Real Disappointment on Condor - Fisherman's Landing

[bonzo]

Went out on the Condor from Fisherman's Landing in San Diego 9/3-9/4. Granted this was my first time out on an overnight, but it was a huge disappointment! They mixed together all the partially full boats into one boat jammed with 37 anglers. The huge disappointment is not so much that the entire boat pulled in only 1 yellow fin, 2 small dorado, and 22 so-called albacore (of which half were really skipjack), but rather the tiny amount of time that we actually had a hook in the water.

Okay, okay, I know that the fish feed on the surface and in packs, but we would sail around for one to two hours at a time, get a hit on a trolling line, and then frantically throw our bait in for literally 1 to 3 minutes before the captain would call out, "Okay guys, let's bring 'em up and find some more fish." That was the procedure of the day. We did stop at one kelp paddy that happened to show up, and did chase some porpoises that we chanced upon.

But with so little happening, it would have been nice to at least have the hook in the water for a while longer, maybe actually for 5 to 10 minutes, just to see if something else would come up. It's not just sour grapes that I didn't get a fish (okay, tell me for the thousandth time that "They call it fishing, not catching"): it would have been nice to actually do some fishing!

I realize that the captain is looking for everything on sonar, but obviously, if we're getting the occasional troller hit, then there are fish out there that he's not seeing, right?

I figure out of the entire 24 hour trip, I had a baited hook in the water no more than thirty minutes total. Is this normal?

[Liteliner]

Thats tuna fishing for ya. Hit or miss. Its not the boats fault. If they trolled all day then they tried their best. The trolling does suck and is boring but its worth it. Sooner or later it will payoff. Tuna never stay still so you have to find them. Id rather be on a boat that is trolling all day than a boat drifting all day. Your next tuna trip will be nothing but trolling aswell. Once that magical school comes up after a troll fish you will understand. Sorry bout the lack of fishing though.

[Greg Madrigal]

Hey Bonzo. Sorry about the sour trip. I totally get you that it woulda been nice to wet a line a bit more. However, this is how tuna fishing is done. It is by far the most productive method. The San Diego fleet has this dialed in! If the fish don't come up in the first minute, they usually won't come up. Though I seem to recall that we would stop for about 3-5 minutes at each jig stop. If nothing happened, you went looking again.

Now, had you guys located a school that DID wanna bite on bait, we wouldn't even be having this discussion! You'd be stoked that u got em, cuz the capn' had the wherewitall to look around till u found em. Unfortunately 4u, that didn't happen. Sucks bro, and I am sorry for you.

Just keep at it. It's time on the water that counts. You gave it your best, now, just do it again! :)

GM<<><

[ghetto dad]

Thats tuna fishing for ya. Hit or miss. Its not the boats fault. If they trolled all day then they tried their best. The trolling does suck and is boring but its worth it. Sooner or later it will payoff. Tuna never stay still so you have to find them. Id rather be on a boat that is trolling all day than a boat drifting all day. Your next tuna trip will be nothing but trolling aswell. Once that magical school comes up after a troll fish you will understand. Sorry bout the lack of fishing though.

Yeah man.....trust me, with the cost of fuel, the LAST thing they want to do is troll around all day.....i have been on MANY trips where its been like that.....thats one downside about tuna fishing, especially when its slow....unless youre trolling, you dont get much fishing time......

GD

[deanhall32]

Yep- That is the way it goes sometimes. My buddy was on the boat the day before you went and there were only 18 guys who caught over 100 yellowfin and albacore. He said they found one huge kelp paddy that kept them busy all day. Go figure!! You will hit it good next time for sure!!!

[Ricky-Ray]

Yep that's how tuna/albacore fishing is done. If the fish don't come up within a few minutes they aren't coming up at all and there's no use sitting on them just hoping that they will. I've been on tuna trips where we troll all day and got nada. It sucks and makes for a LONG day, but it's not the boat or captain's fault if the fish do not want to bite.

[JapanRon]

Hi Bonzo,

It might have seemed they were just monkeying around but I'm sure they were trying to get the fish before bedtime. I like my hook time so I pass on the tuna trips. 9 hours of bordom and 20 minutes of glory, and combat rail-running ain't my cup of tea and may not be yours after a couple of trips. Better luck on future trips.

JapanRon

[mybada]

That is pretty much normal when it's one of those "slow days"

I've been in Condor for more than 20+ times and I can tell you it is one of the hardest working fleet in San Diego. Great boat, great crews, I've always had good time with them except only a couple of times on slow days. But hey it's fishing, it could happen to anyone.

The reason captain takes off so quickly after jig strike is because there are no fishes under the boat anymore. There's very less chance to hook up when there's no fish shows up on the meter so he moves to found a better spot.

One day I had very slow start day until the very last stop we found a huge school of YFT and we stayed that spot for more than a hour and we caught 150+ YFTs.
It's fishing! You never know what will happen.

Sorry to hear you had a bad time bro. May be better luck next time.

[BIGRED KILLA]

I would bring lots of rope and chain and anchor.



Sorry about the low numbers of fish better luck next time.




Bigred Killa

[Funjunkie74]

If K3vin wasn't on the water right now, he'd tell you about our 2.5-day trip last year!

2.5-days
30 anglers
5 fish = 2 YTs, 2 Albies, 1 Dodo.

I landed the albie, k3v landed the YT.
Both of them were the size of Shaq's sneakers!!
They may seem big for feet, but tiny fish!!!

Sad part is, we saw the report for the same boat 2-days later....limits....
It's times like these I'm reminded of the purpose of alcohol!!

"Run and Gun" - that's tuna fishing!
If you wanna soak, go to an island...Catalina, Clemente, Coronado, Santa Barbara....etc.


Still, too bad on the bad fishing. It sux no matter what.



FJ74