Gamakatsu 1 1/2 day Trip on the Searcher

ByBob Blum

On September 2^ndI had the good fortune to be the rep on a day and a half LTHU and Gamakatsu hook trip on the Searcher. We had a lot of families on board. There was a man with his two daughters and two granddaughters, a husband and wife, another father and daughter, and a father and son. This was good because the families could eat together while the rest of us could only sit two to a booth to maintain social distance.

After making bait, I got every one on the back deck and gave out packages of hooks and raffled off lures, shirts, knives, and other stuff. I think everyone got something. Captain Mike told us we were heading to the backside of San Clemente Island to fish for bluefin tuna.

In the morning the boat stopped and the captain said the fish were under us. Several guys dropped down with sinker rigs and hooked up. As the day got lighter it was mostly fly lining. The ideal set-up was 30 lb. test with a 25 lb. fluorocarbon leader and a #1 Gamakatsu circle hook or J-hook. We never moved! For 6-7 hours we drifted and the fish stayed with us. Never wide open, but we ended up with 40 B 25-40 lbs.

After the bluefin finally left us Captain Mike moved us to a high spot close to the island and anchored. Now it was straight San Clemente yellowtail 12-25 lbs—at least one over 30 lbs. We didn’t move for 4-5 hours and ended up with 35 YT. We used the same set-up although one of the women used a dropper loop rig and got two on the bottom.