Well, Ive finally stumbled my way into the land of blogging... I wanted to start this page so I could start sharing my adventures and good times on the water with everyone. I typically fish over 100 days a year, so hopefully I can keep this thing interesting. With that said, here we go gang....
With October just 10 days away, the Summer of 2009 is officially on its way out... but we're still feeling the heat from the local pelagic fishing as various tunas (Yellowfin/Bluefin/Albacore), dorado (mahi mahi), yellowtail and marlin have been keeping SoCal anglers busy thru the month of September. And don't be at all surprised if it goes til or into November... with the "El Nino" predictions we've been granted, we could be in store for an epic Fall bite.
Being that we had somewhat of a "late" start meant anglers were beyond ready and chewing at the bit to get on some good fishing... and in early-August it exploded. It went from a pick-to-sometimes-firing bite on the albacore and bluefin tuna at 85-110 miles, to full-speed WFO yellowfin tuna fishing on kelp paddies at 30 miles, within a couple days. We're talking pulling up to a kelp paddy, chunking slow 1's & 2's in the corner, watching the corner erupt and having the school stick under the boat on the chunk til your boat is plugged.... which was before 9am, quite a few times. Team that with the occasional Striped Marlin or bull Dorado and all the rat Yellowtail you could possibly want (or C&R) and you have yourself some CLASSIC Southern California Offshore fishing. What was even better is that I dont think we pulled the trollers for more than 10 hours the entire month of August and into September. 95% of these fish were all caught on bait or on iron.... ya gotta love that!
Recently the fish got moody and proved once again that "fish have fins" and played hide and seek for about 6-8 days as they moved in a NW tack, up the line with their preferred water conditions, only to pop up and go WFO again for several days straight now.
As I type this, Im looking forward to getting off of this darned computer and back out on the cobalt blue sea in search of our next plunker bite. A couple weekends off (skipper has been traveling, etc...) have really put some pep in my step and Im dying to get out and put some fish on the boat in a big way. Not to mention, I just got handed off a couple of the brand-spanking new FIN NOR MARQUESA's prototypes to try out over the next couple of weeks... these are the new high-speed lever drag reels from the legendary Fin Nor line. From handling them, you can already tell theyre "solid as a rock" reels. Can't wait to hang a few on 'em!
With that all said, I jump on the boat this Thursday for 4 days and will be reporting back upon my return.....
Speak soon!
- Duane "DuaneDiego" Mellor
