Just got back yesterday from my 2.5 day trip aboard the TG80 out of San Diego and I'm beat....
Super short version.....We killed'm!!!! Total for the trip was a handful of rockfish, 2 sheepheads, 1 mako shark, 1 dorado, 14 yellowtail, 97 bluefin tuna and 115 yellowfin tuna! I ended the trip with 3 yellowfin, 3 bluefin and the only dorado! Still no yellowtail for me but overall I'm stoked for my catches!!!!!
I'll post up a real report with pics later!!!!!
That's great PJ! I'm looking forward to reading your report!
Right on Pj, I'm stoked to hear you had a great trip! Sounds like things here out of San diego are really starting to heat up.
Tight lines!
Jim
Looking forward for the story and pics
sounds like a blast
Great catch. Hope you have enough freezer space. ;D
Dwight
Quote from: Newell Nut on August 15, 2019, 08:56:25 PM
Great catch. Hope you have enough freezer space. ;D
Dwight
Plenty of room in the freezer as most of fish only weighed between 10-15# each! No bigger fish for me but it gave my wife and I plenty of fish to eat and share!!!!
Fantastic job,,,, :D that's alot of fish on the deck,,,,,,, ;D
My trip started out with a stop at Bob Sands Tackle Store to meet up with Rich who bought my custom made spinning rod and pick up a few supplies. With a bunch cash in my pocket I decided to treat myself and reinvest the $ in my first 2 speed reel, a Shimano Speedmaster 12II. I had it filled most of the way with 65# braid and a short topshot of 40# mono that I'd add flouro to on the boat. It got paired with a PCH-C-801XH and it preformed great. After spending way too much money at Bob Sands I made my way south towards the landing. I made a quick stop in Oceanside for some poke then headed towards Anglers Choice Tackle to pick up a few more hooks and get a reel respooled. While inside AC I met a guy named Ryan who said he was on the same trip as me so we chatted for a few minutes then he took off while I shopped. After a little bit I finished up at AC then headed to the landing. I checked in, was assigned bunk room #4 and was told I could board the boat anytime! I boarded around 4:30pm, picked out my bunk, stowed my tackle bags and went back up the dock to grab dinner. I ate at the seafood market/restaurant at the top of the walkway and had a great fish & chip basket with a cup of chowder, it was delicious!
I head back on the boat and find Ryan doing some last minute rigging inside the galley and lend a hand helping him rig poppers. Everyone else is here and checked in so we leave the dock early and he's too the bait barge. The crew consisted of Captain Bob Taft, Co-Captain Scott Hart, chef Tree Jennings and deckhands Nate Ison and Julio Malanum. While enroute to the bait barge we're given the "plan and rigging" speech, 30/40 flouro and 2/0 hooks. The plan was to head to Cortez/Tanner Bank to scout for new schools of fish and if nothing showed up we'd fish the shallow water for some rockfish just to get the stink off then head to SCI to fly the kite for cows. After loading up the wells with great sardines we head north while everyone rigs up then head to bed with high hopes.
I wake up at 5 am and grab some coffee with Ryan, Scott and Bob while we motor around looking for schools of fish but couldn't find any for the first few hours so we start rockfishings. There a few red rockfish and sculpting caught and Ryan caught the best fish of the stop with a nice sheepshead. After a couple hours the Captain gets on the horn and says we're gonna head to SCI to fly the kite for cows. On the way there Julio started to rig up some fresh flying fish for kite baits and it was great to see how it's done. We arrive at SCI and it's a mad house with boats everywhere and dozens of kites in the air. We set out our yummy flier bait and start to troll around looking for marks. We trolled south for an hour without one blow up or sonar mark then we realized why, the tuna seiners were out in force... 12 boats with spotter planes! Nothing going on here so Capt makes a few calls and gets a tip about a bite going on south of us a few hours away so off we go.....
We arrive at the area around 4pm and see the rest of the fleet, around 8-10 boats most of which are on the drift and catching fish. Get into position and start trolling around and within half an hour we're on the fish. It's a mix of yf and bf with decent size around 25-30# fish. It was a steady bite from then on until dark. I landed 2 fish around 10-15# each and the rest of the boat did all. I think the first night we ended up with around 44 fish.....We stick in the area all night and are excited to see what tomorrow brings!
Day 2 starts off at 5 am with coffee and no fish in the early grey light but the bite turned on at 7 am and didn't stop until 2 pm! The bite was so hot we had to lay fish up the sides of the boat because we filled up the fish box in the first few hours. The only reason we lost the school is because we had to stop fishing so the crew could put all the fish in the rsw box before deck before someone got hurt! After an hour of clean up and refilling the bait tanks we were back on the school quickly. In the middle of it all we drifted by a patty and people started hooking up to yellowtail and I thought I'd finally get my first YT. As my bait swam towards the patty line starts moving off my reel and I'm bit, I move the lever to strike and come tight. As I'm reeling in my line a lone dorado jumps sky high and my dreams of yellowtail are gone. I'm stoked to have caught the only dodo but I've caught loads of those when I lived in Florida so I was hoping to get a yellowtail. It was mayhem until around 7pm with multiple people hooking up every 5 minutes. Ryan was the hot stick of the trip with trip limits of YFT, BFT and a few yellowtail. He was the clear jackpot winner with a 46# bft and a 50# yft!
Overall it was a great trip on a great boat with an amazing crew. I highly recommend the Top Gun 80!
Pics will follow report as close as possible and will take several pages...
Pics
Pics
More pics
Looks like a super trip ! And sounds like you had a great time !!
Nice! glad you had a great trip, it had been pretty slow for awhile. You'll get your yellowtail!
.
Final fish haul
PJ,
Way to go!!! It was an awesome trip. Those are some great fish photos. (I knew I should have gone with you)
So I know you bought some new gear, what worked and what did you like using...?
Rich
Looks like a fun trip! Those WFO YFT bites are a blast. Blood, scales, fish flying everywhere....did you get to break in your new reel?
Thats a pile of tuna !! Nice job !!
cheers:
Todd
Nice.
Great report PJ! Congratulations on your perfect timing!
Nice pics & report PJ, thanks for taking us along, were you only using the shimano reel, or ?. cheers Don.
Great fishin'...congrats! 8)
I got a chance to break in a bunch of new gear on trip....2 Okuma PCH rods (801H and 801XH) and my new Shimano Speedmaster 12II.
The Speedmaster was mounted on the 801XH and it was a pleasure to use. It was light enough to use all day without fatigue and it casted sardines well....or at least as well as my skill level allowed ;D
On the 801H was my P21XN Jiggy and that was a blast to use on the small (10-15#) fish I landed.
Both rigs held up well but they were never really put to the test so I guess I'll have to go again and put both set-ups through the ringer ;D ;D
Glad you got into them. The way the boat went the first day I thought it would be either a big pay out or kind of what you guys got on day one. Very good call to go to the schooly tuna, and a look at the outside banks is exactly the info I wanted. No need for me to hard charge it out there any time soon...well not to next week lol
I'm sorry in my first report where I said the Captain was a bit salty. There is another boat with the 80 in it's name, where lets just say the captain speaks his mind to the paying customers on his boat. If captain Taft was on the boat or he put others in charge I bet that never happened. Again my bad, creating confusing to two different boats.
Quote from: pjstevko on August 16, 2019, 08:13:44 PM
I got a chance to break in a bunch of new gear on trip....2 Okuma PCH rods (801H and 801XH) and my new Shimano Speedmaster 12II.
buddy, do you know the improvements of the new Speedmaster Vs the Talica ?
the speedmaster looks identical to a talica (sideplates and frame) wondering if its just almost the same reel with a nostalgic name to get more sales
Quote from: steelfish on August 20, 2019, 10:47:06 PM
Quote from: pjstevko on August 16, 2019, 08:13:44 PM
I got a chance to break in a bunch of new gear on trip....2 Okuma PCH rods (801H and 801XH) and my new Shimano Speedmaster 12II.
buddy, do you know the improvements of the new Speedmaster Vs the Talica ?
the speedmaster looks identical to a talica (sideplates and frame) wondering if its just almost the same reel with a nostalgic name to get more sales
I can't say for sure but i know there are a couple "Speedmaster vs Talica" threads on a few other forums....
Wow, what a great trip, congrats!! Thanks for the report and pics!!
Wow!!!!!! Great job man,,,,,, :D that's alot of nice fish,,,,, ;D
I just got a trip on the Pacific Voyager last night.
The TG 80 shadowed us, and us them, for the whole 4 days I was out.
We actually had to do a bait transfer from the TG 80 to the PV to keep us fishing.
Looks like a great boat, I plan on giving them a try.
We're you on a charter or open boat?
If open did you feel it was overloaded or about right?
Nice report and fish!
Quote from: Crab Pot on August 28, 2019, 10:41:28 PM
I just got a trip on the Pacific Voyager last night.
The TG 80 shadowed us, and us them, for the whole 4 days I was out.
We actually had to do a bait transfer from the TG 80 to the PV to keep us fishing.
Looks like a great boat, I plan on giving them a try.
We're you on a charter or open boat?
If open did you feel it was overloaded or about right?
Nice report and fish!
I was on an open boat and it felt like everyone had plenty of room to fish.....except at the rear right corner when the fish are boiling ;D
I really enjoyed the boat although I must say I only have one other boat to compare it to...... The Captain and crew were great, the food was good and plentiful and the bunks were comfy! Can't ask for anything more
Thanks for the info!