Pete Thomas Outdoors

Rare 115-pound opah landed by tuna angler out of San Diego

If you've enjoyed opah in a restaurant and wondered what one looks like, take a glance at the accompanying photo.

The 115-pound specimen was caught Monday by Bernie Caughlin on a 1.5-day voyage into Mexican waters aboard the American Angler out of San Diego.

The San Diego fleet is targeting yellowfin and albacore tuna but anglers on these trips will sporadically catch an opah, which are sometimes referred to as moonfish.

Caughlin, who used a sardine as bait, nabbed himself a prize as opah flesh is delectable and increasingly popular in seafood restaurants.

The American Angler's count for the day: 78 albacore and one opah.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of Bernie Caughlin and 115-pound opah courtesy of Bob Hara

Cabo San Lucas anglers enjoy seasonal influx of marlin, tuna

Cabo San Lucas anglers are finally enjoying consistent fishing for striped marlin and yellowfin tuna, according to local fleet operators.

Pisces Sportfishing reports an improved striped marlin bite and lots more tuna off Land's End, which is great news for those seeking fresh fish for dinner.

Wisconsin anglers Gerald and Jane Smith, fishing aboard the Pisces cruiser Ruthless, managed to land a few yellowfin but had what was believed to be a large mako shark bite a hooked tuna in half.

Texas anglers Eric Neason and Scott Pharr caught and released striped marlin estimated to weigh 130 and 170 pounds, respectively, aboard the Pisces boat Rebecca. The stripers were baited with live mackerel.

Capt. George Landrum of Fly Hooker Sportfishing says the yellowfin have attracted more blue marlin to the area, so high-end anglers with tuna tubes can now pursue some truly big game.

Landrum added that the largest tuna, in the 50- to 100-pound class, are being encountered in the Sea of Cortez north of the Gordo Banks.

Eric Brictson, who runs Gordo Banks Pangas, says cleaner water has returned to the area and that fishing is improving inshore and offshore.

Aside from marlin and tuna, he said, some wahoo are being caught and dorado are beginning to show more consistently offshore. The increased presence of bolito as baitfish, Brictson added, should result in more dorado filtering into the gulf.

As a side note, the recent Stars & Stripes tournament was a huge success, even if fishing wasn't wide o[pen. It raised $1.8 million for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Orange County and featured musical performances by artists from Santana, Steppenwolf, Journey, Toto and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Young anglers Clark Weiss and Tadan Gaston display one of two striped marlin they caught and released aboard Ruthless. Credit: Pisces Sportfishing

Abby Sunderland talks about sailing ordeal with L.A. press

The storm had begun to abate and it was a rogue wave that ended Abby Sunderland's controversial attempt to sail around the world by herself.

Speaking to the L.A.-area media for the first time since her 40-foot sailboat was capsized and lost its mast in the Indian Ocean nearly three weeks ago, the rescued mariner clarified that the fierce storm she had endured had subsided and that she had been below after working on her engine when the super-sized wave struck her vessel broadside and flipped it over.

Darkness had just fallen and the motion was swift but violent, causing Sunderland to strike her head against an object and blackout momentarily. The vessel, however, seemed to right itself as swiftly as it was capsized.

When the 16-year-old assessed her situation, seeing there was no mast, no rigging, no satellite communications, a swamped engine and a broken boom, she activated two of three emergency beacons to signal an international rescue effort.

"I'm happy to be home but very sad that things didn't work out," she said. "But I'm proud of my achievement and what happened is definitely not going to stop me from sailing--not for a minute."

Sunderland, who was attempting to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone, arrived at her home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., late Monday night. Speaking Tuesday morning at a Marina del Rey hotel, and sitting alongside her older brother Zac, she was poised and articulate. 

The high-school junior spoke of the daunting prospects of continuing her education and trying to get a driver's license so she can risk her life on busy freeways she maintains are far more dangerous than the open ocean. 

But mostly she discussed an ordeal that led to her being picked up, 2,000 miles from the nearest continent, by the crew of the French fishing boat, Ile De La Reunion. 

(Marianne Sunderland is due any day to give birth to her eighth child and he will be named Paul after the fishing boat's captain.)

The Sunderland parents, who were harshly criticized in the days during and after the rescue effort, did not attend the press conference. They issued a statement that began with the passage: 

"We have watched our daughter achieve something great. While she didn't quite complete what she set out to do, she traveled over 12,000 nautical miles solo and became the youngest person to sail solo around Cape Horn.

"Abby followed her dream and followed in the footsteps of so many other great Americans who loved life and adventure."

The statement also dismissed critics of the voyage as coming from people "who don't know Abby and the years she has spent on sailing boats." 

Albacore, white seabass in SoCal fishing spotlight

The summer saltwater fishing season is in full swing off Southern California and northern Baja California. This week, albacore and white seabass are in the spotlight. PTO will run periodic reports each week, courtesy of Philip Friedman of 976-TUNA. Here's Philip's Monday morning wrap-up, issued at 10:15 a.m.:

Albacore action in day-and-a-half range of San Diego continues to intensify as several boats this morning have fish on board. The Searcher from Fisherman's Landing has 15 albacore on board and its crew is reporting seeing lots of fish and has flat calm weather.

The Voyager out of Seaforth Sportfishing picked up 20 albacore in its first stop of the morning. Perhaps even more encouraging is the fact that the long-range boats are encountering more albacore down the Baja Coast suggesting that there is more to come.
 

At Catalina Island, the white seabass bite is continuing again this morning with several six-pack boats filling their three-fish limits already. The Pacific Quest from Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach is in the middle of a hot white seabass bite with several fish on the deck and several fish hooked up.

On Saturday, the Big Game 90 had 107 white seabass while the Freedom from 22nd St. Landing decked 76 of the 20- to 45-pound croakers on a two-day trip over the weekend. White seabass have shown a penchant for biting around the full moon and with plenty of bait squid and nice weather, this bite should keep going.

-- Philip Friedman

Albacore photo courtesy of Bill Roecker/Fishing Videos

   
 

Are divers tempting fate with Guadalupe Island white sharks?

Reaching beyond the protective bars of a steel cage and placing your palm on the snout of a 2,500-pound great white shark is never recommended, but the above photo is evidence that this has happened at Guadalupe Island west of Baja California, Mexico.

That's not all. Cage-diving operators at Guadalupe have become so competitive that one is allowing divers to stand on top of cages and another openly advertises allowing divers to venture completely outside the cages to swim freely with the notorious predators.

The bar has been raised so high that some believe it's only a matter of time before a person is killed.

"It's an arms race and it's the worst example of one that I've ever seen," said Patric Douglas, who runs Shark Divers, a shark-related tourism, filming and consulting business.

Cage diving is relatively new to Guadalupe -- there are six outfitters vying for the business of high-dollar, adventurous tourists -- but its evolution beyond the traditional stern-attached surface cages, which still exist, has been swift.

The so-called arms race began when Lawrence Groth of Shark Diving International started submersing cages to depths at which the sharks lurk -- about 50 feet -- so he wouldn't have to rely on "chumming" them to the surface with ground-up fish and blood (now illegal but still practiced by some).

Groth also built a submersible "cinema cage" that has no sides, affording film crews unobstructed views but providing sharks with direct access to human flesh, if that's what they desire. Fortunately, they do not.

Groth's latest invention is a horizontal two-person cage that "flies around like an airplane," with the client laying in front with a camera and Groth in back driving with a joystick.

When informed that another operator has built a double-deck cage with no bars on the upper deck, Groth said, "I'll have to do a fly-by and check it out."

The split-level cages are the brainchild of Mike Lever, who runs the Nautilus Explorer, a luxury vessel that has a hot tub from which divers can warm up after their chilly cage dives and watch sharks circle the boat in gorgeous blue water with 100-foot visibility.

Divers in these submersible cages can enjoy the company of white sharks from behind steel bars or scamper upward, with experienced dive masters, to stand atop a deck for an open-water experience.

"It is an unforgettable rush when a great white looks at you from 50 feet away and then swims over for a very close look," says Daniel Dayneswood, who works for the Nautilus Explorer, which is based in British Columbia.

But the daring does not end here. A relative newcomer to Guadalupe is Amos Nachoum, who has raised the bar to what some might consider the ultimate level.

Nachoum, a famous photographer and outfitter who runs Big Animal Expeditions, openly advertises outside-the-cage opportunities and charges what some might consider an arm and a leg: $5,900 for a week-long trip.

Nachoum, whose trips are aboard a 110-foot La Paz, Mexico-based vessel named Sea Escape, says he takes only "qualified individuals" but other operators claim Nachoum's idea of a qualified individual is anyone who shells out the money for one of his trips.

"He's new to the whole thing," says Groth, a pioneer at Guadalupe who himself has been referred to as a "cowboy" using questionable tactics. "He has an inexperienced boat crew and he's doing this stupid stuff with anyone who will pay him the money."

Lever believes Nachoum's operation is an accident waiting to happen. "What concerns me is that someone outside the cage gets freaked out by a shark, and it's easy to get freaked out by a shark; I've been freaked out by them," Lever says. "So what happens when you're at mid-water on SCUBA gear and you get freaked out and panic.

"If that person bails to the surface what kind of reflex are they going to trigger in that animal? And then that person is on the surface thrashing, and then what happens?"

Abby Sunderland defends trip after reunion with brother Zac

Embattled teen sailor Abby Sunderland made landfall Friday night at Reunion Island, two weeks after being rescued from her damaged vessel, and enjoyed an emotional reunion with her older brother Zac.

To no one's surprise, the 16-year-old mariner defended her voyage and her parents, while at the same time acknowledging that there is risk associated with any big adventure.

"Any sailor that goes out to the water knows that being hit by a rogue wave is a risk, no matter where you are," she told reporters. "That was a risk that I was willing to take."

Sunderland, 16, who was trying to sail around the world, spent several days in high seas deep in the Indian Ocean before her 40-foot cruising sled was rolled on June 17, losing its mast and satellite communications equipment. She activated two emergency beacons to request a rescue and a crew aboard an Australian spotter plane located her 20 hours later.

Since then, her parents have been criticized by many in the media and on blog forums for allowing their daughter to attempt to become the youngest person to have sailed around alone. The timing of her voyage, placing her at low latitudes during the onset of the Southern Hemisphere winter, also was criticized.

(Despite some reports, Abby's goal of becoming the youngest person to sail around the world did not end when she pulled into Cape Town, South Africa, two months ago for repairs. That only ended the nonstop aspect of her voyage.)

Long before her voyage had come to an end Sunderland had decided that becoming the youngest person to sail around the world was secondary to the adventure itself. She reiterated that position at Reunion Island. "The past few months have been the best of my life," she said. "I was on an adventure. You can only plan so far."

Zac Sunderland, 18, completed a solo-circumnavigation of the planet last July at age 17. Both sailors will now travel to their home in Thousand Oaks, Calif.. They will take part in a press conference on Tuesday.

-- Pete Thomas

-- Photo of Abby and Zac Sunderland was taken in Ensenada, Mexico, before Abby's departure on Jan. 23 from Marina del Rey, Calif. Credit: Pete Thomas

-- Editor's note: This post also appears on the GrindTv.com Outdoors blog

It has been quite an adventure for Zac Sunderland, too

Teen sailor Abby Sunderland has been on what must feel like a surreal adventure since her rescue at sea in the Indian Ocean nearly two weeks ago: a long voyage to Kerguelen Islands aboard the French fishing boat that came to her rescue, then a patrol boat voyage to Reunion Island, where her brother Zac will meet and accompany her via aircraft to Los Angeles and ultimately to their home in Thousand Oaks.

But these past two weeks have been an unforgettable adventure for Zac, too. Consider that he had Abby's plight on his mind as he went to his prom and high-school graduation. (Her 40-foot vessel was rolled in heavy seas and lost its mast and satellite communications equipment).

He also had to worry about his parents, who have been under attack by critics of their daughter's attempted solo-circumnavigation of the planet. Because Marianne Sunderland is due to give birth to her eighth child any day, Zac volunteered to go and meet his sister at French-controlled Reunion Island.

Zac, 18, apparently has been doing a lot of growing up since completing a 13-month solo-circumnavigation last July.

His blog post last Friday was under the title: "Prom, Graduation & a Shipwrecked Sister." In the post he stated: "Shortly before I left, I asked out this amazing girl who is now my girlfriend. Her name is Becky and she is a senior at Westlake High. So she brought me to her prom and we had an awesome evening."

When Zac returns home he wants to embark on a career as a professional adventurer, but might sample college life at Moorpark JC.

But first, some rest. His latest post from Reunion Island details a 26-hour flight and a six-hour layover in Paris. He was hungry when he arrived at Reunion but nobody at the restaurant he visited spoke English. "So I just pointed to something halfway down the menu and got some beefy thing," he wrote.

His reunion with Abby, who had been attempting to sail around the world alone, was imminent at the time of this posting.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of Zac Sunderland with girlfriend Becky was pulled from Zac Sunderland's blog

Hurricane Celia good news for Southern California surfers

Hurricane season is in full swing in the Eastern Pacific off Mexico and Celia, which on Thursday became a Category 5 storm, is weakening but will generate moderate surf this weekend in Southern California.

Sean Collins of Surfline said that Celia, though its winds are strong, is a fairly small storm because the reach or extension of its gale-force winds is only 75 miles. As a result, the swell won't be huge or long-lasting.

"At this point we aren't expecting a major hurricane swell in California due to the small size of Celia," Collins said. "But her swell will be solid and will combine with another swell already scheduled from the Southern Hemisphere to give us fun waves in many areas over the weekend.

"By Sunday Celia's swell will be in the head-high range at the best south-facing areas, which sets up to a couple feet overhead at the best spots."

Surfline's premium members can monitor storms around the world via the website's sophisticated HurricaneTrak feature. (The red line on the above image is the swell window for Orange County, Calif.)

It looks as though this will be an active storm season off Mexico. Behind Celia and also tracking to the west  is Darby, a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.

-- Pete Thomas

False killer whales fail to spoil Zihuatanejo roosterfish bite

Fishermen are few these days off Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, but those who have traveled to this beautiful part of Mexico recently probably were not disappointed.

Guide and longtime Zihuatanejo resident Ed Kunze reports an abundance of sailfish and some blue marlin in the blue water offshore, which at present is only about six miles from the beach.

A private yacht from Ixtapa Marina returned to port Thursday flying six sailfish release flags.

Kunze also reports a wide-open roosterfish bite closer to shore, and these powerful members of the jack family have been the primary targets for fly anglers. There are lots of jack crevalle in the same areas, too.

Fly-fishing guide Lance Peterson has enjoyed a productive week with clients from California, but the bite was interrupted one of the days by the arrival of predatory false killer whales, which cruised the nearshore waters and scattered the game fish.

Kunze spent one day acting as guide for Houston anglers Rosario and Cecile Tortoice. They ended up with five roosterfish to about 40 pounds, caught and released aboard Dos Hermanos.

-- Photo: Rosario and Cecile Tortorice, and Capt. Adolfo (center), pose with one of five roosters caught off Zihuatanejo aboard the Dos Hermanos. Credit: Ed Kunze

Abby Sunderland didn't circle planet, but she's no failure

Abby Sunderland will return home this weekend and try -- despite all she has been through and must still go through -- to revert to being an ordinary 16-year-old in her middle-class Thousand Oaks, Calif., neighborhood.

It won't be easy. Like her older brother Zac, she has tasted adventure and is not content mingling with friends and simply hanging around.

She received a beating two weeks ago at sea. Her 40-foot boat rolled in heavy seas, losing its mast and rigging, forcing the mariner to abandon a quest to sail around the world and to activate two emergency beacons, signaling the beginning of a dramatic rescue effort that became a major news story.

That marked the end of a dream and the beginning of a nightmare for her worried parents. Now Sunderland, a high-school junior, will return home and be asked what went wrong rather than how great it felt to circle the planet. She'll fend off critics who seemed to have hatched like mosquitoes the day the Indian Ocean rescue effort began; critics who so far have restricted their attacks to Abby's mom and dad.

It's unfortunate that many will regard Sunderland's voyage as a failure because, although the timing of the voyage was not ideal, what happened to her could have happened to anyone attempting a Southern Ocean crossing at any time of the year. Age, sex might have had no bearing on her fate.

Had Sunderland not lost her mast and satellite communications, she'd still be sailing. Had she gone on to become the youngest person to have solo-circumnavigated the planet, instead of making it a little beyond halfway, she would have been regarded by the masses as an inspirational figure instead of a careless risk-taker.

For those wondering whether this is a valid assessment, consider the sagas of Sunderland's peers: brother Zac, England's Mike Perham and Australia's Jessica Watson. All embarked on similar quests recently at the age of 16.

Zac left Marina del Rey in a 36-foot sailboat in June of 2008, striving to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone. People complained -- mostly on blog forums -- that his parents were irresponsible for letting a mere teenager attempt such a monumental task.