Day and a half boats averaged two bluefin per rod on November 28. No yellowfin were reported. Liberty, New Lo-An, Legend and Pride had two-fish bluefin limits on day and a half trips during the lovely weather of November 30, a day of warm sun and cool breezes after morning clouds. A yellowfin was reported by Pride, and the overnight boat Endeavor got 22 shortfin for its 11 anglers. Limits of bluefin on the last day of November? Holy cows!

But bluefin fishing often goes awry. On Friday all day and a half boats limited with two bluefin apiece, but on Saturday counts were closer to one tuna per three rods, with two exceptions: Outer Limits had limits, and Relentless had 31 tuna for 21 anglers. Maybe they were tapping a different source. Sunday’s counts stayed down, with an exception for the Daiwa Pacific, the one boat that made a bluefin limit for 15 overnighters.

Closing

“Yet another fine day on the local bluefin grounds today,” posted American Angler November 28, “although the grade was a notch smaller it didn’t matter because it’s almost December and we are still catching bluefin tuna. Things started off a little slow, but turned into a nice all day plunker bite that kept us plenty entertained and happy. When the smoke finally cleared everyone could smile with a quota of bluefin tuna. As we finish the last chapter of our local season, we couldn’t have asked for a better ending.”

Bluefin Limits

“We just arrived back to Point Loma Sportfishing from another successful 1.5-day trip,” posted Intrepid skipper Bill Cavanaugh November 29. We arrived on scene yesterday morning just before first light and it was the same set up as our last trip. Our first fish was hooked at 0730, a 20-pound bluefin. From there on it was steady action for the rest of the morning with one to five fish hooked the entire time. The grade of fish today was a little smaller than we had the previous trip and most of our fish today were 15 to 20 pounds. We did have a few larger fish today and our jackpot contenders weighed 51 and 54 pounds. It was a super fun day of fishing and the weather progressively got nicer throughout the day. The best method for getting a bite was 30-pound fluorocarbon and a 1/0 J hook. Bait selection, the right size hook and line, and a good presentation made all the difference in getting bit today. Tonight’s dinner was perfectly cooked prime rib, potatoes, and grilled asparagus. Life is good. Thank you to everyone that fished with us.”

All Day Long

Royal Polaris finished a short trip to Guadalupe Island November 2. The boat’s reports were enthusiastic.

“It was an all day E ticket ride,” said the boat’s report November 29, “and Rowdy Bunch and RP loved it! We pretty much had one to four Yellowfin Tuna day makers going from daylight to dark!”

On December 1 the RP posted: “Another great day fishing on the Royal! After pulling on beautiful big Yellowfin Tuna again today the lounge smelled like Rowdy Rail picked up a few new sponsors. Tiger balm, Ben Gay and Icy Hot wafted through the air. We are heading home! Stunning travel weather!”

Tuna On Fire

"We took the day off for Thanksgiving but now we're back at it again," posted Shogun November 27. "Left Friday with great weather and a healthy load of five to seven-inch Sardines. Check in at Ensenada was smooth and we were on our way to the island. Our crossing was as nice as could be and made great speed. We arrived mid day and it didn't take long to locate our first school. We put the anchor down and shortly after we had fish blowing out all around us. It turned out to be quite the busy afternoon as we landed 16 Yellowfin from 80 to 130 pounds. We made a short move to the bait making grounds and we were rewarded with a couple nice tanks of greenies. We stayed put for the night and woke up Sunday to fish around the boat. It didn't take long and we started hanging fish. The fish kept us busy the entire day with three to five-inch fish going at a time. By the end of the day we had totaled 76 Yellowfin from 60 to 150 pounds.”

The next day’s posting said, “We had another great day of fishing here at the island. Woke up in the same spot as yesterday and ended up with busy fishing all day. Weather was up a bit but that didn't hinder our counts too much. We ended up with 50 yellowfin and two Yellowtail for our day. A little on the slower side today but we still managed to keep one to three fish going all day. Tomorrow will be our last day at the island, so wish us luck!”

Wind Coming To La Paz, Too

“Between bouts of winds, this past week wasn’t too very bad,” posted Jonathan Roldan for his Tailhunter International group, “but not many folks are fishing. This coming week, the forecasts call for some very strong double-digit winds.

“However, for the folks that did go out, the best fishing was from Muertos Bay where it’s a bit more protected and fish are closer. Given the time of year and winter conditions increasing, surprisingly the fishing isn’t bad. In fact, there’s still some nice dorado hanging out and remarkably some of the dorado are larger than the ones we were getting during the regular season. There’s also some billfish hanging out and scattered tuna here and there.

“Besides the winds, the biggest issue is getting live bait as the waters get colder and waves batter the areas where we catch the schools of sardines. So, we’re relying on lures and dead bait like calamari (squid), which will become more prevalent as we head into winter. Still, it’s nice to get warm-water species this late in the season. Inshore, there’s jack crevalle, small cabrilla, sierra, bonito and snapper for the light tackle folks which are a lot of fun.”