Just got back this morning. I’ll start off by saying whenever we have the chance to ride the Condor out of Fisherman’s Landing - we will go. This was an absolute epic trip and we had the hot sticks. The crew - made all the difference.
Captain Trevor: Showed his experience by finding school after school away from the weekend traffic. He took the time to stop on the bitters and run from the ones that had lock-jaw. He never gave up and found us a school of COWS 45min before we were supposed to stop fishing on Sunday night/9:15pm and head back. My wife and I will never forget the chaos that ensued and the bloody decks from the COWS coming through the gate.
2nd ticket Clint: Wide awake at night constantly searching the depths below. I was one of four still up after 2:00am on Saturday and Clint was just as excited about finding a school in the dark as any captain would be during the day.
Deckhand Kurtis: “The man of 1000 grunts.” When the time comes and you need someone to help you navigate the other 28 passengers in an absolute blood bath - there’s no one better to be at your side, no one. This guy can kill fish.
Deckhand Aiden: This was our first time learning about the kite and Aiden was a professional. He can also cast a surface iron longer than a football field.
Deckhand Brody: Made my wife’s trip by helping her navigate the rail and kill multiple fish from 45-177lbs. We can’t thank this guy enough. WE NEVER LOST A FISH.
Cook Greg: Cooks, hooks fish, gives advice to those who will listen. I watched him kill a 227lb bluefin with a hurt rotator cuff. We believe he hooked five and handed them off at various times to those who came with rock-cod-rigs. The prime rib and fresh yellowfin sashimi with home made wasabi will not be forgotten.
Start 9/16: After two weeks of prepping, watching windy.com, tying and re-tying my FG knots we were ready to go. We departed Corona, CA a little late, but not too worried as we had secured our double wide bunks months in advance. We got to the landing and checked in about an hour before departure and immediately began to load the boat. Fortunately for us this group of passengers was very friendly and everyone was in high spirits. The weather was great leaving the harbor, the bait was 6/10. Trevor gave his safety speech and it was voted to go and try for the Dorado closer to Catalina on the kelps for the first afternoon. After the vote and some last minute rigging most went to bed.
Day 1: Everyone woke in the morning ready to battle with the Dorado that had been plentiful in the counts the days and weeks before. However, to our surprise, the blue water kelps everywhere were not holding. Kelp after kelp only yielded a total 6 Dorado. Lunch time Cpt. Trevor called it, “we’re going for Bluefin now.” My wife and I ate lunch and caught a quick nap. A couple of hours of travel we were on the Tuna grounds anywhere from 5mi - 15mi NNW of San Clemente Island. The day before windy.com had shown fairly rough weather, but to everyone’s surprise it turned out to be extremely manageable. Our first couple of stops were on a mix of bluefin 35-100lbs and yellowfin 35-50lbs. Everything came on a sinker rig. I watched one gentleman unfortunately with the wrong gear hook and loose four. My wife and I had the ‘hot sticks’ and we landed 3 yellowfin and 1 bluefin before dark. During dinner at 6:30pm I asked cook/Greg, “what time do they usually start biting at night?” He laughingly said, “8pm...” and “tonight’s going to be good.”
***At 8:01pm and 10 seconds a part from the first ‘bitter’ I hooked our first bluefin on the knife jig 300ft down. I had just looked at my phone seconds before and said in my head, “well it’s 8 o’clock.” When I hooked up I saw my wife and mouthed what the f***?!?! I was using a Penn 16visx/22lb at strike on a SuperSeeker 1x3 (thanks BD for the advice) with 80lb Izorline solid multicolored braid once every 100ft and 50ft of 100lb Izorline mono top shot connected by a FG knot, tied to a 300gram Mustad Rip-Roller in Katy Perry, finished with the famous San Diego Jam. The 120lb bluefin came in like butter. Throughout the night we would hook and land fish. By morning, my wife and I had a combined 3 yellowfin and 6 bluefin. My wife stopped fishing around 1am and I tapped out at 3:30am. Time at the rail matters.
Day 2: Running and gunning all day with only a couple of sinker rig fish and two kite fish. My wife was fortunate enough to have her ticket pulled and landed a jumbo bluefin. Mid afternoon we pulled up in shallow waters and pulled on some bones and bottom fish. Most took naps or took some time to relax in the galley and have some beers.
Night time came and it turned out to be an 11th inning show stopper. Around 8pm we began to drop the jigs again and we’re told we would fish until about 10pm before heading back. At 9:15pm, in flat calm weather, with a barely there breeze Trevor and Clint hit the brakes and over the PA, “nice school, lots of meat 150-300 feet drop them down NOW!!!’ Cook/Greg was the first hook-up and at the same time I missed a strike watching him. I reeled up 50ft and dropped again - instant hook up - and line began to peel off at 22lbs of drag on the 1x3. I told my wife, “here take it” knowing it was a big one. At the same time the word ‘bitter!!!’ was heard around the boat. In minutes we had probably 12-15 monster bluefin going. Hot rails were the norm, tangles were frequent, Clint was tryin to hand line one that had been sawed off and fisherman, and woman, were locked into battle. Once the dust settled my wife and I had the smallest fish at 170lbs and the decks were bloody. The other five that made through the gate were between 200-227lbs. Lots of casualties. We stopped on one more school before burning it to the barn and I picked up another 50lb bluefin.
Final Boat Count: 6 Dorado, 1 yellowtail, 11 yellowfin and 27 Bluefin tuna.
Our Count: 3 yellowfin, 8 bluefin (one of them came on the kite)
In reflection:
*There was only 4 of us using multicolored spectra. If your going for Bluefin I can’t recommend enough the solid multicolored Izorline that changes colors once every 100ft. My wife and I knew where we needed to be every time.
*Dark color braid - green/black should be illegal on the sport boats. This isn’t just to benefit the other passengers, but the individual Fisherman themselves. It takes one miscalculation to cross your line and snip - your off. The boat count does not reflect the amount of hooked fish.
*Rock Cod set-ups. If your going to pay a grand for just the trip, why on earth would you want to come under gunned. Just because it holds a ton of line doesn’t mean it’s the right rig for 100+lb Bluefin.
*Stock hooks in the knife jigs - There was a super nice father/son who lost a 200lber 50ft from the boat when a stock hook straightened out on them. Change them out.
*Pay attention and listen to the people catching fish. I asked questions on BD before the trip and once I got on the boat. The one thing I did different once I got on the boat - I took off the large J hook on the bottom of my knife jigs and moved the two assist hooks to the bottom.
*Color of the jigs doesn’t matter at night: However, Katy Perry Mustad Rip Roller 300gram for the win - if you know you know.
*You can sleep when you get off the boat.
I’m not the best fisherman by any means and this was only my wife’s third trip… ever. We had the right gear and we listened to those who are far wiser than ourselves. WE PUT IN OUR TIME AT THE RAIL and it paid off.
Captain Trevor: Showed his experience by finding school after school away from the weekend traffic. He took the time to stop on the bitters and run from the ones that had lock-jaw. He never gave up and found us a school of COWS 45min before we were supposed to stop fishing on Sunday night/9:15pm and head back. My wife and I will never forget the chaos that ensued and the bloody decks from the COWS coming through the gate.
2nd ticket Clint: Wide awake at night constantly searching the depths below. I was one of four still up after 2:00am on Saturday and Clint was just as excited about finding a school in the dark as any captain would be during the day.
Deckhand Kurtis: “The man of 1000 grunts.” When the time comes and you need someone to help you navigate the other 28 passengers in an absolute blood bath - there’s no one better to be at your side, no one. This guy can kill fish.
Deckhand Aiden: This was our first time learning about the kite and Aiden was a professional. He can also cast a surface iron longer than a football field.
Deckhand Brody: Made my wife’s trip by helping her navigate the rail and kill multiple fish from 45-177lbs. We can’t thank this guy enough. WE NEVER LOST A FISH.
Cook Greg: Cooks, hooks fish, gives advice to those who will listen. I watched him kill a 227lb bluefin with a hurt rotator cuff. We believe he hooked five and handed them off at various times to those who came with rock-cod-rigs. The prime rib and fresh yellowfin sashimi with home made wasabi will not be forgotten.
Start 9/16: After two weeks of prepping, watching windy.com, tying and re-tying my FG knots we were ready to go. We departed Corona, CA a little late, but not too worried as we had secured our double wide bunks months in advance. We got to the landing and checked in about an hour before departure and immediately began to load the boat. Fortunately for us this group of passengers was very friendly and everyone was in high spirits. The weather was great leaving the harbor, the bait was 6/10. Trevor gave his safety speech and it was voted to go and try for the Dorado closer to Catalina on the kelps for the first afternoon. After the vote and some last minute rigging most went to bed.
Day 1: Everyone woke in the morning ready to battle with the Dorado that had been plentiful in the counts the days and weeks before. However, to our surprise, the blue water kelps everywhere were not holding. Kelp after kelp only yielded a total 6 Dorado. Lunch time Cpt. Trevor called it, “we’re going for Bluefin now.” My wife and I ate lunch and caught a quick nap. A couple of hours of travel we were on the Tuna grounds anywhere from 5mi - 15mi NNW of San Clemente Island. The day before windy.com had shown fairly rough weather, but to everyone’s surprise it turned out to be extremely manageable. Our first couple of stops were on a mix of bluefin 35-100lbs and yellowfin 35-50lbs. Everything came on a sinker rig. I watched one gentleman unfortunately with the wrong gear hook and loose four. My wife and I had the ‘hot sticks’ and we landed 3 yellowfin and 1 bluefin before dark. During dinner at 6:30pm I asked cook/Greg, “what time do they usually start biting at night?” He laughingly said, “8pm...” and “tonight’s going to be good.”
***At 8:01pm and 10 seconds a part from the first ‘bitter’ I hooked our first bluefin on the knife jig 300ft down. I had just looked at my phone seconds before and said in my head, “well it’s 8 o’clock.” When I hooked up I saw my wife and mouthed what the f***?!?! I was using a Penn 16visx/22lb at strike on a SuperSeeker 1x3 (thanks BD for the advice) with 80lb Izorline solid multicolored braid once every 100ft and 50ft of 100lb Izorline mono top shot connected by a FG knot, tied to a 300gram Mustad Rip-Roller in Katy Perry, finished with the famous San Diego Jam. The 120lb bluefin came in like butter. Throughout the night we would hook and land fish. By morning, my wife and I had a combined 3 yellowfin and 6 bluefin. My wife stopped fishing around 1am and I tapped out at 3:30am. Time at the rail matters.
Day 2: Running and gunning all day with only a couple of sinker rig fish and two kite fish. My wife was fortunate enough to have her ticket pulled and landed a jumbo bluefin. Mid afternoon we pulled up in shallow waters and pulled on some bones and bottom fish. Most took naps or took some time to relax in the galley and have some beers.
Night time came and it turned out to be an 11th inning show stopper. Around 8pm we began to drop the jigs again and we’re told we would fish until about 10pm before heading back. At 9:15pm, in flat calm weather, with a barely there breeze Trevor and Clint hit the brakes and over the PA, “nice school, lots of meat 150-300 feet drop them down NOW!!!’ Cook/Greg was the first hook-up and at the same time I missed a strike watching him. I reeled up 50ft and dropped again - instant hook up - and line began to peel off at 22lbs of drag on the 1x3. I told my wife, “here take it” knowing it was a big one. At the same time the word ‘bitter!!!’ was heard around the boat. In minutes we had probably 12-15 monster bluefin going. Hot rails were the norm, tangles were frequent, Clint was tryin to hand line one that had been sawed off and fisherman, and woman, were locked into battle. Once the dust settled my wife and I had the smallest fish at 170lbs and the decks were bloody. The other five that made through the gate were between 200-227lbs. Lots of casualties. We stopped on one more school before burning it to the barn and I picked up another 50lb bluefin.
Final Boat Count: 6 Dorado, 1 yellowtail, 11 yellowfin and 27 Bluefin tuna.
Our Count: 3 yellowfin, 8 bluefin (one of them came on the kite)
In reflection:
*There was only 4 of us using multicolored spectra. If your going for Bluefin I can’t recommend enough the solid multicolored Izorline that changes colors once every 100ft. My wife and I knew where we needed to be every time.
*Dark color braid - green/black should be illegal on the sport boats. This isn’t just to benefit the other passengers, but the individual Fisherman themselves. It takes one miscalculation to cross your line and snip - your off. The boat count does not reflect the amount of hooked fish.
*Rock Cod set-ups. If your going to pay a grand for just the trip, why on earth would you want to come under gunned. Just because it holds a ton of line doesn’t mean it’s the right rig for 100+lb Bluefin.
*Stock hooks in the knife jigs - There was a super nice father/son who lost a 200lber 50ft from the boat when a stock hook straightened out on them. Change them out.
*Pay attention and listen to the people catching fish. I asked questions on BD before the trip and once I got on the boat. The one thing I did different once I got on the boat - I took off the large J hook on the bottom of my knife jigs and moved the two assist hooks to the bottom.
*Color of the jigs doesn’t matter at night: However, Katy Perry Mustad Rip Roller 300gram for the win - if you know you know.
*You can sleep when you get off the boat.
I’m not the best fisherman by any means and this was only my wife’s third trip… ever. We had the right gear and we listened to those who are far wiser than ourselves. WE PUT IN OUR TIME AT THE RAIL and it paid off.
