... to figure out that we are not going to get this yellowfin tuna in local waters. Like local, local waters, say around the Nine Mile Bank on up to outside Oceanside and Dana Point. 

"If it were going to push up here, it would have already," is what Bradley Phillips, owner/operator of the First String said to me this morning. But the good news is that it's hanging tough around that 1010, Double 220 zones where kelps with trash bags and strobes are being relocated day after day for WFO yellowfin fishing. 

There's also been an uptick on the bluefin fishing down to the southwest, with more of that 30- to 50-pound bluefin showing up. 

The offshore water has kind of fallen apart out towards the Tanner, loosing degrees and color, out where the Freedom had all that bluefin action late last month. And the local banks have had the water drop off a degree or two, although the Bongos III and the smaller charter boats out of Davey's Locker are still putting together trips on the little kelp paddy yellowtail. 

While truly local waters look to be on the last gasp for offshore fish, the stuff 65 plus miles from Point Loma looks to be staying strong. 

"I'm not big on predictions, but if there was ever a season where we will still have yellowfin until Thanksgiving, this is the one," said Phillips. The reason? The water is staying strong at 72 degrees and the tuna are sticking around in the same 1,000 fathom water they've been in all fall.