by Bill Roecker

“Finally out of the wind and into beautiful weather,” wrote Mike Lackey aboard his Vagabond November 6. “Everyone on the boat has a Wahoo today up to 75 pounds. and they keep coming. The past few days we have had lots of 24 to 40-pound Yellowfin and we have released a lot of 10 to 15-pound Yellowtail, keeping just a few. We are looking forward to more days like today.”

Mike docked his boat at Pt. Loma Sportfishing November 10 after the nine-day trip with 22 anglers.

“We had two days of wide-open wahoo fishing on The Ridge,” said Jan Ishii, who had several skins. “We’d troll, then baitfish or jigcast top the fish that stuck around the boat, sometimes for as long as 20 or 30 minutes.

There was good yellowfin fishing off Mag Bay; all you want on the school tuna. It was slow at Thetis, though. Cedros Island was good for yellowtail.”

Skipper Lackey was a bit tired from the windy afternoon the day before he docked.

“Our timing took us down and back in cruddy weather,” he said, “but the fishing and the weather were both good below. We got more wahoo the second day than the first, on the same spot.”

Mike Montgomery of Buena Park won the jackpot for a 59-pound wahoo. He bagged it with a sardine on a 2/0 Flyliner hook and 60-pound seven-strand wire tied to 40-pound Izorline and 65-pound Power Pro Spectra. He said he fished with an 870 Accurate reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

“It was about a 20-minute fight,” said Montgomery. “He took a lot of line from me.”

David Cohen of Cape Cod, MA won second place for a 52.8-pound wahoo, and Jim Haberbush of Grand Terrace scored a 52.4-pound skinny to win third place.

Sundown Provides Tuna

“We had very good fishing on 18-30 pound Yellowfin Tuna this morning," reported American Angler November 7, "it took a few hours to get on the right bunch but somehow or another it worked out. By lunch time we had a very good start and everybody enjoyed some yanking and cranking.

“We spent the afternoon mostly traveling, but just before sundown we found what we were looking for. I'm not sure if it was dumb luck or what, but we did find one little dab of better fish late to give us hope for tomorrow.

“The photo of the day is Jimmy and Steve with a 91 and a 140-pound tuna that we landed late and we did lose two other fish, so we're hoping this is a sign of things to come.”

Rooster Finds Action On Dolphin

“Yesterday afternoon did not work out on the upper end of the ridge,” wrote Red Rooster III skipper Andy Cates November 7.

“Lots of skipjack that made the tuna fishing next to impossible. First day out we were not in the mood to weed through them just yet. Turned out to be a good thing after today great success. We had great fishing on 25 to 40-pound tuna that lasted until 3:00 in the afternoon, and explosive action on the common dolphin, dragging the fish off with sardines.

"We were fortunate to get enough fish to spend the next day on the big fish grounds, hoping to get something started.”