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Photo by: Courtesy of Point Loma Sportfishing/Holiday
Denny Hirzel from Chula Vista and the crew of Holiday stand with the 33-lb. wahoo caught just 53 miles from Point Loma.


Photo by: Bill Roecker/FishingVideos.com
Bo Thevelius, 9, of Tehachapi caught yellowfin, albacore, bluefin, dorado and yellowtail on a recent 3-day trip aboard Searcher.

This came in from Karen Dalo, wife of Holiday skipper Randy Dalo, after the boat returned recently from a day and a half trip with a 33-pound wahoo. The skinny is the first to be brought in by the day fleet in many years.
“The anglers name is Denny Hirzel from Chula Vista,” Dalo said. “We weighed the wahoo at Fisherman’s Landing as the Point Loma scale was not available. It weighed 33 lbs.

“Randy was fishing 53 miles south of San Diego. The water temp was 71 degrees and the day had been quite slow until about an hour before that. Denny was trolling a Williamson Diamond Jet head with Mexican Flag color feathers on 80-lb. line. He said he bought it at Walmart.”

West Coast Anglers Score

Andy Cates docked Red Rooster III at H&M Landing August 12 after a five-day West Coast Anglers charter with David Rosenthal as chartermaster.

“We had good sponsors, and VMC hooks was really generous with the guys,” Rosenthal said.

“We tried the islands and found that hot green water had come into Benitos,” Cates said. “So we went over to Cedros, to Augustin, and made a good catch there.”

Nancy Lerer of Los Altos made a nice catch in the gray light; a white seabass.

Rick Millspaugh of Poway won first place for a 38.1-lb. yellowtail. The big spawner bit on a gold squid butterfly jig, he said.

“He straightened the hook out,” remarked Millspaugh, who added that he used 30-lb. Izorline on a Torium 30 reel and a Calstar 970 rod.

James McWhorter of Albuquerque, NM took second place for a 33.2-pounder, and Paul Oster of Mammoth Lakes won third place for a 30.4-lb. yellowtail.

Slam for Youngster

“That request we made did some good, I guess, because look at our catch,” said Searcher skipper Kevin Ward at Fisherman’s Landing August 12. On his last trip, Kevin had said, “They need to stock more fish out there…”

Ward continued, “On the first morning we started a drift, and when it ended we were 12 miles away, with limits of bluefin!”

In the end, Searcher anglers managed a great three-day catch of mixed cool and warm-water species.

One angler who got ‘em all was 9-year-old Bo Thevelius of Tehachapi, who sported an array of yellowfin, albacore, bluefin, dorado and yellowtail.

“Where’s the fins for your fish?” I asked Bo.

“On my hat,” he replied.

I asked Bo if he played sports at his school, Cummings Valley Elementary.

“No,” said his mom Melissa, “but he can ride anything that moves; horses, dirt bikes, whatever.”

Bo was proud of his catch, and posed for numerous cameras.

Bryon Mathieson of Napa won first place on the trip for a 34.6-lb. dorado he got with a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad hook He said he used 40-lb. Stren line on a Penn 240 reel and a Calstar 700 rod.

James Wagner of Napa tied Bryon with a 34.6-lb. yellowfin tuna. Dale Dowling of Vacaville took third place for a 34.4-lb. yellowfin tuna.

This article first appeared in the August 2008 issue of FishRap. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated.