(left): Captain Dylan Gerson with two albacore caught while targeting bluefin tuna on an AJ Sportfishing charter.
(right): Angler Kevin Trieu with his impressive shore-based white seabass caught while tossing plastics.

Dock Totals 7/28– 8/3: 4868 anglers aboard 199 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 613 barracuda, 3 black seabass (released), 2201 bluefin tuna (up to 240 pounds), 130 bonito, 307 calico bass, 24 dorado, 5 halibut, 19 lingcod, 1 rock sole, 795 rockfish, 6990 sand bass, 25 sanddab, 193 sculpin, 10 sheephead, 62 triggerfish, 105 whitefish, 1 yellowfin tuna, and 2699 yellowtail.

Saltwater: The bluefin bite turned back on after the full moon phase shut them down for a week, with the total jumping from just over 400 to 2200 caught. There were some chunky units in the mix, but most were in the 20- to 60-pound range. The majority of the bluefin bite has moved up in the water column, as well as north to the areas around Catalina and San Clemente islands, and with them that much closer to home, some of the fleet abandoned the still-biting yellowtail Off the Baja coast and the Coronado Islands and headed west instead of south. Though deep-drop jigs and weighted baits are still producing overall, rigged flying fish under a kite or balloon has been the go-to for some of the boats targeting the larger fish.

A big surprise has been the phenomenal sand bass fishing for the half-day and short run fleet, with more legal sized fish caught in a week than I can remember, even after totaling the counts for 10 years now. Nearly 7000 fish hit the deck in seven days, which Is amazing considering that  most were caught on half-day runs. Tube baits in 1- to 3-ounce sizes, skampis tipped with squid, and squid on a dropper loop worked best for those targeting the "grumpys" along the IB flats and other sand bass haunts within range. 

A few albacore were caught within 3-day range this past week, but did not appear in the counts as they were caught by small charters and private boaters. Captain Dylan Gerson of AJ charters reported a couple longfins caught on a four-passenger charter from AJ Sportfishing while fishing offshore for bluefin. Since the early 2000’s, albacore have been rare catches for the fleet, due to a fairly sudden change in their annual migration pattern taking the once locally abundant fish far offshore while they're passing through our latitude.

Since the beginning of the commercial (and ensuing recreational) fishing fleets out of San Diego, albacore was the mainstay species. But, around 2003 or so, they all but disappeared from the counts. Albacore used to pass through our local offshore banks well within reach of full-day to multi-day boats, but now are more commonly caught within fifty miles of the coast in the area centering on Westport, Washington on the Oregon border. 

Our local commercial boats, such as the Haworth Fish Company fleet, still get albacore every season, and those can be bought fresh off the boat on Saturdays at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market. Those fish are usually encountered between 500 and 700 miles due west of Point Loma, far enough to keep the recreational fleet from pursuing them. For safety reasons — as that’s a long 60- 70-hour nonstop run from any nearest port, — and though there are good swordfish, opah, and other species on those outer banks, there is little else to target and so make it a viable destination for a sportfishing boat.

Along the beaches, surf fishing has been still going strong. A few striped bass have been caught close to our area at a time when they are usually much further north, and while surf perch, yellowfin croaker, and California corbina continue to be the top catches, halibut and even legal-sized white seabass have been caught from shore. Avid angler Kevin Trieu posted up a solid 20-pound white seabass this past week. Kevin, who hails from Virginia Beach, is relatively new to the SoCal surf fishing scene, but has been hitting it hard on the west coast for about a year now and doing very well. 

Though many anglers, including Kevin, do not like to divulge exact locations when posting a catch on social media, he did note that it was near San Diego. As the Orange County resident has been targeting the beaches and bluffs from Central California to Central Baja with dedication, San Diego is about the middle of his range. The chunky white seabass hit on a Biospawn 4.8-inch swimbait pinned to an Owner ½ ounce leadhead with a 4/0 hook. The impressive 42-inch fish was his 39th white seabass caught so far this year, but his first legal fish over 28-inches caught from the beach. Be like Kevin. Wherever they are biting, go out and get ‘em!