Steve and I hit the big pond looking to get in on some of the tuna action. My first big concern was the Mission Bay Bayfest, where the Thunderboat Races were taking place. Every ramp was pretty much closed except for Dana, and with Shelter Island totally closed, it was going to be a cluster f@ck!!!
I decided to take the more relaxing approach and launched out of J-Street. It might have been an extra 7 miles each way, but no fools to deal with at the ramp.
Easy driving, but cold and damp. I forgot my hoodie, so I was a bit cold on the run.
We have a great looking downtown!
Let's say our tip into the wind was almost "Victory at Sea". We got pounded in the skiff heading right into the wind. The swells weren't big, but the wind waves with the swell made for short period waves which just bounced us around the entire way out... and it was drizzling on us! There was no way we were making the 302, 371 or 425.
We saw plenty of flying fish, from big ones to grass hopper size. We had whales, dolphin and birds. All the signs of life, but no breaking tuna. I was the first to strike with this chrome Skippy!
We trolled up and down the ridge, inside and out from the Mexican border to the North end. I'm not sure how many miles we covered, but it was much nicer going sideways to the swell than uphill to it.
Steve finally breaks his Skippy Cherry.
Tough fishing for us and from the radio chatter it sounded like Feast or Famine out there depending on the boat. Oh well, we have some shark bait and lobster bait now. Hopefully the tuna hang around a little longer and/or come a little closer to the beach.
Thanks for reading!
