Had a great day of fishing with Dave, Janet and Anthony targeting Bonefish in the back of San Diego Bay. Once we arrived at our spot I got all 3 rods setup with bait and metered a spot that I wanted to stop on. I shut the boat down and handed the first rod to Janet (ladies first) as I dropped the bait straight down. As I turned away to get another rod and instruct her on how to set the hook if she gets a fish, her rod bent over and line started screaming off the reel!! It had been less than 30 seconds and she was already on the first Bonefish of the day! More or less, Janet continued this process for the rest of the morning showing the men just how it’s done!

The bite stayed consistant for almost the whole morning allowing them to end the morning with 25 Bonefish, some Spotties and a few Croaker in the mix. There were a few triples and lot’s of double hookups all morning.

Dave, Janet and Anthony on a triple hookup of nicer grade Bonefish!

Anthony releasing a really nice Bonefish.

Janet was by far the “hot stick” on the boat this morning. Here she is releasing one of a dozen Bonefish caught by herself.

It was a great morning of fishing with Dave, Janet and Anthony. Both the fishing and the company was a blast! Hopefully I get to fish with them again in the future!

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

Wade wanted to squeeze in a fishing trip while in San Diego for a convention. We worked out a 2pm start time from Anthony’s little dock they have which is just down the street from the Marriott he was staying at. I picked him up at the dock at 2pm on the dot and we ran to the back bay to try for some Bonefish. The bite started off steady for the first hour and a half then slowed a bit for about 30-45 minutes. Slow being a fish every 5-10 minutes or so, not 1-2 minutes. Then the tide turned and started to push back in and things began to heat up fast! By 5pm the bite ignited with multiple double hookups! At some points are bait’s were hit immediately when they touched bottom! It was a great bite on Bonefish with a mix of Yellowfin Croaker! The great part of this is that since it was only Wade on the boat I was able to fish with him. Most of the time I get to watch and help others catch fish, so this was a nice change, especially with a bite like this!

Here are some pictures from the days catch:

Overall a great day on the water. The wind died down, the bite only got better as the day went on and I didn’t have to get up early! It doesn’t get much better than that.

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

I got a call from Don on Thursday evening wanting to take his freshly married daughter and son-in-law John fishing. His goal was not to go after trophy fish, but instead catch a few fish and have a good time. I knew that back bay would be the call due to the bite being really good lately.

I met Don, his daughter Rachel and son-in-law John at the Shelter Island ramp at 6:30am. I had collected Ghost Shrimp prior to our meet around 5am in the dark. It was a bit hard to get the bait, so we didn’t have as many as I wanted, but better than none that’s for sure. We headed to the back bay to my usual area and quickly got into the Yellowfin Croaker. After pulling in a few Croaker I wanted to move to try and find the Bonefish and not use our good bait on the Croaker. Our next spot started to produce some Bonefish with a few Croaker in the mix and seemed to keep picking up with time. Rachel and John and a friendly fishing battle going on between them which always adds entertainment for the morning! At one point I decided to flip on the camera and shoot some video during a double hookup, which turned into a triple hookup while the camera was rolling!

Overall it was a great day on the water. Lot’s of fish were caught and released along with some good smack talk going on! Don, Rachel and John were a blast to fish with.

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

Originally Jason and Mark had booked a morning half day on Tuesday but due to flight issues Mark was not able to fly in until the morning of Tuesday. With this information Jason contacted me saying he had to cancel due to Mark’s flight. I replied back offering to make it an afternoon half day if his flight came in on time. Sure enough, Mark’s flight landed at 10:30am, had lunch by 11:00am, on the boat by 11:30am and landed is first fish at 12:05pm! That was after missing his first fish at noon on the dot. So it started off with a great beginning and only seemed to get better as the afternoon progressed.

We fished from Noon until a little after 4pm so I could get them back in for a work meeting in Carlsbad. Yes, somehow they squeezed in a fishing trip between a flight landing at 10:30am and a work meeting that evening. This are the kind of trips I think are a little more special than your “normal” fishing trip. When most people would have thrown in the towel and canceled the trip, Jason and Mark fired up the engines and took my word about promising to catch some fish.

Overall it was a great that ended with 15-20 Bonefish and just as many Yellowfin Croaker with a few Black Croaker in the mix. Below you will find some video clips from the days fun.

Jason and Mark with a double hookup with one Yellowfin Croaker and one Bonefish.

Here is Mark hooked up with a nice Yellowfin Croaker.

Jason and Mark once again hooked into a double on Bonefish! They pulled off multiple double hookups this day making it a great day.

It was a great day on the water and Jason and Mark were a blast to take fishing. Hopefully we will repeat this trip next time they are in town!

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

This fishing day started very differently than any other day in the past. I met Rachel at the gym around 1:45pm and it turned out that she had a bad day at work due to some BAD kids. I noticed on the way to the gym that the afternoon wind wasn’t very bad, which made me think of fishing in the bay. Once I heard about her day, I suggested that we should do an afternoon fish in the bay and then grab some dinner at one of the restaurants on the water. Surprised at the last minute thought, she agreed with a big smile. We powered out a quick work out, showered, hooked up the boat, threw a couple of beverages (adult type) in and were on the road by 3:30pm! Stopped at Anglers Choice Tackle shop and picked up some Ghost Shrimp and had the boat in the water by 4:30pm with Rachel driving full speed towards the back of the bay. It was sunny and beautiful out with nobody on the water.

We stopped at the usual spot, baited up and in quick order got a double hookup on a Yellowfin Croaker and Bonefish!! We continued this same process over and over again with some fish hitting the bait just as it hit the bottom! It was wide open on Yellowfin Croaker with a mix of Bonefish to add even more excitement. Early on we also noticed a friendly Osprey hanging above the boat checking us out. About 2 weeks prior I was in the same spot with some customers and an Osprey dove down and grabbed one of the Bonefish right off the line while it was hooked up. I also know that this has happened to 2 other friends on separate occasions, so I had a bad feeling about our new “friend”.

Sure enough, he made several attempts at grabbing one of our fish. So I came up with an idea to keep one of the smaller Croaker and tie it off to a very light piece of fishing line and to a cleat to see if he would come in for a snack. Sure enough he bombed in and grabbed the Croaker two feet from the boat! Unfortunately he bombed in so quickly I hardly had time to hit the record button!

Once the Osprey got his meal he flew off and left us alone. I tell you, that bird could be quite a nuisance trying to fish back there. Of course we also didn’t take into consideration that there could be 2 Osprey! Sure enough, one got back and told the other about what he caught and not 2 minutes later a 2nd and more mature Osprey showed up! This time we timed it out better and were able to get a full clip of Osprey action!

Very exciting to watch a bird of this size come bombing in right at you while you are holding a little piece of fishing line with a fish attached!! I grew up watching these birds hunt in our local lagoons, in Mexico and in Northern California. So seeing them up close like this was a real treat!

Since we didn’t take any pictures I figured I should at least get a video clip of Rachel hooked up to one of her many Bonefish for the day. While filming her my rod in the holder decided to get picked up and sure enough we ended with a double hookup on Bonefish.

Just before Sunset we decided to call it a day after a double Bonefish hookup. We cleaned up the boat a bit and Rachel started to steer us back into the channel while the sun was setting over Point Loma.

Rachel heading into the Sunset on our way to stop for a sunset dinner...a day can’t get much better than this.

Stopped at Anthony’s Fish Groto and had some tasty food for dinner. I ordered the “catch of the day” which was a Basa. Ironically this fish is from Asia so it was hardly the “catch of the day”! But I tell you what, that fish was very good! It was very flakey with a buttery sweet flavor. I was pleasantly surprised!

It was really nice to do an afternoon fish like this, especially with the dinner and Rachel by my side. We headed back to the ramp just at grey light and the city lights were a great back drop from the water! On the way back I asked Rachel if her day got better? She looked at me with a big smile and said “much better, thank you”! That smile was priceless…

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

Tuesday’s Yellowtail fishing exploded down south at the Rockpile with easy limits. Decided on Tuesday night at the last minute to head out with Pat Hastings on his boat to try and get some fresh Hamachi (Yellowtail). Unfortunately the wind was blowing early and made for a washing machine day, all day! We headed down to the Rockpile and found no life down there and very few boats. Picked up a few meter marks and slowed trolled some live Sardines in the area for a bit and had no bites. All of the Sport Boats showed up and basically drove in circles trying to meter schools of fish. After about 45 minutes they headed back North towards the Coronado Islands. We decided to do the same. Fished around South Kelp, South Island, and found birds, but still no fish. Decided to head back through the area we saw birds at first thing this morning. Sure enough all the birds were there and all the Sport Boats. Slow trolled more and finally got a boil of Yellowtail to swing towards the boat. Pat hooked up right next to the boat and got into a great battle with a nice Yellowtail.

Here is Pat with his Yellowtail.

We tried a bit more with no luck. The fish were there but feeding on really small bait and not too excited about taking our Sardines. But still great to come back with some fresh meat!

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

Took Tim and Sherrie fishing in San Diego’s back bay to target Bonefish and other species. Mother Nature granted us one of the nicest days on the water in a long time. Unfortunately my day started with a flat trailer tire, but was still able to get a hold of Tim and let him know I would be running a bit late. Ended up only a half hour late, we were still able to get on the water by 7am and start fishing the back bay.

The morning started a bit slow but quickly picked up once we moved to another spot I had marked. The first 3 fish were 3 different species with a Sting Ray, Spotted Bay Bass and Black Croaker. After catching about 10 fish the Bonefish finally showed their presence! Overall they brought in 6 species, 12 Bonefish and over 20 fish for the mornings catch. It was a great day on the water with a special showing of an Offsprey that dove down right next to the boat and stole a Bonefish right off Tim’s line!!! It was an amazing event to witness!

Here is the the first of two Stingrays’ Tim caught.

Sherrie with a young Spotted Bay Bass.

More Spotted Bay Bass…

Sherrie with her Halibut.

Close up of Halibut.

Tim and Sherrie with one of 12 Bonefish caught this day.

Tim with a Black Croaker.

Close up of the Black Croaker.

Tim with a nice and colorful Yellowfin Croaker.

Tim Shover and Sherrie on a double hookup with San Diego Bay Bonefish!

Tim netting Sherrie’s Bonefish after the double hookup while I filmed.

Sherrie pulling in a nice Yellowfin Croaker.

Sherrie on another Bonefish.

Overall it was a great day on the water and a blast taking Tim and Sherrie fishing. It was Tim’s first Bonefish and the most fish Sherrie has ever caught. It was also Tim’s second time booking a trip with me so it was nice to see him again.

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

Took Sean, Pat and Jerry out on the back bay to try and put them on some Bonefish. Despite all the wind that blew during the week, mother nature still granted us a calm morning in the back bay to target the Bonefish. With Pat bringing some freshly pumped Ghost Shrimp we were able to get the fish going real quick!

The day started with a great sunrise over San Diego.

Jerry with his first of many Bonefish.

Yellowfin Croaker added to the species count that day.

Sean Hastings with a Bonefish.

After fishing for 3.5 hours we ended with Bonefish, Yellowfin Croaker, Black Croaker, Spotfin Croaker, Spotted Bay Bass, Short Halibut, Turbot and a Stingray. That is 8 different species for the morning along with 10+ Bonefish for the boat. A fun trip and with the weather warming up it should only get better!

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

Despite the wind, rain and hail predictions for the day, Mark was still fired up on trying to get on the water to find some fish, and I was happy to oblige. First thing in the morning it dumped hard on us and pretty much soaked us down. But after that one major down pour, it all seemed to stay away the rest of the day. It was still cloudy and pretty windy, but overall a good day. Even the fish cooperated a bit with us despite the weather!

Mark with one of many Sand Bass caught that day.

A Sculpin that Mark caught. This fish is very poisonous.

Mark with a small Halibut.

Close up of the Halibut.

The Navy Seals were doing trainings in the back bay which was very entertaining to watch! They were jumping out of the Helicopters into the water and then getting picked back up a few minutes later. Here are some shots of their “fun”.

More Navy Seal pictures.

A Spotted Bay Bass to bump up the species count to four.

And close to the end of the day Mark hooked into this nice Halibut using plastics. This fish was released.

Overall a great day on the water thanks to Mother Nature sparing us! We ended the day with 5 different species and about 20+ fish for the day. Hopefully this weekly rain/wind slows down and allows Spring to bloom.

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter

Due to the excitement of getting into our first (of four) Bonefish for 2010 on Thursday, I decided to go again on Saturday with Terry and some Ghost Shrimp for bait. Turned out to be a great day with no wind for a few hours, some sun and the great Bonefish visiting us again. It was so flat on the back bay that it felt like a lake at times. We had a nice incoming tide all morning which created a nice clean drift for targeting specific areas.

Overall we ended the morning with 10 Bonefish, 3 Turbot (rare catch), 5 Black Croaker (formerly thought to be Sargo), 6 Spotted Bay Bass and another 6 Yellowfin Croaker. Five species spread over 30 fish in about 4 hours of fishing. Can’t beat the fishery San Diego has!

Here is a shot of a Turbot which are like the East coast flounder and have no teeth. I had only caught 3 in my life and we ended catching 3 just this one day!

Black Croaker which we use to think was Sargo. Turns out Sargo have a black stripe by the tail and don’t “croak” when you catch them.

It doesn’t get much calmer and flatter than this!

While cleaning the boat up Terry threw a line in and hooked into this nice Spotted Bay Bass.

Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter