Old Glory- Sept 8th Overnite

[Bill B]

Reports are the Old Glory got limits of yellowfin tuna today.....so I fell for the bait 😆 and booked an overnite for Sept 8-9 out of H&M Landing....anyone else in for a last minute trip?  Reports of smaller schoolie sized YF.  Will be taking my Fathom 25NLD2 with 30 lb flouro, Fathom 40 NLD2 with 40 lb flouro, and a Baja Special with 50 lb flouro.....plus an assortment of irons, hooks, and weights....Should I downsize the 25NLD2 to 25 lb flouro?  Bill

[MarkT]

You won't know until you know! Take fluoro from 20-60 and swap out as appropriate. Good luck!

[Gobi King]

can't wait for the report... tight lines!

[CooldadE]

If I lived closer I would be there... I got the bug !

Cool

[alantani]

Good luck!!!!

[sciaenops]

Wouldn't hurt to bring a 20# outfit for midday line shy fish and/or weak bait. Not ideal on a packed cattle boat but you gotta get bit. Small egg sinkers to get under skippies when they're thick.

Good luck!

[Brewcrafter]

Good luck Bill! - john

[Swami805]

Good luck Bill. Should be fun

[pjstevko]

Good luck Bill!!!! Be flexible in your set-up rigging...Bring flouro from 15- 80#, knife/flat fall jig leaders up to 200# mono, small 2,1,1/0 j hooks and small circle hooks.

[Bill B]

Good luck Bill!!!! Be flexible in your set-up rigging...Bring flouro from 15- 80#, knife/flat fall jig leaders up to 200# mono, small 2,1,1/0 j hooks and small circle hooks.

I have a glow flat fall Alan rigged for me, but will stop off for more hooks and some 20 lb leader.....you think a Tiburon XN jig master or a 501 for the 20 lb?

[pjstevko]

Good luck Bill!!!! Be flexible in your set-up rigging...Bring flouro from 15- 80#, knife/flat fall jig leaders up to 200# mono, small 2,1,1/0 j hooks and small circle hooks.

I have a glow flat fall Alan rigged for me, but will stop off for more hooks and some 20 lb leader.....you think a Tiburon XN jig master or a 501 for the 20 lb?

An XN or 501 should do just fine for 20#!!!!

[sciaenops]

and like pj said, make sure you have some #2 j-hooks for stealth, even #4 (Mustad size) can come in handy. 

[Crab Pot]

Don't know if your on the boat already but 20-25 # floro was key with #2 hooks on my trip.

Hopefully we made all the Bonita's line shy for you too, Skippy's would have been more welcomed than those damn Boneheads.

Good luck.

[Crab Pot]

PS: We didn't see or catch a single Yellowfin.

[Bill B]

Just got home....9 YF for 26 paid anglers......full report to follow. Bill


Synopsis- Sept 8-9, 2021, overnight trip on the Old Glory out of H&M Landing.  26 paid passengers, 3 guests.  I have never fished the OG but watching the reports it is a fishy boat.  Saw their report for Sept 6 showing limit style fishing for yellowfin tuna, so I booked my spot, and packed my gear.  Took my Jigmaster P21XN with 20 lb flouro, Fathom25NLD2 with 30 lb flouro, and a Fathom 40NLD2 with 50 flouro.  A couple handfuls of jigs and irons and an assortment of hooks. 

Early is on Time, On-Time is Late, and Late is Unacceptable-  the boat is scheduled to leave at 2100 hrs, with check in at 2000 hrs.  Knowing I have at least a 2 1/2 hour drive down a freeway that is notorious for traffic jams I planned on leaving the house around 1530 hrs, getting there in time to grab a few things for the trip.  Punched in the coordinates in the cellphone map and headed down.  About 30 minutes into the trip Google Maps is trying to re-route me miles around my planned route.  Figuring I know more about driving to San Diego than Google I pushed on. Well another 30 minutes later, it became apparent that maybe Google had a little insight.  Traffic backed up in a normal place where the 215 and the 60 meet.  Well this is to be expected, but was worse than normal.  But hey, I padded my trip so sat back and enjoyed the traffic jam.  Soon i was moving along at freeway speeds.  Then it became readily apparent for the real reason for the reroute.  There was a fatal accident on the 15 with traffic backed up for miles.....2 of the 4 lanes blocked for rush hour traffic.  Pushed through the jam and arrived at H&M at 1900 hrs....ok so I padded my trip plans and still got there in time to grab a subway sandwich, and a few items for the trip, but forgot to think about how bad parking can be at the landing.  So I drove through the parking lot for a 1/2 hour with no luck.  Couldn't even grab a spot from a departing fisherman.  I spoke to a couple guys who recommended the Ramada across the street for a price.....cool beans, headed over there paid my $30 bucks and parked the car.  Gathered my gear and walked to the landing and made the 2000 hrs check in. 

Boarding- Got on the boat with the normal scramble for tackle box space and rods, got everything racked and poles prepped for the next morning.  Went down to my assigned bunk.  Hmmmm, there seems to be a body in my rack...spoke to a deckhand who woke the gentleman and I was set in my middle rack a midship on the port side.  The rack has a comfortable mattress and is long enough for my 5'10" frame and a small bag at my feet...barely but I fit.  A little short between me and the bunk above, couldn't pull my knees all the way up without hitting the upper bunk.  Engine noise was negligible and could sleep without earplugs.

Underway- We threw the dock lines promptly at 2100 hrs and headed to the bait dock.  On loaded enough bait for a 2 day trip, the Old Glory sure can pack on the sardines.  Leaving the harbor, the back deck is roped off to keep the passengers from wandering around in the dark, but the smoking deck right outside the main cabin is open.  2230 hrs head down for some sleep.  0130 hrs, can't sleep, might as well head up and relax.  One passenger seemed to be having a seasick issue and was sleeping in one of the booths....no worries....I will just chill.  The night watchman was up and about and we had a good discussion of today's politics, mostly agreeing on all accounts.  0300 hrs the skipper powers down, we have reached the general area where we will start fishing. A 5 hour steam south.  Around 0500 hrs the night watchman was relieved by the day deckhand, and he proceeded to getting things arranged for the days fishing.  Out came 3 trolling rigs, 2 Penn 114H with tuna feathers and a 113 H with a well worn cedar plug.  All 3 rigs have seen better days, half full of 100 lb mono, 1 rod is missing a stripper guide.  Not a lot of confidence in these rigs. 

Fishing- 0600 hrs the deckhands are in full swing and few bleary eyed (hungover) fisherman make their way up.  Looking around I could see numerous boats in the area, more than 7 boats.  We began searching for fish.  After about 30 minutes we make our first stop, chum was thrown out, but nothing came up to play....so off we go.  The second stop, more chum, hey we have some fish boiling a little way off, and more chum.....but they didn't stick around.....hmmm. Third stop more of the same.

Fourth stop, boilers and foamers,  chum, lots of chum, buckets of chum, are we gonna run out of chum?  Heck no the OG holds more sardines than a sardine cannery, throw a couple more full dip nets of chum and we are on the biters.  Mayhem breaks out as at least 8 fisherman are hooked up.  The tuna shuffle is in full swing as guys are up and down the rail either chasing fish or bait.  9 fish come over the rail.  Then just as suddenly the bite turns off.  I was a little dismayed to see the fish were not bled, gilled, gutted, or spiked and just pushed into the RSW hold. Well this is just an overnight trip.....

The next stop looks promising, toss chum, fish are jumping towards the boat and out of nowhere a private boat blasts into our chum slick and the fish are gone.....not cool.  A few choice words from the deckhands and passengers directed toward the privateer and we are off.  We stop on a few kelp paddies with no biters.  A couple more marks and nothing.  I did discover the best way to find fish marks was to go below deck to close my eyes and bam...the skipper finds another mark.....so we played this game for the rest of the trip 😆....OK maybe me going below deck didn't really influence finding fish, but hey, I'll take the credit anyway 😜

As we continued the search for more fish the skipper spots birds diving, foamers on th surface...bingo he kicks the boat in the butt and we charge for the school.....more chum, lots more chum, where are they storing all this chum ?!?  As we circle the school I heard the Old Glory's horn sounding in a frantic toot,toot,toot......I look towards the bow to see a BIG colbalt blue sport fisher that probably cost $500k cut right across the bow of the Old Glory.....this rectal hole nearly caused a collision, ran right into the middle of the school of fish.....I'm glad there were no cannons on board because I'm sure they would have gotten a full Admiral Nelson broadside from the OG.  No fish were caught...hope the skipper reported this unsafe buttgasket.

We made a few more stops, with no more fish brought over the rail and head for the barn around 1430 hrs.  Gear is broken down during the ride in.  Boat burgers are consumed as fast as they come off the grill.  Food was good, never had a bad boat burger.

Bait- Sardines, lots of sardines, probably took 30 minutes to load up at the bait dock.  The Old Glory is not stingy with bait, lots of full dip nets being tossed out for chum.  The sardines seemed lethargic in the bait troughs but rocketed away at full speed when cast out, sometimes in the wrong way, but bless their little hearts when they took off they were serious about getting there.

Weather- It was warm, shorts and t-shirt weather.  Swells were small making for a great ride up and downhill.  Wind chop was minimal.  I guess just about any boat would ride well in these conditions, but the OG was very pleasant ride.

Boat- The Old Glory is a fishy boat, not the prettiest, some chipped paint, cracks in the deck coating, but everything works and roomy enough for 26 anglers. Lots of space on the foredeck for throwing jigs and irons, but watch out for the extra tall gaffs up there waiting to grab your iron on the Fathom40NLD2 and cause a backlash from hell 😖.  She ran great and smooth.  Not sure how they have the diesels insulated from the hull, but you could barely feel any vibrations from the motors.  The deckhands are an older set of guys, very professional and can handle their business.  Skipper Kley Williams worked hard to find us fish and put us on quite a few schools, but the other private boats pushed us off a couple of good schools.  I will definitely book another trip on the Old Glory. 

Friends- met a couple guys from my old hometown. Had a great conversation about the town, and he should be signing up with AT.com soon. 

Wrap Up- Small j-hooks, 20-25 lb flouro we're getting bit on our only productive stop.  9 fish were caught and the fish were processed by the deckhands.  They looked pretty good, with a little burned meat.....collars and heads were also offered by the deckhand.

Lessons Learned- Get to the landing with plenty of time to spare, bring a large selection of hooks, it is easier to grab another rod than try to deal with a backlash from Hell (I had to cut out a monster to keep fishing with the 40NLD2 loosing about 30 yards of braid but was able to save the flouro), no matter how good your skipper is other boaters can run you off a school of fish, learn to cast sardines, don't be afraid to change out your bait during a bite, the Old Glory did not seems to mind if you trolled with your own gear and considering the condition of their gear bring your own, the boat had a good selection of Penn Internationals, Shimano, and other assorted kite rigs that looked to be in better shape than the troll rigs, but we didn't use any of them.  Most importantly have fun, fishing is supposed to be fun, catching fish makes it memorable. 

Until next time, tight lines and full sacks,

Bill