Carl Schmidt's May 7 weekly update from Fisherman's Landing in San Diego will not move many Australian wet-season fishers off the gillnet edge, but for any reader thinking about a long-range trip out of SoCal it is the kind of week that pushes a season ticket up the priority list - bluefin tuna limits across most of the fleet, jackpot fish climbing past 130lb and weather staging up for another good weekend.
Schmidt opened the broadcast by leaning into the contradiction. The old saying that fish do not bite on the full moon, he told viewers, can go straight out the window after the weekend the long-range fleet has just put together.
"Most of the boats reported limits of bluefin tuna fishing this past weekend," he said.
His boat-by-boat run-through is dense with detail. The Pacific Queen scored 120 bluefin for 30 anglers on a two-day, with 30 of those in the 50 to 60lb class. The Tomahawk's two-and-a-half-day with a deliberately light 16-angler load returned 64 fish to 80lb, the bulk in the 25 to 40lb range. The Pegasus ran two overnights and had limits dialled by mid-morning on both. The Constitution's two-day landed 55 bluefin to 60lb on 21 anglers. By the time Schmidt was filming, the Pacific Queen was already back out and limited on day one of its next two-day, and the Shogun's two-day was reporting 25 to 40lb fish on its early stops.
The tackle checklist Schmidt walked through is worth pinching for anglers crossing the Pacific. He recommended a 25 to 30lb live-bait outfit for daytime, a 40 or 50lb mid-weight stick for daylight chunking, and an 80 to 100lb night rig for the bigger fish that climb up after dark. Number 2 to 1/0 hooks paired with sinkers from two to eight ounces.
Around the bluefin party, Schmidt flagged a quiet yellowfin and dorado push showing up in fleet catches, water temperatures and weather that 'looks really good' through the upcoming weekend, and a yellowtail bite at the islands worth booking. He pointed Mission Belle, the San Diego and the Grande as the three boats running well on yellows out of Point Loma and Seaforth. Inshore, the Dolphin's half-days were grinding rockfish, sand bass, calico bass and sheephead.
Aussie readers eyeing the SoCal long-range option get one more bonus from the broadcast - the landing's Kids Fish Free promotion runs on Dolphin half-days through May 22 with a paid adult, the only exception being Wednesdays when the boat is busy with its halibut derby. "Doesn't cost an arm and a leg or anything like that to go fishing," Schmidt said.
The takeaway from San Diego is that early May has set up as one of the strongest weekends of the season - bluefin limits across the long-range fleet, jackpot fish over 130lb and a half-day fleet that is still putting bent rods on the rail.