San Diego, the best of both worlds for fresh-caught fish

Dock Totals 9/10 – 9/16: 4309 anglers aboard 192 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 4078 bluefin tuna (up to 265 pounds), 2 bocaccio, 15 bonito, 466 calico bass, 1598 (8991) dorado, 3 halibut, 9 lingcod, 1294 rockfish, 558 sand bass, 44 sanddab, 742 sculpin, 180 sheephead, 1 striped marlin, 235 whitefish, 1 white seabass, 2299 yellowfin tuna, and 586 yellowtail.

Saltwater: While yellowfin tuna and yellowtail numbers remained about the same per angler as the week previous, bluefin tuna doubled in the counts, while dorado numbers dropped drastically from nearly 9000 to 1600 caught this past week. Rockfish also nearly halved from the week previous, but that was mostly due to better surface action on tuna. Inshore rockfish is now done for the rest of the year until the overall groundfish closure on January 1, 2024, and can be targeted only in water between 300 and 600 feet deep, so those numbers will probably remain on the low end until the season beginning April 1 next year.

The average size of bluefin being caught seems to have gone up, with several caught over 150 pounds, including one 265 pound standout caught by angler Bobby Williams during a 3-day charter aboard the New Lo-An with 12 anglers aboard. On that trip, 3-day limits of 76 bluefin were caught, with most of the fish coming in between 80 and 170 pounds. Another standout catch this past week was the striped marlin boated aboard the Gato Dos full-day run with five anglers, who also caught 5 yellowfin and 4 bluefin.

Good-sized yellowtail have been caught along the Baja coast and out toward San Clemente Island — and further out at Cortez and Tanner banks. Though the number is much lower than our normal catch this time of year, the yellowtail have generally been larger than when caught in large numbers of smaller schooling fish. Locally, the catch for half-day boats has been more about sand bass than rockfish, which should continue through the rest of the year, given the new depth restrictions for rockfish.

I was asked recently why we don’t see more opah, or moonfish, caught by the sportfishing fleet, as the commercial boats tend to have some available every week at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market on Saturdays. Though a long-range boat will occasionally get one or maybe even two opah, they are fairly rarely caught by sportboats. I think the most I ever heard of being caught on any one trip was three. Commercial boats, though, will get quite a few on some trips. This past week, one of the Haworth boats offloaded 76 big opah caught during their last outing. The good news is, even though catching one is a longshot, fresh opah is often available at the market on Saturdays for the very reasonable price of $13-$14 per pound for filets.

The reason the commercial boats get opah regularly and the sportboats rarely get them is that the commercial boats typically fish about 600 miles west. That’s also why they will get albacore commonly when the sportboats do not. Albacore tuna used to be prevalent in local waters seasonally until 2003 or so; today, they are a rare recreational catch out of San Diego. This is because their new migration route takes them much further off our coast; albacore aren’t within sportfishing range until near the Oregon/Washington border. Along with the migrating albacore, there are lots of opah out there on those outer banks that our sportfishing fleet does not fish.

The main reasons sportboats do not head 600-miles west to find schools of albacore or fish for opah is that there is no shelter or port to run to if the weather blows up. Plus, there are limited species/choices if the target species are not around or biting, and a lot of travel time, with an average speed of 10 knots per hour in open seas. Sportboats ranging 600 miles or more out of San Diego work off the coast of Baja for those reasons. On the other hand, commercial boats aren’t generally bound to a clock, limits, or passenger satisfaction and safety as much as they are bound by fuel, international treaties, and hold capacity. For a price of a license and biosphere wristband where required, we recreational anglers can enjoy fishing in Mexican waters, where commercial boats have set boundaries.

So, we San Diegans get the best of both worlds when it comes to fresh-caught fish availability. We can go catch dorado, yellowtail, and tuna just off the coast and south into Mexico, and still find fresh-caught species that are generally out of our sportfishing range for sale at the markets at a decent price. If you like fresh seafood and haven’t gone yet, I suggest a trip down to the Embarcadero and the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market at 598 Harbor Lane on Saturdays. You won’t be disappointed. They’re out there, so go get ‘em!