The Catchy Tackle-Pelagic 15-day trip aboard Red Rooster III returned January 21 with 19 anglers and skipper Andy Cates at the helm. The boat visited the Hurricane Bank, Clarion Island’s Buffer Zone and the southern banks off Baja, and found near-limits of tuna, with a good catch of wahoo as well. There were five cows aboard and two chartermasters for the two sponsoring companies: Fred Knilans and Sonny Jones.

Dylan Malmberg of Encinitas caught two cows on two casts, he said, and weighed them in at 249 and 229 pounds at the H&M Landing scales. The big one won first place. Dylan said it took a sardine on a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook.

“He got tail-wrapped and he almost spooled me,” said Dylan. “I sat on my rod with my feet off the deck. He fought me for two hours.”

Malmberg said he used 130-pound Momoi Diamond leader and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Calstar 7455 XXH rod.

Catchy Tackle rep Fred Knilans won second place for a 237-pound yellowfin he got with a sardine on a ringed 5/0 Super Mutu hook. Fred said he used 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Momoi Diamond line with 130-pound Izorline Spectra on n Avet 50 reel and a Calstar 760 M rod.

“He was a hard fighter,” said Fred. “I thought about my wife and kids the whole time.”

Bill Branstetter of Mission Viejo got a 235-pounder with a sardine on a 3/0 ringed Super Mutu hook on 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Tiagra 30 reel and a Baja Boomer Jr. rod.

A shout went up from Bob “Scrappy” Michener of Oxnard when his 210-pounder was weighed.

“It’s my 40th cow,” said Bob. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this! He’s long and skinny, and he pulled hard. I got 36 of the 40 on Accurate reels.”

Bob said his tuna ate a sardine on a 12/0 Mustad circle hook tied to 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, 100-pound Izorline mono and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on an Accurate 50 reel and a Calstar 760 XH rod.



Bumpy But Productive

“We started the morning on the anchor for the same results as the previous day,” read the report from American Angler January 20, “as it was apparent right away that we were in the wrong spot. The hunt started immediately as the crew cleaned the lenses on their pipes and went to work.



“We saw scattered sign in the morning for just a couple of fish and in the afternoon the stuff got together and showed pretty good. We hit a couple of spots late that had some fish with it but as the old story goes, we wish that we could have hooked more fish. We had some shots at some good fish and enjoyed a pretty good show but only tagged eight fish for the day.

“John Vandeventer (Big John) was one of the fortunate ones with a 239 which is quite an accomplishment because the boat was really jerking around due to the giant ground swell. Ralph Mikkelsen was up to his old tricks with the help from his buddy Shawn (Wingnut) Steward and bested today’s largest fish, which weighed a respectable 272 pounds.”



On Her Way In

“Skipper Jeff DeBuys called in with a report for the last day of fishing,” said the report from Independence January 20. “They tried for yellowtail on the ride north and had some action on the yellows for the fresh well. Everyone for a chance to catch a few and then they took off north.

"With the impending storms they are making as much ground as possible and may be in a little early, weather permitting. The Indy will arrive at Point Loma Sportfishing at 6:30 AM on Friday Jan 22. If you plan to meet the boat bring your rain gear…”



Loftus & Martin 15-Day Trip

“Our Satellite hand set is broken so we are getting most of the fish report after they get back from their trip,” noted the Qualifier 105 office January 18. “We did talk to skipper Joe Crisci, he told us that they just arrived at Hurricane Bank this morning. The weather is beautiful and everyone is having a blast. We will contact Joe and have the oral fish report soon. Joe's writing day to day reports and will give them to us in their entirety when he returns.”



Super Spouts Seen

The past days have been hard on us drylanders in Southern California. We like the water, but maybe not quite so much so fast. The thunderstorms coming in with the last few fronts have brought some rarely-seen tornados and waterspouts. This picture came from Jeanne Sleeper and was shot near Oak Street in Laguna Beach. She sent it to Captain Dan Walsh of Encinitas, who passed it along to FishingVideos.com.