New Moon BFT Explosion |The Bite Index | July 16, 2026

July 12 may have been the biggest single-day bluefin tuna haul of the 2026 season. Multiple boats returned that Sunday with 90-138 BFT each -- Constitution 110, Legend 138, Aztec 102, Polaris Supreme 132, Excalibur 91, Pegasus 96. By the time the last boat checked in, the fleet had logged something in the range of 900+ bluefin tuna in a single day. The New Moon hit Tuesday July 14. We are now 2 days into the post-New Moon window, and this is historically when the BFT bite peaks. The weekend is 9/10 conditions, baro stable, dark crescent skies. Overnight boats hitting the BFT grounds before dawn will intersect the Overhead Major at 5:47 AM Saturday -- the same window that's been producing all week. There's one more story building too: dorado. Multiple boats this week came home with 10-42 dorado alongside their yellowtail and tuna. Species are stacking. This might be the best weekend of the 2026 season.

Weekend Score: 9/10 🟢

First call on the board. Six attempts, one hit.

Sunday July 12 was a day this fishery won't forget.

Here's what came back to the dock in a single day:

That list is not cherrypicked -- that's just the boats that cracked 50 BFT. The fleet combined logged somewhere north of 900 bluefin tuna in a single day. The New Moon buildup was visible in the data all week: 64 BFT (Poseidon, July 11), 77 BFT (Pacifica, July 13). The New Moon itself landed Tuesday July 14, and multi-day boats that departed after publish already brought back 96 BFT (Pacific Dawn, 3-day, July 14), 96 BFT (Highliner, 1.5-day, July 14), 84 BFT (Pacific Voyager, 3-day, July 14), 76 BFT (Pegasus, 2-day, July 14).

The BFT school -- or more accurately the BFT schools, because at this density there's more than one -- are sitting southwest of San Diego in a zone that multiple boats are finding every single trip.

And then there's the dorado. This is the story that snuck up on everyone. Producer came back from an overnight July 11 with 56 yellowtail AND 34 dorado. Grande did a full-day offshore July 13 and returned with 30 yellowtail, 6 BFT, and 42 dorado. The dorado aren't a scattered species anymore -- they're showing up in bulk on boats that are targeting other species. When the BFT and dorado schools overlap, you get trips like Polaris Supreme on July 12: 132 BFT, 17 yellowtail, 34 dorado. That's three species in one day, offshore.

One more thing: New Seaforth PM posted 250 barracuda on July 13. On a half-day PM boat. 250 barracuda.

Offshore BFT -- EXCEPTIONAL (5/5)
The number this week is 900+. That's the estimated fleet-wide single-day BFT haul on July 12. Individual trip highs: Legend 138, Polaris 132, Constitution 110, Aztec 102. Through midweek the pace continued: Pacific Dawn 96, Highliner 96, Pacific Voyager 84. The New Moon was July 14 -- we're now in the post-New Moon window that has produced the best BFT fishing of the season. The pre-dawn Overhead Major this Saturday (5:47-7:47 AM) is the window overnight boats will be fishing. History says this is the right setup.

Coronado Islands -- INCONSISTENT (3/5)
CI yellowtail has been a roller coaster. San Diego posted 52 on July 11, 41 on July 13, then 13 on July 14. Mission Belle 29 on July 10, 10 on July 11, 13 on July 12. Grande is running offshore more than the islands at this point. The CI is producing on its good days but the consistency isn't there. With the BFT school pulling boats offshore and the post-New Moon dark water conditions, the CI story this weekend is secondary.

Offshore Mixed Bag -- VERY GOOD (4/5)
This is the zone that's generating the most interesting trips. Grande has been running full-day offshore and posting 30-36 yellowtail plus 10-42 dorado plus YFT mixed in. Producer overnight trips: 45 YT + 22 Dorado (Jul 10), 56 YT + 34 Dorado (Jul 11), 14 YT + 36 Dorado + 2 YFT (Jul 12). Yellowfin tuna have also shown up -- Grande posted 4 YFT on July 13 and 5 YFT on July 14. Species are stacking south and offshore.

La Jolla / Nearshore -- BARRACUDA (4/5)
The barracuda bite this week deserves its own category. New Seaforth Twilight: 175 barracuda (Jul 10), 180 (Jul 11), 200 barracuda on a Full Day (Jul 11). New Seaforth PM: 250 barracuda on July 13 (a half-day PM boat). Sea Watch posted 248 barracuda on July 12. These are historic numbers for nearshore barracuda. The nearshore fleet has also been running strong calico bass -- Premier 115 calico (Jul 10 AM), 126 (Jul 11 AM), Southern Cal 126 calico (Jul 13 AM). White seabass are scattered but present -- Daily Double 1 WSB (Jul 11), New Seaforth AM and PM both posted 1 WSB on July 13.

For private boaters targeting BFT this weekend, the timing setup is as good as it gets.

New Moon was July 14. The 4-5 day post-New Moon window is when the dark conditions reach full effect -- no moon overhead during the critical nighttime bite, bait schools up in the water column, BFT actively feeding in the black. The Overhead Major fires Saturday at 5:47 AM San Diego time. That is 7 minutes before civil twilight. If you're on the water at the right latitude and you hit that window at first light, you're fishing the peak intersection of the gravitational maximum and the dawn feeding transition.

For a private 6-pack targeting BFT offshore: launch no later than 2 AM if you're running 50+ nm, earlier if you want to be set up and fishing before the window opens. The window runs 5:47-7:47 AM. The bite can fire at any point in that 2-hour range -- most reports put the best action in the first 30-45 minutes of daylight.

Night jigging is also worth considering if you're in the right zone. The BFT fleet has noted consistent dark-water surface action this week -- popper and jig bites in the dark have been producing ahead of the dawn bite. If you're anchored on a kelp paddy or floating structure with marks below, the dark moon night is your best window before the dawn Major.

Sunday's Overhead Major pushes slightly later -- 6:31-8:31 AM. The bite window is more squarely in the post-sunrise window that day.

Both evenings: Underfoot Major fires Saturday 5:25-7:25 PM (peak 6:25 PM) and Sunday 6:09-8:09 PM (peak 7:09 PM). These evening windows overlap with sunset and are prime nearshore windows -- yellowtail at the islands, yellowtail/barracuda in the nearshore kelp, and the WSB twilight window for La Jolla boats.

Forecast: Perfect. Another 9/10 weekend.

Source: NOAA PZZ750, San Mateo Pt to Mexican Border, out 30nm.

Barometric Pressure: 29.870 inHg, stable (⚪). 3h change: +0.010 inHg, 12h change: +0.020 inHg. No signal -- steady conditions. No pre-storm feeding surge, but also no pressure spike suppressing the bite.

SST:

1. Post-New Moon dark water peak. New Moon was July 14. Days 2-6 post-New Moon are historically when the BFT bite goes from "good" to "historic." We just watched the fleet haul 900+ BFT on day -2 before the New Moon. The dark conditions are now in full effect and the offshore fleet has had one of its best weeks of the year.

2. Pre-dawn Overhead Major Saturday aligns with overnight boat arrival. The 5:47-7:47 AM Saturday window is not an accident -- it's the same pre-dawn gravity peak that overnight boats have been hitting all month. Boats leaving dock Thursday night, arriving at the BFT zone before dawn, and fishing the Major at first light. This is the play.

3. Evening Underfoot Majors for nearshore. 5:25-7:25 PM Saturday and 6:09-8:09 PM Sunday. Both days have a strong evening window that overlaps with sunset feeding activity. The barracuda bite, CI yellowtail bite, and WSB bite all intensify around sunset -- this weekend the gravitational peak is stacking with the natural evening transition.

4. Dorado are here. Multiple boats posting 10-42 dorado alongside their primary species. Grande has been running offshore and finding yellowtail + dorado + YFT in the same zone. When the BFT and dorado overlap, you have one of the few days where any given cast can produce a different species.

5. 9/10 conditions and baro stable. Steady pressure. Flat seas. No disruption.

Weekend of July 18-19, 2026 -- San Diego

New Moon was Tuesday July 14 at 4:43 PM PDT. Saturday July 18: 17% illumination (Waxing Crescent) / Sunday July 19: 26% illumination (Waxing Crescent). Dark conditions through the weekend -- no moonlight disruption to the night bite.

The picks: Saturday 5:47-7:47 AM for BFT; Saturday 5:25-7:25 PM and Sunday 6:09-8:09 PM for nearshore/CI/WSB.

This is the fifth consecutive weekend with different window timing -- New Moon: midday, First Quarter: dawn, Full Moon: midday, Waning Gibbous: afternoon, now New Moon again: pre-dawn and evening. The rhythm of the moon is the underlying pulse of the fishery. Understanding which window you're in determines which boat to be on and what time to be on the grounds.

The 17% crescent illumination Saturday means near-total darkness after the moon sets at 12:20 PM Friday and before it rises at 12:38 AM Sunday. That's approximately 12+ hours of completely dark ocean surface Saturday night into Sunday dawn -- exactly the condition that brings BFT to the top of the water column for the dawn bite.

The numbers pick. Legend just returned from a 3-day with 138 BFT on 26 anglers -- the highest single-boat count of the July 12 explosion. The boat and crew found the school and know where it is. A 3-day departing tonight or tomorrow puts them on the grounds for the Saturday pre-dawn Overhead Major. The New Moon window is right now. If Legend is running this weekend, this is the #1 pick.

The mixed-bag value pick. Grande has been running offshore all week and finding the intersection of yellowtail, dorado, and BFT in the same zone. July 11: 36 YT + 16 Dorado + 1 YFT. July 13: 30 YT + 6 BFT + 42 Dorado + 4 YFT. For a 1-day trip that gives you a realistic shot at three species (YT + Dorado + BFT), Grande's full-day offshore format is the play. They're fishing the zone the overnight fleet has been targeting and finding it every time.

The nearshore barracuda/WSB pick. 250 barracuda on July 13. The PM format runs right into the Underfoot Major on both days (Saturday window 5:25-7:25 PM). New Seaforth PM is also the boat that's been posting the most consistent WSB numbers -- they found 8 WSB on June 28 in the sunset overlap window. With the Underfoot Major stacking with sunset again this weekend, the evening half-day format has the best nearshore window timing. And worst case, you go home with barracuda. Lots of them.

BLUEFIN TUNA -- THE JULY 12 EXPLOSION

DORADO -- THE EMERGING STORY

CORONADO ISLANDS YELLOWTAIL

BARRACUDA -- THE NEARSHORE EXPLOSION

MULTI-DAY YELLOWTAIL / MIXED

Legend tops 100 bluefin tuna this trip.
The Legend just returned 138 BFT on July 12. The New Moon window opened July 14. Dark crescent skies, pre-dawn Overhead Major at 5:47 AM Saturday. The setup is better than the week they just had. We're calling 100+ again, different boat, same zone.

The Bite Index publishes every Thursday. Built on marine weather data, offshore buoy readings, fleet fish counts, and our own in-depth fishing data analysis.

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