June 16-17th overnight trip

My fault guys. The trip was an overnight trip that left Wednesday night and can back Thursday. So the date should have been June 15-16th. Enjoy



Booked a trip on the thunderbird to head out to San Clemente island for some yellowtail fun. Unfortunately the T-bird was down for maintenance, so the Aggressor was our ticket. Set out Wednesday night and a long boat ride to San Clemente island. Started fishing the next morning and on the first stop a few people landed some nice yellows ranging in the 6-10 pounds. I was so fraustrated that i couldn't hook up at all. Oh well. Still early. Second stop, everyone was hooking up again! I put the game face on and bam! My first yellow of the day. A good 8 pounder. I soaked another squid and waited a good few minutes and watching everyone pull up there yellows around me. a good 15 min went by and no one was hooking up, only calicos. Then I noticed some surface boils that everyone was just staring at. Birds diving, 30 seconds into it, no one was doing anything. I took off the squid, put on a sardine, cast out, a few seconds later, my line goes out fast! Locked my reel, and all you hear is The line peeling from my new Tranx! It stopped and started reeling in thinking it was another 8-10 pounder everyone else was catching.
30 seconds into the fight and I finally noticed that this yellow is heavier to lift up, and bam, another hard run. I now know it was not a small one. Fought it, got it in, and all you hear from the person who gaffed it is "I think this is going to be jackpot!" I don't know how big this yellow weighs but it was an awesome fight.
Make a long story short, I did about 12 yellows, three bonitas, one white fish, and two blue perch. Oh, and I must have lost about another 5-6 yellows also. All in all, everyone caught a total of 108 yellowtails, and a mixed bag of calicos, blue perches, one sheephead, and bonitas. I also heard a guy caught a hybrid of calicos and sand bass?
The trip was fun. Had a blast!

Remember that I am only 5'8 and 214 pounds.

Thanks for the report! Sounds like you guys did well. That is a real nice yellow. What lb test were you using on that one? I am going out tomorrow night on the T-Bird, I hope it's running by then. I haven't seen their reports in a few days.

I am not sure which brand line, but Matt at last chance spooled it with white braided line 65 pound test. And my top shot was Black Water 15 pound test. I was so surprise that the Black Water leader held up fine. I didn't even change up the leader at all.
Use squid at first with a 1/4 oz egg sliding weight. I used gamakatsu 2/0 live bait hook. Then once you notice that the yellows are slow and you guys are catching nothing but calicos, switch up to live bait. That's what I did. It worked. Everyone stuck to squid must of the time. I was the first person using sardine and when I caught about 4 in a row at one time, another guy noticed I was using sardine, he switched up to sardines too and hooked up. Hopefully the T bird will be up. To be honest, the aggressor could have done a better job. I had to scoop up my own bait from the tank. They didn't do it. So I didn't care after that. The T bird usually throw out sardines to make the yellows surface, the aggressor didn't. If they would have done the same as the T bird, I believe and know for a fact that the fish count would have been way much better than 108. But I am not complaining. It was a great trip. Hey, I caught the most yellows and jackpot. Just try to throw the furthest out. And trust me, that Black Water line is no joke. I highly recommend it and would suggest sticking with the black water 15 pound test. You can thank me later.


Oh, the breakfast burritos and cheeseburgers on both boats are BOMB!

Awesome! Thanks allot for all of the info! I'll let you know how we do. Congratulations on the jackpot! Crew must have been tired or somthing. I have always liked the guys on the thunderbird. Sounds like you found a way to make it work in spite of. Did you see anyone using irons or flat falls at all?

We were not on the thunderbird because their boat was down. So we were on the Aggressor. Trust me, the Thunderbird always throw out bait to make them surface. So hopefully for you guys the Thinderbird will be up and running. If not, you will have to settle with the Aggressor. I got a fish on for about ten seconds on an iron, but stupid me, I tightened the drag up and lost it. That was it. Good luck out there!!!!


Another advice, if the deckhand guys are fishing too, watch closely what they use for bait, and where they throw at. They will be your ticket to catch fish also.

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Originally Posted by Jhondayang

Another advice, if the deckhand guys are fishing too, watch closely what they use for bait, and where they throw at. They will be your ticket to catch fish also.

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Very solid advice, congrats on the yellows :Big Grin:

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Originally Posted by vdisney

Very solid advice, congrats on the yellows :Big Grin:

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Of course. Those guys are out there pretty much every day. If all people, they are the one who knows best. ����