| By: Steve Carson | 9/17/2009 10:22 AM | ||||
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The anglers aboard Capt. Art Taylor’s Searcher during last week’s Penn Fishing University five-day trip out of Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego were treated to the kind of multi-species tuna action that only comes along every few years.
Several anglers were even able to score a “Tuna Grand Slam” by catching bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna and albacore, with a few skipjack tuna thrown in for good measure. The first morning saw fish show up under the boat in the dark about 90 miles offshore, with several albacore hitting the deck just as the sun’s first gray light appeared. The next two days were classic run-and-gun albacore action, as Capt. Taylor skillfully maneuvered Searcher along the warm side of a temperature break. The third day, the anglers headed to Mexico’s Guadalupe Island, but the fourth and final day of fishing found the anglers just 110 miles from San Diego. Near the Bell Bank, those aboard thrilled at smacking school after school of big albacore and a few yellowfin. Favored rigging was 30-pound monofilament with a fluorocarbon leader and a lively sardine. My personal live bait rig was a Penn Torque TRQ100 reel with a 25-yard topshot of Big Game Mono over 300 yards of 50-pound Big Game Braid. Terminal rig was a 4-foot leader of aqua-blue Big Game Fluorocarbon attached with a 4-turn Surgeon’s Knot, and a size 1/0 Owner Ringed Gorilla live bait hook. When the fish charged the boat, stepping up to a 25-yard topshot of 40-pound mono over 375 yards of 65-pound braid, Penn Torque TRQ200 reel and 40-pound fluorocarbon leader and a size 2/0 hook allowed much better control of the oversize albacore, and especially the larger bluefin and yellowfin. Top trolling rig was the workhorse Penn International 30VSW reel with an “old school” 200-yard topshot of 80-pound Big Game mono over 350 yards of 130-pound Big Game Braid. All topshots were connected via a 12- to 14-turn “Worm Knot”, with a 5-turn “Uni-Knot Lock.” Productive trolling lures ran the gamut of albacore-style feathers, but the top producer was a Braid Little Speedy plug in the baby yellowfin color, which not only caught numerous yellowfin and albacore, but also showed a remarkable knack for not catching any skipjack. Guadalupe Island Day three found the group at Guadalupe Island. The legendary big island was holding yellowfin tuna underneath schools of porpoises. Unfortunately, the porpoises were relatively few in number, and the tuna beneath them very reluctant to bite. The best setup was a very short 40 or 50-pound mono topshot with a 50-pound test fluorocarbon leader, tied to a size 3/0 Owner Ringed Mutu circle hook with a lively sardine. No fish were caught trolling or by casting jigs at Guadalupe. The ‘Lupe was very stingy in the end, kicking out only 19 yellowfin tuna for a full day’s effort, although among them was Alfonso Hernandez’ jackpot-winning 62.6 pounder. Even Guadalupe’s notorious great white sharks were scarce, with only a single solitary 12-footer spotted by the anglers. “We had outstanding fishing conditions and blue 70 degree water offshore,” Capt. Taylor observed. “The first two days offshore, being on the warm side of the temperature edge was the key. On our final day offshore, the bite was associated with the Bell Bank. “The outlook for the next three weeks is great; there are plenty of fish in the area,” he added. “There will be ample opportunities to catch some real quality fish during the fall season.” Searcher’s final score was 212 albacore, 53 yellowfin tuna, 14 bluefin tuna, 15 dorado and more than 100 skipjack tuna. Veteran long-ranger Ken Roberts of Huntington Beach scored a “Tuna Grand Slam,” and related, “This is my seventh year in a row on this trip, and this one was one of the best. I caught a 50-pound yellowfin tuna, a 40-pound bluefin and a 35-pound albacore. The overall jackpot winner was Alfonso Hernandez of Los Angeles, who took home a Penn Torque TRQ300 reel and a nice tuna trophy for his 62.6-pound yellowfin tuna. In second place was Jim Marshall of Jackson with a 55.6-pound bluefin, and he also won a Penn 525mag reel for the catch. The 53.6-pound yellowfin caught by David Park of Los Angeles was good for third place. Bruce Saurer of Whittier won a Penn 535 reel for the largest fish on a demo rod: a 47.6-pound yellowfin. The Owner Hooks “first tuna” prize was caught by Jim Marshall, and the “first dorado” prize was taken by Alfonso Hernandez. The Flying Fisherman “Master Jig Caster” prize for the largest fish on the iron was taken home by Jim Hartwick of Harbor City. And finally, the coveted “Flambeau True Sportsman Award” as voted by the crew went to 16-year old Tanner Huffer of Dana Point. This article first appeared in the September 2009 issue of FishRap. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
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Searcher Milks Cedros by Bill Roecker
Art Taylor brought his Searcher home to Fisherman’s Landing September 16 after a five-day Let’s Talk Hookup charter to Cedros Island.
In his last report at sea on September 15, Art wrote, “Today we finished our trip with a little action on decent size yellowtail of 12 to 22 pounds. Most of the fish were caught on flyline sardines, with a few fish caught on yo-yo jigs, blue and white.
We only had a couple of hours to fish and we managed to land 44 fish. The weather today was great–clear skies and calm seas. We are headed home with a great catch of fish and we will be at the dock around 8:30am.”
Doug Nance of San Diego won first place for a 35.8-pound yellowtail. He was tied by Wade Wells of Camarillo, who had an identical fish. Hans Giesholt of Tempe, AZ won third place for a 33.8-pound yellowtail.
Searcher 5-Day Report by Kevin Justen
I just returned from the Searcher 5-day trip and, for the seventh year in a row, had a successful trip. The boat’s total catch for 22 anglers was:
- 212 Albacore
- 53 Yellowfin Tuna
- 14 Bluefin Tuna
- 15 Dorado
- 294 Total
The nice thing about the count was that 80% of the fish were 30+ pounds, and the Yellowfin went up to 55 pounds. My biggest was a 50 pounder, and I also had a nice Bluefin. Also, almost all of the Albacore were 30-40 pounds. A typical size is shown in the picture below.
We fished three days on the Tuna grounds, 120 miles SW of Point Loma, and one day at Guadalupe Island. At the island we chased Black Porpoise to find the Yellowfin. Amazingly, we landed 19 of 21 hooked. Most anglers got one, and two anglers got two. My friend Georg from Utah managed two and was only disappointed that he didn’t beat the 88 pounder he caught last year. Since we never anchored we never had trouble with the White Sharks taking our fish. We saw two, but they never got near the boat when we were on a bite.
Most fish were taken on 25#, 30# or 40# line and most of the larger Yellowfin were caught on 40#, with a few on 50#. At the Island we mostly used circle hooks, and a 2/0 ringed version worked well. On the tuna grounds a 2/0 ringed flyliner “J” hook worked well. Our bait was all sardines and only one fish was caught on a jig. My friend Jim got it on a Salas 4/0 in Dorado colors. On the troll another friend, Tanner, used a Braid Speedster in yellow and green and got hooked up almost every rotation. I also did very well with an orange/yellow/brown cedar plug and got bit on about half of the rotations. Zucchini and Mexican Flag feathers were also productive.
A personal highlight was catching a 40 pound Bluefin Tuna on 20# line. It took me around the boat one and a half times and was one tough fish. Captain Art Taylor doesn’t like anglers using 20# on his boat and was justifiably irritated at first that I was taking so much time during the prime bite hours (3 p.m. until dark). However, after a while the Albacore came through and people started hooking fish again. After landing the Bluefin I went back to 25# line, except on the slide where I got a number of fish on 30# and 40#. My 50 pound Yellowfin at the island was caught on 40# using a Torium 30. It would have been much nicer to have had a smaller version of a two-speed reel and I think I’ll get one before the next trip.
My friend Jim brought his friend Mike from Chicago on the trip. It was his first trip and he got 19 fish. All but the big Yellowfin were caught on spinning reels. At first everyone thought he was crazy, but since he had the second highest count it was hard to argue with his success. Who knows, maybe he’s onto something.
The service level and fishing on the Searcher are excellent and have brought me back year after year. Captain Art Taylor, his wife Celia, and his crew are seasoned professionals and they definitely go the extra mile to make sure that everyone has fun and catches fish. With 600 pounds of fish this was the second highest amount I have brought home. Each year it has been between 200 and 1,000 pounds and none of it has ever gone to waste. I’ll be going on another Searcher 5-day next August if anyone wants to join me. Pictures of the trip and other related information are on their web site at: www.searchersportfishing.com.
Kevin Justen
Sniffs Out A Shortbill by Bill Roecker
“Today was a amazing day!” Searcher skipper Aaron Remy reported August 31. “Once again the fishing and the weather were in our favor. We had a steady day of albacore fishing–all very nice-size fish, up to 40 pounds. We totaled 98 of those beauties and shortly before dark we saw some jumpers and had a 3-hour bite on 25 to 70-pounders.
“We ended up with 77 of those and we also got a nice bluefin in the gray. To top off the wonderful trip we got to add a shortbilled spearfish to the report. We totaled 176 fish for the day and we are stoked.”
Searcher Finds ‘Em Close by Bill Roecker
Searcher Finds ‘Em Close
“We spent the afternoon 110 miles from home fishing for big albies, yellowfin tuna and blufin tuna. We had great fishing, good weather and a lot of fun!
“We landed 64 albacore with all the fish in excess of 25 pounds with some fish weighing over 40 pounds. We also landed 19 yellowfin tuna in the 18 to 25-pound range.
“We had several troll fish and one trolling lure stood out as being really hot with fish on almost every rotation. It was a Braid speedster, green and yellow.
“This was a great way to end a good five-day trip. The group was great and Steve Carson from Penn University did a great job and had lots of tackle raffle off. Everyone went home with something to add to their box.
“Tanner Huffer from San Clemente received the sportsman of the trip award and won a new tackle box. Jim Hendricks won the artificial lure contest and won a new rod and reel. Steve also brought several demo outfits with Penn rods and reels and everyone had a chance to use that equipment with positive results. Penn is still one of the leading tackle manufacturers in my opinion.”
Searcher 3-day Capt Potatohead charter sizzles
FEATURE REPORT
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Second day’s bite defined the trip’s fishing, but drawings, crew, cuisine and antics made it a special annual charter
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each year WON blesses its pages, blessedly once a year, with Dick Uranga’s account of his annual “Mr. Potatohead” charter on the Fisherman’s Landing-based Searcher. Same boat, same landing, same antics, and always the same Uranga, former owner of Ironman Lures and a dead ringer for Mr. P. with an eye for onboard evil. Yes, he’s “that” guy.
In typical fashion, all 27 exited anglers boarded the luxurious 95 foot sportfisher Searcher. Capt. Art Taylor requested a meeting in the galley to discuss our game plan, fishing tips and the required Coast Guard safety regulations. Art informed us that we would be headed approximately 100 miles southwest to an area where the Searcher had found very good fishing on the previous trip. Our fishing expectations were now in the capable With the welcome sound of Searcher’s engines, away we went. We arrived at our destination approximately 11 hours after our departure with several hours of darkness still remaining before the sight of gray light. With the first ray of light came the welcome words of “Hook-up!” right where we had spent the night. Several bluefin were hooked, but only three came to gaff. A handful of yellowfin were also landed during our first few minutes of fishing! Not a bad start! Top: DEBORAH BLAKE AND SARAH CLIFTON combined to conquer a respectable total of 13 yellowfin. Capt. Art now called for the “First Trolling Team” to begin in our hunt for more exotics. As part of the fun, Capt’n Potatohead (me) played “Beat the Dealer” by means of cutting the deck of cards for prizes. The prizes were generous donations of fishing tackle provided by Izorline, Haddock Fishing Products, Owner Hook Company, Sumo Fishing Products, and Zuker Trolling Products. Adding to the fun was the help provided by 15-year-old anglerette Sarah Blake, a tough one to Beat! The giveaways were conducted throughout the trip every 2 to 3 hours to keep everyone entertained inbetween jig strikes. The first was good, but our payload came on the second day! We started off again with jig strikes and a few bait fish. Somewhere around mid morning came what we all dream about, a quadruple jig strike followed by a 2 ½-hour bait stop! Wow, it was crazy! There were hook ups everywhere along with yells of “Deep color!,” “Gaff!!,” and….“Gaff!!” Crew members did a masterful job of untangling, gaffing, throwing chum, tagging and moving fish into the slammer! What a stop!! The result was a band of merry, tired, smiling fishermen and a slammer full of yellowfin tuna 12-pound to 25-pound grade! Whew! Now that we were plugged with yellowfin, Capt. Art decided to head for an area where albacore were reportedly caught. Unfortunately, there no longfins, but we weren’t disappointed since we had already been treated to a sizzling bite of “fastfinned” exotics. This trip was a great measure of the expertise of the Searcher and its great crew! –Changing of 3/0 hooks to #10 silver hooks Our 3-day trip was a great success yielding the following totals: 3 bluefin, 281 yellowfin tuna, 44 yellowtail, 6 dorado. Congratulations are in order for our Jackpot winners: Capt. Art, this trip was certainly “Taylor Made”! Thank you!! |
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Captain Potato Head
Art Taylor docked his Searcher at Fisherman’s Landing August 18 after a three-day trip with 27 fishermen aboard. It was Dick “Captain Potato Head” Uranga’s 13th annual charter. Searcher anglers took limits of offshore yellowfin.
Tommy Patton of Santa Maria won first place for his 32-pound bluefin tuna. He said it bit a sardine on a 3/0 hook tied to 25-pound Izorline on a Penn 500 reel and a Seeker 970 rod.
Searcher regular Mark Seals won second place for a 31.8-pound bluefin that erred on his sardine. Chris Edmondson of Mission Viejo won third place for a 24.4-pound yellowfin tuna.
A 100-Pounder
Art Taylor’s Searcher took out 21 passengers on the four-day Izorline/Bass Pro Shops charter with chartermasters Wendy Tochihara of Izorline and Matt Towner of Bass Pro Shops supervising the expedition.
Brian Lemberg, a sales rep from San Diego, won first place for his 100.2-pound yellowfin. He said it bit on a sardine and a 3/0 Eagle Claw hook. He fished with 40-poudn Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 40-pound Izorline on a Penn 4/0 reel and a six-foot Calstar rod. He said his drags seized up during the 30-minute fight but the crew spliced him into another rig.
Ron Phillips of Las Vegas took second place for a 91-pounder, and Kevin Yoshimoto of Thousand Oaks won third place for a 63-pound Guadalupe Island yellowfin tuna.
Searcher Finds ‘Em by the Ton by Bill Roecker
Searcher Finds ‘Em By The Ton
Art Taylor had the best trip he’s ever had to Guadalupe Island over the five days leading up to July 31, when he docked at Fisherman’s Landing at the end of his Strictly Fishin’ Charter with 25 anglers. They appeared to have near-limits of yellowfin and yellowtail. Hoisting all the contenders at the scales had Taylor sweating happily.
Eric Sallis of Santee won first place in the boat’s jackpot for a 74-pound tuna. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 1/0 Flyliner hook on 50-pound Izorline and 680-pound Spectra backing on a Tyrnos 16 reel and a Calstar 700 H rod.
John Yam of Long Beach won second place for a 70.6-pounder, and Pat Patino of Orange won third place for a 68.6-pound Guadalupe Island yellowfin tuna.
Albacore Galore by Bill Roecker
Art Taylor docked his Searcher July 26 after a five-day trip with 24 passengers. He weighed the best of the catch on the certified scales at Fisherman’s Landing.
Kevin Weber of Cota de Caza won first place for a 40-pound albacore that took a sardine on a 3/0 Mustad hook, 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 30-pound Ande line. He fished with a Trinidad 40 reel and a seven-foot Calstar rod.
Gary Atkins of Palmer Lake CO won second place for a 39.6-pound albacore. Kim Day of Wilson took third in the jackpot for his 38-pound jumbo albacore.