The Perfect Trip aboard the Rail Time

Date:  August 26 -28, 2025

Anglers:  Cathy Needleman, Jeff and Steve Chuang, Jim Carlisle and Jan Howard

Boat and Crew:  Rail Time owned and operated by Captain Gary Adams and second Captain Jake.

Trip:  Two days fishing San Clemente Island and offshore.

Fish Catch:  5 Bluefin Tuna 130 to 220 pounds, 5 Halibut, 9 Yellowtail 20 to 30 pounds, 1 White Seabass, 1 Calico Bass

Trip Details: 

Anglers and Captains were all on board when the Rail Time departed its slip at 6 pm August 26^th.  A quick stop at the bait receiver for both sardines and squid.  We were off to a great start. 

Gary advised we set up 40-pound dropper loops for fishing seabass at San Clemente Island in the morning.  After that, we would go offshore looking for bluefin tuna to catch. 

After we got our tackle set up, our Sushi Chef Steve served up an 8 course Omakase dinner in honor of Cathy’s 70^th birthday.  What a fabulous way to start a trip.  Every piece of sushi was special and delicious.  Thanks so much Steve for sharing your talent with us.

 

After dinner, we lit the candles on Cathy’s birthday cake and enjoyed dessert as the sun dropped beyond the horizon.

 

I hit the bunk early (as usual) but awoke when we got to Catalina and I heard Gary and Jake making flyers.  They were able to get all we needed in less than 30 minutes, so Gary took us to Clemente and found a quiet cove and anchored on a squid nest.  With squid floating around the boat, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to top off the squid tank.

At 5 am the next morning I was awakened when Jeff ran past my bunk saying he heard a reel go off.  By the time I got up, Jeff had landed a nice yellowtail.  We all managed to get to the rail in short order but we couldn’t entice another bite.

At 8:30 am, Gary said to put away the island gear and set up our bluefin tackle.  We needed a 60-pound sinker rig for sardines or squid and the 130 pound gear for flyers on the helium balloon or flylined.

Gary put us on a school of bigger bluefin around 9:30 am.  Jim hooked up on a flylined flyer right away and landed his bluefin after a 40-minute battle around the boat.  Jeff hooked up about 10 minutes after Jim but he was on the helium balloon. Then Cathy's flylined flyer got bit.  Jeff tamed his fish in 40 minutes, however, Cathy’s fish was not as kind to her making her battle the fish for 50 minutes.  It was worth it as she was rewarded with the biggest fish of the trip estimated at 220 pounds.  Definitely the birthday gift we wished for her.  Way to go Cathy!!

 

After a couple of short bites on the balloon and a big fish that spun my reel faster than any fish I’ve seen and shattered the fluoro leader in the process, I caved and used one of Gary’s rods to land a fish of my own thanks to Jake’s help.  

As soon as I landed my fish, Cathy caught a second bluefin.  At this point, we had all the tuna we wanted and opted to go back to the island to fish for yellows and seabass.

We searched around the island for fish that wanted to bite without success.  We ended up anchoring in a nice cove for dinner and readied tackle for day two.  We enjoyed a BBQ chicken and rib dinner, courtesy of Cathy, before calling it a night.  Jake and Gary made quick work replenishing the tanks with fresh squid while we had dinner.

5:10 Thursday morning I awoke to Gary’s voice telling us the fish are biting and we needed to get to the rail.  I think Cathy hooked up first and I may have been second but I’m not sure.  At any rate, the bite was fast and furious and all over by 6:30 am.  We had 8 20–30-pound yellowtail and 1 seabass in the hold.  Cathy, Jeff and I landed 2 yellowtail each and Steve and Jim 1 apiece.  I caught the small seabass.

 

We headed to other spots along the island until Jeff put 3 halibut on the boat and Cathy and Jim each added another halibut making our count 5.  Steve caught and released a big mossback yellowtail and Jeff caught a trophy calico that he released. I picked up a nice calico that I kept. 

 

It was time to head home and process all the fish we caught.  We also needed to decide how much we wanted to take home.  I kept 2 whole yellowtail and one whole tuna for Shig to pick up at the landing.  The rest would be filleted. 

Jake cut all the fish while I put the filets in bags and Jim, Steve and Jeff sealed the bags.  Cathy helped label the bags.

 

We got back to dock at 5:30 pm.  Shig was waiting and helped me take my gear to the car.  Jake brought out all the bags of filets.  We each took a few bags with the rest going to Cathy’s local firehouse.

So what makes a perfect fishing trip?  The weather? The Captain, crew and boat?  Your fellow anglers?  The bait you have?  The species of fish you catch? The size of the fish you catch?  The variety of fish you catch? All anglers catching fish?  The positive attitude of everyone on board?  WE HAD IT ALL!

Thank you Cathy for the trip and everything you share with us.  Thank you Gary and Jake because without you guys none of this would be possible.  Thank you friends for allowing me to fish with you all and thanks to the fishing gods for their gifts this trip.