Long Range Fishing Close To Home- Giant Bluefin Tuna
With all of the giant bluefin tuna in the reports around Southern California, its hard not to dream about pulling on big fish. As of this writing, you have a legitimate chance at catching a big bluefin tuna on every trip. And when I say big, I’m talking 150 to over 300 pounds.
This week I had the opportunity to get out and fish the annual Okuma 3 Day Charter aboard Excel Sportfishing.
Day of Departure – Day 1
As the annual Okuma 3 Day Charter got closer, anticipation builds as we all read the fishing reports. Yellowtail, Dorado, Yellowfin Tuna and of course, Giant Bluefin Tuna all filled the reports. The reports of big kelps filled with large bull dorado willing to bite filled our computer screens.
The day of the charter we all meet down at Fishermans Landing in San Diego early in the morning for registration. All of the anglers grab their gear and line up for loading. Once we get the go ahead, the Fishermans Landing dock crew lead us down to the Excel and we all get settled. It is pretty exciting once you step foot on the boat as the Excel is a thing of legend. The thoughts of all of the epic trip stories and monstrous fish pictures of trips past fill your head as you embark, but just stepping on and seeing the logo on the bait tank gets the blood pumping.
The Game Plan
After we all get settled in the very spacious accommodations, everyone meets in the galley for a brief rundown from captain Mike. The reports of bluefin tuna on the backside of San Clemente Island have everyone excited. Mike lets us know that there are really two bites going on. Down south there are reports of lots of fish under kelp with about as many dorado, yellowtail and yellowfin tuna you could want. The only problem, they are all tiny. You go aboard the Excel to catch a fish of a lifetime, and chasing 8 pound yellowfin didn’t get anyone too excited.
Our plan would ultimately be to go out to San Clemente and fish through the dusk and evening for big bluefin. The next day possibly head out to the Cortez bank to fish for yellowtail and more tuna. And if that all didn’t pan out, head down south to chase the smaller fish around.
The Trip
We left the dock at 11am from Fishermans Landing and proceeded out to the bait receiver. The sardines we received for bait was ok at best coming in at roughly 4 inches which is great bait for many types of fishing, but not when you want to catch giants.
We stayed around the bait receiver after getting a couple hundred passes of the smaller bait and fished for mackerel. Just about everyone got involved in the task of making bait. Its not a fun task, but something we had to do and after getting a couple of hundred pieces of bait, we left the harbor and were underway.
After leaving the dock we had a little rigging seminar and bait rundown from deckhand Vance who gave us all a good idea on what to expect and what to rig. The six plus hour trip out to San Clemente gave everyone the opportunity to get rigged up, knots and leader tied, and ready to go.
They recommended the 130lb set ups for the big fish as the plan is to fish big heavy mackerel rigs as well as Flat Fall and Squish Jigs late at night.
Once everyone was rigged, the stories started to be told of fishing trips past. I remember several of the passengers from previous Okuma trips, and we had some good laughs and fond memories of catching hundreds of yellowtail down south at Punta Colonet on last years trip.
One big highlight for the day was a giant foamer that we rolled up on with big tuna coming completely out of the water chasing bait. As soon as we rolled up, one angler got instantly hooked up on the popper on his spinning rod set up. He fought hard but ultimately lost the battle.
As the evening rolled on we all got called in for dinner which is the best time of the night. The Excel does not leave you hungry at all, as night one we had Tri-Tip with mashed potatoes and asparagus.
Once all of our bellies were full, it was time for bed.
Fishing Day 2
The day started off with big hopes as quite a few of us woke up around 2 am to get out and try our luck at the deep drop as we had some meter marks around the boat. There really wasn’t much happening and quite a few went back to bed.
The day went on somewhat similar as we saw literal tonage of fish on the meters. We drove over giant schools of tuna that wanted nothing to do with our baits. Be it Flat Fall, mackerel or sardine, it was a no go. The reports were all coming in from other boats in the area that they were all having very similar luck. We passed schools that went from 20 fathoms down to 40 fathoms or over 120 feet thick of fish. And big fish too. I wish I would have snapped a shot of the sonar as it was pretty amazing.
After a full day of driving around, the moral was starting to get a little low. I sat with Captain Mike while he was driving and we started to see a few more fish coming up to the surface. The decision was finally made that we’d set up a drift and put out the kites. The night before we stopped at the island to catch some live flying fish.
We made several drifts with the kite for no bites but at about 5pm everything changed. As Rene was letting out a kite with a fresh flyer attached, there was a gigantic blow up about 20 yards from the boat. The monster bluefin tuna took the bait but not the hook. This changed things for the afternoon.
Big Bluefin Tuna
The next bait Rene let out made it to its destination a couple hundred yards from the boat and it happened. Another gigantic blow up and the bait was gone. Indicator was pulled down and it was game on. Rene handed me the rod and this fish pulled hard. We got it turned fairly quickly with the big Okuma Makaira 50II and thought it was a mid sized, 80 pound fish. Boy were we wrong.
The fish grew substantially over the next hour. I fought the fish for three full laps around the boat. And the Excel is a 124 foot long vessel with a 30 foot beam, so that is quite the trip up and back. Rene jumped in and assisted me several times around the corner and over the bow anchor area. We finally had the monster in the rear starboard corner doing death circles. I dropped the reel in low and let the rail rod do what it was designed to do. Keeping as much tension on the big circle hook as I could, we finally saw color. By this point I was out of gas and had my head down grinding. I heard a few “Oh Sh!t” comments and snuck a quick look for myself.
Rene quickly grabbed a gaff and yelled for another, then another. Once he told me to put the reel in freespool I knew the battle was over. In the end it took four gaffs to pull the monster over the rail.
Once the fish hit the deck, a series of high fives went around and the cameras all came out. I was so pumped! We all snapped a couple of pictures of the fish laying on the deck then it was time for weighing.
Rene and Nick did great work at getting the fish strung up for weighing. The guesses were coming in. 180, 200, 250, 300…we heard them all.
The official weight was 232.5 pounds on the boats certified scale beating my personal best by over 100 pounds.
Now that the fish was up on the scale, it was time for a few more pictures.
I have a lot of respect and love for the ocean and these big, wild fish and this fish fought brilliantly.
As I was fighting the above fish, I head many screams of other fish happening around me and In fact, the second kite got hit right after mine. And while the two of our fish were fighting, a third fish was hooked on the kite, as well as several others misses. The third fish came off, but the second fish fought hard and was battled by several anglers. When it finally came into view, it had tail wrapped and came up backwards. This fish was big as well coming in at less than three pounds heavier than mine at 235 pounds.
We fished right into the night and finally called it around 9pm. At that point it was dinner time and the Chicken Parmesan was delicious!
The Final Day – Day 3
The night before we heard reports of decent yellowfin tuna fishing around the Mackerel Bank which is fairly close to San Clemente. We woke up and opted to do that but unfortunately the yellowfin never panned out and we decided to run in close to the island and try for some yellowtail. We did just that for about 7 fish and a few break offs. After a couple of hours broke for a delicious seafood jambalaya and came up with the afternoons game plan.
For the evening we decided to run back out to the big fish grounds since we were fairly close and give it another try. Once we got around the corner we could see it would be tough. The wind was howling and the swells were huge. We only saw a few blow ups and the meter marks were a lot less. We made it to the spot and put up both kites. The swells were really rocking the boat and it was pretty miserable. Unfortunately the fishing never really panned out for the final day and we called it a night.
We all headed in for the captains dinner with Captain Mike serving us all perfectly done Prime Rib.
Final Morning
The boat arrived back at the dock at 5am and was greeted by all of the fish processing companies. I went with Five Star Processing as I have had great luck with them in the past as they put out really good product and are generally really fast for same day pick up.
My processing took all of an hour and I was on the way.
Okuma 3 Day 2019
Some of the passengers were already talking about next years trip. In talking to Jason back at the dock, it sounds like they are accepting waiting list names for that trip.
If you are looking for a great operation with top notch service, be sure to look up Excel Sportfishing in San Diego. The staterooms and food are excellent and plentiful and the crew was very helpful and willing to help in any way.
Here is a link to the gear we used on the trip
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Happy Fishing!
Davey
