At The Islands
We moved inshore that afternoon to fish the Coronados Islands, and fishing for kelp bass and log barracuda was a good as I can remember it there, on a little rock off South Island. Every swimming anchovy was hit. The same grubs got bit there, but so did lobtails and other small plastics. I enjoyed whacking some nice barracuda on the surface iron there, and probably irritated the anglers by whooping every time I saw a scooter flash on my jig. Well, it was my first time at the islands in a year. The sand bass fishing in the channel at night is too good to last very long. All the bass species are on the spawn, and on the bite.

Latest reports indicate the 200-mile zone has quieted down but is still producing, and a strong bite on larger albacore is emerging at 100 miles. Yellowfin are beginning to be seen at Guadalupe, but aren't on the bite yet. Nor are the great whites there. Benitos, Cedros and Hipolito are loaded with yellowtail. Local yellowtail are plentiful one day, hard to find the next, with offshore paddies producing the best and the biggest. The first nearby bigeye and first tuna slam came in, leaving only one question: where are the 100-pound bluefin, and when are they going to chew?

Kicker Jig Charter
Kevin Ward moored Searcher June 27. "We had good weather and nice big fish on our three-day trip," he said. "They bit bait and they bit the iron very well, on the Kicker K-15 in chrome."

Steve Scheinblum of Cordova, TN took first place, for a 39-pound albacore. He got it with a sardine on a 1/0 Mustad hook, 30-pound P-Line, a Daiwa 40VH reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 rod. Joe Hellerman of Huntington Beach was second, for a 34.7-pounder, and Kevin Frisk of Carson was third, for a 33.9-pound albacore.

Angler's First Bigeye
"We got on a line of fish and got lucky," said Jim Slivkoff, after mooring American Angler June 27, following a three-day trip some 200 miles south. "And we got our first bigeye of the season."

Jan Packard of Rolling Hills Estates got an 85-pound bigeye on a zucchini Zuker's jig on the troll. Dave Greeno of Long Beach won the jackpot for a 60-pound bigeye he caught the hard way, on an anchovy, a size one Mustad hook, 25-pound Ande line, a Penn 100 reel and a Calstar 270H rod. John Schmidt of Whittier was second, for a 39-pound albacore, and Packard earned third place, for a 38-pound longfin.

First Tuna Slam
Randy Toussaint skippered the Excel on a six-day trip, as Pat and Bill Cavanaugh attended the funeral for their father. Toussaint took Excel's anglers to Alijos Rocks, looking for bluefin and albacore on the way down and back. "We spent a day and a half at Alijos," he said. "We got a few albies both ways and 13 bluefin on the way up. We limited out on yellowfin."

Bill Kelperis of Long Beach took the season's first tuna slam with an albacore, a bigeye, a bluefin and a yellowfin tuna. He won first place for his 86-pound bigeye, which he jigged aboard with a green and chrome YoHoHo iron, 40-pound Maxima line, a TLD 20-40 reel and a Calstar 970 rod, in 40 minutes. Mark Conway of North Hollywood was second, for a 70-pound yellowfin, and Tom Walton of Palm Desert was third, for a 67-pound yellowfin.

Bob Zio of Grenada Hills had a wahoo, and father Howard and son Chase Okin of Northridge had 50-pound class yellowfin.

Near-Limits of Albacore
"We fished at 200 miles for three days of our six-day trip," said Red Rooster III skipper Jeff DeBuys June 28, "and it was good on big schools of albacore. They came up and really wanted to chew. We found some bluefin in the warmer water and got about half-limits on those. We put out the sea anchor and had a gray bite that lasted until noon. And we had some excellent yellowtail fishing at Benitos. It was jig fishing for 14 to 18-pounders. Right now, things are changing out there. The wind is up."

Guy Bayle of Orange only needed ten minutes to whip a 57-pound bluefin for first place, he said. He used a sardine to entice the tuna, and baited it on a 7/0 Mustad hook, with 40-pound P-Line and a TLD 20 two-speed reel and a Calstar custom seven-foot rod.

Hollis Wilde of Hemet was second, for a 55.1-pound bluefin, and Mike Fernandez of Rosamond was third, for a 55-pounder bluefin tuna.

Killer Whale Thieves
Roy Rose skippered the Royal Polaris on a five-day trip to open water at 200 miles and to Guadalupe Island. "We got limits of albacore," he said June 28, "and then went to Guadalupe for some really big yellowtail. We got one yellowfin there, and a couple dozen 40-pound yellows. I handed off a half-dozen of those that I hooked on Salas 7X surface jigs. Killer whales ate some big fish right at the boat, before we could gaff 'em. That put the school down."

Peter O'Toole of San Diego found a bluefin that was a little bigger than the yellowtail. His 51-pound tuna took a YoHoHo chrome jig on 40-pound clear Izorline wound on a 4/0 Penn reel and a Seeker 800M rod.

Mark Slivinski of Tucson was second, for a 48-pound yellowtail, and Michael DaVee of Pacific Beach won third place, for a 47.8-pound yellowtail.

Performance Gets Limits
Rodney Okimoto took his Performance Tackle charter anglers to Alijos, Hipolito and Cedros Island on a seven-day trip that returned June 30 with limits of yellowtail and three-quarter limits of albacore. "Alijos has slowed down a little," he said. "It was excellent yellowtail fishing at Hipolito, and we came across some really big cruisers south of Cedros. We had good albacore fishing just yesterday, at 100 miles on a nice grade of fish."

A scrambled eggs 6X Jr. jig from Salas enticed a 50-pound yellowtail for Ron Zemeno of Ventura, which took first place. He said he used 40-pound Big Game line, a Newell 440 reel, a Kencor six-foot rod and thirty minutes to do the job.

Marc Higashi of Performance Tackle in Los Alamitos took second, for a 48-pound yellowfin. Kevin Varnell of Aurora, CO tied for third with Roland "Fuzz" Payne of Santa Paula. Both had 47-pounders, but Varnell had a yellowtail and Fuzz had a yellowfin tuna.

Hard Work Produces
"We worked hard, and we caught fish," noted Royal Star skipper Brian Sims June 30. His 25 anglers came home after their eight-day trip with limits of husky yellowfin and yellowtail. One of the yellows weighed 50 pounds, but was the length of a normal 35-pounder. Jeff Burroughs of San Ramon caught the tusker yellow, on a Spanish mackerel.

Brian Brake of Woodland Hills won first place for a 62-pound yellowfin. It nit a sardine, he said, pinned on a 6/0 Mustad hook. He used 40-pound clear Izorline, a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar six-foot Grafighter rod. Jim Mickelson of Oceanside took second, for a 53.3-pound tuna, and John White Jr. of Grand Junction, CO was third, for a 52.7-pound yellowfin tuna.

Sardines & Squid
"We ended up with limits of albacore," said American Angler skipper Dan Sansome at Point Loma Sportfishing July 1. "And we saw a lot of bait: little sardines and squid. It was a cool 62 degrees of Colnett, about 100 miles down."

Three ladies aboard the four-day adventure posed for pictures. They were Gail Kiralla of Walnut, Denyse Bartels of Balboa Island and Lan Okuda of San Diego. The threesome had albacore of about 30 pounds.

Jim McCormick of Tehachapi took first place. He walloped a 35-pound albacore with a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad hook, 30-pound blue Izorline, a Penn GS 545 reel and a Calstar seven-foot glass rod. Neil Cole of Encinitas was second, for a 32-pounder.

Swell Drops Off
"The weather's down again," noted Searcher skipper Kevin Ward July 1. "The albacore want anchovies, but they're also biting Fish Traps and chrome iron. There's a fair amount of bluefin showing at 120 miles, where it's 62 degrees. I think there's a lot more fish coming."

Bob Friedman of Cedar Pines Park took first on the four-day trip for a 35-pound albie. He bagged it with a sardine on a 1/0 Mustad hook, 30-pound Big Game line, a Shimano 20-40 reel and a Seeker six and a half-foot rod. Chuck Dominique of Reseda got second place for a 31.4-pound albacore, and Scott Van Op of Oceanside had third place for a 31.1-pound albacore.

Punta Eugenia Payoff
Mike Lackey moored Vagabond July 1 after a six-day trip with "...limits of yellowtail, and near-limits of albacore and bluefin. It was excellent at Chester Rocks."

Glen Chapman of Fountain Valley used a sardine to capture the first-place fish, a 62.5-pound bluefin. He said he fished an Eagle Claw 3/0 hook, 40-pound Big Game line, a Pro Gear 454 reel and a Seeker 6460 rod. "It fought for an hour and 20 minutes," he added.

Tony Winicki of Oceanside was hot on Chapman's heels with a 62-pound bluefin, and Rick Hoffman of Ramona came up with a 54-pound bluefin for third place.