Rail Time end of Season

Date:  October 7 to 10, 2025

Anglers:  Cathy and Matt 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 and crew Jack Armstrong.

Trip:  Two days fishing Tanner Bank and San Clemente Island.

Fish Catch:  17 Bluefin Tuna 15 to 25 pounds, 3 Yellowtail to 30+ pounds, 1 Sheepshead, 1 Fantail Sole, and 5 Calico Bass

Trip Details:  Cathy, Matt and I arrived first at Peter's Landing and moved our tackle through the gate placing it on the dock adjacent to the boat for easy loading.  Our new Crew member, Jack arrived next.  He looked familiar but I couldn’t place him at first. Eventually I realized he was Jenny Armstrong’s son.  Jenny is a friend from my early fishing days when we were both involved in United Anglers and Fred Hall Shows. 

By 5 PM, all anglers and crew were on board motoring towards the bait receiver.   Gary and Jack loaded us up with some great sardines.  

Unfortunately, there were no squid in the receiver so Gary said we would make our own when we got to San Clements Island.  Gary recommended we get our gear ready for fishing in the morning.  He told us to set up our 25 pound tackle with a quarter once slider and a number 2 hook to start the day.

Once we got our gear set up, we settled inside for dinner.  Courtesy of Jeff, we had fresh pizza for dinner.  

Our seas were bumpy so I crawled into my bunk for the ride.  Once we made it to the island, Gary and Jack made squid.  Apparently, it was difficult to get the squid to float due to the full moon.  Fortunately, they captured enough for the next day (so I was told as I slept right through it.)

Gary was up a little after 4 am making coffee and checking out the bait before he started the engines and pointed the bow towards Tanner Bank.  Gradually, a couple of us crawled out of our bunks and stumbled towards the coffee maker.  Others took advantage of the travel time to catch up on their sleep.  I find it interesting how comfortable it is fishing with this group – always respectful and looking out for each other.  Very, very family like.

We arrived at the bank around 8 am.  There were several other sport boats already lined up along the bank fishing. John (Gary’s friend on the Soria) was there too.  Gary anchored up close to John and we cast out our squids. The weather was improving and continued to improve until eventually it became a beautiful day.

It wasn’t long before we started hooking small bluefin.  At first the tuna wanted squid but as the day progressed and the seas calmed, the tuna started eating the sardines. We would catch a fish here and there. No barn burner but a decent plunker bite.

We fished the bank until we had limits of bluefin for the boat.  The bluefin were slightly larger than they were on our last trip but not by much.  These fish were 15 to 25 pounders and very fatty presumably because they had been feasting on squid.  Everybody caught at least one bluefin.  Sheepie had a limit of whitefish (released) to go with his bluefin.  Bottom fishing produced a couple of sheepshead to go along with the whitefish.  Jeff was our star angler hooking and landing 6 bluefin himself.  Cathy and Matt caught 2 bluefin each, Jim caught 3 and released 1, and I caught 3 and released a couple myself. 

Gary checked out the bank for yellowtail before heading back to San Clemente Island.  We arrived at the island just before sundown.  We had just enough time to cast a few baits for yellowtail before settling down for dinner.  Sheepie caught a Fantail Sole (identified by Professor Fumio after the trip.)  

The yellowtail however, were a no-show but that didn’t keep us from enjoying a delicious BBQ ribs and chicken dinner courtesy of Cathy.

After dinner, Gary and Jack made squid while the rest of us headed to bed to rest from a successful day of fishing in beautiful weather.  The squid cooperated by floating which allowed Gary and Jack to get a good night’s rest too.

Friday morning we all managed to be on deck early.  

Gary had our dropper loops deployed so we could grab our coffee on our way to the rail.  Jim hooked up almost immediately and when it hit the deck, it looked like it was a 30 to 35 pound yellowtail.  What a beautiful fish.  Sheepie hooked one on the bow and after struggling to get his rod out of the holder, the hook pulled.  Matt hooked one next and landed his shortly thereafter.  Another beautiful yellowtail.  A couple more were hooked and lost before the bite shut off around 7 am.

Gary checked out cove after cove around the island.  In the process, we picked up five nice calico bass and released more than we kept.  I managed to catch 3 keepers myself. 

Conditions got rougher as the day progressed, eventually producing the strong winds that had been predicted.  We ended up heading over to Catalina Island to look for fish.  Gary put us on a spot of yellowtail sharing the cove with many large, aggressive sealions.  Conditions were horrible -  wind against current.  As soon as we cast a sardine, a sealion bit it off or the sardine made a U-turn and headed away from the yellowtail.  Jeff was the only one who managed to catch a yellowtail before we called it a trip.

The seas were rough and getting rougher as we started back across the channel.  Jack filleted the tuna first then the yellowtail and bass.  I bagged fillets and Steve sealed them.  It was a three-hour crossing and we finished processing the fish just after we entered the harbor.  Jack did a fabulous job filleting our fish working in less than ideal conditions.  

Jack proved his worth on this trip.  He’s a great addition to Gary’s operation and we hope to see him on future trips.

Gary is incredible as a captain and boat owner and his crew are always professional.  Many thanks to Gary for another great trip.  Cathy, thanks so much for including us on your charters and for feeding us delicious ribs, chicken, and bagels.  And many thanks to my fellow anglers who fed us lunches, snacks and ice cream.  I am so appreciative of being able to fish with you all.  Many thanks for helping me when my hands fail me.

This was our last trip of the season fishing with Gary and it didn’t disappoint.  Until next year friends, have a safe winter!