September saw an influx of Big Eye Tuna to the fishing grounds. These fish were generally in the 40 to 70 pound region, but some were going as high as 120! We headed south armed with the heavier gear hoping to find some of these trophies. Scott set the trolling rotation when we got in the area, but warned us that we were not going to stop for smaller fish, like skipjack and the smaller Yellowfin. We stopped on kelp paddies, but if they held fish it was the micro-Yellowtail or 5# Yellowfin tuna. Very late in the afternoon Al hooked up a real fish, a Big Eye in the 55# range. He led the jackpot race until Seiji hooked up a 64# tuna to win the first day's jackpot.
With only two large fish, and lots of very small ones, being caught a long ways from the dock, we decided to spend the night running north and try a shot for the Yellowtail at the Coronado Islands the next morning. The fishing was very slow, with some bass, a bonito, a yellowtail and some rock fish brought on deck. The decision was made to head in early and beat the traffic home. While not a great trip, everyone had some tuna, and two of us had one of the larger variety!