developing pretty good mixed bag fishing for sand bass, calico bass, perch and sculpin together with an occasional bonus halibut. Productive localities for bass and sculpin have been the Imperial Beach Pipeline, the hard freighter to the southeast of the Whistler Buoy at Point Loma, the hard bottom to the north and northwest of Buoy# 5 at Point Loma, the Jetty Kelp outside of Mission Bay, the Variety Kelp while fishing below the MLPA ending region at the lower end of La Jolla, the upper culminate of La Jolla, the Anderson and Buccaneer Pipelines, the artificial reefs outside of Oceanside and Box Canyon

Areas producing periodic halibut activity along the San Diego County coast are the sandy tush adjacent to the structure of the artificial ridges outside of Oceanside, the sandy tush neighboring to the structure of the Anderson and Buccaneer Pipelines, fishing in 180 to 220 hoofs of ocean at the sandy bottom outside of the Oceanside Pier, fishing the sandy freighter fields neighboring to the structure of the Yukon shipwreck and adjacent to the structure of the sunken NEL Tower off Mission Beach and fishing the area between the Imperial Beach Pier and the Tijuana River. San Diego Bay is another place where some biting halibut have been found.

The spring season is here and I cry “youre staying” healthful and hope you can get out on the liquid and get in on the spring epoch fishing. Keep on fishing and I hope to see you out on the spray!

Bob Vanian is the voice, writer and researcher of the San Diego-based internet fish report service announced 976 -Bite which can be found at www. 976 bite.com. Vanian also provides anglers with a personal fish report service over the telephone at 619 -2 26 -8 218. He ever welcomes your fish reports at that same phone number or at bob9 76 burn @aol. com.

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