Trip Reports

Friday/Saturday

Hello anglers: We tried hard today in several spots for yellowtail with not much result. We even tried some spots that haven’t been tried this season. However, we found great conditions with 70+ degree water and clean, but a lack of fish. We are headed north to try the coast for a few hours to end the trip.

One highlight of the day was the fresh yellowfin tuna dinner by Charley and Dan that was “off the charts” and good!
Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We had a few extra hours so we stopped and fished the coast. Conditions were good with warm, clean water. We saw a sign of yellowtail up to 20 pounds and we landed a few. There was some action on big bonito that we released and a few rockfish. Since we only had a couple of hours, we didn’t have time to look around much. There might be some good yellowtail fishing in this area for the next trip.

We travelled the rest of the day, broke down the tackle and scrubbed the boat. What a great trip in all aspects–weather, fishing, and comraderie! Looking forward to having everyone back next year.
Team Searcher

Friday

Hello anglers: We found a sample of yellowtail this morning, just a sample, but there were good conditions present. We’re seeing clean, warm water and good current, just not a lot of fish so far.

We have the rest of the day to find something to work on. Jim H and Capt Aaron are posing with a nice yellowtail that Jim caught on a blue-and-white yo-yo lure.

More later, Team Searcher

Thursday
Hello anglers: We had a great morning fishing wahoo! Everyone had landed 1 or 2 wahoo for the trip and we all had a great time this morning. We had lots of opportunities to land one on casting lures, wahoo bombs, raider lures, and trolling marauders. We saw lots of fish and of course, the losses are part of the game with wahoo.

Craig Gantz is pictured with his nice wahoo–it’s at least 50 pounds.

There was fresh sushi and sashimi for afternoon snack and fresh wahoo for dinner!
Team Searcher

This is crewman Ben’s first season with Team Searcher — his first long-range job. This is his first wahoo! Congrats, young Ben!

Hello anglers: We are trying for wahoo again this morning with some success. We are landing most of the fish on live sardines and wire leaders with 40-pound mono. Capt Ryan Stahl is posing with his birthday wahoo caught on a live sardine. He used one of our Penn Fathom 40 2-speed reels that Steve Carson gave us two trips ago. It’s paired with one of our on-board Seeker Athena rods, available as a loaner for our customers.

Notice the birthday hat he is wearing all day today…

More later,
Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We had another awesome day all around! We enjoyed phenomenal weather, and there was great fishing and fun for everyone. We have enough yellowfin tuna for everyone, and also almost everyone has a wahoo. I’m not sure how our day could be any better.
Long-time Searcher customer, John Curtis who comes from England every year, is pictured with Capt Ryan, the birthday boy, and a nice size yellowfin tuna.

Team Searcher

Hello anglers:

We had some excellent fishing today, starting with wahoo. And we finished up the day with some quality yellowfin tuna fishing.

Ezio P lands a nice yellowfin tuna, with the assist by the BIRTHDAY BOY, Capt Ryan Stahl–30 years old today!

Everyone had a great time and enjoyed a great day of fishing. We are looking forward to fishing tonight and tomorrow.

Jerry H from Kentucky is posing with crewman Ben and a nice yellowfin at sunset.

Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We started our day with a beautiful sunrise and a calm ocean.

At our first stop at The RIdge, we got into some wahoo fishing which we had been preparing for. It was exciting when we first arrived with multiple hook-ups. As usual with wahoo fishing there were some losses, but we had lots of chances to land these prized fish. John Waggoner from Louisville, Kentucky is pictured with a nice troll fish.

We also landed a few nice-size dorado and some small yellowfin tuna for sushi later in the trip.

Team Searcher

Congratulations to our jackpot winners!

1. Ted O’miela, Oceanside, CA — 39/2# bluefin tuna (right)
2. Ernest Ringgold, McKinney, TX — 28.8# yellowfin tuna
3. Ted O’miela, Oceanside, CA — 28.6# yellowfin tuna

Hello anglers:

After a slow start to our day with more yellowfin tuna that didn’t want to bite, we changed things up and the second half of the day was much better! We found a school of yellowfin tuna that wanted to bite. Everyone had multiple chances at landing a good-size yellowfin tuna. Lots of fun and action!

Capt Aaron had a great afternoon fishing with our “Hook and Hand” outfits from Accurate Products and Seeker rods. He used 25 pound mono, 25 pound flourocarbon and an Owner mutu circle hook (size 2). He was able to keep everyone busy by hooking and handing fish. Great job Capt Aaron and a big thank you to Accurate Products!
He is pictured with Devon Provance and her nice yellowfin tuna.

Capt Aaron and Devon P, who is on this trip with her dad and brother, a real fishing family!

Hoping to repeat our day tomorrow. Team Searcher

Hello anglers: We have spent most of the morning drifting with yellowfin tuna around the boat. The challenge has been to get them to bite! We’re trying 20-25 pound test line with flourocarbon and a #2 hook. Lots of fish have been hooked by the crew and handed off to the passengers. The encouraging sign is that there’s plenty of fish around, just not too many landed.
Jereck Provance from Murrieta got this tuna landed!

Team Searcher

Yesterday day’s end report

Hello anglers,

We spent the day at San Clemente island. We saw some tuna in a couple of different areas. We landed a few yellowtail on live sardines.

We are moving east to try for yellowfin tuna. Wish us luck and biting fish!

Team Searcher