Angler poses with 100-lb-class bluefin tuna while Pacific Queen crew readies the gaffs for another.

<em>Pacific Queen</em>

Dock Totals June 17 – June 23: 4,457 anglers aboard 155 boats out of San Diego landings this past week caught 228 bluefin tuna, 1 yellowfin tuna, 2,948 yellowtail, 40 white seabass (30 released), 2,200 calico bass, 1,875 sand bass, 834 rockfish, 49 whitefish, 5 lingcod, 264 bonito, 361 sculpin, 2 sanddab, 22 sheephead, 21 halibut, 1,069 barracuda, 38 lizardfish, 1 leopard shark, 1 mako shark, 3 white croaker, 3 treefish, and 1 opah.

Saltwater: The big bluefin tuna continue to taunt, tease and torture some of the anglers and crews by showing on the meter or boiling on the surface in good numbers while either being finicky on the bite or too strong for the tackle when they do. Still, quite a few made it to the gaff this past week from 30 to 200 pounds. Boats running the overnights are finding them, so 1.5 day or longer trips aren’t necessary to get into the action, but your odds will increase and you’ll have more time at the rail if you do book a longer trip. Can’t say enough that anglers aiming for bluefin better take the biggest gear they have, and if you don’t have an 80-to-100-lb test-rated rod and reel, borrow, rent, buy or steal one.

If fishing bait, throw your J hooks away. Yes, they work great on toothless yellowtail; if one gets hooked deep, it only helps slow the fish down. With bluefin, they’ll chew you off and you’ll have lost maybe a thousand dollars’ worth of meat (at a paltry 10 bucks a pound) over a hook that maybe cost a dollar. I remember a guy once saying that it didn’t matter; that he’d get one hooked and to the boat, and if it chewed him off, well, at least he got the thrill of fighting one. He was cheerful, optimistic and bright-eyed on the way out, tying on his Mustad 4/0 J hook. Two hefty bluefin chewed him off that day and he certainly was neither bright-eyed nor cheerful on the way home. Circle hooks have better odds of setting perfectly in the corner of the jaw and will reduce ‘chew-offs’.

The lure of choice is a flat-fall, 120 grams and re-rigged with larger hooks than the assist hooks they come with. The fish pull so hard, they can pull those smaller hooks free and it’s over. I’ve seen photos of some monster-looking flat-falls with five or six hooks split-ringed on to both tie-points, and by all reports, they have been working well. Either way, it’s good to check with the crew and show them your terminal gear to get advice if not sure of your set-up.

Back inside, lots of sand bass have been coming off the flats and the calico bite on the kelp has been consistent. Barracuda are getting in the mix with the yellowtail and the anglers chucking surface irons have been having a blast and posting up limits of both. If fishing sand bass or calicos, the ½ day boats are scoring on those. Try a ¾- or full-day run to the Coronado Islands for the yellowtail and barracuda, as, for the time-being, that’s where the bulk of that action is. The middle grounds at the Islands have been producing good calico bass, and a run west of the south end might result in some near-home bluefin tuna.

Fish Plants: June 29, Santee Lakes, catfish (1,000), July 2, Jennings, catfish (1,000)