The 1997 fishing season got off to a good start with a wide open Yellowtail bite in the last week of April on the Finger Bank. Bruce Ito and Bruce Mrosko started a summer tradition cleaning fish in the lee of Isla Coronado Sur. A dozen trips later in mid November with the skipper and crew pretty well worn down and the Seabear running well we finally called it a season. Limit fishing for Yellowtail was the rule throughout the summer. Although in the later months the fish were smaller the the 8 to 15 lb fish we found in April. However, the star of the early summer was the Albacore. Tom Neuman caught the Seabear's first Albacore of the seasoncoming home from the Butterfly bank in late May. In the next two weeks we took over 50 nice size Albacore on two trips near the 213 bank. ISHR meetings in Vancouver (It is a tough life) interfered with tuna fishing in July and by August we were catching mostly Yellowfin and large 15 to 25 lb Dorado, the real star of the late summer. The last trip of the summer (11/7/97 !!) found only the skipper and Bruce Ito with enough energy left to fish and was typical of the fall bite. Just below the 480 spot we boated half a dozen 20+ lb Dorado caught on bait around a group of kelp paddies and picked up several yellowfin on troll.

Bruce and Chris Mrosko with October Bull Dorado
Jerry Schneider, Bruce and John Ito, cleaning fish in the Lee of South Island, show off albacore caught in late june