The Weathermen were wrong!

Date:  October 6 to 8, 2026

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

Boat and Crew:  Rail Time owned and operated by Gary Adams with Jake and Eric as second Captains and deck hands

Trip:  Two days fishing Cherry Bank, San Nicolas Island and offshore for tuna and yellowtail

Catch:  3 yellowtail, 1 bluefin tuna, 7 yellowfin tuna, 2 calico bass, miscellaneous rockfish plus releases of bonito, 1 sealion gill, 2 bullet tuna, and mackerel

Trip Details: Gary asked us to arrive by 3:30 pm to allow time to make bait.  We stopped just short of the bait barge where Jake, Eric and Gary caught some nice mackerel for bait.  After getting a tank of lively mackerel, Gary moved the boat over to the barge where Nacho loaded us up with sardines. We then headed to Catalina hopefully to catch small gummy squid and flying fish.

The seas were choppy and a bit rougher than I’m used to on the Rail Time.  We had our pizza dinner then I chose my bunk to ride out the rough waters. While I tried to sleep, Gary and crew worked hard trying for bait at Catalina and San Clemente Islands succeeding in capturing 4 flying fish and enough gummy squid to last us a day. I heard the engines turn off around 1:30 in the morning.  We were anchored at the west end of Clemente.

The engines started back up a few hours later and Gary said we were headed to Cherry Bank where some bigger bluefin had been.  The seas were still rough and the wind was stronger than the weathermen had predicted.  I remained in my bunk as we travelled arriving at the bank mid-day.  A couple other boats were already there, however, the bluefin were not.  After a couple hours searching the area, Gary headed the boat towards San Nicolas Island.  I remained in my bunk.

Late afternoon, Gary anchored up off the island where we fished our 25 and 30 pound outfits.  Jeff and Gary each caught a yellowtail, Cathy caught a nice yellowfin tuna, Steve caught a bluefin tuna, Gary and Jim caught a couple nice calico bass and I caught a big bonito to throw back.  We also caught lots of birds – cormorants, sheerwaters, seagulls etc.

Gary anchored the boat close to the island where we enjoyed dinner and calm waters for a nice night of sleep. 

We slept until Gary started the engines at 6 am Thursday morning.  We chased bird and porpoise schools looking for biting tuna.  Mixed in with the tuna were loads of small sealions.  I even hooked one and managed to bring in one of its gills.  That gill, a bullet tuna and the previous day’s bonito were the extent of my catch this trip.  The rest the group managed to add one yellowtail, six more yellowfin tuna, and Jake jigged up some tasty rockfish to add to the catch.    

 

Gary worked hard pounding the seas searching for fish that wanted to bite.   I feel badly he and the crew had to work so hard especially since the fish reports and weather reports were good prior to our trip.  Many thanks to Gary, Jake and Eric for all their efforts, professionalism and positive attitudes.  Those qualities ensure we have a good trip whether we catch fish or not. 

We had a long trip back to dock arriving around 7 pm.  Despite the rough weather and slow fishing, I enjoyed being on the water with my fishing family.  I look forward to our next trip in November.