A lone albacore caught aboard the Aztec out of Seaforth Sportfishing on July 26th.

Dock Totals 7/23 – 7/29: 5087 anglers aboard 216 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 1 albacore, 29 barracuda, 3575 bluefin tuna (up to 220 pounds), 35 bocaccio, 191 bonito, 2710 calico bass, 61 dorado, 12 halibut, 26 lingcod, 2 perch, 3961 rockfish, 375 sand bass, 1 sand sole, 76 sculpin, 234 sheephead, 6 treefish, 269 whitefish, 450 yellowfin tuna, and 426 yellowtail.

Saltwater: Having totaled up fish counts for over 8 years officially, and going back as long as I could access reports, the one constant is change. Sure, time of year when various pelagic species make their appearance is a generally accurate timetable, but for some, like massive amounts of dorado last year and albacore disappearing from our fleet’s range nearly two decades ago, a trend of warming water affecting currents and thus affecting marine biospheres has been more noticeable of late. 

Dorado showed a bit a couple weeks ago, then none in the count one week, and more now. I expect the numbers to grow as usual this time of year, though we may or may not see the ‘explosion’ we saw in August-September of last year of multitudes in US waters. Here, above the border, the limit is ten fish per angler per day, in Mexican waters where the majority of dorado are normally caught during season, the limit is two fish per day, with a maximum of three day’s limits for long range trips. This partially explains the over 30,000 dorado caught in four weeks from August 7 through September 3 by just the ½-day to 3-day boats out of the main four landings in San Diego; Seaforth, Fisherman’s, Point Loma, and H&M.

Per scientific studies, there has been a migration toward cooler environments globally as average temperatures have edged upwards in recent decades. By following studies on species migrations, one can see a shift; terrestrial migrations of mammals, birds, amphibians, freshwater fish, insects, and even plants have moved pole-ward or higher in altitude. Species in marine environments are more sensitive, and the pole-ward migrations in the ocean have been several times faster than that of terrestrial species. 

As anglers, we see the changes season-to-season, and over decades. Kelp beds have been in decline but with a few years of resurgence over the past decades. Sea stars, specifically the sunflower sea star that feeds on purple urchin, suffered a mass die-off due to Sea Star Wasting Disease where infected starfish rot away, basically dissolving into nothing. Though the exact cause has not been determined, warming water helped spread the disease, and the resulting increase of purple urchin, now free of their main predator, has affected the overall health of kelp forests. Since 2013, an estimated 5.75 billion sunflower sea stars have died, with a 90% decline in population.

Though albacore have moved their migratory route poleward taking them off the expected catch and menu for southern California recreational anglers, the influx of the less-temperature reliant bluefin tuna over the past several years, along with the more recent influx of dorado, has filled in the gap nicely. But still, every year, a few wayward albacore will be caught. This past spring, as usual, commercial boats working 500 to 700 miles due west of San Diego caught a few, and fresh albacore was available on Saturdays at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market at the Embarcadero. They were once the mainstay of the fleet, and often referred to as ‘chickens’, as per ‘chicken of the sea’.

This past week, three albacore were caught by sportfishing vessels; two by anglers aboard the Lex Sea out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing, and one was caught on the 26th of July by an angler aboard the Aztec out of Seaforth Landing. Generally, when an albacore does make the counts in Southern California, they have been caught on the cool sides of temperature breaks, and most have been juveniles under 20-pounds. Still, as reported before here in the fishing report, the cries of ‘the albacore are coming’ are hyperbolically announced throughout the social media fishing pages specific to our fishery. I still don’t think so, but yellowfin have been filling in, dorado are starting to show, and bluefin tuna, some over 200-pounds are still biting well – there’s a lot of realistic things to be excited about other than a few ‘chickens’ out of their flock.

As per usual since their resurgence, bluefin are shifting north at the end of July, and boats targeting them specifically have been working the Cortez/Tanner banks and doing well. Yellowfin and dorado have mostly been coming from the grounds from the Corner to the Lower Finger Bank off Ensenada, where bluefin are still biting as well, though usually a smaller grade. Yellowtail have been increasing in activity all along the Pacific coast of all three Californias; the northern part of Baja California Sur, Baja California, and our own 31st state. 

Calico bass numbers have jumped dramatically as happens when the water warms and currents favor fishing along the kelp. Even though kelp beds have been fluctuating rapidly year-to-year due to temperature and urchin, calico bass, AKA kelp bass, don’t seem to mind the loss of canopy as they are more specific to the reef structure and food it holds. I have caught a lot of them in water to well beyond the maximum depth of kelp, which is around 80-90 feet. Same with sheephead that are associated with kelp beds; some of my largest ‘goats’ have come from 100-150 feet in depth. Again, hard structure seems to be the key. 

So, a few albacore may unjustly incite hyperbolic social media posts and California-based fishing media sites, but there are a lot of legitimate things to get hyped about in the SoCal and Baja fishing scene this year as we move into the high season. They’re out there, so go get ‘em!