Brian Yoshida

Our fishing photo contest winner of two half-day passes this time around is Kenji Kanase, with a 287-pound yellowfin tuna caught while fishing aboard the Royal Polaris’ 10-day trip to the lower banks. Noted Wicked Tuna celebrity Dave Marciano was aboard for the trip, and Kenji, somewhat of a “greenhorn” on the long-range scene, was a bit intimidated when he wrapped his line around Marciano’s, so he went to the bow with a chunk bait and scored the largest tuna of the day. Mr. Marciano posing with Kenji and his whopper yellowfin tuna.

Fish Pix Win Fish Tix!

Submit your best fishing photo and every 2 weeks we’ll pick our favorite and run it in this column. Winner will also receive 2 half-day passes plus rod and reel rental ($65–$75 value each) for a sport fishing trip courtesy of the San Diego Sportfishing Council.

Contest details

Dock Totals 12/11 – 12/24: 828 anglers aboard 49 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past two weeks caught 184 bluefin tuna, 24 calico bass, 5 lingcod, 2161 rockfish, 25 sand bass, 24 sanddab, 338 sculpin, 194 sheephead, 14 triggerfish, and 684 whitefish.

Saltwater: As 2022 winds to an end, bluefin tuna are still hanging around Tanner Bank 120 miles due west of Point Loma. Most of the mid- to long-range fleet is fishing along the Baja peninsula; those who occasionally make the long run west are finding a good grade of tuna willing to bite. With the plethora of squid in the area, expectations are that the tuna will remain within range of 1.5-day and longer trips. A few long-range boats are heading north on their return leg to get a day in on the action at Tanner, such as the Intrepid on their 11-Day Soft Steel trip south.

After getting some school-sized yellowfin, dorado, yellowtail, and grouper off Baja Sur, and with the larger yellowfin not cooperating, they headed up the beach. Captain Bill Cavanaugh decided to top off the trip by taking a shot at the bluefin out west. The results were good, albeit after a slow start on the big brutes. From Captain Cavanaugh: “Our first day fishing Bluefin we had scratch fishing, but all the fish were quality 60-140 lb.-class fish. Most of our bites came from fly-lined baits and sinker rigs. At the last hour of our trip, we managed to get on a school and had wide open action on beautiful grade Bluefin. It was every drop with the knife jigs for a whole hour. We ended our trip with a bang and returned home with a great mixed bag of Yellowfin, Yellowtail, Dorado, Grouper and Bluefin.”

Local boats are focusing on rockfish, sheephead, and whitefish, and those not going into maintenance mode for the winter break will be fishing just south of the border during the closure until March 1st, or working in US waters for sand bass and calico bass. Halibut are also a viable winter target, especially along the Point Loma flats and off Imperial Beach. Anglers fishing the bays from private boats and kayaks are reporting a solid spotted bay bass bite and quite a few keeper halibut over the minimum 22”.

Surf fishing has been steady for barred surf perch, mostly, with a few corbina and croakers mixed in. That bite improves as you go north into Orange County and up. Weather and Christmas activities has slowed the lobster trips for the fleet over the past couple weeks, though hoop-netters from private boats, and piers, along with free divers are getting decent results, with legal-sized ‘bugs’ representing about a quarter of the catch. Remember to check all regs before going out, as a report card, gauge, and license are required.

Also, there is a change for California fishing licenses in 2023 that should make most anglers happy. Finally, the 365-day licenses will be available beginning January 1st. This means no matter when you buy your license, it will be valid for 365 days from the date of purchase. This makes much more sense: now, a seasonal angler will not have to renew a license purchased in, say, June until the following year in June. Before this, all anglers had to buy a new license at the beginning of each calendar year.

Looking back: 2022 has been a banner year for the fleet. Bluefin opened the show last spring, and along with some solid yellowtail fishing along the coast, dorado moved north of the border in masses rarely (if ever) seen before, and were caught all the way up to the albacore grounds 60 miles off the Oregon coast. Though studies show that bluefin tuna are out there somewhere year-round off the Southern California and Baja coast, they have seemed to settle in on the Tanner/Cortez banks for the winters. This could be a new normal, or as Rob Tressler reported from the Tribute on a recent 1.5-day trip to Tanner, “More and more it’s clear that weather permitting, we are fortunate to have what may very well be a year-round fishery for bluefin within 1.5-2.5 day range in Southern California.” Let’s hope the trend continues into 2023 and beyond.

Tight lines and Happy New Year! They’re out there, so go get ‘em!

Notable catches:

12/11 – 11 anglers fishing aboard the Dolphin PM ½-Day trip had a decent mixed-bad outing resulting in 19 sheephead, 18 rockfish, 12 sculpin, and 3 calico bass caught.

12/16 – The Daiwa Pacific AM ½-Day run returned to the dock with 77 rockfish, 6 sheephead, and 2 sculpin for 12 anglers.

12/18 – The Tribute called from the Tanner Bank area in with 71 whitefish, 40 rockfish, 4 lingcod, and limits of 56 bluefin tuna for 28 anglers.

12/20 – Great December fishing with limits of 126 bluefin tuna for 21 anglers aboard the Polaris Supreme 3-Day trip to the outer banks.

Fish Plants: 12/26 – Lake Jennings, trout (1,500), 12/28 – Lake Dixon, trout (1,500), 12/29 – Lake Poway, trout (1,500), 12/30 - Lake Wohlford, trout (1,500), Santee Lakes, lakes 4 and 7, trout (1,500)