Here's to bonito, the most underrated sportfish in the ocean

[plj46]

They aren't in the counts more because most boats don't target them. I went on several trips this fall and early winter that were absolutely wide open. Like a fish every cast for extended periods. I never saw a bite like that in the 90's but maybe I got better at fishing lol. Agree there are lots of smaller fish around but I have lots of fun with them on a 15# spinner. The bigger ones come through mostly in the spring and fall when everyone is chasing their bigger cousins

Or there aren't enough of them to target ? A cattle boat will stick anything in a gunny sack.

 

[Cactus Chris]

I was out below the 150 by the rigs on a 3/4 day out of LB - I wanna say the fall of 2016. We ran into a spot of bones that bite well and at least 80% were double digit fish - biggest was 13 1/2 on the hand scale (not mine).

Never seen anything like it before and like you, I've been at it for a while.

Yeah I've got some big ones out by the outside rigs fishing deep yo yo irons. Tough to get em in past the sea lions though

 

[ChoeMan]

I was actually fishing on the freelance for bonito in November! The snipers were slaying em.

Combat fishing for bones cluster fest at its finest this is why I don’t fish local anymore

 

[7emptsT]

Love catching Bonita’s unless they are so thick you can’t get a jig down to the yellowtails that feeding underneath. I release all except the ones I cut up for sashimi. I was catching so many last year in Mexico when I switched to bass gear then hooked up to something much bigger and got rocked, felt like a nice yellow that we were targeting. What I found interesting was the layered schooling, up top was all barracuda then Bonita followed by yellowtail underneath. When I switched to really heavy jigs that punched through the layers i started nailing good quality yellow’s.

Anyways super fun fishing, I equate it to bluegill in fresh water, hard to keep them off your hooks when they are there.

 

[Cactus Chris]

Love catching Bonita’s unless they are so thick you can’t get a jig down to the yellowtails that feeding underneath. I release all except the ones I cut up for sashimi. I was catching so many last year in Mexico when I switched to bass gear then hooked up to something much bigger and got rocked, felt like a nice yellow that we were targeting. What I found interesting was the layered schooling, up top was all barracuda then Bonita followed by yellowtail underneath. When I switched to really heavy jigs that punched through the layers i started nailing good quality yellow’s.

Anyways super fun fishing, I equate it to bluegill in fresh water, hard to keep them off your hooks when they are there.

Yeah I lost something big this fall on the backside of cat because I was just messing around throwing a hookup bait on a spinner with 15# leader catching bones and calicos and I'm pretty sure I hooked into a big yellow. Took me around the boat and eventually got close enough to the anchor line I really had to button down the drag and it broke off. I was definitely sad about losing it but I still had a great day of wide open bonito and calicos

 

[Mateo el Flaco]

I have come to thoroughly enjoy super fresh seared or sashimi bones.. IF bled, gutted and iced right away. I have also seen what they look like when not taken care of - grape jelly mush (which does probably equate to a mean lobstah bait)

 

[yakdout]

They can rarely get into the double digit pounds, but pound for pound they are probably one of the hardest fighting fish out there. Great fun on lighter gear like freshwater bass gear but the bigger ones even put up a pretty good fight on saltwater tackle

You should tell that to the guy claiming to have caught 12lb greenback and Spanish mackerel!

 

[Tunahead]

HELL YA....years fishing Freelance w/Norris Tapp or Chris Goble for Bonito just off the Quarry. Usually wide open after lunch. Many times made our day after making the bass and perch anglers happy. . Some kick ass great fun on light tackle.

 

[Cactus Chris]

You should tell that to the guy claiming to have caught 12lb greenback and Spanish mackerel!

Probably had his beer goggles on. I know they can make a four look like a ten lol

 

[Tunahead]

Some years with my sailboat ft of Coronado St. slip N. of Arts Landing, go out after 5pm in summer on a reach back and forth between the piers offshore, 2 rigs trolling, wide open, throwing them in the cockpit, buckets of saltwater bleeding, streering the tiller with my feet. Tossing many to skiff anglers in the harbor going in. Some of the most fun times in my life fishing bar none.

 

[Rubberhook2]

When I was a kid, you know, last week, I would fish 1/2 day boats and bring my Lamiglass 105 paired with a Squidder Jr. with 12lb and fish anchovies for them. Never even knew what a sardine was back then...

 

[Cactus Chris]

When I was a kid, you know, last week, I would fish 1/2 day boats and bring my Lamiglass 105 paired with a Squidder Jr. with 12lb and fish anchovies for them. Never even knew what a sardine was back then...

Yeah when I started deep sea fishing it was rare that we would ever have sardines for bait. Almost always anchovies and sometimes live squid

 

[hucklongfin]

I fish because I like fishing, not because I want fish to eat. The tug is the drug! Bonito are fun to catch, they’re good fighters on light tackle! I’ve caught a lot of them throwing Krocs.

 

[martin3]

Grew up in Redondo - started fishing the harbor mid 60s. By the late 60s working on the receiver. We would scoop chovies for 3-4 hours straight weekend mornings. People would come from out of state to catch bones on a flyrod.

Pound for pound certainly underrated fight by those who have not caught them. Underrated table fair as well.

I would question blaming commercial pressure on the decline. Some impact of course. Given the demand and availability of "better" fish to catch I don't think there was a lot of pressure. Also not the easiest to catch - they are fast when they want to be.

I think it may be more of natural cycle thing. Population was pretty good even with the pressure for years back in the day. While there is no such research for Bonito there is some data on historical populations of Sardine here in the bight going back like 1500 years. Population has a big boom/bust cycle that is centuries long. In the late 30s/early 40s population crashed and remained depressed for decades. There was quite a bit of commercial pressure building from the 1920s (population seemed pretty robust at the time) and then the huge crash. Commercial pressure was long blamed for the crash. Fast forward to the research done in the 1990s when they learned a lot about the natural population cycle. Come to find out that the crash in the 1940s mirrored the natural cycle that happened over millennia. Given the new info they realized while the commercial pressure slowed the upturn of natural cycle it was not the cause of the decline.

I still love pulling on a double digit bone on freshwater gear. Definitely one of the best fights in the bight!

We used to love fishing the Bonito in Redondo harbor back in the 80's.
I used to run my little boat from Huntington harbor just to fish the bones.
It was an absolute blast on FW gear. I moved into fly-fishing because of this fishery.
This was how I got my start!

The bite was legendary. Every once in a while the small YT would roam through by the bubbler pipe. Good times.

 

[sickcat]

We used to love fishing the Bonito in Redondo harbor back in the 80's.
I used to run my little boat from Huntington harbor just to fish the bones.
It was an absolute blast on FW gear. I moved into fly-fishing because of this fishery.
This was how I got my start!

The bite was legendary. Every once in a while the small YT would roam through by the pipe. Good times.

Someone at BD posted a couple minutes video with some hot shots wailing on the YT at the bubble hole. I'll see if I can find it.

Like many Bonito was definitely the gateway drug that led to my lifelong addiction.

 

[surfgoose]

Love catching Bonita’s unless they are so thick you can’t get a jig down to the yellowtails that feeding underneath. I release all except the ones I cut up for sashimi. I was catching so many last year in Mexico when I switched to bass gear then hooked up to something much bigger and got rocked, felt like a nice yellow that we were targeting. What I found interesting was the layered schooling, up top was all barracuda then Bonita followed by yellowtail underneath. When I switched to really heavy jigs that punched through the layers i started nailing good quality yellow’s.

Anyways super fun fishing, I equate it to bluegill in fresh water, hard to keep them off your hooks when they are there.

When you are in a layered situation like that, with yellowtail under ravenous bonito who pounce upon every bait, try using a cut bait chunk of bonito. The bonito don't eat themselves, but yellowtail just love bonito chunks.

 

[Aggro]

Record is 21 lbs. I've seen plenty over 10. https://www.pacificbonito.net/world-record.php Usually mixed in with Skippies for some reason.

 

[7emptsT]

When you are in a layered situation like that, with yellowtail under ravenous bonito who pounce upon every bait, try using a cut bait chunk of bonito. The bonito don't eat themselves, but yellowtail just love bonito chunks.

Never thought of that, pure genius, thank you.

 

[surfgoose]

Never thought of that, pure genius, thank you.

The genius was Charlie Davis, outstanding fisherman and columnist for South Coast Sportfishing magazine. He wrote a column about that tactic in February 1987. For decades I've cut columns and articles out of various fishing and hunting magazines and kept them filed. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants, and whatever problem we are facing there is a good likelihood that someone else already solved it.

 

[Kh1983]

So what's the best way to preserve them on a sport boat? I've thought about bringing a mini kill bag on board for Catalina trips but probably frowned upon.

 

[Cactus Chris]

So what's the best way to preserve them on a sport boat? I've thought about bringing a mini kill bag on board for Catalina trips but probably frowned upon.

I saw one dude on a sportboat who actually made little nooses from the string from the gunny sack and hung them by their tails on the gunny sack hooks inside his sack. I don't go that far I just try to make sure they are flat in the bottom of the bag rather than bent and make sure to wet it down occasionally and try to keep it tucked in tight to the bait tank so people don't step on them

 

[surfgoose]

Some day sportboats do a better job than others of taking care of fish. If gunny sacks are being used, I buy two and put one inside the other. The double thickness keeps the evaporative cooling MUCH more effective. And a smile and request to a deckhand gets the sacks more attention. It also helps if they know you, and know that you are a good tipper.

 

[Northeastfshman]

They can rarely get into the double digit pounds, but pound for pound they are probably one of the hardest fighting fish out there. Great fun on lighter gear like freshwater bass gear but the bigger ones even put up a pretty good fight on saltwater tackle

This is literally the worst reply in the history of the internet.

 

[Desert fishing]

I had this conversation with someone about two years ago on our way out to catch bluefin. He offered my some ceviche he made with Bonito. Was alittle skeptical but it was delicious. He said same thing if it's taken care of properly its good. He takes a ice chest with him on 3/4 day boats. Catches a couple and bleeds them out puts on ice.

 

[Cactus Chris]

This is literally the worst reply in the history of the internet.

I'm not sure what to tell you bud except maybe this conversation isn't intended for your personal enjoyment. One can always keep scrolling, or there's always the ignore function if you really don't want to hear what I have to say.