Bluefin Tuna
San Diego Offshore
Limits + cows in 1.5-day range
May 4-10, 2026
The Count
Bluefin Tuna
Past 4 weeks · Top 6 boats
4-Week Total
2,800
High
888 · 04/15
Low
196 · 04/08
- New Lo-An
- Old Glory
- Other boats
- Pacific Voyager
- Polaris Supreme
- Total
- Tribute
Today (Wed, May 6) — the Polaris Supreme came back this morning with 96 bluefin for 24 anglers on a 2-day. Pacific Queen and Liberty are still out on multi-day trips that haven't returned.
The chart story is steadiness, not decline. After a slow first week of April (196 fish), the bite popped to 888 in the week ending April 21 and stayed planted: 864, then 852. That's three straight weeks at 850+ from the SD fleet — rare for early May. The bigger headline is the year-over-year: same week last year (May 1–6, 2025), the entire fleet caught 148 bluefin. Same week this year: 948. A 6.4× YoY jump in raw volume, and the grade is moving up too.
The Polaris Supreme is leading the leaderboard by a mile — 1,065 BFT over the past month including today, with the Pacific Voyager at 544. The 1.5-day runners are the more interesting story this week: the Liberty returned May 6 with 14 of their 26 fish in the 80–140 lb class. That's a different fish than April's schoolies.
No boat data available for this period.
Conditions When the Bite Was Hot
Conditions — May 1-6, 2026
Powered by Fish City63.7°F
Pt Loma South
3.3ft SW @ 12s
Pt Loma South
16kt WNW
Pt Loma South
First Quarter (40%)
Calculated
Clean (0.31 mg/m³)
CoastWatch ERDDAP
Major 03:36–05:36
Minor 10:06–11:06
Source: NOAA Buoys 46232, 46258 | Data from nearest reliable stations — not exact spot conditions.
Water temp at the offshore buoys is sitting at 63.7°F (Pt Loma South) to 65.3°F (Mission Bay South) — squarely in the bluefin sweet spot. Swell is light at 3 feet on a long 12–15 second period, which is a comfortable ride out to the 9-Mile, 302, or 425. Wind has been WNW at 14–16 knots, enough to put a texture on the surface but not enough to push fish down.
The really interesting condition: the bite is happening in the 1.5-day range. Captain notes from Fisherman's Landing flagged "bluefin, yellowfin, and dorado being caught within 1 day range" — meaning you don't need a 3-day to score. That changes the math on who can realistically book a trip.
7-Day Forecast
7-Day Fishability Forecast
This is the cleanest 7-day window of the season so far. Friday and Saturday are the picks — light SW wind at 5 mph, 3-foot swell, and the moon backing off to Last Quarter / Waning Crescent. The new-moon advantage that helped April (dark nights, surface-feeding bluefin) is fading, but the conditions are otherwise stacked.
The wildcard is a slight wind bump on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you're booking a 1.5-day, depart Thursday night or Friday morning to land that prime weekend bite window.
Conditions Match
5/5conditions match — Strong match. Get on a boat.
Every condition box checks green. Water temp is better than during the past week's bite (warming a degree or two through Monday), wind is dropping sharply, and swell is easing. The moon is in waning territory — not the dark-water advantage of a true new moon, but not a bright full moon working against night fishing either.
What Anglers Are Saying
2 Day Update, May 5, 2026
"Limits of Bluefin for the last couple trips. We've had great fishing since we kicked things off in March."
— Polaris Supreme
Crew note after May 6 1.5-day, 26 BFT including 14 fish at 80–140 lbs
"Bringing your nighttime 100# outfits and knife jigs."
— Liberty crew
Dock report summary, week of May 4, 2026
"Bluefin, Yellowfin and Dorado being caught within 1 day range."
— Fisherman's Landing
The Liberty's note is the tell. April's brief recommended 25–30 lb gear because the grade was schoolies — 25–50 lb fish on flyline. The Liberty came back May 6 with 14 fish at 80–140 lbs, and the crew is now telling anglers to bring 100 lb gear and knife jigs. When the cows show up, the tackle changes.
Tackle Loadout
Tackle Loadout
Rod
Two outfits: 25–30 lb class for flyline + 80–100 lb for the cows
Line
65 lb braid (flyline) / 100 lb braid (heavy)
Leader
30 lb fluoro for flyline · 100–150 lb mono for daytime jigs · 10–15 ft of 130–200 lb bite leader for night drops
Bait
Live sardine (flylined) + knife jigs / heavy iron after dark
Heavy / Premium Reels
Jigs
Knife jigs over flat falls — the Liberty's May 6 dock note was explicit: 'bring your nighttime 100# outfits and knife jigs.' For night drops, run a 10–15 ft 130–200 lb mono bite leader between your braid and the jig — bluefin will saw through anything thinner during a hot run. A Penn Fathom 25 (2-speed) handles the daylight flyline + 25–50 lb schoolies, but the Liberty's 14 fish in the 80–140 lb class on May 6 is a different animal — step up to a Penn Fathom 40 (2-speed) or an Accurate BV2-600 if you're going premium. Tungsten jigs are the rave right now (smaller profile for the same weight, sinks faster) but they run ~$100 a pop, so iron-fish them sparingly. Before you tie on, ask the deckhand how they prefer assist hooks rigged — every crew has a setup they trust (single vs dual, hook size, in-line vs welded), and matching the boat's program saves you a lost cow. Skip the slow-pitch flat falls and rolling sliders; the bigger grade is eating clean knife profiles on the fall and the pitch back up.
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