Albacore Arrive With the Usual Questions--but Few Answers

Every July, when the first major albacore catches are reported, outdoor reporters telephone fisheries biologists such as Ron Dotson at the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla.

Every year, the questions are the same:

--When will the albacore move in close to the coast?

--What kind of season will it be?

--Will the albacore be late? Early? Not at all?

And every year, Dotson laughs.

“What we don’t know about albacore exceeds what we know,” he said Thursday, after being asked all of the above questions.

“For example, we don’t even know why albacore migrate to the West Coast of the United States at all from the Central Pacific. In the summer, while sport fishermen are catching albacore on San Diego boats, you could troll a line from San Francisco to Hawaii and catch albacore all the way.

“So many albacore don’t migrate out of the Central Pacific. Why that is and why some do come by our way, we have no idea.”

What is known now is that fishermen on multiple-day sport trips on San Diego-based charter boats are catching albacore 180 to 200 miles out of Point Loma. Thursday afternoon, for example, skipper Dan Sansome’s new American Angler returned 27 fishermen to San Diego. They caught 355 albacore, between 10 and 20 pounds each.

“Things are jumping, but only for the multiple-day trips,” said Carol Sandner of Point Loma Sportfishing. “We’re crossing our fingers, hoping the fish move in a little closer.”

Dotson said albacore are scattered off the coast for about 800 or 900 miles.

“Commercial boats are getting scattered albacore catches about 100 miles out from roughly central Baja California to Monterey,” he said. “Albacore are being caught at the Davidson Seamount, which is about 70 miles out of San Francisco. But everything is scattered, there’s no grouping of a great mass of albacore anywhere, yet. The fish the San Diego sport boats are finding are really, relatively speaking, a small mass of fish.

“It’s nothing to worry about. Mid-July is when you normally expect to first see albacore. I still anticipate seeing them move in closer, certainly by the end of the month.”

Swordfish, striped marlin, and bigeye and bluefin tuna are also tantalizing Southland fishermen as the summer saltwater fishing season begins.

The first swordfish of the season was caught by Dave Denholm of Corona del Mar, who, after a seven-hour struggle last Saturday eight miles off the east end of Catalina, boated a 149-pound 8-ounce broadbill.

Denholm baited the fish with a live mackerel three times and had a strike after each cast. But after the third strike, the swordfish became foul-hooked on its dorsal fin.

Spotter pilots working for the commercial swordfish harpoon fleet this week reported seeing surface feeders in the Avalon bank area and near mid-channel oil derricks.

Several Southland fishermen were hooked up with striped marlin this week. The first striper catch was reported by Jack Johnson of Glendora, who caught a 129-pounder 17 miles south of Oceanside on the Oceanside-based Kathy Jo. His fishing party reported several marlin strikes before Johnson landed his.

Bigeye tuna, which frequently are caught near or under schools of albacore, are also showing up. Mike Blower of Newport Beach, caught a 56-pound bigeye on the Dreadnought near the 279 bank Wednesday, the first tuna weighed in at the Avalon Tuna Club.

Bluefin tuna have been seen boiling off the east end of Catalina and in Point Loma waters. Some have been taken aboard Newport Beach-based partyboats from Davey’s Locker and Newport Landing. They range from 20 to 40 pounds.

San Diego partyboat skippers have found fussy bluefins at the 302 bank, about 30 miles from Point Loma.

“The seiners (commercial fishermen) are getting the bluefins, but the sport fishermen aren’t,” Sandner said.