Bite of the Century: Fishing El Niño's Best

Overview

Running out of Hilgrem’s Sportfishing in Oceanside, we jumped onboard the beautiful Oceanside 95 for a run out to San Clemente Island in search of the exotics. This overnight trip proved to be very productive as patience and light line paid off on the slow drift and long soaks for the bluefin tuna. With sea temps reaching 76 degrees (about 8 degrees) warmer than normal for the offshore Southern California bight, the fish were there in numbers but for the most part reluctant to take a bait with a hook in it.