Endeavor Sportfishing, San Diego

Jim Carlisle and I departed for San Diego Wednesday, September 4th for a two-day fishing trip aboard Tucker McCombs "Endeavor" courtesy of Cathy Needleman, Charter Mistress extraordinaire.  A rain squall caused a detour off the freeway sending us through residential neighborhoods until we reached Seaforth Sportfishing.  Even with the rain delay, we arrived early.  Two other passengers, Dick and John were already there.  Cathy arrived shortly thereafter.

Cathy had made reservations for dinner at Jimmy's Famous Italian Restaurant and suggested we share an Uber to the restaurant and leave our vehicles at the landing. It was a great idea because we had dinner with the rest of the anglers then rode in their cars back to Seaforth.  The other anglers included Jeff Chuang, John Ballotti, Scott Schiffman, Chas Schoemaker, Randy Sharon and Sal.  Dinner was a delicious and wonderful way to begin our adventure.

The Endeavor was in dock when we returned and Seaforth Landing was busy with returning and departing anglers.  

Tuna fishing had been good for a few days and everyone wanted to get in on the action.  We managed to get gear for all eleven of us in two carts.  Around 9 pm we got the OK to board. 

Once on board and settled, Tucker informed us that we were heading south where the smaller yellowfin and bluefin tuna have been.  We should be there around 3:30 in the morning.  Tucker advised setting up 25 and 30 pound outfits plus a smaller Flatfall on 40 pound line.  Our crew for the trip included Rafi as second Captain, Alex in the Galley, with Marcus and Romo on deck.  I hit the bunk around 11 pm.

Thursday morning I was up at 3 am putting on sunscreen, finger tape and checking my drags.  I was ready.  We were only 30 miles from dock.

Tucker finally found a school of fish just before day break.  We tried the Flatfalls and Colt Snipers until the sun came up.  We switched to bait and it was game on, not wide open but a good plunker bite on 25# to 50# tuna with the smaller ones being the yellowfin tuna.

I fished a Penn Carnage Rod with a Penn Fathom 15LD2 Reel with 3 feet of 25# Berkley Fluorocarbon tied to 50# Berkley Spectra. I was using an #4 Owner Mutu hook.  Very light tackle to be fishing tuna but that's what it required.  Jeff was the star angler (as usual).  Jeff hooked and landed more fish than anyone and most were bluefin.  Jim and I had a very good day too.  I managed 12 yellowfin tuna and 3 bluefin and all of them on 25# line.  One 50# bluefin was particularly tuff but I hung in there.  By day's end eleven of us had landed 75 yellowfin and 31 bluefin tuna.

Friday we awoke on the back side of San Clemente Island fishing for the bigger bluefin.  Tucker found several schools of 150 to 300 pound bluefin tuna boiling around.  At first there wasn't enough wind to put a kite out so crew put Cathy out on a helium balloon with a flyer until we had enough wind for the kite.  Jeff hooked up immediately on 60 pound line.  Unfortunately, after a 90 minute battle, the fish won his freedom at gaff with a squirrely run under the stern corner.  His fish was easily over 250 pounds. 

Tucker deployed the kite and helium balloon all day without success.  I even tried the bobber balloon but nothing worked.  At day's end, Tucker took us close to the island to fish for yellowtail and calico bass.  John Ballotti was the lucky (or good) angler that caught a nice yellowtail.  Congrats John!

Crew pulled the fish out of the hold and let us take photos then began to process our fish.  We were seven hours from the landing and it took all of that time for crew to finish filleting our fish.  We had smooth seas the entire trip including the trip home.

The crew on the Endeavor were exceptional.  All were polite and helpful.  Alex did a great job in the Galley as well.  He served shrimp burritos, eggs and sausage for breakfasts, Chinese chicken salad for lunch, prime rib and lasagna for dinners. He also had sweet rolls, croissants, fresh fruit and snacks.  Everything was very tasty.

The entire trip was a pleasure from the boat and crew, food, fishing and fellow passengers.  Cathy put together a stellar trip and I am pleased to have been included.  Thanks Cathy.

When we got back to dock, we unloaded our gear and put it in our trucks.  Crew brought our fish up to the landing and handed it out.  What a shock.  My fish fillets filled a 120 quart cooler and the lid wouldn't close.  Jim had the same problem.  

When we got to my house, Jim helped me unload my cooler and ice it down so I could deal with it the next day.  Thanks Jim.

Saturday I was up early and called Shig to come pick up fish.  I gave him half the fillets and some frozen salmon fillets from my Alaska trip.  I still had 30 pounds of fillets to freeze and 5 cases of tuna to can.  Dinner was good though - Bluefin Tuna Pepper Steak!