West Coast Bluefin

[Stefan]

Finally got a good one here in Southern California

 

[Stefan]

 

[glacierbaze]

Congrats. You're gonna need some more ice!

 

[enfish]

Nice work! What did he eat?

 

[Stefan]

Nice work! What did he eat?

Nomad Madmac 240

 

[enfish]

Nomad Madmac 240

View attachment 26394

Ha! I didn't even notice it there in the pic. Just read your report on BD. That's an absolutely amazing story! Fish of a lifetime!

I'm 0 for 4 on big bluefin on my boat... one hook pull, one chew off, one that went squirrely boatside and sawed itself off on my motor, and one moron boater who drove over my fish and sawed me off. But at least I've landed a few on sportboats. One day I'll get one on my boat.

 

[Sdfish]

Nice!! Madmacs are the new unicorn on the west coast. I did get 2 big ones on a charter a few weeks back, a 140 and 180. The California Flyer got the bigger one.

I'm headed out this weekend. Seems like there is a body of fish further north now.

If you guys are headed out on Saturday 7/9 - hit me up on channel 72, Pau Hana - or PM here if you want to share info.

 

[enfish]

Nice!! Madmacs are the new unicorn on the west coast. I did get 2 big ones on a charter a few weeks back, a 140 and 180. The California Flyer got the bigger one.

I'm headed out this weekend. Seems like there is a body of fish further north now.

If you guys are headed out on Saturday 7/9 - hit me up on channel 72, Pau Hana - or PM here if you want to share info.

I may try Sunday launching from Dana Point and working towards the east end of Catalina to see what we see... This is exactly what these bluefin have done the past 2 years in a row moving north around this time. Last year mid-July I was chasing foamers between the 14 mile bank and 267, and 2 years ago mid-July I was on the backside west end of Catalina chasing meter marks.

Good luck!

 

[Sdfish]

I'll let you know what I see, I will launch from Oceanside, head to 267 and then over to SE side of Cat. I'll troll madmacs, halcos and yozuris. Hopefully I have some pictures to share.

 

[Sdfish]

OK - no fish. I had 2 hookups on madmacs, one may have been a thresher the way the line chaffed up the leader. The other was a bluefin that popped off. I need to go to trebles on the madmacs, I did not change out the factory hooks. Fished the 277, Slide and Avalon bank, temps ranged from 65.5 to 70. I never saw any fish come up. All kelps were dry. Saw a few whales, tons of mola and jellyfish. 160 miles for nada. Fish and game said he did see 1 boat come into Oceanside with some dorado.
Good luck if you go!

 

[Stefan]

OK - no fish. I had 2 hookups on madmacs, one may have been a thresher the way the line chaffed up the leader. The other was a bluefin that popped off. I need to go to trebles on the madmacs, I did not change out the factory hooks. Fished the 277, Slide and Avalon bank, temps ranged from 65.5 to 70. I never saw any fish come up. All kelps were dry. Saw a few whales, tons of mola and jellyfish. 160 miles for nada. Fish and game said he did see 1 boat come into Oceanside with some dorado.
Good luck if you go!

Seems like fish are moving west, fast

 

[Sdfish]

Seems like fish are moving west, fast

If they are west of the SCI and Catalina, it will be pushing my range....I'm out of pocket for 2 weeks, hopefully the yellowfin show up.

 

[enfish]

If they are west of the SCI and Catalina, it will be pushing my range....I'm out of pocket for 2 weeks, hopefully the yellowfin show up.

After they make their quick showing around the Channel Islands, they'll settle in at the Tanner and Cortez for the rest of the summer and fall, which is when I have my 2.5 day trip scheduled... fingers crossed... The farthest I've been in my 208 is about 12 miles west of San Clemente Island chasing albacore, back when those things used to swim here. We had an extra 30 gallon of fuel in jerry cans in addition to topping off the main tank, so we had enough range to do it. But still made a fuel stop in Avalon on the way back, just to be safe.

I bailed out on looking Sunday. Too many other things going on in my life, and the fish reports weren't great. I know a lot of guys put in a lot of miles of looking for nothing, so the fact that you had two hookups was better than most.

 

[Sdfish]

I burned 57-60 gallons (or 2.7 mpg) according to Yamaha data. I'll confirm when I fill up in a few weeks. That is about as far as I would go w/o extra fuel jugs. In any case, that is a looong run in a 20 footer if the wind picks up. Sunday was not bad coming home though, I averaged about 22 mph on the way back, there was a little bump on the water with random white caps, wind at my back.

 

[enfish]

I burned 57-60 gallons (or 2.7 mpg) according to Yamaha data. I'll confirm when I fill up in a few weeks. That is about as far as I would go w/o extra fuel jugs. In any case, that is a looong run in a 20 footer if the wind picks up. Sunday was not bad coming home though, I averaged about 22 mph on the way back, there was a little bump on the water with random white caps, wind at my back.

Your F150 is a little more efficient than my 175 carbureted 2-stroke. For safety factor, I always use 2.0 mpg for my planning calculations, but we typically get about 2.3 mpg.

And I agree... I get real nervous when I've burned more than 60 gallons... though I've made it to 70 without stalling out. I don't know how much of the 82 gallon tank is usable, and I have no desire to find out the hard way.