3 day freelance on the Indy (San Diego) May 12-15 2023

Matt (@matawest), Grant and I booked this trip pretty soon after it came out on the schedule (last summer?) and unfortunately Matt had to postpone for a future year because of a conflict. So Grant and I went out on this Graftech/Avet sponsored trip, and it ended up being a good time. Grant took 2nd place in the jackpot with a bluefin right around the century mark (1st place was 110ish?) and also won an Avet SXJ for having the biggest fish the first night.

We fished between Upper Hidden and 60 Mile Bank. Found several biting schools of bluefin 200-350’ down the first two nights, but no bite materialized on night 3 before we had to head back to the landing around 1AM. Had a shot at paddy yellowtail each day, with daytime conditions being best on the last day. Chartermaster and West coast fishing guru Rick Ozaki was the only person to catch a tuna during the day, and he managed to do it twice (with a 4 oz glow slider and live sardine).

Otherwise I’ll let the pics speak for themselves…