Some fishing days are about filling the ice box. Other days are about experiences you'll be talking about for years.

This was definitely one of those days.

I launched with one thing on my mind: wahoo. Unfortunately, those striped demons once again reminded me why they're even more frustrating than bluefin tuna. The fish box stayed empty, but what happened instead was something I never expected.



I launched to beautiful conditions.  On the way out it was warm and blue water.  I found a paddy at the drop off to the abyss and caught 3 small yellows to about a pound and stuffed them in the live well for something greater.  I started my journey until I reached the parking lot of swordfish boats out there.

So picture this... trolling solo on the flats boat with five rods spread out, covering water for marlin and wahoo. I was a little nervous what was going to happen, but it excited me enough to want to try to know... hopefully. 



Throughout the day, the ocean was putting on a show. I spotted a pod of orcas, saw a few jumping humpbacks, a lone sky-high jumping devil ray, an elephant seal, and two tailing marlin. It was one of those rare days when every direction you looked there was something incredible happening but not in the way of foaming tuna or wide-open paddy fishing.



Then one of those marlin decided to play.

The problem was that I wasn't exactly armed with traditional marlin gear.

I spotted the fish on the surface and scrambled to make a cast. The problem was that I didn't exactly have a dedicated marlin setup ready to go. The only rod available was my heavy saltwater bass outfit, so I pinned on a small live yellowtail and fired it out to the fish.

A moment later the marlin ate.

That's when the chaos started.

The fish was hooked on a Penn 400 low-profile reel matched with a G-Loomis 30-65 lb. rod. Great gear for a lot of things, but battling a marlin wasn't exactly what it was designed for.

The second the fish realized it was hooked, all hell broke loose.

Being solo made things especially interesting. I still had five other trolling rods in the water and a marlin determined to empty my reel. I hit the electric reel to get one rod out of the way while I drove the boat and tried to reel in line so now only had 4 to contend with.



The only way to stay in the game was to drive the boat aggressively and chase the fish. Every time the marlin made a hard run, I was throttling after him to keep from getting spooled. Somehow, I was steering, watching the remaining trolling gear, and fighting the fish all at the same time.

The marlin wasn't cooperating either.



It went airborne repeatedly, launching itself completely clear of the water like a cruise missile. My action camera managed to record some of the chaos, but unfortunately, it wasn't pointed where it needed to be. The best footage ended up being me frantically trying to gain line while the fish was launching all over the ocean.

Not exactly the documentary production I had envisioned.

Still, after a 15-20 minute battle filled with boat maneuvers, line recovery, and more than a few moments where I thought the fish was going to win, the little bass reel somehow held on.

Eventually the marlin came 25' from boatside.  He turned towards the boat to spin around and his bill went right across the line and PING!

That's when the reality of what had just happened finally hit me.

I'd managed to hook, fight, and successfully "sportsman's release" a marlin on bass gear while trolling solo with four rods out (Thank goodness I did get the electric troller in, lol).

The fish swam away strong, the gear survived, and I couldn't stop grinning.



I trolled the next 25 miles for not a single short bite. 



I decided to weave through the parking lot of swordfish boats and go on a paddy hunt. 



I found not one, but 5 HUGE paddys all about 7 miles from shore and in 1600' of 77.4-degree blue water.  Nothing doing until I saw a huge dodo jump at the next paddy in the line!  I shot over there and cast my 80- gram sniper on the bass rod and it gets slammed!  DODO On and it was a good one.  In the 16-18# category, but on the 3rd or 4th jump, the iron came flying out of his mouth like a bullet right at me.  No harm but scared the crap out of me.

Then two more started jumping next to the paddy, one big bull, and a decent sized hen.  I switched lures 8-10 times, but couldn't get them to go, and they disappeared.  I trolled the area with small pink feathers to try and fool one into taking the troll, but nothing was around...

I needed to get back home so I started charging in.  The wind started to pick up so this was the perfect time.  Along the way I saw some really silver tuna jumping.  I think they were skippies, but I never saw skippies jump out of the water like that before (horizontal and fully out of the water like a bluefin).  I couldn't get them to strike my sniper, so I kept going.  Then I swear I saw Sierra Mackerel jumping!  I've seen them plenty of times down in Baja and I swear I saw a bunch of yellow spots on them.  Once again as I got close enough to cast, they sunk out and I couldn't even get a short bite...

Water was 77 almost everywhere!



I continued my journey in.

Sure, there wasn't any wahoo in the cooler. In fact, there were no fish in the ice box at all.

But some days the scorecard isn't measured in pounds of fillets on this day.

Sometimes it's measured in airborne marlin, screaming drags, near-spooled reels, and the kind of ridiculous solo battle that reminds you why we keep going back offshore.

This was one of those days.

As I was passing SeaWorld, I stopped to dump the yellowtail in the bay and took some video.  Now there are 2 more yellows swimming the bay.  Hopefully we can establish a good-sized population back there.  LOL

Well damn....  I've been trying hard for these things and in the right spots, but those skinnies still elude me!

Well thanks for reading and until next tide!  I know I missed a bunch more, but I'm done typing.

One of your hatches blew off on the freeway!?!?!  Yikes!

Well, glad you got some.  I've been only coming home with empty fish coolers lately.

Nice conditions, glad you found a few and the cat is happy too 

Felt the need to deep drop for some rockfish the past week or two. Originally planned on bringing Omar, but he fell in a hole in a rainstorm and then he got abducted by aliens and then his dog ate his homework so he couldn't go.

So I launched out of Dana Point at about 0700 with the sunrise.



A bit of onshore breeze to help push me to the 14. A little bumpy going out but the main swell was flat. It teetered off to a glossy sea by the time I got to the 14 around 0800.

Took a minute to get bit on the first drop in 500'. I was starting to worry about the reel-up of shame after a few minutes then I finally got hammered on the fluke by a decent bocaccio. The next drop was more instant with a greenblotch.



Instant on the next drop with a greenspot.



I got to about 9 with 5 eaters before the bite died with the turn of the tide. It was pretty hot, and there were about 20 boats doing circles and turning the flat sea into a washing machine, so I decided I'd had enough and should troll back. I had out a new 6" skirt and a new hot pink Yozuri High Speed Vibe, going about 10mph, looking for tuna or maybe wahoo. Then I came up on a nice sleeper marlin. Made a bend around him and he wanted nothing to do with me. Switched the High Speed Vibe to a pink MadScad 190 a little later.




Got back to the ramp around noon. I probably could have trolled for another hour but I covered the water that I was curious about.

I installed HDPE bunk slides on the trailer last time I went out because I heard they really help the boat slip off the trailer, and the boat was really sticking to the bare wood, and I assume carpet would only make that worse. But as I loaded it last time, there was a weird hesitation. I assumed some of the rivets keeping the keel guard on cut into it, but this was pretty ferocious for a single load and unload:





It might have done this gelcoat damage as well but I can't confirm. Regardless I should patch that up real soon.



Also, my hatches aren't attached and one blew off on the freeway. I normally weigh them down with something but forgot. Add it to the list of things to do...I'm guessing I will make a mold of the other one and make one from scratch...

We got a kitten a few weeks ago. He's already doubled in size. I tried giving him a treat.

Sounds brutal, especially with the shoulder. At least you got a couple.

If you need any supplement to find the wahoo, I've got a couple portable gas tanks on hand...

I hear buoy 18 and 20 is a good spot in SD Bay, on The Coronado side

Quote from: Latimeria on October 23, 2026, 01:13:18 PMIt sure was nice out there.  I was about 10 miles further west than you and conditions looked the same.

It almost was too nice out which I figured lead to the tough day of fishing out there.  At least you scored some eaters, but you NEED a YELLOW!

Cheez says he wants to be on the boat when I get one, not sure it will happen anytime soon

BTW, we tried to answer you on the radio a couple times, we could hear you but I guess there was too much chatter.....Blame it on Salt Shaker   

Well, I got a call at work that the BIG bugs were going off in San Diego Bay, complete with detailed intel on the hot spot. Scott couldn't get his boat out, so naturally he started twisting my arm with promises of giant cucarachas.

Knowing a storm was rolling in Wednesday, or at least some serious wind, I finally gave in and said, "Let's do it."

We worked out a plan pretty quickly. Scott's buddies had been on the water earlier and had fresh tuna and wahoo trimmings, so bait was covered. I told him that if he brought his nets and cages it would make life a lot easier. Plus, I could hit the self-serve car wash on the way home afterward and at least have a clean deck to spray down. Deal made.

As soon as I got home from work, I got the boat ready and headed out.

There were a TON of 20+ foot boats coming back from offshore. It seemed like everybody and their brother had taken the day off to fish the Coronado Canyon for wahoo. The parking lot was packed, the tide was high, and the harbor was buzzing.

We got to the numbers with high hopes and dropped a perfect spread of ten nets loaded with premium bait.

Then it was time to pull...

After burning through five nets and hauling 474 lobsters the previous Saturday, I probably should have known this was going to be one of those nights.

The first few pulls were brutal.

I didn't keep an exact count, but after three sets I think we had maybe a dozen shorts and only four legals. Talk about a buzzkill.

We tried another spot on the way in and even managed to lose a hoop, which most likely floated off in the ripping current.

At least we each ended up with two keepers, but man, it was a grind. San Diego Bay has never been especially consistent for me. When it's good, it's really good. When it's not... well, nights like this happen.

Even so, it was great getting out with Scott. I picked up a lot more intel on the wahoo bite that I need to explore. Unfortunately, my boat isn't exactly set up to run down to where the biomass is, and Coronado Canyon is about as far offshore as I'm willing to push it.

Still, I can't complain too much. I've got a decent pile of bugs in the freezer now to get me through surgery recovery. Maybe one or two more trips and I'll have enough lobster to make it all the way to the New Year!

Thanks for reading, and good luck out there!

It sure was nice out there.  I was about 10 miles further west than you and conditions looked the same.

It almost was too nice out which I figured lead to the tough day of fishing out there.  At least you scored some eaters, but you NEED a YELLOW!

Quote from: Tim524 on October 22, 2026, 07:08:02 AMIf you ever visit VC again, Turtles might could be added to your list  

You don't have turtles up there, you have mobile boulders!