Coronado Island Report 4/16

[1morecast]

I had to week off from work so Mike (Pinoyfisher) and I made plans to jump on a 3/4 day trip to catch some YT. The numbers were down after the weather patterns changed last week so the number of YT being caught where low. After looking at the fish count numbers from the 3/4 fleet in SD, Mike and I decided to jump on the San Diego out of Seaforth landing. (Since they have been putting up the best numbers)

We take the 2 hour trip down near the islands and looked for diving birds all morning. The schools of YT would stick around only a few minutes when we arrived so the surface iron guys on the bow seemed to be catching two-three fish before the school of fish would dive deeper. Mike was throwing the surface irons all day and he hooked up 5 times on the surface iron but was only able to land 1 of them. This was my first trip to the Coronado islands and throwing the surface irons. Even though I didn't land any fish on the irons it was a lot of fun. (definely more skill involved then flylining a sardine)

At each stop around the island the boat which had 40 guys on it was only able to land a few until the afternoon (1pm). We fish closer to the islands and we finally get a drift that had many guys hooked up at the same time. The bigger yellows were hanging around the island and most of the bigger ones where being caught on the flylined sardines. Here is a picture of the one I caught next to the island.

Butt hooking the sardines seemed to work better then the nose hooked bait since the fish were deeper down in the water.

The bite was getting better as the day went on for the flylining people on the boat since the fish seemed to be deeper down. The yo-yo irons didn't seem to be very popular on this trip it was mostly surface irons or live bait.


Picture of the various size of YT beging caught today. I was only able to hook up twice and landed the fish in the first picture but the second one felt like a big YT too but a huge male sealion took off with it. It was impressive to see this huge sealion throw a 20lb fish up into the air as it's ripping the meat off of it.

I belive the final fish count was 80 YT on the boat (avg. size 10lbs with some bigger ones in the mix)  but as the case with fishing only 3/4 of the guys caught fish while the other 1/4 guys got the skunk. Although, it wasn't wide open fishing but it was definitely more fun then rock fishing.

Hopefully, Mike can add to this report with his insight and photos. :wink:

[sasquatch]

Looks fun.

[WheresMyBeer]

awesome ...

Can't go wrong on the San Diego. 

[raychavez91]

Really nice stuff guys, congrats on a 3/4 day yellow!

[Latimeria]

Beautiful yellow, Boss! You guys definitely had a sweet spring time island trip.
This is going to kill me strapped to a hospital bed while all of you are catching nice fish! Ugh!

[Pinoyfisher]

On the way out:



Here's a pic giving y'all a good idea of the mixed grade of yellows:



And there was a smattering of cudas and bonito to be had as well. Huge schools of breezing yellows all around. Not sure what the bait was they were filling up on, but it was fin bait. Didn't see any tuna crabs. Flylining was the best method for getting one, but I refused to sully my hands with scales Like Binh mentioned, I went 1 for 5    Lost 3 to tangles and the last to equipment failure.




Yup, welded ring connecting hook to jig broke. I had that yellow straight up and down with deep color showing

Fished the yoyo a couple of times. Had a nasty backlash, picked it out, and let my jig sink back down. Then I noticed this coming off of the spool...



Quickly reeled in my line hoping I wouldn't hook up. I put it the rod away and stripped the line the line later to remove that "heart break waiting to  happen". Weird huh?

This was the money spot for most... the Middle grounds in tight to the island...



Here's my little girl...



Extra details for those interested:

Fish were not line shy... fish heavy!! 30-40#
2/0 hooks and up! Some guys were fishing 6/0
Fly lined produced far more fish, but you needed to be in the water ASAP!
Typical irons that produced were Salas 7X and Tady 45 for the surface. I used the Tady 77 for my only fish landed. I like it's larger profile and weight.
Yoyo irons caught a little with the 6Xjr bring the most productive then the Tady 4/0 next in line.
Most popular colors: bird sh!t, mint, baby poop, and white-n-black.
Started our day in the Flats area chasing breezing schools of fish and the terns. Stayed there thru lunch then mosied over to the islands. Not much in the way of terns to find the fish. You needed electronics here! The yellows hung deep at the Middle Grounds and North Island. No South Island or Pukey Pt fish.

Random shots for your viewing pleasure:

[1morecast]

Here is a better representation of the fish that Mike caught.

[Pinoyfisher]

Lol!!! Live bait is cheating!!! I never mentioned how you lost your iron...

[skrilla]

Right on fellas. Cool pics and report. 

[Pinoyfisher]

[Latimeria]

Look at that... Bloody famous.

Great trip and reporting guys!

[1morecast]

That was awesome to get on the BD homepage. 

[Jaws]

Looks like a great trip guys! How did the new reel work out Binh?

[1morecast]

Looks like a great trip guys! How did the new reel work out Binh?

The reel worked great, I used it for my dropper loop rig but didn't land anything on it yet. After this last trip I switched out the orginal drag washers with a set of Smoooth drag washers. It wasn't that hard. Thanks again for your help!

Binh