Local Fishing Due To Pop
With the arrival of the first couple of "local" albacore and the sighting of bluefin and albacore by multi-day boats between 80 and 120 miles, anglers may be able to look forward to some decent longfin fishing this summer. Apollo brought in an albacore, as did the Legend. Art Taylor had news of more albacore. He's fishing now at Cedros Island; see his following report.

It takes more than a couple of fish to get things rolling, though, so the next event of meaning will be a decent catch for a day boat or a boat on a day and a half trip. Yellowtail fishing should pick up as well, and the yellowtail catch brought in by the Success this morning may herald a forktail bite.

Early-season albies have some peculiar habits, and anglers should be aware of that behavior to maximize catches, which tend to start small and then get up to limit fishing as the fish pile into our waters.

First, anglers should know that early albies don't usually stick around the boat, scarfing up chum the way they do in mid and late summer. All of the trolling rods may go off at once, but the window of opportunity is likely to be limited to a very few minutes. For waiting bait fishermen, the first one to get a bait into the water and across a longfin's nose is the angler who'll get bit.

It can be a live bait, a dead bait or a plastic or iron jig, but speed of presentation matters, as these fish often roar off as quickly as they arrive. A small weight may also may a difference, if the fish aren't coming up to the surface. At this early stage, trolling often takes as many albacore as bait fishing. For best success with the Zucker's, the Cedar Plug, the Hootchie, Spinnerhead, Jethead or whatever jig you're hanging back in the wake, remember the old adage, "troll dark lures in the morning, evening and in other low light conditions; fish bright-colored lures when the sun is out."

Intrepid Releases Giant Black Sea Bass
"Today was spent cranking on quality Yellowtail all day long," said the report from Intrepid June 16, 2008. "We had a great day of fishing with all techniques working well. The fish were 25 to 40-pounds, and were on the chew throughout the day. We also caught and released an estimated 180lb Black Seabass, one of two hooked! Many trophy-sized calico bass were released as well. We had so much fun today that everyone wants to do it again tomorrow. The weather is absolutely perfect and the fresh fish dinner prepared by Javier and Hector topped off an already outstanding day."

Searcher Is Cooking
"We had good yellowtail fishing today at Cedros Island," wrote owner-skipper Art Taylor June 16, 2008. "The majority of the fish were caught on fly-lined sardines, with a few fish caught on surface iron. All of the fish are good grade, averaging 20 or more pounds. The weather is great and we are looking forward to tomorrow. We are spending another full day here at Cedros.

"On the local scene today there was some good news. A boat at 65 miles from San Diego caught 15 albacore today. They saw fish on the meter and sonar, and it was mixed sizes--13-24 pounds. Another boat got in the area late and had a few fish. A little further south, around 150 miles from San Diego, a boat had six albacore today so hopefully this is the start to a great season.

"Some more good news from here is our new chef is doing a wonderful job with some new fresh ideas. Everyone has enjoyed his cooking so far!"

Time Draws Near
In just a couple of days, Bill Roecker and Paul Sweeney are scheduled to take a ride on the Rooster. We'll be out with chartermaster George Daniels on the Tom Hultgen Memorial Charter with 26 or 28 anglers. Are we excited? You bet!

No doubt we'll try for albacore and bluefin tuna on our way south. We have thousands of dollars worth of tackle and prizes to give the fishermen on the Red Rooster III, and much of the tackle is oriented toward small to medium-sized tuna and big yellowtail.

Our sponsors have been most generous, especially during these hard economic times, so we'd like to express our gratitude to them in alphabetical order. A hearty thanks goes to AA's, Accurate, AFTCO, Cal's Two-Speed Reels, Catchy Tackle, Cofe Products, Fish Trap Lures, Flexx-Rap, Izorline, Line One Spectra, Maxima, Mustad, Rod Knobie, Salas, Seaguar, Seeker Rods, Tady Lures and Zucker's.

Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen of the fishing industry, for supporting Oceanic Productions and FishingVideos.com! With your help, our trip begins on a successful note. Viewers should know that we'll continue to post items here on the blog even though we're at sea, so stay tuned. We'll tell you about the trip after we return.