Big bucks in the black and blue

Inshore: The 1/2 boats have started concentrating more on the up and down fishing for rockfish, whitefish, sheephead and an occasional lingcod or halibut. Calico bass counts doubled in the past week from the previous week. Bonito and barracuda numbers shot up dramatically and are the main surface feeders right now off the kelp edges, though there are a few yellowtail around. Whitefish numbers have also doubled and a few more white seabass are showing up in the gray hours off La Jolla. The hoop-net twilight trips are getting out occasionally and reporting maybe 15 legal lobsters to every 100 raised.

Outside: Swordfish, shortbill spearfish, striped marlin and wahoo are still around within two-day range, but the tuna counts have dropped a ton. 900 fewer anglers overall for the week equaled a drop from 7,000+ yellowfin to just over 1,600, 1,200 fewer skipjack, and the bluefin are still scarce with only 12 caught. Yellowtail and dorado are still being found near kelp paddies and under birds offshore.

10/18 – 10/24 Dock Totals: 2,851 anglers aboard 141 boats out of San Diego landings caught 31 wahoo, 1,616 yellowfin tuna, 12 bluefin tuna, 1,095 yellowtail, 509 dorado, 566 skipjack tuna, 952 calico bass, 411 sand bass, 293 barracuda, 1,977 rockfish, 93 sheephead, 3 rubberlip seaperch, 6 halibut, 2,499 bonito, 58 whitefish, 8 lingcod, 1 shortbill spearfish, 3 white seabass, 1 swordfish, 2 striped marlin, 2 sculpin, 1 red rock crab and 68 spiny lobster.

Down south: The richest fishing contest in the world, the Bisbee's Black and Blue Tournament wrapped up on Saturday, October 24 in Cabo San Lucas with more than $3,515,000 dollars in prize money and side jackpots at stake. Team “Catching a Buzz” out of Ontario, Canada, taking top honors with a 500-pound blue marlin, caught in just 35 minutes on 130-pound test. The catch was worth @1.8 million dollars in prize money and with side jackpots could exceed $2 million for the five man team.