100-Cow Herd
Andy Cates docked the Red Rooster III February 26 with a baker’s dozen yellowfin over 200 pounds. The “cows” put his boat’s count at 103 for a season with three more months to go; maybe the best ever, not only for the Rooster, but for the long range fleet.
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“If this was our slow trip for the year, that would be all right,” remarked Cates, who noted that all but one of his cow catchers was marking a personal first. He also said four seiners operating nearby sometimes made fishing tough:
“One guy set on us three times.”
The best bait was squid, said Cates, on big balloons after a long soak.
“Evenings were the best time,” he said, “but fish were around in the daytime before the current changed direction.”
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Izorline rep Tom Fujimoto of Fullerton had the best “cow,” a 256.3-pound yellowfin. He was recovering from illness at home, so Cates posed with his fish, which came on a squid and a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 30 SW reel and a 6460 XXH rod. Fujimoto also had a tuna of 200.8 pounds.
Gene Coombs of San Mateo was second, for a 234-pounder he bagged with a squid on the kite. He said he fished a 9/0 7691 hook, 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra on a Penn 80 reel and the boat’s kite rig, a Calstar 760H rod.
“He kicked my behind,” said Coombs. “It was about a 40-minute fight.”
Bud Brittain of Santee took third place for a 228.2-pounder that sucked up his skipjack bait on a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He fished 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra backing on an Accurate 50W reel and a Calstar 755 XH rod.
“It was sweet,” he said.
Paul Lepore of Dana Point got his second and third 200-pounders of his fishing career. One went 221.3 and the other weighed 211.8 pounds. He said he fished skipjack on 9/0 7691’s, 130-pound Izorline leader and 100-pound Ande mainline with 130-pound Spectra backing on an Accurate 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH rod.
“A great crew, boat and skipper,” remarked Lepore.
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Tom Jackson of Norwalk caught a 216 and a 218.4-pound tuna. He fished with sardines on 6/0 Eagle Claw hooks, with 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra backing, a Penn 30 SW reel and a Calstar 760 H rod.
Ernie Seko of LaPalma pulled in a 203 and a 217.7 pound yellowfin. He fished with squid on 9/0 Mustad hooks, 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 50 SW reel and a 6460 XH rod.
Sonny Cruz of Morgan Hill landed a 219.9-pound tuna on a skipjack pinned to a 9/0 7691 hook. He fished with 130-pound Izorline, 130-pound Spectra backing, a Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 7690H rod.
Rich Litsch of Santa Rosa took a 209.6-pounder with the boat’s kite rig, on a puffer bait.
Robert Oliver of Ripon bagged a 201-pounder with the boat’s kite rig. Hearing impaired, Oliver won the sportsmanship award for his efforts and attitude.
Jumbo Squid Posting
Brett Pauly, editor at ESPN Outdoors, asked me for an expanded piece on the jumbo squid that are still off the south coast. I gave it to him and the piece is posted at
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/tips/s/f_fea_squid_jumbo_CA05_B.Roecker.html if you’d like to have a look. If the link doesn’t work for you, try ESPNoutdoors.com and click on Fishing and then on Features to get to the expanded story.
Meanwhile, word is that the squid seem scarcer in waters near Oceanside, though they’re still biting very well at the Nine-Mile Bank off Point Loma, just a few miles south. Seaforth Landing reported 141 big squirts February 16, and on February 26 reported the squirts were still biting. Rooster skipper Andy Cates said they were showing at Cedros Island, too.
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“Do you think they’re heading south?” I asked P-Bod of Captain P-Bod’s Fishing tackle in Vista.
“Probably,” he said. “They were all the way up to San Francisco.”
Electra deckhand Nacho Camarena said a twilight trip February 15 found only a single squid.
“But the calico bass bit pretty good in the kelp that day,” he remarked, “because we had some small anchovies to chum. They went for it, and the sand bass, too.”
Local angler Chad Freeman told me the ocean temperature off Oceanside of over 60 degrees may be one reason the jumbo squid showed up here in the middle of a wet winter.