By Bill Roecker

The permits have finally arrived, and now San Diego’s long range boats can go to Guadalupe Island to fish the big yellowfin tuna that hang out there during the summer months. The island is about the only place north of Alijos Rocks where anglers have a reasonable chance to hook a 100-pound yellowfin tuna. Wahoo also show up there during the warm water period. As soon as the permits were in hand, the fleet set out for the big island.



First 'Hoo Caught

“When we left the dock, we didn't know what to expect,” said the American Angler’s report from July 28.

“The offshore fishing seemed to be on a slight downhill trend so we opted to take advantage of our Sportfishing Association of California leader Ken Franke's hard work and go outside to the island. After daylight we got the 911 call from our code boats to keep coming because there was good sign of tuna. We got to the zone after lunch and we had a strike as soon as we slowed down.

“Kub Ito got this year's first "local" wahoo which he graciously donated for an upcoming wahoo dinner.

“Soon afterwards we saw a small school of tuna on the machines and they showed immediately. We had very good angling on 40 to 60-pound tuna with a few pushing 70 pounds as bites were very easy to come by. We kept 4-12 hooked for several hours as everyone aboard was on the ropes. We ended up with 100 of these good grade tuna for the afternoon and our other guys that were here all day also had big days. Art Taylor on the Searcher said that this was the best fishing that he has ever seen on this grade tuna and he has owned a long range boat for over 25 years.

“Obviously we don't know if they are going to bite like this for long but what we do know for a fact is that they are here right now. I know that there are lots of people that walk and breath for this kind of fishing so call Lori.

“At times they were biting heavy string, but the rig of choice would be a castable sized 2-speed reel with Spectra and a flourocarbon 50-pound topshot with a choice 7-8 foot rod for fishability.”



Indy At Guadalupe

“Wow, what a day we had here today on the Indy,” wrote Independence skipper Jeff DeBuys July 28.

“Things looked a bit dead in the early morning, but that all changed really fast. Epic, spectacular, off the charts, does not come close to describing the fishing today. We had full speed fishing for hours on end on beautiful 50 to 95-pound yellowfin tuna. There were some 40-pound stuff, but only a few. Needless to say everyone is not only tired, but also extremely happy with the day, especially after yesterday’s epic yellowtail fishing. We plan on staying here for tomorrow. The weather is great too.”



Intrepid Also At Big Island

“What a day we had here at Guadalupe Island,” said Intrepid’s report for July 28.

“We thought that yesterdays Yellowtail bite was good until today. We started off with a great Yellowtail bite on jumbos that lasted until 1:30 pm. All the yellows were in the 30-45 lb range and we caught all we wanted. Then we made the move to the Tuna grounds and got on a school at 2:30 pm and put the wood to the 30-60 lb Tuna. I mean this was an off the hook bite. Everyone was hooked up full speed for the rest of the day. We still have a few hanging at the moment. We thank Ken Franke (Sportfishing Association of California) for all his hard work in getting the permits back for the fleet. We are going to stay put tonight and fish Tuna again tomorrow, as we are pretty much done with the big Yellows for this trip. What a day here on the Intrepid!”



Rooster Gets Bluefin

“Today we spent offshore and had a long drift for 30 bluefin from 25 to 40 pounds,” wrote skipper Andy Cates aboard Red Rooster III July 28.

“We had a few other stops and it looks like 44 and 3 yellowtail for the day. We are on our way out to the Island in hopes of a repeat of today. A four-day limits us to a day out there but its better than none. Hopefully we get a few chances.”



Star’s At The Stones

“What a day on the water,” wrote skipper Tim Ekstrom aboard Royal Star July 28,” both for us at Alijos and for our colleagues up above at Guadalupe the action on forty to seventy pound yellowfin tuna was fantastic. In our case the bonus of steady morning Wahoo in the mix added depth and excitement to fishing keeping anglers on their toes and providing epic aerial displays with their leaps and razor sharp surface slashes while racing around the boat chasing sardines. Aside from a short troll around the "stones" upon arrival we passed the entire day in one anchor position enjoying steady catching right through the evening hour.

“What a day to hone one's angling skills as the majority of well presented, properly fished baits produced results while there were very few times just any old bait would get bit. By any and every definition this is good fishing. What a day on the water. Both for us at Alijos and for our colleagues up above at Guadalupe the action on forty to seventy-pound yellowfin tuna was fantastic.”



Searcher Reports Early

“Thanks to the tremendous effort by Ken Franke of Sportfishing Association of California,” said Searcher owner-skipper Art Taylor July 28, “we obtained our Guadalupe Island permits and we came to the south end last night. This morning the yellowfin tuna started biting right away and we have landed 60 of the 30 to 60-pound fish! All the fish have been landed on flyline sardines and 40-pound line. The weather is beautiful, the water is warm and there is a pretty good sign of fish. Oh and did I point out it is only 10 a.m.? It was a great way to start the day.”