Art Taylor brought his Searcher home from Guadalupe Island after a four-day trip with 27 anglers. He docked at Pt. Loma Sportfishing, as the Royal Polaris was occupying the facilities at Fisherman’s. Chartermistress Jan Howard, a Braid rep, made several notable catches, including a yellowfin on 12-pound line and a large yellowtail on 30-pound.

“We started out on the North End near Pilot Rock,” said Jan, “and we got some big yellowtail there, and some bigger ones on the weather side not far away. We had a night bite on slabs of scad mackerel, until the boat ran out of sinkers.

“Whitey showed up,” continued Jan, “and he got a lot of the sinkers. Once he breached on somebody’s yellowtail coming to the boat.”

Gary Holpuch of Golden Shores, AZ won first place for a 40.8-pound yellowtail. He said he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 Gamakatsu hook and 50-pound P-Line. He used an Avet LX reel and a Seeker 670 rod.

Greg Locke of San Diego tied with Ron Servis of Escondido for second place. Both men had 40-pound yellowtail.

Using one of the boat’s trolling rigs, Janelle Ross of Lake Forest cranked up a giant black sea bass estimated at 200 pounds, and released it.

Slam for Youngster

“That request we made did some good, I guess, because look at our catch,” said Searcher skipper Kevin Ward at Fisherman’s Landing August 12. On his last trip, Kevin had said, “They need to stock more fish out there…”

Ward continued, “On the first morning we started a drift, and when it ended we were 12 miles away, with limits of bluefin!”

In the end, Searcher anglers managed a great three-day catch of mixed cool and warm-water species.

One angler who got ‘em all was nine-year-old Bo Thevelius of Tehachapi, who sported an array of yellowfin, albacore, bluefin, dorado and yellowtail.

“Where’s the fins for your fish?” I asked Bo.

“On my hat,” he replied.

I asked Bo if he played sports at his school, Cummings Valley Elementary.

“No,” said his mom Melissa, “but he can ride anything that moves; horses, dirt bikes, whatever.”

Bo was proud of his catch, and posed for numerous cameras.

Bryon Mathieson of Napa won first place on the trip for a 34.6-pound dorado he got with a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad hook He said he used 40-pound Stren line on a Penn 240 reel and a Calstar 700 rod.

James Wagner of Napa tied Bryon with a 34.6-pound yellowfin tuna. Dale Dowling of Vacaville took third place for a 34.4-pound yellowfin tuna.

Kevin Ward docked Searcher at Fisherman’s Landing August 9 after a three-day trip with 28 passengers.

“They need to stock more fish out there,” he joked, as he weighed the best of the catch.

Tom Meck of Buckeye, AZ won the jackpot for a 26-pound albacore. He bagged the longfin with a sardine on a 3/0 Mustad hook on 25-pound P-line. He fished with a Torium 20 reel and a Shimano seven-foot rod.

Dan Carrier of Irvine won second place for a 21.4-pound yellowtail and retired fisheries biologist Steve Crooke of Irvine won third place, for a 21.2-pound yellowtail.

Young Stick Is Hot

Tanner Huffer of San Clemente is 15 and already a waterman, on the surf team at San Clemente High. He took a ride on the Searcher with skipper Art Taylor, and came back to Fisherman’s Landing with a first-place fish.

The trip was an Izorline Open, and chartermistress Shauna Barton was aboard as a rep. She presented Tanner with the Izorline Trophy, after Searcher regular Mark Seals of Cambria made a generous offer.

The pair were tied for first place, with identical 35.2-pound albacore. “Let Tanner have it,” said Seals. “He earned it.”

Tanner said he fished a sardine on 20-pound Izorline, an Avet SX-2 reel and a Kencor seven-foot rod.

Tanner and Seals posed with Steve Kivo of Camarillo, who had the third-place fish, a 33.6-pound albacore. The albacore bit better for Searcher anglers than they have for anyone else just recently, so there may be hope yet that they’ll stick around through the fall months.

Kelp-paddy hopping anyone?

Searcher Finds Some Mossbacks

Art Taylor docked his Searcher at Fisherman’s Landing July 27 following a five-day trip that visited Cedros Island. Some big yellowtail were taken there, including the first one caught, by Joe Dunn, 88 and a San Diego icon, the former owner of the Champ.

Matt Rohrs of Placentia got first place for his personal best yellowtail, a 49.8-pounder. He said he fooled it with a Salas 7X jig in green sardine swirl color. He used Izorline XXX line on a Torium 20 reel and a Calstar 800H rod to do the job in ten minutes.

Jack Simplicio of Redondo Beach won second place for a 33.2-pound yellowtail, and Matt Gilchrist of Long Beach took third place for a 36.6-pound yellowtail. They were joined by Tyler Kimbrough with a nice dorado.

By Bill Roecker

Art Taylor docked his Searcher July 22 after a five-day trip with 20 anglers, many from Idaho.

“We got limits of yellowtail at the south end of Cedros Island,” he said, “and some bigger ones in the bull kelp nearby. And we fished offshore for a mix of bluefin, albacore and yellows.”

Richard Yoshioka of La Palma won first place for a 37.2-pound yellowtail. He said he caught it with a sardine on a 3/0 Eagle Claw hook, 30-pound Big Game line, a Torium 30 reel and a Shimano eight-foot rod.

Brad Green of Middleton Idaho won second place for a 34.5-pounder, and Justin Buchanan of Nampa, ID was third, for a 33.2-pound yellowtail.

There are still spots available for the 4-day trip Jun 27-Jul 1 and the timing looks perfect for albacore! It’s a Penn University Open with the fantastic Penn rep, Steve Carson. Check out the giveaways he is bringing: * A goodie bag with Owner hooks, a Sumo jig and more for each person on board * A nice raffle prize * A prize for the first yellowtail, albacore and tuna * A special prize for the “Master Jig Caster” [iron fish] and the “True Sportsman” [as voted by crew]. * The jackpot winner will get a Penn Torque reel/Penn BlueWater rod combo [$500 value] along with a nice trophy.