I am very happy to write this review of the Islander. The last review I wrote was less than stellar for another boat. The Islander is not just a good operation but a great operation. From the second I got on the boat till the end they set a standard that only the top Long Range boats have.
First off for some reason I was off and only caught a couple fish, just not my day. So I am not saying this boat was great because the fishing was great (it was)
We started the trip with skipper doing the usual galley talk about what we would be fishing for. He (sorry I am bad with names) told us we would be running for 10 hours right off the bat and not fishing dorado or the kelps, unless we saw something outstanding. We left at 11 pm and ran all day. If I remember correct this boat use to be the Red Rooster ll. The staterooms and galley area reflected what you expect a long range boat should be. The boat was spotless. The food was amazing. All of this on a boat that only does 3 day and 1.5 day trips. We were lucky to get right on the fish with a couple 200 pound fish caught at night on the knife jigs. About 2pm the first night it got pretty good with most people getting at least 1 fish over 100 pounds. The crew laughed, gaffed fish and helped everyone.....the whole trip with very little sleep. We had several fish that needed 3 or gaffs and the captain was always down helping and high 5ing the lucky angler. I was lucky and hooked one of the very large models on 100 pound test and after 2 1/2 hours lost the fish due to spectra splice coming undone. The fishing on the first day got pretty good all day long on sinker rigs. The good fishing continued the whole trip. The captain told us during the night we would try Cortez for some large yellowtail in the morning. We ran out to Cortez and put 35 of the larger model yellowtail on the boat. When you thought the trip could not get any better we headed back to Tanner for a 3 hour wide open surface bite on 50-80 pound bluefin. After being on many long range trips and spending my life on the water working as a commercial fisherman this was an amazing trip on an amazing boat.
I look at over 100 boats a year now being a Marine Surveyor and this boat has yacht quality standards "spotless". If you get a chance book this boat I was told they are having problems filling trips because they usually do shark dive charters at Guadalupe Island. The mexican government did not renew permits this year so this boat is fishing 3 day trips now. Final count if I remember was around 100 bluefin and 35 yellowtail for 25 anglers. If any of the crew on the Islander reads this thank you again for a wonderful adventure and seeing how things should be done.
First off for some reason I was off and only caught a couple fish, just not my day. So I am not saying this boat was great because the fishing was great (it was)
We started the trip with skipper doing the usual galley talk about what we would be fishing for. He (sorry I am bad with names) told us we would be running for 10 hours right off the bat and not fishing dorado or the kelps, unless we saw something outstanding. We left at 11 pm and ran all day. If I remember correct this boat use to be the Red Rooster ll. The staterooms and galley area reflected what you expect a long range boat should be. The boat was spotless. The food was amazing. All of this on a boat that only does 3 day and 1.5 day trips. We were lucky to get right on the fish with a couple 200 pound fish caught at night on the knife jigs. About 2pm the first night it got pretty good with most people getting at least 1 fish over 100 pounds. The crew laughed, gaffed fish and helped everyone.....the whole trip with very little sleep. We had several fish that needed 3 or gaffs and the captain was always down helping and high 5ing the lucky angler. I was lucky and hooked one of the very large models on 100 pound test and after 2 1/2 hours lost the fish due to spectra splice coming undone. The fishing on the first day got pretty good all day long on sinker rigs. The good fishing continued the whole trip. The captain told us during the night we would try Cortez for some large yellowtail in the morning. We ran out to Cortez and put 35 of the larger model yellowtail on the boat. When you thought the trip could not get any better we headed back to Tanner for a 3 hour wide open surface bite on 50-80 pound bluefin. After being on many long range trips and spending my life on the water working as a commercial fisherman this was an amazing trip on an amazing boat.
I look at over 100 boats a year now being a Marine Surveyor and this boat has yacht quality standards "spotless". If you get a chance book this boat I was told they are having problems filling trips because they usually do shark dive charters at Guadalupe Island. The mexican government did not renew permits this year so this boat is fishing 3 day trips now. Final count if I remember was around 100 bluefin and 35 yellowtail for 25 anglers. If any of the crew on the Islander reads this thank you again for a wonderful adventure and seeing how things should be done.
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