southwest Fishing Report 2024

Happy Easter! I have decided to put some ultra limited load open party trips together for fishing the northern Channel Islands this weekend. I have set up two trips on Saturday and Sunday the 10th and 11th of April. I anticipate trying to find sea bass in the morning and falling back on rock fish and ling cod for the rest of the day. These trips will be limited to only 20 people max!! This just seems to me to be such a great opportunity to get out to the islands on such a nice boat without having to deal with a crowd. The trips will depart from Sea Landing in Santa Barbara at 9pm Friday and Saturday night. The cost will be $175 per person. Please come join me and the crew aboard the Apollo next weekend. I look forward to seeing you.

Please call Sea Landing to make Reservations at (805) 963-3564.

Capt Mike Pritchard called in from the Tribute on Day 2 of a Friends of Rollo/Wicked Tuna Trip, today we found a nice grade of Yellowtail, we caught 24 from 12 to 25 pounds and we got some nice grade Bluefin Tuna this morning. We do have another trip leaving tonight with some room, if you are interested in going give Seaforth Landing a call at 619-224-3383 to sign up.

This past week has been all about chasing yellowtail. The amount of yellowtail we have been seeing at the Coronado Islands has been very impressive. The fish counts have not been a representation of how much fish is in the water. Stopping on a school of 300 yellowtail and only hooking 1 has become very common. On Friday we managed to catch 30 yellowtail and Saturday produced 20. These fish are still running in the 20-30 pound range with multiple fish over 30 in the past week. Fly lined sardines on 30 lb. yo-yo lures on 40 or 50 lb. as well as surface iron on 40 lb. have all been producing fish. These yellowtail have been a challenge to hook mainly because of all the bait in the water. When some of the bait goes away and these fish settle in. 50 to 100 fish days will become common. If you would like to experience some very fun yellowtail fishing, where every bite is earned. Make your reservations and come join us !

The San Diego checked in with this today:

2 yellowtail and all the bottom grabbers you could want. Water conditions seem to be improving but the south wind we’ve dealt with the last couple days have made things interesting.

July 25          
  We had a very busy turn around today.  It was time to change oil and fuel filters and make a repair.  But all is good and we're under way.  Our new computers are getting more and more dialed in.  I now have spell check.  I love sitting back in the chair now and typing these reports.  Not now though because the letters shrunk on me again.  I'm going to have to figure that out.  So here we go again on another 5 day.  Our baits good we think.  Time will always tell.  It's looking like things might get a bit breezy the next few days so we have Cedros in mind.  We're going to fish tuna tomorrow first and then most likely fish the Island the day after for a couple days and let the weather come down before finishing up in tuna land for our last day.  That's the game plan at the moment anyway.  Things change out here all the time though.  In the end we just take it one day at a time.

  The official weigh in is in.  We have Mark weighing in at 231.4 pounds.  And in the left corner we have Justin weighing in at 228.2 pounds.  If your just tuning in, he who loses the most weight by October 1 wins the bet.  I'll keep you posted after each progress report hopefully at the end of each trip.  This excites me.  Competition.  I love it.
         

Captain Ryan Bostian called in this evening with a report from the San Diego. We had a private charter with 37 anglers. Captain Taro put the charter on 137 Yellowfin Tuna, 22 Yellowtail, and a few Skipjack. Tuna fishing remains excellent. Now that the kids are back in school we should have excellent fishing with lighter loads and less pressure. We are moving into San Diego's prime months of September and October. Talk to you later!