As we came to about 10 days away from this charter, all eyes turned towards the fish reports and the weather forecasts. Thankfully one of those looked really good, while the weather looked unstable and possibly unfishable for our trip. There was a large volume of Bluefin Tuna and Yellowtail being caught 90 to 100 miles out at the Tanner and Cortes Bank; some of these fish were pushing up into the 400 pound range. There were also excellent reports of smaller, but fun sized Dorado, Yellowtail and Yellowfin Tuna coming from south of the border. With 50+ MPH Santa Ana winds forecasted for the fishing out west on the Tanner and Cortes Bank, we were glad Captain Todd made the decision to run south and fish about 30 miles offshore outside of the Coronados and Rosarito Beach, Baja, MX. The day started off slow, with no stops to fish, a little rain, and calm seas. After enjoying a few rainbows, the weather quickly cleared up and the wind picked up as well. Around 9AM we had our first stop on a kelp patty loaded with small Yellowtail and Dorado. Just about everyone caught a few before the bites died down and it was time to move on in search of other kelp patties to try. We had a few more stops with similar results. By noon, the wind had really come up, and the windswell built up with it. I would guess it was gusting to 25+ MPH and the short interval windswell was pushing 4 feet. Captain Todd did his best to keep us dry, while still searching for fish. We made one stop in the peak of the foul weather and several nice sized Dorado were caught. It seemed like we were right on the edge of weather being too sporty, but with stops like that sprinkled in, everyone’s hopes remained high that we would still squeak out a nice day of fishing. Around 2PM the wind and seas started to subside and we stopped on our first kelp with Yellowfin Tuna eating every bait that would swim away from the boat. It was kind of a plunker bite because only 1 in 5 baits would swim away from the boat, but the second that happened, it seemed like you would get a bite. The fish were all in the 10# range, but they were a lot of fun on light line. Most of us were fishing 20# test with fluorocarbon and small hooks. We had several more stops like this, with a few Skipjack, Yellowtail and Dorado mixed. We finished the day with 32 Yellowtail, 25 Yellowfin Tuna, and 22 Dorado. We were so thankful that the wind and waves subsided and we had an excellent afternoon of fishing. Everyone enjoyed a big dinner, and Captain Todd gave us a good night’s rest by anchoring up in the lee of the Coronados. We were back to the dock by 5:30AM. Thank you Jesus for a great day of fishing with our FIB’er family!
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Check out a few VIDEOS from our trip HERE
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