My tour of Long Beach.

[xjixta]

Well guys, I have to start by saying I'm no expert fishermen. I barely know a few knots, I can attach a leader and have very little experience fishing with live bait. Anyways we went out on an overnight trip 7/24-7/25 out of H&M Landing in San Diego. The landing was recommended to me by my boss who lives in the area and is successful scoring bluefins and yellowtail so we drove out from the San Fernando Valley

So we started off leaving the dock around 10 pm. Once we got moving set my line up, threw on a 50# leader of fluorocarbon and a 2/0 hook. We went to sleep expecting to wake up in Mexican waters, but nope. Woke up just south of Dana Point at 5 am and continuing north. Our captain decided to try those waters out there since the day before all the boats out in that area were very successful. I have to say I was pretty disappointed as I probably had my line in the water for a total of 15 minutes and our whole boat saw 0 fish. Also a good amount of the bait died in the tanks.

Now my question to this long winded story / rant is do you normally only leave a line in for a minute or two and then take off elsewhere? From my experience you leave the line in and let the live bait swim and wait for a few minutes before giving up hope. Does that sound about right? Never been so disappointed from a trip. I'm fine with not catching a fish as its happened before, but when the entire boat sees no action I kind of blame the captain. What do you guys think?

Here are some pictures I took out of boredom.

 

[D16hunter]

My tour of Long Beach.

If no one caught anything I'd say it's the captains fault. But you have to keep in mind even the best fisherman strike out some days. They might have caught a lot of fish they're the day before and they might have the day after you can never predict where the fish will be from one day to the next you just have to go out their and try to make your own luck


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[xjixta]

If no one caught anything I'd say it's the captains fault. But you have to keep in mind even the best fisherman strike out some days. They might have caught a lot of fish they're the day before and they might have the day after you can never predict where the fish will be from one day to the next you just have to go out their and try to make your own luck


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Absolutely 0 bites. We would have our line in for a minute or two max and he'd take off again. 95% of our day was him driving. People started just napping and watching movies in the galley. I understand the good spots vary day by day but I just don't understand why he would go so far up if the whole point is to go down into Mexico and then come up. I could have just gone out of long beach if I wanted to fish that area. Some guys drove out from Vegas and their truck was breaking down, all for nothing.

Anybody have a recommendation for a good charter boat out of long beach or by Channel Islands??

 

[D16hunter]

Now that is the kind of captain I hate. The ones who can't make up there minds where to go or the only reason they're moving so much is to make extra money in the galley selling food that's what a lot of the captains on half day boats will do it seems like. I was on a wide open calico bite a few weeks ago me and my buddy probably caught and released 20 or 30 each and the captain decided to move with fish still biting every time you put a new bait on. Stuff like that really irritates me


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[Nicholas909]

Out of curiosity did anybody ask the captain why he was moving so much, or even have any type of conversation with him on what his plans were.

 

[Lungpopper]

Were you trolling? Sounds like he was stopping over schools of fish. I don't think he would stop unless there were fish on the meter.
Just couldn't get the fish to stick around. You said the bait wasn't very good. Did you check the fish report to see how the other boats did?

 

[Aeon]

the bite has been off dana for a while now. IT's on and its OFF. If the plunker bite was dead then he was doing the only thing he could, moving around trying to find fish deep and then drop on them. Guys are catching 150lb tuna 4 miles off the beach!!!!! but its not a sure thing. My guess is the capt made the call to go there and the fish went someplace else.

If the capt. was trying to make extra money he would have just parked and not burnt the fuel so ease down a bit D16. I sat our there a couple weeks ago and didnt catch crap! just saying

 

[TonyS]

Confused. Did you go to H&M or Long Beach? Starting out on 50 lb with no fish sighted wasn't a good move. You always want to use the least heavy line you can get away with.

If the bait is rolling and the captain keeps driving then it is time to call the landing and get a refund. Let the captain pay for all that wasted gas. If they are unresponsive then ask how much they like to pay their attorney. Ask if it is cheaper to refund or face 6 to 8 guys in court for a few days. You won't want to go back.

Don't change your bait too fast. It totally sucks to start pulling in your bait to watch fish poking around behind it. Those are fish that could bite.

The Toranado isn't a bad boat.

 

[xjixta]

Out of curiosity did anybody ask the captain why he was moving so much, or even have any type of conversation with him on what his plans were.

He never came down. Never saw the mans face, that didn't even sound like a man. Sounded like a kid and I'm only 23.

 

[xjixta]

My tour of Long Beach.

Were you trolling? Sounds like he was stopping over schools of fish. I don't think he would stop unless there were fish on the meter.
Just couldn't get the fish to stick around. You said the bait wasn't very good. Did you check the fish report to see how the other boats did?

The bait was dying in the tank. Literally by the afternoon they were scooping out the dead bait. Even the deckhand said the bait was crap.

Also they had 4 poles for trolling on the back of the boat as he moved. He would rotate us by our numbers to watch over them. But pretty much some guy and I were the only ones that stayed out most of the time. Nobody else cared to knowing we weren't going to see anything at that point.

Fishing reports were great / acceptable all week, no other boat came back empty that day. Some guy on our boat had friends on another boat from the same landing and they pulled some bluefins. One of them being 130#

the bite has been off dana for a while now. IT's on and its OFF. If the plunker bite was dead then he was doing the only thing he could, moving around trying to find fish deep and then drop on them. Guys are catching 150lb tuna 4 miles off the beach!!!!! but its not a sure thing. My guess is the capt made the call to go there and the fish went someplace else.

If the capt. was trying to make extra money he would have just parked and not burnt the fuel so ease down a bit D16. I sat our there a couple weeks ago and didnt catch crap! just saying

Yeah well I can see that. From the sound of it he was just having us stop to see if we could get anything. I think only about one time he specifically said he was over a school of tuna.

Confused. Did you go to H&M or Long Beach? Starting out on 50 lb with no fish sighted wasn't a good move. You always want to use the least heavy line you can get away with.

If the bait is rolling and the captain keeps driving then it is time to call the landing and get a refund. Let the captain pay for all that wasted gas. If they are unresponsive then ask how much they like to pay their attorney. Ask if it is cheaper to refund or face 6 to 8 guys in court for a few days. You won't want to go back.

Don't change your bait too fast. It totally sucks to start pulling in your bait to watch fish poking around behind it. Those are fish that could bite.

The Toranado isn't a bad boat.

Landing was in San Diego, he drove north all he way to long beach waters. He would have us drop our lines, then after a minute have us dump the bait and take off again. I'm going to call the landing, but I feel I won't be getting a refund this late. I would let my bait just take off, wouldn't reel it in or anything and would have kept it out except he'd start taking off.

 

[wackums back]

Just my 2 cents here but after working on boats for years there is something I must state. The crew wants fish WAY more than the angler. Not just catch and release fish or a slow plunker. This is how they feed their families, pay their bills and fill the rig for the following trips. The crew gets 90 bucks a day on overnight and multi day trips and 65 for sun up to down. That ain't squat in this economy. I'm also willing to bet that the work and hours performed by these guys is way harder than they're given credit for. If the don't catch fish they don't get tips or fillet money and that's where the money's at. It's real easy catch fish+ get guys drunk and feed them well and show them a good time you get paid, if not 90$. Plain and simple. Mexican yard labor makes more than that for 8 hr days on land with their friends and families. On another note it's fishing not catching and on any day at any time you could catch big or strike out . I don't care how good someone is or thinks their are the fish dictate the outcome. Also ask the crew what's working or not. These guys are on the water everyday and KNOW what's up. I have over 1500 logged at sea days on a vessel 100 gross tons or more and let it be known that the knowledge earned doing it far surpasses any fish count, bloody deck report or rumor has it. The other thing is pick a boat that has some time under its belt not a boat that sold in the past few years and had a name change or new captain. These guys are bean counters and want the boat paid off
And fuel bill low. Run and gun pays the bills not soak and joke. The other thing is buffered fish counts. Some boats have been known to buffer their counts to get loads and get out. I'd suggest trying private boats. High fuel bills expensive maintenance and lack of knowledge will teach you to appreciate the sport boats. I never want to catch another tuna or filet a yellowtail or get covered in albie butter . After easily killing 500000 pelagic I'm over it. Try the first string . Brad aka viper is hands down the fishes capt out there period end of story not up for negotiation. There's a reason I could have walked on any boat in the fleet from here to Avila beach and that's where I rested my head. Big steel boat low to water best bait system ever and viper did I mention viper.

 

[KID CREOLE]

Guys, I fished off of Dana Pt on Friday and caught fish to 50 plus lbs, some of the easiest fishing I have ever seen, I went back to this area sunday and the fish were there but would not bite.

Tuna move a lot and can get lock jaw like any other fish and the fact that the captain was moving so much shows he was looking.

Most of the good bites are long drifts and soaking bates, chunking and being patient, if the volume isn't there he has to decide if its time to look.

If he stumbles on the right school and they bite he's a champ, if not well.........

Fishing is fantastic, bait demand is high, water temps are high which translates into weak bait, it is what it is

 

[TonyS]

Waah! Being a deckhand is so hard.

If you want to refer a boat and a captain without peer then say.....

RED ROOSTER 3
ANDY CATES!!!!!!

That man can put fish on the boat like nobodies bizness. Yeah, it is expensive but .............if you want the best....