Super blue blood moon tide swings make for tough fishing

Dock Totals Jan 28 – Feb 3: 1,108 anglers aboard 52 boats out of San Diego landings this past week caught 91 bluefin tuna, 331 yellowtail, 64 calico bass, 470 sand bass, 1,362 rockfish, 10 whitefish, 13 lingcod, 115 bonito, 2 halibut, 2 halfmoon, 19 blacksmith, 740 sculpin, 234 sanddab, 27 lizardfish, 60 bocaccio, and 3 spiny lobster.

Saltwater: Anglers returned to the boats as nice weather set in this past week, though the blue blood moon full moon phase was tough on fishing. Boats able to fish in the curve of the tide swings did okay. Some of the ½ day boats did well on sand bass and sculpin while others managed a fish or two per angler through eight-plus feet of tide swing, from a mid-morning high to an afternoon low. As the moon started waning past full on the first of the month, the fishing started picking up.

For the boats fishing offshore, it was hit-and-miss, but the 1.5 day trips that fished early in the a.m. and deep into the afternoon did well on yellowtail and managed to round up some bluefin tuna.

The ongoing halibut derby on a.m. and p.m. Wednesday 1/2 day trips on the Dolphin out of Fisherman’s Landing is ramping up. This past Wednesday no legal-sized halibut were caught, though six shorts were released. The two-month-long derby began on January 3rd and will run until the end of February, when the overall winner will take all the cash (right now over $1,000), 2nd place will win a new rod and reel, and third place wins free trips on the Dolphin. The current first place fish weighed in at 13.5 pounds and measured 31.5 inches, caught on a dropper loop with live bait by angler Michael Lagrisola, while angler David McClelland holds second place with a 27 inch, 8.2 pound fish caught on a swimbait with a strip of squid pinned on it.

$10 of the $50 fare will go toward the jackpot. I discussed fishing halibut last week, mostly talking about using plastics, especially grubs, and keeping it down in the water column. I’ll add a couple of tips to that – the bounce-ball technique is worth researching (note; the current leader was using a dropper loop with live bait.

You can Google "bounce ball" and "dropper loop." The flat-fall jigs at 70 grams or so work on halibut if using the dead stick method— you keep the lure straight up and down and not cast it out and fish it at an angle. Let the jig fall to the bottom, wind up a foot or so with the rod tip down, and then raise and lower the rod tip without reeling and then free-fall back toward the bottom. Dead-sticking a flat fall works on rockfish, sand bass, yellowtail holding to the bottom, and lingcod.

Top boats of the week:

Jan 28 – The Chief reported 150 rockfish, 100 bonito and 6 yellowtail for the 20 anglers aboard their 1.5 day trip south.

Jan 29 – 19 anglers aboard the Dolphin ½ day run caught 85 sand bass along with 28 sculpin.

Jan 31 – The Mustang called in with limits of 80 yellowtail and 2 bluefin tuna for the 16 anglers aboard their 1.5 day trip.

Feb 2 – 6 anglers aboard the New Seaforth ½ day run put 17 sand bass, 21 sculpin and 2 calico bass in the gunnysacks.

Feb 3 – The New Lo-An reported good mixed fishing with 120 rockfish, 8 lingcod and 23 bluefin tuna for 24 anglers aboard their 1.5 day trip.

Fish Plants: 2/9 - Santee Lakes, trout (TBD)