Intrepid arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing September 13 under Kevin Osborne’s hand, following an eight-day adventure down The Ridge with 24 fishermen on the Angler’s Choice charter with Luc Ofield as chartermaster.

“A nice trip,” said skipper Osborne. “We took two days going down The Ridge and spent another day fishing on kelps for wahoo and dorado. Then we came back up and spent another day at 150 miles on school yellowfin. We ended up with near-limits on the combined species, and the weather was very pleasant.”

Osborne commented that he saw water temperatures of up to 78 degrees down below.

Terry Wehrly of El Cajon won first place for his husky 55.8-pound wahoo, his career-best fish of that type. He said it bit on a red and gold Raider jig tied to 40-pound Soft Steel Ultra line and 80-pound Western Filament spectra. He used a Trinidad 30 reel and a Calstar 700 MK rod to whip his skin in about ten minutes.

Danny O’Leary of Pt. Loma got a 37-pound wahoo for second place, and Dan Taylor of Dana Point found a 32.6-pound wahoo for third place. Marcus Boutros of Whittier got honorable mention for his 77-pound gulf grouper.

Big Yellows For Spirit

Mike Keating docked his Spirit of Adventure at H&M Landing September 13 after a six-day trip that visited Guadalupe Island and the Cedros-Benitos area as well as the offshore fishing grounds. Avet rep Ben Frazier of Oxnard chartermastered, and found time to reel in the third-place fish as well.

Jack Bair of Huntington Beach won first place for a stout 48.3-pound yellowtail. He picked that one off with a sardine on a 3/0 ringed Gamakatsu hook on 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon. He used 50-pound Izorline spectra on an Avet JX reel and a GRUSA eight and a half-foot rod wrapped by Nanette Smith.

William Trujillo of Hesperia won second place for a 45-pound mossback yellow. Chartermaster Ben Frazier rounded off the winners with his 42.7-pound ‘tail, and the three winners posed for a jackpot photo.

Today Was Busy

“We got off to a great start for the trip,” noted Independence skipper Jeff DeBuys September 12, “as we stopped late in the afternoon yesterday for some premium yellowtail. Today things started off right at daylight, with dorado, tuna, and yellowtail biting until dark. Great fishing doesn’t begin to describe our day today. We are in travel mode right now off to another area for tomorrow. The weather is even better than the fishing, as it is hot and sunny, flat calm.”

Bright Start For Qualifier 105

“Today started out bright and early, as we got down to business looking for some of that mixed yellow-fin and blue-fin that has treated us kindly for the past month. As we made our way south in beautiful weather, we were quite pleased to break up the ride down with some nice tuna, yellowtail, and even a few Dorado. Once happy hour hit, it was all smiles as the sun set and we prepared ourselves for dinner and the anticipation of what tomorrow might bring.”

Nasty Sharks

“We arrived to Alijos rocks at 10:30 hours,” said the report from Royal Polaris September 12, “and it didn't take long for us to hook our first fish. After a short battle, the sharks had their way with the fish. So we made a short move and there was not enough life for us to stay at the rocks. After lunch, Roy made the decision to make a move. We pulled our anchor and headed east. We looked for kelps, but all the kelp found, were vacant.”

Short Shogun Trips

“We had limits of yellowfin tuna for our 30 passengers by 09:30 this morning,” observed the report for September 12. “Now that's fish'n; that’s catch'n! The fish have been 145 miles from San Diego, which means the Shogun has been leaving earlier than the other 1.5-day boats so that we are on the fish when the sun comes up. The rest of our day was spent hitting lots of kelps, most of which were dry, but we did manage to scratch some yellowtail and quality dorado to go along with the yellowfin tuna chilling in the holds.”