Lots of yellowtail

Dock Totals July 9 – July 15: 4,197 anglers aboard 163 boats out of San Diego landings this past week caught 33 bluefin tuna, 28 yellowfin tuna, 89 dorado, 3,804 yellowtail, 2 white seabass, 3,370 calico bass, 104 sand bass, 2,815 rockfish, 138 sanddab, 9 lingcod, 709 bonito, 365 barracuda, 68 sculpin, 83 whitefish, 43 sheephead, 6 halibut, 2 cabezon, 10 bocaccio, 2 opah, and 3 mako shark.

Saltwater: It’s still mostly a long boat ride with limited success for yellowfin tuna and bluefin tuna. The size of the bluefin, a few going over the 200-pound mark, is keeping a few boats working on the outside. A nice grade of yellowtail are hanging around kelp paddies, found along the way, as are schools of dorado, giving the offshore anglers something else to pull on if the tuna won’t bite. Many of those boats looking for tuna are getting limits on yellowtail. The boats working the Coronado Islands are also scoring well on yellowtail, bonito, and barracuda. Rockfish gave way to calico bass on the inside, as most of the boats are targeting the kelp edge rather than the rockfish spots, due to the great calico bite and occasional yellowtail and white seabass in 80 to 100 feet of water along the coast. Those boats are finding bonito and barracuda off the kelp beds.

The Van Wormer Resorts East Cape Dorado Shootout produced some large fish this year, and though the official results aren’t posted as of this writing, the three largest fish reported (so far) were a 52.5-pounder caught aboard the Amante, a 57.3-pounder caught from El Regalo, and a 61.4-pounder caught from Don Julio. 141 teams competed this year. Last year’s event the top three dorado caught were 12.6, 7.1, and 6.7 pounds. The first fish weighed in this year’s competition was over 30 pounds, and they got bigger as the day wore on.

Top performing boats this week:

July 15 The New Lo-An returned from an overnight run with 16 anglers aboard and reported 3 dorado and limits of 80 yellowtail caught.

July 14 16 anglers aboard the Pegasus 1.5 day trip caught 69 yellowtail and 3 dorado.

July 13 The San Diego called in with 111 yellowtail, 16 barracuda and 32 bonito for the 29 anglers aboard their ¾ day run.

July 12 21 anglers aboard the Topgun 80 2.5 day trip put 207 yellowtail and 3 yellowfin tuna in the hold.

July 11 The Mission Belle reported 100 yellowtail, 3 calico bass, 31 bonito and 4 barracuda for the 20 anglers aboard their ¾ day Coronado Island run.

July 10 16 anglers aboard the Apollo 2 day run offshore caught 2 dorado, 2 yellowfin tuna and limits of 160 yellowtail.

July 9 The Pacific Voyager returned to the dock with 180 yellowtail, 4 yellowfin tuna and 21 dorado for the 18 anglers aboard their 2 day run offshore.

Fish Plants: No plants this week.