San Diego Fishing?
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CAelknuts
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You might try Pat Cavanaugh of the Pacific Dawn. If he's doing these trips, he's excellent. Most of the time, he only does charters, but if he's running open trips by all means give him a go. Another very good boat to consider is the Pacific Queen. My son and I did our very first San Diego trip on that boat, and we caught something like 15 yellowtail and a bunch of barracuda on a 3/4 day trip.
That got us hooked (no pun intended) and since then we've both done trips as short as 3 days up to as long as 10 days on the Excel, Royal Polaris, Shogun, and my son worked as a deck hand for a while on the Qualifier 105. I think my son's longest as a deck hand was 17 days, to Hurricane Bank.
If those two boats are not available, then just ask the desk at Fishermans Landing which boats are working and chances are you'll be in for a good experience.
San Diego fishing is the BEST!
That got us hooked (no pun intended) and since then we've both done trips as short as 3 days up to as long as 10 days on the Excel, Royal Polaris, Shogun, and my son worked as a deck hand for a while on the Qualifier 105. I think my son's longest as a deck hand was 17 days, to Hurricane Bank.
If those two boats are not available, then just ask the desk at Fishermans Landing which boats are working and chances are you'll be in for a good experience.
San Diego fishing is the BEST!
Roy
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See, this is why I love MM. You can ask a rather obscure question about advice in a specific area and get the best possible answer on the first reply.
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Fishing out of San Diego is very popular and VERY competitive.
The above mentioned boats are all good because they are all "GOOD".....meaning they provide what they say they will and have strong performance histories.
Avoid the cut rate adds in the local newspapers and you will have a good time.
There ain't many bad experiences on this planet, worse than a half day on the ocean with a grumpy crew, no fish and a dirty boat.
"I could agree with you, but then we would both be
wrong......and stupid"
The above mentioned boats are all good because they are all "GOOD".....meaning they provide what they say they will and have strong performance histories.
Avoid the cut rate adds in the local newspapers and you will have a good time.
There ain't many bad experiences on this planet, worse than a half day on the ocean with a grumpy crew, no fish and a dirty boat.
"I could agree with you, but then we would both be
wrong......and stupid"
CAelknuts
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Point Loma Sportfishing also has quite a few very good boats. I'm not familiar with them as I've always fished on boats that run out of the Fishermans Landing office, but Point Loma's office is right next door and the boats are all together. I've heard good things about the Grande, and I think that is one of Point Loma's boats.
While 1/2 to 1 day trips are great fun, if you really want to experience what it can be like, try a 3 or 4 day trip. You'll be amazed at what you can catch. If you've never been, the boats are very comfortable with nice rooms, great and plentiful food and generally very helpful deckhands that will teach you how to be successful if you'll just ask politely for their help.
On our first multi-day trip, which was a 4 day on the Excel, we got into a bunch of albacore. We were a couple hundred miles west of San Diego, drifting on a school of albies. Pat Cavanaugh was the skipper, and he announced that we'd have to head to San Diego in a few hours. In those few hours, the 32 anglers on the boat put over 400 albacore on the deck! That was one hell of an exclamation point on our first trip. My son and I came home with more fish than we knew what to do with.
While 1/2 to 1 day trips are great fun, if you really want to experience what it can be like, try a 3 or 4 day trip. You'll be amazed at what you can catch. If you've never been, the boats are very comfortable with nice rooms, great and plentiful food and generally very helpful deckhands that will teach you how to be successful if you'll just ask politely for their help.
On our first multi-day trip, which was a 4 day on the Excel, we got into a bunch of albacore. We were a couple hundred miles west of San Diego, drifting on a school of albies. Pat Cavanaugh was the skipper, and he announced that we'd have to head to San Diego in a few hours. In those few hours, the 32 anglers on the boat put over 400 albacore on the deck! That was one hell of an exclamation point on our first trip. My son and I came home with more fish than we knew what to do with.
Thanks for the additional info. The plan is to do a 1/2 day through Fisherman's Landing on the Dolphin- catch some bottom fish hopefully. Then I might take my oldest out with Point Loma on a halibut trip the next day. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Looking forward to it.
I always dislike it when people ask questions and never give the update so here goes--
We fished on the Dolphin for 1/2 day, morning. Booked through Fisherman's Landing, who were great to work with. There were 5 of us in our party and another 25 fisherman on the boat. We only used 2-3 rods as the younger kids needed a hand. Caught ling, sand bass, rock fish and sculpin; had a lot of action. It was the perfect trip for my smaller kids and we all really enjoyed it. 1/2 day was great to give them a taste of fishing on the ocean. Next time it might be fun to try the 3/4 day out on the islands, but I hear that fishing is slower. The Dolphin was clean, the gear was perfect, the crew were respectful and very helpful. Wasn't too crowded with 30 on the boat, but I wouldn't want to be on there with 40+. I would recommend it to anyone visiting San Diego who wants to do something different for a morning.
Thanks for the recommendations and help.
We fished on the Dolphin for 1/2 day, morning. Booked through Fisherman's Landing, who were great to work with. There were 5 of us in our party and another 25 fisherman on the boat. We only used 2-3 rods as the younger kids needed a hand. Caught ling, sand bass, rock fish and sculpin; had a lot of action. It was the perfect trip for my smaller kids and we all really enjoyed it. 1/2 day was great to give them a taste of fishing on the ocean. Next time it might be fun to try the 3/4 day out on the islands, but I hear that fishing is slower. The Dolphin was clean, the gear was perfect, the crew were respectful and very helpful. Wasn't too crowded with 30 on the boat, but I wouldn't want to be on there with 40+. I would recommend it to anyone visiting San Diego who wants to do something different for a morning.
Thanks for the recommendations and help.
Zeke
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Great follow-up report Packout.
I've only fished out of there once and couldn't remember who I went with, so I didn't previously post,... but we had a great time and caught a bunch of fish. Hellifiknow what kinda fish they were. I'm not a huge fishing guy but we had a ball and the bonus was that we ditched a half day of a business convention!
Zeke
I've only fished out of there once and couldn't remember who I went with, so I didn't previously post,... but we had a great time and caught a bunch of fish. Hellifiknow what kinda fish they were. I'm not a huge fishing guy but we had a ball and the bonus was that we ditched a half day of a business convention!
Zeke
CAelknuts
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I'm really glad to read that you had a nice trip, especially for the kids. Don't worry about fishing the Coronado Islands, its a great spot. Yes, you will probably catch fewer fish, but when you're Yo-Yo'ing for yellowtail and get a 20 pounder on your line, you'll have all you can handle. They are a blast to catch, and damn good eating. Well worth the trip out there. In the fall, you might even get lucky if the dorado and yellowfin have moved in that close.
