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It was 88 degrees at Fisherman’s Landing when Bill Roecker departed the docks Thursday morning at 10 AM. It was almost as hot as John Lindsey was at Guadalupe Island when he caught the three fish that swept the jackpots for a five-day trip with Aaron Remy skippering Searcher, with Lindsey and 14 anglers aboard. A three-fish sweep can only be done on a few of the fleet’s boats, and it makes hen’s teeth seem common.

There was a larger fish caught than the winner, weighing 86 pounds on the scales, but it was missing a foot and a half of its propulsive unit, courtesy of one of the island’s numerous white sharks, and therefore ineligible. It was Remy’s first trip with the boat to Guadalupe, and he remarked that it was a good one.

Lindsey’s fish were: a 75-pound yellowfin tuna, a 48.3-pound tuna, and a 34.8-pound yellowtail. The big one bit on a sardine and a 1/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook tied to 50-pound Suffix fluorocarbon and 65-pound Suffix 832 spectra on an Avet MX reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 H rod.

“He fought for about 45 minutes,” said Lindsey.

“He got into the rudder and the props,” added skipper Remy, “with two sharks around.”

“My advice to get a big fish,” said Lindsey, “is to change your bait.”

He then made a request.

“I was a good friend of Bill Poole’s,” he told Roecker. “Would you mind taking my picture next to his statue?”

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Jennifer Funk of Long Beach took the top two spots aboard Art Taylor’ Searcher October 8 following a seven-day trip with owner-operator Art Taylor and 21 anglers. Her 29.6-pound wahoo wasn’t huge for its kind, but big enough to beat out the boat’s near-limit catch of yellowtail and dorado. It was even more notable that it came aboard without ever being hooked by the scrambled eggs Salas 6X Jr. jig in its mouth. It just refused to let go until it was gaffed, and then the jig just fell out.

Jennifer’s jackpot was all the more remarkable in that she swept the top two spots for her second-place fish, a 26.8-pound yellowtail. The wahoo was brought to the boat on 50-pound Izorline on a Penn Baja Special reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

“We had excellent yellowtail fishing on The Ridge,” commented skipper Taylor, “and we tried Cedros on the way home, but there wasn’t much going on when we were there. We got lots of dorado down below, too, in 75 to 76-degree water.”

Jim Marshall of Jackson won third place for his 26.4-pound yellowtail, a fish he bagged with a green and yellow CP 105 jig.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Penn U. Charter

Searcher docked at Fisherman’s Landing September 24 under owner-skipper Art Taylor’s hand. Following a six-day trip chartered by Penn University’s Steve Carson, who acted as chartermaster. He also caught the largest tuna of the trip, a 92.5-pound Guadalupe whopper yellowfin.

Gary Chung of San Jose got the first-place fish, an 87.6-pound tuna that bit his sardine on a 2/0 Mutu hook and 50-pound pink Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon tied to 50-pound Big Game line and 80-pound Izorline on a Penn 16 S reel and a Calstar 765 L rod.

Matt Kirkpatrick of Bakersfield won second place for an 86.4-pounder. Curtis Howard of Diamond Bar tied with Leon Walraven of Whittier for third place. Both men had 84.8-pound tuna. Kirkpatrick and Howard were on their first long range trips.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Art Taylor brought his Searcher home to Fisherman’s Landing August 21 after a fine five-day trip with 21 anglers.

“We had an excellent day at the South End of Cedros Island,” Art told dock reporter Bill Roecker, “on 15 to 20-pound yellowtail. Most came on bait, but they bit on the yoyo and the surface iron, too. Then we fished offshore for three days and had very good tuna fishing. About 75 percent of them were yellowfin and the rest bluefin. The yellowfin averaged about 18 pounds.

“We got ‘em on sonar marks, meter marks, blind jig strikes and jig strikes when we were heading toward a spotted school. Our best trolling jigs were blue and white Zucker’s with some pink color, and the Braid Speedster. We ended up with near-limits by fishing on a 30-mile spread of tuna. We saw no seiners.”

Harold Guy of Winnnetka won first place for a 22.8-pound yellowfin tuna. He said he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 Owner Flyliner hook tied to 25-pound fluorocarbon, 30-pound Izorline and 60-pound Line One spectra on an Avet JX reel and a seven-foot Sabre rod.

Jeff Nagel of Laguna Niguel won second and third spots for his yellowfin of 22.6 and 22.2 pounds.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Uranga Memorial Gets Rare Albacore

The first memorial trip for recently deceased Dick Uranga, who was also known to his many friends as “Captain Potatohead,” was aboard the Searcher, a three-day trip that arrived at Fisherman’s Landing August 16 with 28 passengers. It was skippered by owner-operator Art Taylor.

Three albacore were caught at one stop, noted second skipper Aaron Remy. Two of the fish came on bait and one on a trolled Zucker jig in Mexican Flag pattern. One of the baitfish was handed off to Anthony Yumori of Culver City, by Loren Rowton of Durango, CO. Later Rowton traded a bluefin to Yumori for the longfin. They posed with the albie, a rarity this season, on the dock.

Derek Taguchi of Orange won first place for a 44-pound bluefin tuna. He said he took it with a sardine on a 2/0 Owner Flyliner hook on 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon. He fished with 65-pound Power Pro spectra on a Talica 10 reel and a Seeker Hercules 70 M rod.

Bob Bayus of Azusa won second place for a 42.2-pound tuna, and Jim Arens of Bayfield, CO won third place for a 42-pound bluefin tuna.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Aaron Remy docked Art Taylor’s Searcher at Fisherman’s Landing August 13 after a four-day trip with 16 anglers and chartermaster Dennis Braid. His anglers caught yellowtail and also got into the bluefin bite some 140 miles south.

Bill Parker of Chula Vista won first place for a 23.8-pound yellow that bit on sardine and a 3/0 Mustad 91450 hook. He said he used Seaguar Premier fluorocarbon, 65-pound spectra, a TLD 20 reel and a Seeker 6460 rod.

Jeremy Bart of San Clemente tied for second place with a 23.6-pound yellowtail, and Tim Farmer of Bakersfield tied for second and won third place with fish of 23.6 and 23.2 pounds.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Chartermasters Wendy Tochihara of Izorline and Matt Towner of Bass Pro Shops fished aboard Searcher with owner-skipper Art Taylor and arrived at the Fisherman’s Landing dock August 3. There were 18 anglers aboard and they got a mixed catch of tuna and yellowtail up to 80 pounds.
“There was no tax man at the island this time,” said Towner. “We didn’t see any sharks.”

Lloyd Doyle of Long Beach won first and second places for yellowfin tuna of 79.8 and 78 pounds, and was assisted in displaying them by skipper Taylor.

“Pink was the word,” said Doyle. “I got five nice big tuna with 50-pound pink Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon leader. The big one took about 20 minutes to land.”

He told dock reporter Bill Roecker he fished with 4/0 Owner Mutu ringed hooks, 50-pound Izorline and 80-pound Line One spectra on an Okuma Makiri 15 reel.
Howard Pukini of La Mirada won third place for a 77.4-pound Guadalupe Island yellowfin tuna.

Owner-skipper Art Taylor’s Searcher returned from a four-day trip with a catch of yellowtail, dorado and some bluefin tuna. One, an ineligible 65-pound shortfin, joined the jackpot winners as an honorable mention for a lineup shot.

Dave Knight of Corona got the big tuna. Tony DiPaola of Encinitas won first place for a 22.4-pound yellowtail. He was tied by Henry Nguyen of Victorville. Third place went to Jim Freed of Carson City, NV, with a 21.8-pound yellow.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Art Taylor brought his Searcher home to Fisherman’s landing June 23 after the five-day Qualia reels trip with 22 anglers and chartermaster Kent Cremolini.
Art had some good news for San Diego anglers in regard to bluefin and possibly albacore moving up toward the border.
“We had great yellowtail fishing,” Art told dock reporter Bill Roecker, “and ended up with about two-thirds limits by drifting the South End of Cedros Island. They wanted the blue and white yoyo jigs, and stayed down near the bottom for the most part, in 60 to 90 feet.”

On the way home, Art talked with other skippers and saw fish at a couple of new distances.
“American Angler is having some good fishing at 160 to 185 miles,” noted Taylor, “and we got a half-dozen coming through there, mostly 15 to 18-pounders, but up to 40-pounders. We saw jumpers at 60 to 70 miles, too, but they weren’t biting yet. There’s lots of clean water. It looks right.”
“Froggy” Patricia Atkins of Palmer Lake, CO won first place for a 52-pound bluefin. She worked at H&M Landing from 1969 to 1974 for Ralph Miller. She said she hooked her winner on a sardine and a 2/0 Mustad 94150 hook. She used 40-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 40-pound Ande line on an Avet JX reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.
Bill Zemba of Castaic won second place for a 34-pounder and Wilma Atkins of Santa Rosa won third place for a 33.7-pounder.
Two youngsters were also aboard, and both got bluefin. Anthony Altieri of Toluca Lake is 16, and made his first-ever fishing trip with his dad John. Tony goes to Notre Dame High, where he’s an honor student who wants to study medicine.
“It was fun,” said Anthony. “I’d do it again.”
Joey Johnston of Haliwa, HI is 13, but has fished before. He got the trip’s best bluefin, a 54.8-pounder, on a handoff from his granddad Gary Dittmar, who is related to the boat-building family.
Joey spent an hour and a half on 25-pound line fighting his big tuna. Dittmar said it took 200 yards of line, and then went up and down several times in the water column. Joey’s best fish came on his second long range trip. He goes to Kahuku High School.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing

Art Taylor’s last trip to Cedros Island for the season paid off with a catch of yellowtail and a brace of white seabass. The Searcher’s 14 anglers, some from as far away as Michigan, enjoyed a five-day trip with at least one night bite.

Five AM was the time when the whites came up, both on dropper loop rigs with squid. The best one won first place for a Duane Weston of Vista, who said he got his with 16 ounces of lead on his loop. He used a 5/0 Mustad hook on 100-pound P-Line, a Tiagra 30 reel and a Calstar 6455 XXH rod.

The other white won second place for Mike Meinecke of Otter Lake, MI. It weighed 30.4 pounds. Russ Baker of Millington, MI won third place for a 29.8-pound yellowtail.

Captains Art Taylor and Aaron Remy
(619) 226-2403 – Fisherman’s Landing