Next Trip

The weather is warming up real nice and so should the fishing for calicos, yellowtails and other species. Now is a good time to go fishing and to that idea we have a trip on Sat. May 7th. out of Helgrens Sportfishing in Oceanside on the Electra. Hopefuly we will be heading to the Coronados Isl. for some yellowtail fishing. If nothing is happening their we have the option of going to San Clemente Isl. to catch calicos, white seabass and yellows. So come join us. Click below to view trip.
http://www.dansshoppingcart.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=dansshoppingcart&Product_Code=FT_Charter_51&Category_Code=FT

Two good friends fishing

With reports of yellows in our backyard Dan Salas owner of the Gail Force and his son 7 year old Christopher decided to take the plunge and charter the It’s 4 Reels despite reports that the weather could be up. We headed out of my slip out of Cruiseport Village around 6:30AM and headed to the bait barge. Still no live bait available in Ensenada. No worries we were armed with every size and color jig that was ever sold as well as the ever reliable frozen squid so if we ran into yellow we would get ‘em. Wind was down but there was definitely a large swell and we made the rounds, South of Todos Santos water temps were 58-59 with a few birds working but no signs of surface fish, North Todos Santos (Punta Norte) cold 53-55 degree water and few birds, North of San Miguel Reef 52 degree water and on down to an area off the tuna pens off Salsipuedes bay. We did not find any surface fish but we did find, with the help of my trustee Furuno FF, a nice reef that we hammered for limits of nice reds that averaged 5-6 lbs, chuckleheads, browns, lingcod, salmon grouper, 1 sheephead and 1 small whitefish. I was using a heavy pink jig and I was ripped twice on fish that took line and I was not able to turn them on straight 65 lb. spectra. Maybe a yellow or a big ling. We’ll never know. Regardless of that we still knocked them dead and the best part is we never fished more than 150 feet of water. We made several passes on the reef and Dan was bringing them up 2 and 3 at a time:


Christopher was a trooper and braved the heavy swells to grind out a nice rocky. He was cranking on that fish like it was a yellowfin. The kid has got skills:





The wind started to come up around 10:30 so Dan decided it was time to come in. Despite the wind and the waves it was an awesome day on the water with a nice load of fish.







HMMM good...the end result at Tequilas Sports Bar:

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__________________

www.its4reels.com
www.ensenadasportsbar.com

Yellows are comming

In recent days a few yellowtails have been caught at the Coronado Isls. This could be the start of another banner spring season for San Diego. This year we have scheduled some of our charters for the yellowtail bite. The first charter is on the Electra out of Oceanside. This is an overnight fishing on Sat. May 7 with plenty of open spots. The next is on the Dolphin ll a 3/4 day trip with only one spot left. Then we are on the Oceanside 95 on June 4 which is also a Youth Foundation Fundraiser. So if you you want to get into some of these yellows sigh up before all the spots are gone.

Fred Hall Fishing Tackle & Boat Show

We are at the Show in Long Beach all week. Come by and see us at booth # 436. I'll answer all your questions about our charters and fishing in general.

Pics from Indian Trip

Last week we had a great time fishing on the Indian for rockfish in Mexican waters. We had 19 Fat Reds ,47 Quality Grouper,28 Bank Perch,2 Lingcod,1 Cowcod and 113 assorted Rockcod fishing the Finger banks.

Larry talking about Rock Fishing

Larry's Blog from the Indian

Larry talking about fishing with B 52 Bucktails and how to pin on strips of squid on your bucktail.

Ranger 85 Whale Watching

The Ranger 85 called me to say they are Whale watching off the Oxnard coast and the last few days they have been seeing Orcas. See if I can get up there this week.


Join Captain Frank and his crew of naturalists on a fun filled voyage of discovery and adventure offshore as you search for Gray Whales, Sea Lions, Seals, Dolphins, Orcas, Sharks, a variety of bird life and many more unique marine animals in the waters surrounding the Channel Islands.

Whale Watching

Rates & Schedule
January 1 through April 11
Departure times:
Weekdays: 11:00am
Weekends: 9:00am and 1:00pm
Individual Rates
Adults: $30
Children (12 & under): $21
Seniors: $26

Channel Islands Sportfishing Center
4151 South Victoria Avenue
Oxnard, CA 93035
805 382 1612
Ranger85.com

Here's video report from Mac Arthur Park

Here's a little video report I did at Mac Arthur Park during a Dan Hernandez Youth Foundation free fishing event. You can find out more at www.danskids,org.

Ranger 85 Whale off Oxnard

The Ranger 85 called me to say they are Whale watching off the Oxnard coast and the last few days they have been seeing Orcas. See if I can get up there this week.
Join Captain Frank and his crew of naturalists on a fun filled voyage of discovery and adventure offshore as you search for Gray Whales, Sea Lions, Seals, Dolphins, Orcas, Sharks, a variety of bird life and many more unique marine animals in the waters surrounding the Channel Islands.

Whale Watching

Rates & Schedule

January 1 through April 11

Departure times:

Weekdays: 11:00am

Weekends: 9:00am and 1:00pm

Individual Rates

Adults: $30

Children (12 & under): $21

Seniors: $26

Channel Islands Sportfishing Center

4151 South Victoria Avenue

Oxnard, CA 93035

805 382 1612

Ranger85.com

A Report from Chris Randel

Just got back in from an over night Dan Hernandez TV show trip with limits of Rockcod for 21 Anglers and everyone had a blast catching fish and being filmed for the up coming show.We had 19 Fat Reds ,47 Quality Grouper,28 Bank Perch,2 Lingcod,1 Cowcod and 113 assorted Rockcod fishing the Finger Bank in Mexican waters.

As a bonus the weather was flat calm and Sunny till around noon when the Marine layer developed and it cooled down a bit but thats OK.

We are sold out for next Tuesday nights trip but still have room on Friday nights trip and if anyone would like to jump on this trip give Chris a call at (619) 523-8862 and we will get you on the water.

PS The Indian has a great deal on his Mexican water rockfish trips. $99.00 on Wed. and $125.00 on the weekend, includes Mexican permit and lunch. Contact Chris at 619-523-8862

Getting Ready for Indian Trip

I like to take two rods one rated 30 to 80 lbs. for my ganion rod and a 30 to 60lb rod for fishing the heavy jigs. In Mexican waters you can use a four hook ganion. On this I use 1/2oz B-52 bucktails on the bottom two and plain or shrimp-fly hooks on the upper. Another trick I like to use for sinkers is to take an assortment of torpido sinkers from 6 to 16ozs. and some split rings. This way when I need more weight to get to the bottom I just add another torpido sinker via the split ring to the other.  In a few days I'll give a full report on our trip.

SST, Chlorophyl Charts

SST, Chlorophyl, and other sea conditions


Very useful when tracking the movements of offshore pelagic species.



NOAA Coast Watch Sea Surface Temperatures. Accurate and updated several times daily. Use the customize feature to zoom in on your area.

Southern California Bouy Temps Quick and easy temps. Just doesn't show where the breaks are.

SCCOOS SST, Chlorophyl and other usefull information.

Ranger 85 November 2010

Fishing San Nicolas Island in beautiful weather on the Ranger 85 we caught Nice rockfish, lingcods and even had a shot at some yellowtails.

Winter B-52 Rig

January and Febuary we are fishing for sandbass and sculpin. A great rig to use here is a dropper-loop rig with the the bait leader longer then the sinker leader and a 1/2 oz. B-52 tied on to the bait leader.

Another Record Tuna

The Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, Japan sells a bluefin tuna for $396,000 a new record for the sale of a blufin tuna. The tuna weighed in at 754 lbs. and sold for $526.00 per pound. Now that makes me appreciate the bluefin we catch during the spring and summer seasons, makes those high price offshore trips seem less expensive. I love to tuna fish anyway.

End of 2010

Only one more day to the end of the year and one last chance to catch rockfisn in So. Cal waters until March. Dan and I worked out the 2011 charter schedual now its a matter of getting the boats for the dates we picked. As the boats and dates are confirmed they will be posted on the web site. One is already up and people are signing up. Hope to see you on a trip in 2011 and a have a Happy New Year.

Record Yellowfin Tuna

Just heard that Mike Livingston, who caught the record tuna is a regular customer at Johnny's Sport Shop in Pasadena. Bob Ota the owner of the tackle store has great info on long range fishing.

Potential World Record

A potential IGFA world record yellowfin tuna was weighted at the Point Loma Sportfishing scale this morning. The angler Mike Livingston of Sunland Ca. landed the 405.2 pound tuna while fishing on a 10 day trip aboard the boat Vagabond captained by Mike Lackey.

Veterans Day