Fisherman/Artist/Writer Ed Ries Honored

San Diegan Ed Ries, well-known by anglers for his "Looking Astern" column in South coast Sportfishing and Pacific Coast Sportfishing magazines, has won a prestigious award, said Bill Becher in the following press release:

Ed Ries received the First Place award in the Book category for his book titled "Tales of the Golden Years of California Ocean Fishing, 1900-1950" at the Outdoor Writers Association of California meeting Sunday in Sonora, Calif.

The group honored outdoor writing, photography, video and radio broadcast work that appeared in 2007. Founded in 1986, OWAC is a non-profit organization of professional outdoor communicators from California and surrounding western states.

Ries was a liftpole commercial fisherman, a regular inshore angler, and in recent years, a legendary catch-and-release expert of spotted bay bass. His book is recommended. Bill Becher is Ries' publisher.

Pacific Dawn Returns

"We have just arrived in San Diego," wrote owner-skipper Pat Cavanaugh June 12. "It's nice to be back. Our last trip out of Ventura was Bob Selvin's LARRC two-day charter. The first day was spent at San Miguel island fishing for rockfish in the shallows. It was steady fishing on nice reds most of the day. Most of the fish were caught on bass gear and plastic baits, in less than 100 feet of water. We spent a little time in the afternoon trying for halibut, with no luck.

"Later that night we made a tank of squid and ran down to Anacapa Island hoping for a night bite on Seabass or Yellowtail. We did get the night bite but it only produced two Seabass. After daylight we caught a lot of Bat rays and about 6 Black Seabass that were all released. We spent the rest of the day trying for the Seabass at Santa Cruz. We saw a lot of fish but only managed to hook and land two at the end of the day. I am posting a picture of the two jackpot fish caught in the dark at Anacapa. We will be offshore this weekend on one-day charters. Wish us luck."

Jugged With Krill

Roy Rose brought Royal Polaris home from a seven-day trip with 24 anglers on June 13. He docked the boat at Fisherman's Landing and weighed the best of his catch after the Okuma trip.

"There's a lot of bluefin out there," said Roy. "It was excellent with the camera; they were boiling around, but they didn't bite very well.

"We had good fishing at the islands, too. There's lots of yellowtail in there, lots of schools, and the water's full of krill. The fish are eating that, so not every school of yellowtail wants to bite. We got four halibut with the tuna and the yellowtail."

Dan Gasca of San Diego won first place for a 40-pound yellowtail that fell for a big sardine on a 4/0 Super Mutu hook. He said the fight went 20 minutes, and that he used 50-pound blue Izorline on an Okuma Catalina 701 MH reel and an Okuma Catalina rod.

Roger Bill of San Diego won second place for a 38.2-pound yellowtail that took a green/yellow Tady 45, and Ron Lewis of San Francisco won third place for a 37.8-pound yellowtail.

Nice Weather, Big Yellows, Variety

American Angler docked at Pt. Loma Sportfishing June 13 after eight days out with 23 anglers. Skipper Sam Patella weighed the catch.

Co-chartermaster Drew Grindley fished with his dad John and Catchy Tackle partner Wayne Martin on the trip sponsored by their company.

"It was a fantastic trip," said Drew. "We fished for seven of our eight days! We got about 40 bluefin, over a 60-mile spread."

Drew was fishing with a new variety of the Sea Strike 22 jig, a light surface model. FishingVideos.com will have more on that item, with photos, next week.

Sol Gordon of LA won first place for a 52-pound yellowtail that bit a sardine on a 2/0 VMC hook on 40-pound blue Izorline. He said the fish gave him his money's worth of fight over 45 minutes. He fished with a Trinidad 30 reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

Regular long ranger Dave O'Halloran of Encinitas tied for second place with Paul Medina of San Pedro. Both had 40.2-pound yellowtail. Dave also had a 30-pound white seabass, caught on one of the new Catchy Tackle light jigs in a blue color.

Joe Skinner of San Diego fished a sardine on a bluefin stop and found a 37.8-pound albacore, the second-best of the season so far. He pinned his ???dine on a 3/0 Flyliner hook tied to 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 30-pound P-Line, on a 665 Accurate Boss 4-1 reel and a new Accurate 7040 C rod.

Red Rooster Report June 12th, 2008

"We left last night after a couple of nice days fishing," wrote skipper Andy Cates. "Yesterday the jackpot was settled, with Leo Reihsen winning after a long ride in the skiff, landed a 286-pound tuna. He was followed by Al Jackson with a 266; winning him an Accurate Boss reel. Jesse Baker came in with a 235 and Bob Cherry with a 207. We had another 12 fish from 100 to 185 pounds. David Wilson got a nice 187 pounder.
The day before was similar but less fish over 200 pounds, nonetheless, the chances were there. The weather is beautiful and looks nice up above. Lets hope it holds."