The report from Royal Polaris February 18 noted, “This morning was no different than the previous ones as the bite went off just before sunrise as usual. We landed several mostly 60 to 170 pounds and a few a little smaller. The rest of the day was a slow pick but saw fish coming in, on and off, almost exclusively on bait. Kathy Rounds Lo Preste, long time regular on this trip and one of the top lady anglers on the West Coast was way, way overdue for a good fish on this trip. It's almost as if she was saving up for something special and she got it today with a 282.8 tuna that is the biggest currently on the boat. That turned out to be the sole cow of the day and she won an AFTCO fighting belt along with the bragging rights for catching such a great fish. Just a few wahoo today, and the weather continues to be great.”

A Stylish 23

Skipper Randy Toussaint posted for Royal Star February 18:

“We finished off in style this morning with a handful of 130 to 190-pounders and another three over 200, from 205 to 270 pounds. Our final tally on the cows was 23. I will post a list tomorrow.

“We are presently traveling to the Cape in beautiful weather with an eta of 0600 on the 20th.

“Larry Ward and Mark Bower are in the photo with a 190 and 225-pounder.”

All Day Bluefin: Fresh Release

The start of the greatest bluefin summer in many decades was recorded in June aboard Intrepid. This six-day trip takes two shots at the developing bluefin area about 200 miles south of San Diego, chasing schools of surfaced bluefin feeding on tiny mackerel. The big sportboat makes a sunny morning visit to Cedros Island and then out to the Benitos Islands. Big halibut bite early at Cedros, yellowtail at Benitos. After that, the best bluefin jig bite Bill Roecker ever saw lasted from four A.M. to seven P.M., on a single drift.

The “bendo” picture of top stick John Keeler shown here is a frame grab, extracted from the new video right at the moment of hookset, during a sundowner bite that saw two fights with hundred-pounders end well after dark. Just above Keeler’s left thumb is a free-jumping tuna of similar size clearing the water after a sardine.

There were two father-son teams fishing with us: one was Chuck and Shane Kelly of Claremont. Shane Kelly is 14, and featured on the disc art in the photo seen here. He won a DVD prize I offered that day for the first bluefin over 30 pounds. He bagged it with a nose-hooked sardine, on 30-pound line, and beat his old record of a 50-pounder. The fish also won him third place in the jackpot, at 54.2 pounds. He’s a surfer, who told me he was a “tube shooter” with a Go Pro camera.

Bluefin bite on bait, too, but seeing them take jigs from a tiny Tady TLC up to Salas 7X heavy size is impressive and instructive. Some came on egg-sinkered baits, as seen in the photo here. Bluefin, yellowtail, jig fishing and flat water offshore team with great food and a super-yacht, stabilized ride to make an unforgettable experience featuring some savvy tuna anglers, who share their notions and techniques. Skipper Kevin Osborne does a great job informing, advising and updating his anglers.

See the trailer here at these sites: https://vimeo.com/86728160

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9JVCHmk4Gw&feature=youtu.be

You can buy the new “All Day Tuna” DVD soon at your favorite southland tackle store, and you can order it from Bill at:

http://www.fishingvideos.com/shopping.htm