Some schoolie Yellowfin Tuna caught on the 3/4 day boat Point Loma out of San Diego
Southern California
Summer 2014
Species: Yellowfin Tuna, White Seabass, Rockfish, Yellowtail, Calico Bass, Bonito
After a number of years fishing on lots of overseas trips, I decided to try to stay closer to home and fish on the local party boats in Southern California. These are unique types of trips; see my article on Southern California party boat fishing. Below are a compilation of reports from several trips on different boats.
Summer 2014
Species: Yellowfin Tuna, White Seabass, Rockfish, Yellowtail, Calico Bass, Bonito
After a number of years fishing on lots of overseas trips, I decided to try to stay closer to home and fish on the local party boats in Southern California. These are unique types of trips; see my article on Southern California party boat fishing. Below are a compilation of reports from several trips on different boats.
Freedom
July 2014
I have been doing a lot of fishing in various places overseas for the last several years but family obligations are making it harder to get away so I thought I would get back into the local scene. I decided to hop onto the Freedom since the WSBs were making an appearance. Headed out at 10pm with around 36 other people. We had a small amount of live squid along with some dead squid and a tankful of tiny anchovies that we didn't use all day. I went to my bunk and slept like a baby; work has been tiring me out. The Freedom is a pretty comfortable boat to sleep in. When I woke up we were out at San Nicolas and it was already getting light. A couple boats were there and had a couple people hooked up. We were able to grab a bunch of live squid from another boat and started fishing. The White Seabass came through and several people got bit, and then a little later they came through again and I got bit. I fought it up to the boat but unfortunately when it got close it took off and wrapped my line around a bunch of other peoples' lines. Luckily the braid held and I was able to bring it up with a bunch of other lines. Some other guy actually tried to claim it was his fish, but fortunately I was using pink Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon line and it was the only pink line in the pile. The deckhand confirmed that the fish came off the hook with the pink line and the other guy backed off. I had forgotten about how much tangling can be a problem on party boats.
Anyway, the seabass tapered off pretty early in the morning so we went looking for rockfish and I got a limit of pretty nice reds and others along with some short lings. All told we ended up with 16 or 17 WSBs and sacks full of bottomfish. One guy was absolutely on fire and caught 3 WSBs along with a big sheepshead and a nice ling. The WSBs ranged from the size of the one I caught to a couple that were probably in the mid 20s or so. Fishing wasn't amazing, but it was a really nice day on the water and I came home with a cooler of fish for the in laws. My WSB was one of the smallest on the boat but I was stoked to get one. Fishing time was a little short since we had such a long trek home.
I wanted to give a shout out to the cook on the Freedom. Embarrassingly I don't remember her name, but she was super friendly and knew everyone's name. She really went out of her way to make sure people were having a good time. She came out and took pictures of people's fish and emailed them to them. She also made some very tasty food. That's what great customer service looks like and I look forward to the next time I have a chance to fish on the Freedom.
July 2014
I have been doing a lot of fishing in various places overseas for the last several years but family obligations are making it harder to get away so I thought I would get back into the local scene. I decided to hop onto the Freedom since the WSBs were making an appearance. Headed out at 10pm with around 36 other people. We had a small amount of live squid along with some dead squid and a tankful of tiny anchovies that we didn't use all day. I went to my bunk and slept like a baby; work has been tiring me out. The Freedom is a pretty comfortable boat to sleep in. When I woke up we were out at San Nicolas and it was already getting light. A couple boats were there and had a couple people hooked up. We were able to grab a bunch of live squid from another boat and started fishing. The White Seabass came through and several people got bit, and then a little later they came through again and I got bit. I fought it up to the boat but unfortunately when it got close it took off and wrapped my line around a bunch of other peoples' lines. Luckily the braid held and I was able to bring it up with a bunch of other lines. Some other guy actually tried to claim it was his fish, but fortunately I was using pink Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon line and it was the only pink line in the pile. The deckhand confirmed that the fish came off the hook with the pink line and the other guy backed off. I had forgotten about how much tangling can be a problem on party boats.
Anyway, the seabass tapered off pretty early in the morning so we went looking for rockfish and I got a limit of pretty nice reds and others along with some short lings. All told we ended up with 16 or 17 WSBs and sacks full of bottomfish. One guy was absolutely on fire and caught 3 WSBs along with a big sheepshead and a nice ling. The WSBs ranged from the size of the one I caught to a couple that were probably in the mid 20s or so. Fishing wasn't amazing, but it was a really nice day on the water and I came home with a cooler of fish for the in laws. My WSB was one of the smallest on the boat but I was stoked to get one. Fishing time was a little short since we had such a long trek home.
I wanted to give a shout out to the cook on the Freedom. Embarrassingly I don't remember her name, but she was super friendly and knew everyone's name. She really went out of her way to make sure people were having a good time. She came out and took pictures of people's fish and emailed them to them. She also made some very tasty food. That's what great customer service looks like and I look forward to the next time I have a chance to fish on the Freedom.
Legal White Seabass caught at San Nicholas Islands
|
Two of the many Rockfish that filled our sacks
|
Sea Trek
July 2014
A couple friends and I were excited to try some of the red hot local fishing on Saturday. Unfortunately, we were not the only people with that idea and most of the boats were either chartered, full, or planning to take 70+ people. After calling around I finally got us the last three spots on the Sea Trek out of Oceanside.
When we got there in the morning, I was pretty surprised by how small the boat was, especially since they were taking 39 people. I don't think that boat can really fish more than 20 comfortably unless everyone is bottom fishing at anchor or something. Anyway, we set out with some anchovies, sardines, and mackeral for bait and proceeded to not get a single bite the whole morning. I don't think I had a line in the water more than 10 mins total by the time it was lunch time. The weather was nice but the fishing was completely dead. Around 1 or so we finally got a jig fish and a little later we found a small spot of tuna that bit a little bit.
Seeing that the fish were boiling pretty far away, I put on a big sardine instead of the anchovies I had been using and got it to swim 100+ yards away and finally got a bite. The fish took another 50 yards of line on its first run, so I was starting to worry a little bit about getting spooled but fortunately it turned and I was able to get it to the bow where there were less people. It did get tangled on a line or two but I managed to get it in. It turned out to be a bluefin, so I was stoked. I think a couple other fish came in on that stop but not many.
Everyone got fired up after seeing a fish get caught so the bait tank was a zoo. I decided to get away from the crowd and work a jig deep off the bow. Second drop with my blue and white Tady iron cranked at full speed yielded another bite, which turned out to be another bluefin. That might have been the only fish taken on that stop and immediately a bunch of people switched to blue and white jigs. This freed up some room at the bait tank, so at the next stop I grabbed a mackeral and sent it out as far as I could. It got picked up about 50 yards out and I got it hooked up. Unfortunately I was in the back with about 20 people all crammed in so I had to do a lot of scrambling over and under people. I got the fish to the boat and saw it was another bluefin, but unfortunately it took a last run and somehow spit the circle hook. That was tough to take; it sucks to lose a nice fish like that when so few were biting. Plus I thought I had him for sure with the circle hook. Oh well.
The boat only ended up with 7 tuna for 39 people. Very tough day. The crew was fishing pretty hard this trip, which certainly didn't help the crowd situation. They caught one or two of the 7 tuna for the boat. The captain tried to stay out a little later and stopped on several spots of fish on the way back but they would sink out as soon as we got close. I saw on Terrence's website that they posted a count of 7 yellowfin plus 4 bluefin, but I only counted 7 total fish and the deckhand told me that mine were the only bluefin landed.
All in all it was a beautiful day to be on the water and I feel pretty lucky to pull in a couple of fish when they weren't really biting much.
July 2014
A couple friends and I were excited to try some of the red hot local fishing on Saturday. Unfortunately, we were not the only people with that idea and most of the boats were either chartered, full, or planning to take 70+ people. After calling around I finally got us the last three spots on the Sea Trek out of Oceanside.
When we got there in the morning, I was pretty surprised by how small the boat was, especially since they were taking 39 people. I don't think that boat can really fish more than 20 comfortably unless everyone is bottom fishing at anchor or something. Anyway, we set out with some anchovies, sardines, and mackeral for bait and proceeded to not get a single bite the whole morning. I don't think I had a line in the water more than 10 mins total by the time it was lunch time. The weather was nice but the fishing was completely dead. Around 1 or so we finally got a jig fish and a little later we found a small spot of tuna that bit a little bit.
Seeing that the fish were boiling pretty far away, I put on a big sardine instead of the anchovies I had been using and got it to swim 100+ yards away and finally got a bite. The fish took another 50 yards of line on its first run, so I was starting to worry a little bit about getting spooled but fortunately it turned and I was able to get it to the bow where there were less people. It did get tangled on a line or two but I managed to get it in. It turned out to be a bluefin, so I was stoked. I think a couple other fish came in on that stop but not many.
Everyone got fired up after seeing a fish get caught so the bait tank was a zoo. I decided to get away from the crowd and work a jig deep off the bow. Second drop with my blue and white Tady iron cranked at full speed yielded another bite, which turned out to be another bluefin. That might have been the only fish taken on that stop and immediately a bunch of people switched to blue and white jigs. This freed up some room at the bait tank, so at the next stop I grabbed a mackeral and sent it out as far as I could. It got picked up about 50 yards out and I got it hooked up. Unfortunately I was in the back with about 20 people all crammed in so I had to do a lot of scrambling over and under people. I got the fish to the boat and saw it was another bluefin, but unfortunately it took a last run and somehow spit the circle hook. That was tough to take; it sucks to lose a nice fish like that when so few were biting. Plus I thought I had him for sure with the circle hook. Oh well.
The boat only ended up with 7 tuna for 39 people. Very tough day. The crew was fishing pretty hard this trip, which certainly didn't help the crowd situation. They caught one or two of the 7 tuna for the boat. The captain tried to stay out a little later and stopped on several spots of fish on the way back but they would sink out as soon as we got close. I saw on Terrence's website that they posted a count of 7 yellowfin plus 4 bluefin, but I only counted 7 total fish and the deckhand told me that mine were the only bluefin landed.
All in all it was a beautiful day to be on the water and I feel pretty lucky to pull in a couple of fish when they weren't really biting much.
The first Bluefin on a very slow day
|
My two Bluefin for the day
|
Erna B
July 2014
My church group chartered the Erna B out of Channel Islands Sportfishing in Oxnard on Monday 7/28. At least, we thought we did. When we got there, we were told that the boat was open party and there were 5 other people going. This led to some unhappy discussions with the landing staff. I was not involved in making the arrangements, but the facts everyone seemed to more or less agree on were: 1) our representative had called and asked to charter the boat, 2) the person who answered the phone agreed and accepted at 50% charter deposit via credit card, 3) the landing never sent a charter contract, and 4) they kept the trip as open party and continued to accept reservations. Again, I was not involved with making the arrangements so I can't say for sure who was at fault, but it seems to me it should be on the landing to provide the necessary paperwork for the group to sign; it should not be the responsibility of the group that is chartering to know what paperwork it needs to ask for. Especially if the landing took the deposit up front. Anyway, this was pointed out to the landing staff and although they were somewhat apologetic they did not do anything to either 1) fix it, or 2) attempt to make it up to our group in some way.
Although that was not a great start to the day, we didn't let it ruin the morning. The 5 people who were not part of our group were nice enough, although the boat did feel a bit crowded. If I ever went on that boat again I don't think I would fish with more than 20. The weather was beautiful and the crew was very pleasant. We tried trolling a little for yellowtail at Anacapa with no takers so we switched to calico bass fishing and picked away at them. We never really got a good bite going and I think we only ended up with around 35 bass total, but they were pretty decent in terms of size. A couple might have been pushing 6lbs and there were some solid 3-4lbers. Also, many of our group spent more time hanging out than fishing.
The birds would not leave us alone in a couple of spots and unfortunately we landed quite a few of those. The cormorants were vicious and even adding a 3oz sinker to my rig did not allow me to avoid them. I think almost everyone on the trip caught at least one bird.
I hooked up what I was hoping was a large seabass on a live squid but it ended up being a bat ray. I later hooked up on something that took a ton of line off my reel but it ended up being an even bigger bat ray. It was easily the biggest one I have ever caught; the captain said they don't get much bigger. It was quite a workout to reel in on my long light jig rod. Between those two rays I think I spent over an hour reeling them in combined, which unfortunately wasted valuable fishing time. I was fly-lining the squid in an effort to avoid the bat rays but clearly it did not work. I did manage to catch a couple nice bass and some small rockfish. One guy got his squid picked up by what I'm guessing was a yellow but it had him wrapped in the kelp almost immediately and broke off. All in all we had a good time hanging out, catching a few fish, and enjoying some amazing weather.
July 2014
My church group chartered the Erna B out of Channel Islands Sportfishing in Oxnard on Monday 7/28. At least, we thought we did. When we got there, we were told that the boat was open party and there were 5 other people going. This led to some unhappy discussions with the landing staff. I was not involved in making the arrangements, but the facts everyone seemed to more or less agree on were: 1) our representative had called and asked to charter the boat, 2) the person who answered the phone agreed and accepted at 50% charter deposit via credit card, 3) the landing never sent a charter contract, and 4) they kept the trip as open party and continued to accept reservations. Again, I was not involved with making the arrangements so I can't say for sure who was at fault, but it seems to me it should be on the landing to provide the necessary paperwork for the group to sign; it should not be the responsibility of the group that is chartering to know what paperwork it needs to ask for. Especially if the landing took the deposit up front. Anyway, this was pointed out to the landing staff and although they were somewhat apologetic they did not do anything to either 1) fix it, or 2) attempt to make it up to our group in some way.
Although that was not a great start to the day, we didn't let it ruin the morning. The 5 people who were not part of our group were nice enough, although the boat did feel a bit crowded. If I ever went on that boat again I don't think I would fish with more than 20. The weather was beautiful and the crew was very pleasant. We tried trolling a little for yellowtail at Anacapa with no takers so we switched to calico bass fishing and picked away at them. We never really got a good bite going and I think we only ended up with around 35 bass total, but they were pretty decent in terms of size. A couple might have been pushing 6lbs and there were some solid 3-4lbers. Also, many of our group spent more time hanging out than fishing.
The birds would not leave us alone in a couple of spots and unfortunately we landed quite a few of those. The cormorants were vicious and even adding a 3oz sinker to my rig did not allow me to avoid them. I think almost everyone on the trip caught at least one bird.
I hooked up what I was hoping was a large seabass on a live squid but it ended up being a bat ray. I later hooked up on something that took a ton of line off my reel but it ended up being an even bigger bat ray. It was easily the biggest one I have ever caught; the captain said they don't get much bigger. It was quite a workout to reel in on my long light jig rod. Between those two rays I think I spent over an hour reeling them in combined, which unfortunately wasted valuable fishing time. I was fly-lining the squid in an effort to avoid the bat rays but clearly it did not work. I did manage to catch a couple nice bass and some small rockfish. One guy got his squid picked up by what I'm guessing was a yellow but it had him wrapped in the kelp almost immediately and broke off. All in all we had a good time hanging out, catching a few fish, and enjoying some amazing weather.
A Calico Bass I managed to pull in between Bat Rays
New Lo An
August 2014
I remembered liking the New Lo An from 2000 when I last went so I booked a 1.5 day trip on it. It is a comfortable and spacious boat and just as good as I remembered.
I woke up first thing and tried dropping some glow in the dark jigs in the dark but no luck so I went back to sleep until gray light. A couple people landed some school-sized yellowfin on bait but there weren’t many fish around so we started moving. We didn’t have to wait long to get a jig strike, and when that happened I slid my MegaBait back and got an instant hookup. Nice 18lb or so yellowfin. Really good to get the skunk off so quickly. I then had two hooks pull on fish for no apparent reason along with a line break but then managed to land one on bait and after that I got it dialed in. I landed the next 14 fish and only dropped one or two the rest of the day. 16 tuna in a day is my personal best on a local party boat so I felt really good about the day. Nothing of any real size; maybe one or two in the 25lb range with the rest around 12-20lb. They put up a nice fight though. I mostly used a 25lb fluoro leader but got a few on 30lb. MegaBaits with single hooks made fish release easy for the ones I let go.
We didn’t get many jig strikes; we mostly slid up to bird schools. It was pretty steady with a lot of good stops for 30+ fish but none that went for too long. Almost no one wanted to troll so a couple of times the trolling lines stayed out after the boat stopped and got people tangled. Overall the people fishing were pretty experienced though and there were relatively few tangles which was nice. I only got in one tangle all day so I just cut my hook off and retied and was back to fishing immediately.
Other than a couple small yellowtail we pretty much just caught yellowfin but they were active and the boat ended up with around 240 for 32 guys. That is a strong day in anyone’s book. On top of that the weather was great and the crew was great. Great day all around.
The biggest highlight of the day for me other than the fishing was seeing a big hammerhead shark chase a tuna right to the boat and have it launch in the air trying to escape. We saw a couple big sharks out there and they are neat to see, especially when the charge the boat like that. Awesome.
Anyway, it was a great experience on the New Lo An and I look forward to doing it again some time.
August 2014
I remembered liking the New Lo An from 2000 when I last went so I booked a 1.5 day trip on it. It is a comfortable and spacious boat and just as good as I remembered.
I woke up first thing and tried dropping some glow in the dark jigs in the dark but no luck so I went back to sleep until gray light. A couple people landed some school-sized yellowfin on bait but there weren’t many fish around so we started moving. We didn’t have to wait long to get a jig strike, and when that happened I slid my MegaBait back and got an instant hookup. Nice 18lb or so yellowfin. Really good to get the skunk off so quickly. I then had two hooks pull on fish for no apparent reason along with a line break but then managed to land one on bait and after that I got it dialed in. I landed the next 14 fish and only dropped one or two the rest of the day. 16 tuna in a day is my personal best on a local party boat so I felt really good about the day. Nothing of any real size; maybe one or two in the 25lb range with the rest around 12-20lb. They put up a nice fight though. I mostly used a 25lb fluoro leader but got a few on 30lb. MegaBaits with single hooks made fish release easy for the ones I let go.
We didn’t get many jig strikes; we mostly slid up to bird schools. It was pretty steady with a lot of good stops for 30+ fish but none that went for too long. Almost no one wanted to troll so a couple of times the trolling lines stayed out after the boat stopped and got people tangled. Overall the people fishing were pretty experienced though and there were relatively few tangles which was nice. I only got in one tangle all day so I just cut my hook off and retied and was back to fishing immediately.
Other than a couple small yellowtail we pretty much just caught yellowfin but they were active and the boat ended up with around 240 for 32 guys. That is a strong day in anyone’s book. On top of that the weather was great and the crew was great. Great day all around.
The biggest highlight of the day for me other than the fishing was seeing a big hammerhead shark chase a tuna right to the boat and have it launch in the air trying to escape. We saw a couple big sharks out there and they are neat to see, especially when the charge the boat like that. Awesome.
Anyway, it was a great experience on the New Lo An and I look forward to doing it again some time.
One of many Yellowfin Tuna caught that trip
|
A whole mess of tuna
|
Aztec
September 2014
Hopped on the Aztec Saturday night for an overnight. I was very impressed with the boat: nice spacious galley, clean, nice air conditioned bunk room. The crew was friendly and helpful. After an uneventful night we started on the hunt. Things were very slow in the morning; just a few paddy stops for wide open rat yellows and one or two dorado. The captain wisely did not waste our time or bait on those but kept looking. He said he was willing to look until dark to find the fish, and I really appreciate that kind of dedication. It is really nice to see captains who are willing to put in the extra effort to try to make sure people have a good fishing experience rather than just taking them on a boat ride for a set amount of time.
Finally around 2pm we were called in by another boat (Pac Voyager I think) saying they were in a wide open yellowfin bite and were limited out. We went over there and immediately it was mayhem. Every bait in the water got bit. I started with 20lb and quickly switched to 30lb once I saw how well they were biting. I got a quick 5 fish limit on the boat and then started fooling around with iron. In 6 or 7 casts with a Megabait (actually the P-line version) I landed 4 more fish and then switched to a popper. Got some really nice blowups on the popper but only brought in one and released it. Watching them blow up on the popper is most of the fun; one of them threw the popper about 6ft in the air. At that point I retired to take a break. Shortly after that we called in the Top Gun since we had limits and they slid in and it looked like they started where we left off.
The best part of the day was the fishing. The next best part of the day was the nap afterwards in the air conditioned bunk. My buddy woke me up at one point to tell me I won the jackpot which was the icing on the cake.
Thanks to the great crew of the Aztec - I look forward to fishing on that boat again.
Here's a pic of the jackpot on the right. The money more than paid for the trip which is always nice.
September 2014
Hopped on the Aztec Saturday night for an overnight. I was very impressed with the boat: nice spacious galley, clean, nice air conditioned bunk room. The crew was friendly and helpful. After an uneventful night we started on the hunt. Things were very slow in the morning; just a few paddy stops for wide open rat yellows and one or two dorado. The captain wisely did not waste our time or bait on those but kept looking. He said he was willing to look until dark to find the fish, and I really appreciate that kind of dedication. It is really nice to see captains who are willing to put in the extra effort to try to make sure people have a good fishing experience rather than just taking them on a boat ride for a set amount of time.
Finally around 2pm we were called in by another boat (Pac Voyager I think) saying they were in a wide open yellowfin bite and were limited out. We went over there and immediately it was mayhem. Every bait in the water got bit. I started with 20lb and quickly switched to 30lb once I saw how well they were biting. I got a quick 5 fish limit on the boat and then started fooling around with iron. In 6 or 7 casts with a Megabait (actually the P-line version) I landed 4 more fish and then switched to a popper. Got some really nice blowups on the popper but only brought in one and released it. Watching them blow up on the popper is most of the fun; one of them threw the popper about 6ft in the air. At that point I retired to take a break. Shortly after that we called in the Top Gun since we had limits and they slid in and it looked like they started where we left off.
The best part of the day was the fishing. The next best part of the day was the nap afterwards in the air conditioned bunk. My buddy woke me up at one point to tell me I won the jackpot which was the icing on the cake.
Thanks to the great crew of the Aztec - I look forward to fishing on that boat again.
Here's a pic of the jackpot on the right. The money more than paid for the trip which is always nice.
Not the best pic, but the fish on the right won me the jackpot for the boat
Point Loma
September 2014
Some guys from my church (Calvary Chapel LAX) were asking about going fishing so I chartered the Point Loma for Labor Day. We got off to a little bit of a late start thanks to a straggler or two but fortunately there was still some good bait in the receivers (4-6" sardines) and we headed out. Just past the Coronados we ran into a school of jumpers but they sank out. We stopped on a couple of dry paddies and then headed to the zone where the other boats were catching fish around 30 miles out.
We got a jig strike that turned into a full speed bite on the yellowfin. Most of the guys on the trip were first timers so right off the bat there were some massive tangles. I foolishly got myself into one of them in the corner where 6 guys' lines were tangled and 4 fish were hanging on them swimming in opposite circles around each other. In one of the great miracles of our time we were able to untangle all the lines and land all 4 fish. Kudos to the crew on that one. My fish ended up being a skipjack so I probably should have just cut it at the start and got another bait out instead of wasting all that time. Oh well.
I was off of my A game as I somehow managed to lose 6 fish to various things (tangles, spit hooks, line breaking) but I did manage to get another 6 in the boat. I was using a 20lb leader and should have just switched to my 30lb rod at the beginning when they were biting hard. Later when I did switch they were biting much less aggressively so I went back to 20lb and scratched out a couple more bites. Tried throwing the Megabait a little with no success. The captain got one on a popper; the strike on the surface was incredible.
Most of the other guys had very little idea of what they were doing but everyone managed to at least hook a fish and I think around 18 of the 22 landed at least one. The guy in the blue shirt in the pic landed 4 which is a really solid effort for a first timer. We ended up with around 48 for the boat. An experienced group definitely could have limited. For the guys who had only trout fished before this was a real eye opener. It was great seeing them all run around in the chaos that is a wide open tuna bite. You can describe it to people but if all you have ever done is fished for trout you really have no frame of reference for it.
On the way in we saw lots of whales and dolphins and it was just a good day all around. Thanks to the captain and crew of the Point Loma for a great day on the water. I got my first yellowtail on that boat 15 years ago and Tony was also the captain back then too. Good guy.
September 2014
Some guys from my church (Calvary Chapel LAX) were asking about going fishing so I chartered the Point Loma for Labor Day. We got off to a little bit of a late start thanks to a straggler or two but fortunately there was still some good bait in the receivers (4-6" sardines) and we headed out. Just past the Coronados we ran into a school of jumpers but they sank out. We stopped on a couple of dry paddies and then headed to the zone where the other boats were catching fish around 30 miles out.
We got a jig strike that turned into a full speed bite on the yellowfin. Most of the guys on the trip were first timers so right off the bat there were some massive tangles. I foolishly got myself into one of them in the corner where 6 guys' lines were tangled and 4 fish were hanging on them swimming in opposite circles around each other. In one of the great miracles of our time we were able to untangle all the lines and land all 4 fish. Kudos to the crew on that one. My fish ended up being a skipjack so I probably should have just cut it at the start and got another bait out instead of wasting all that time. Oh well.
I was off of my A game as I somehow managed to lose 6 fish to various things (tangles, spit hooks, line breaking) but I did manage to get another 6 in the boat. I was using a 20lb leader and should have just switched to my 30lb rod at the beginning when they were biting hard. Later when I did switch they were biting much less aggressively so I went back to 20lb and scratched out a couple more bites. Tried throwing the Megabait a little with no success. The captain got one on a popper; the strike on the surface was incredible.
Most of the other guys had very little idea of what they were doing but everyone managed to at least hook a fish and I think around 18 of the 22 landed at least one. The guy in the blue shirt in the pic landed 4 which is a really solid effort for a first timer. We ended up with around 48 for the boat. An experienced group definitely could have limited. For the guys who had only trout fished before this was a real eye opener. It was great seeing them all run around in the chaos that is a wide open tuna bite. You can describe it to people but if all you have ever done is fished for trout you really have no frame of reference for it.
On the way in we saw lots of whales and dolphins and it was just a good day all around. Thanks to the captain and crew of the Point Loma for a great day on the water. I got my first yellowtail on that boat 15 years ago and Tony was also the captain back then too. Good guy.
Pretty solid haul for a 3/4 day trip