Cowboy Cuts Out Supercow
Tom Rothery took PIER founder Tom Pfleger and eight other anglers on a 17-day excursion that started on the inside, visited the outside and came back to the inside to finish off the trip with six cows; tuna over 200 pounds. ("Inside" means off the coast of southern Baja, and "Outside" means the Revillagigedos archipelago and the Hurricane Bank.)
"All our days were good," said Rothery, "except for the time we spent off Clarion Island where there were a lot of krill balls and green water. The wahoo on the Hurricane were a little bigger than usual. The skin fishing was good on all methods."
Tom "Cowboy" Fullam of Oceanside pulled off the coup of the adventure when he decked a tuna that taped out around 280 pounds.  When Rothery hung it on the scales a shout went up from the gathered spectators, as the fish hit 303.4 pounds on the certified scales.
"He bit on the slide," said Cowboy, "and he went down right away. He fought for an hour and a half, and then he came up on the bow. He's my best fish."
Tom said he dropped in a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook. He used 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Spectra on a Tiagra 50 W reel and a five and a half-foot Calstar rod.
Roger Foster of Orange won second place for a 261-pounder. Foster got his big cow (his best-ever fish, in only 20 minutes) and a 259-pounder with sardines. He said he used sardines on 8/0 hooks with 130-pound P-line and 130-pound Spectra on one of the boat's rigs, featuring a Penn 50 SW reel and an unidentified rod.
Chugey Sepulveda, senior research scientist for Pfleger's PIER Institute, caught a 228-pounder with sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook. He used 130-pound line and 130-pound Spectra on a Penn 30 W reel and a Penn five and a half-foot rod.
Pat Jaeger of Bishop, a mountain fishing guide, got a 215-pounder in 40  minutes, after it ate his sardine on a 6/0 Eagle Claw hook. He fished with 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Spectra on a Penn 50 SW reel and a custom Calstar Baja Boomer rod.
Chartermaster Tom Pleger said two of the ongoing projects for PIER are a kelp study and a tagging program. The archival tagging study for white sea bass may provide some answers for questions long in the asking regionally, such as where the fish go and what they do when they're not in local waters and available to anglers.
"We'll offer rewards," said Pfleger, "and we'll put out about 100 archival tags."
Polaris Supreme will be her berth in for boat work for the next few weeks.
November 19, 2024 delaware surf Fishing Report
2435
Skipper JJ Gerritsen returned with his Apollo to Fisherman's Landing November 21, after an eight-day, ultra-limited trip. The boat's ten passengers fished Guadalupe Island before taking off for Magdalena Bay to fish big tuna on their final day.
"All of our long range trips are ultra-limited," said JJ. "It takes away competition factors, we won't do more than ten passengers. We got limits of yellowfin, Guadalupe's been great our last six trips, but we did something different this time; we headed out for a shot at these big ones. All of our fish are kept in refrigerated saltwater, so they still look great."
Matt Bowland of Encinitas took home the best tuna; a 224-pound yellowfin that fought "long and hard."
Matt used a 6/0 Owner ringed Super Mutu hook, on an 80-pound P-Line topshot, 100-pound Spectra, a Tiagra 30 reel and a Calstar Grafighter 765 H rod. "I butt-hooked the sardine," said Matt. "The fight lasted two and a half hours."
Drew Card of San Diego was second with a 196-pound tuna, and Craig Biddick of Rancho Santa Fe was third for a 164-pounder.
November 18, 2024 delaware surf Fishing Report
2639
George Davis made his eighth (his estimate) annual charter with Tommy Rothery aboard the Polaris Supreme, and met the boat when it returned to Fisherman's Landing January 13 after an 18-day excursion. It was Friday, but definitely not a bad luck day or trip, as chartermaster George bagged a 257-pound tuna for himself as the boat fished off southern Baja.
He might have had a jackpot spot, but by consent the group of eight passengers had a single jackpot winner. Davis runs a construction company from Rancho Cucamonga.
"Everybody got a cow," said Tommy, "and we released over 100 tuna. We ended up with 27 tuna over 200 pounds."
The day's big winner was Tom Hilton of San Clemente who scored a 293-pound whopper yellowfin with a sardine on a 7/0 Super Mutu hook, 130-pound red line, 130-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 50T reel blueprinted by Cal Sheets, and a 760H Calstar rod tied by Sheridan Stanton (also on the trip).
Hilton said he got the big tuna "‚Д¶in 25 minutes; my best fish ever. My biggest before was 178 pounds.
"I knew he was heavy," remarked Tom, "but he bit on the last bait on the last day at the last stop of the day. The fat lady hadn't sung yet, but I could hear her warming up in the wings."
Hilton also had tuna of 251, 237, 236 and 213 pounds.
The water temperature in the tuna area remains at 69 to 715 degrees, anglers said.
High score went to Scott Brown of Costa Mesa, with six over 200 pounds, at 279, 269, 246, 240, and a pair of 225-pounders. Scott said he fished with sardines on 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks, on 100-pound Ande line, 130-pound Spectra backing, a Tiagra 50W reel and a Calstar 655 TSS rod.
Al Tokunaga had five, at 225, 222, 213, 208 and 201 pounds.
The 27 cows was no boat record, but 27 for eight anglers may make for some kind of mark.
November 17, 2024 delaware surf Fishing Report
2488
Fishing today was absolutely excellent! The albacore bit all day and the weather has laid down and is good. All the albies range in the 25 to 30 lb range. For lunch we had swordfish in a butter, lemon, caper cream sauce and for dinner we had a rack of lamb with a blue cheese port wine sauce. Yummy! A couple of boats headed to Guadalupe to no avail. We still have a spot here and there on some of our upcoming trips. Give Susan a call in the office if you can get away and come fish.
November 14, 2024 delaware surf Fishing Report
1916
Today we went out with 35 passengers and the yellowtail pulled a no show. The conditions at the Coronado islands were actually nicer today than yesterday. I honestly believe that the yellowtail are still at the islands however we never found them today. We will give it another shot tomorrow. It would be a good idea to start bringing out your bait rods. 25-30 lb. is perfect for live bait fishing.
Weekly Fishing Reports
Fishing reports for delaware surf are updated each week, usually by
Thursday morning. The reports are compiled by an outside contractor who receives the
information from bait shops, marinas and fishing guides.