The Ken's Custom Reels five-day charter returned July 27 when skipper Brian Kiyohara docked the American Angler at Point Loma Sportfishing. The trip saw scratch tuna fishing bring a few albacore, good yellowtail action at the islands, and a flurry of marlin pull some line at another offshore stop.

"We had good yellowtail fishing at the islands," Kiyohara said, "and there was pretty good sign of those bigger bluefin too, but they just wouldn't bite."


Long range veteran Jay Love of Carlsbad was the "Hot Stick", taking first place with an 82-pound bluefin. Jay fished a sardine on a 3/0 Owner circle hook, a short top shot of 50-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon with 50-pound Izorline Spectra backing, an Accurate BX-2 500 2-speed reel and a 700 H Calstar rod. Jay also got a 25-pound dorado on the boat's first stop.

"The guys up in the crow's nest saw big bluefin breaking," Jay said, "and Brian told us it looked like 50 to 175-pound fish. So I grabbed my 50-pound outfit, and was the first guy in the water. I was lucky because I had the right gear. The fight only lasted 20 minutes."

Zeke Harloff, of Ken's Custom Reels in Oceanside, took second place with a 26.6-pound albacore. Leeann Sisson, of Carlsbad, won third place with a 25.4-pound yellowtail.



A Kicked-Back Day

“Today was exactly what we hoped for,” wrote Excel skipper Justin Fleck July 25, “a nice relaxing day at the island. We had good yellowtail fishing that started just after sunrise and got better as the day went on.


“Most of the yellows were in the 14 to 18-pound class with a few bigger ones. We left the island at dark to head up the line and try to finish off our trip with a few albacore. Here are some pictures from our day.”



Indy At The Rocks

“We had a good day down here at the rocks,” wrote Independence skipper Jeff DeBuys July 25. “It all started around 0900, and we finished up at dark. There was a lull from 4 till 6 in the afternoon, but we got a shot right before dark. The tuna were 40 to 60-pounders with some up to 100 pounds. We did manage to get a couple of wahoo as well. I will say conditions were not perfect; maybe tomorrow it will be better for us. The weather is great.

“Same as yesterday,” he wrote July 26. “That pretty much sums up our day today, except we did not land a wahoo, although we hooked a few. Conditions were tough, as there was not much current today. The guys really put in a good effort, and we ended up having a good day on the 40 to 60-pound fish with a handful of 80 to 100-pounders for a select few lucky anglers. The weather was typical for this place, windy. We are currently headed up to try for some yellowtail for tomorrow.”



Rooster gets Some Offshore Action

“Yesterday went better than the day before,” said the report from Red Rooster III July 26, “and we had one stop where they went wide open for a brief time. Enough time to get two go-around's but with all the mayhem only 23 fish were landed. No more schools for us after that. It looked like we might get on a roll and then back to one to three at a time. A tough day but everyone had chances and it left us with 48 albacore for the day. Long dry spells did not help and short stops made for a slow process.”



Shogun Sees Building Fish

“We arrived at the Rocks right after lunch,” recalled the Shogun’s report for July 26, “and trolled around for wahoo. Once Norm found the spot the hook was dropped and the guys went for it.

“The fishing started off slow but the yellowfin and yellowtail started to build under the boat fast! We ended up doing pretty good for just a half day of fishing.”