yellowtail season; not over yet

Offshore San Diego fishing has slowed down. Yellowfin and yellowtail are
still out there. Some tuna are associated with porpoise schools, while
the yellowtail are mostly under kelp paddies. Most of the paddies we hit
yesterday were dry, but they've been hammered by the fleet for a few
weeks now. Just before it was time to go home yesterday, we found a big
mat of kelp, maybe 50' across. This one was holding, and we put a lot of
yellowtail on the boat from two drifts on it. Most fish were in the 8-10
lb class. The jackpot winner was a 20lb yellowfin tuna. We were only 33
miles west of San Diego, in US waters, or latitude, or whatever.

I had just dropped a bait in the water, when a passenger asked if I
could fix the handle on his spinning reel. I gave him my rod, and
doinked around with his tackle, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it.
Just as I told him that, he hooked up. "Here," he sez, "You've got a
fish on."
I just waved him away. "Have fun!" He didn't want to bounce it over the
rail, so I gaffed it for him. I'm new to gaffing, the boyz don't usually
let me play with the gaffs, but they were real busy. I wound up gaffing
at least six fish, all successfully. That was fun, I have acquired
another decking skill! I've found that I can calmly talk an angler into
maneuvering the fish to a good position. Often times, people just spazz,
which breaks lines and loses fish. Gaffing is fun, especially when you
dump the fish on the deck and everybody cheers and high-fives each other.

barbz