{"id":368206,"date":"2026-06-20T08:50:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T08:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/368206\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T08:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T08:50:27","slug":"fisherman-lands-massive-yellowtail-in-rare-san-diego-pier-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/368206\/","title":{"rendered":"Fisherman lands massive yellowtail in rare San Diego pier catch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>June 19, 2026, 11:02 a.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">A San Diego pier angler this week battled a 45-pound yellowtail for nearly an hour in an extraordinary catch that many didn\u2019t initially believe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The massive yellowtail, baited by Brandon Dawson, was hauled onto Crystal Pier by a friend who stuck the fish with a 42-foot sectional gaff.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:396px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/90617233007-yellowtail-from-pier.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Brandon Dawson celebrate's yellowtail catch.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZticbvMKZM\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a>, shared Thursday by Tonya Parent, shows the latter portion of the fight and the effort to raise the fish. The second <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZvn3hQASQq\/?img_index=4\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a>, shared by Pacific Beach Since 1887, shows more imagery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/outdoors\/2026\/06\/10\/record-crappie-epic-fishing-trip-minnesota\/90496686007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ALSO: Massive, record-setting crappie caught during wild bite in Minnesota<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">As word of the rare catch spread via social media, many expressed doubts because yellowtail of any size are rarely caught from piers, much less a 45-pound behemoth. But footage from multiple sources erased those doubts.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em_ig_bl\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZticbvMKZM\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" aria-label=\"view Instagram post: \"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wonews.com\/monster-homeguard-yellowtail-bagged-off-san-diegos-crystal-pier\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Western Outdoor News<\/a> described Dawson\u2019s feat as a catch of a lifetime &#8220;multiplied by about a thousand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Dawson is quoted: \u201cMy rod suddenly jumped with two consecutive loud bursts of clicks. I jumped over to my rod quick and knew I had a bite.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I set the hook when I picked it up, but it wasn\u2019t solid, so I wound in \u2026 and\u00a0boom, weight connects to the leader and my rod goes proper bendo with a screamin\u2019 first run.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em_ig_bl\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZvn3hQASQq\/?img_index=4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" aria-label=\"view Instagram post: \"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Crystal Pier, in Pacific Beach, has rows of rental cottages and is utilized beyond that as a fishing platform. But it&#8217;s not typically a place where anglers target large yellowtail, which are more common catches at islands and offshore kelp paddies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">According to Western Outdoor News, Dawson was outfitted with a 25-pound-test leader attached to 40-pound line, so he was targeting large fish. Reports did not mention what Dawson used as bait.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 19, 2026, 11:02 a.m. ET A San Diego pier angler this week battled a 45-pound yellowtail for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[243,74,76,75,149333,65609,65610,77609,7852,939,7851,508,7844,4811,246],"class_list":["post-368206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-accessfree","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sourcefor-the-win","tag-sstssportsoutdoors","tag-sstsnoutdoors","tag-tagfishing","tag-taglocal-affiliate-arts-entertainment","tag-taglocal-news","tag-tagonline-video","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsan-diego","tag-tagwildlife","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}