Just returned from a 5 day on the Top Gun 80. Fished 3.5 days of solid Yellowtail bite.
Day 1 - travel down to Guadalupe...great crew, great fishing stories, great group of people on this trip...very friendly.
Day 2 - arrive at heartbreak ridge for some seriously angling. I have never seen such large Yellowtail in my life. Each one pulled on the boat was in the mid 30#'s to low 40#'s...just incredible the way these large Yellowtail pull. There were many landed but many more lost including a couple of beasts who took me to the rocks. Capt. Bob decided to move down the west side of the island making a number of stops along the way for more hook ups. The mass of the island is awesome. Last stop was Tuna alley...a few more Yellowtail's landed but no Yellow Fin Tuna. Capt. moved the boat inside for some night fishing. This was awsome fishing at night as we used the dropper loop and heavy gear to raise more toads off the bottom. I landed a 23# that worked me on 80# test. Also landed that night...a couple of shark species, Moray Eal, Sting Ray and other stuff. Off to bed.
Day 3 - early morning rise to meet the sun coming up and try to catch the early bite. Within 10 mins I hooked up to my first Yellow Fin Tuna. Fought the sucker 10 - 15 mins and got it to withing 5ft of the boat and Mr. White Shark decided he was hungry...took my fucking fish!
Estimate the Yellow Fin Tuna in the 40# - 60# range. Capt. was able to get one on board and shared it with the crew and anglers. Off to the west side of the island again. More Yellowtail stops. Including one that was wide open...Every angler on the boat hooking up multiple times. Most of the fish were rats but fun to catch.
Back up the west side, hit Heartbreak ridge again, but for little action this time. Ended up at Pilot Rock at the end of the day. Better quality Yellowtail at the rock then other spots that day. Night fishing landed our first of two Black Sea Bass. Weight I think was 140#s on that sucker. Worked Jeff hard. Decided to stay on the rock for the night.
Day 4 - worked more of the north west side for quality Yellowtail's. Turned around back to Pilot rock for some more Toads and wound up just south of the rock fishing a cove...not sure of the name but spent the night there. It was wide open Calico Bass at this stop. These bass were again much bigger than anything I have seen pulled from LJ or Point Loma. More night fishing making bait for the last half day of fishing which was back to Tuna alley to try for some Yellow Fin Tuna.
Day 5 - woke up to catch the sun rise and morning bite again. Again hooked up to a fish in the first ten minutes. Yup a Yellow Fin Tuna again. This time I am not sure how I lost the fish but after about 45 seconds I wound up with just a hook, no bait or fish. Sucks!!!
A few others had their prizes taken by the Great Whites around the boat. Attached is a picture of Johnny with half of his Yellowtail. Those animals are just incredible to watch...just sucks ass when they take your fish. I landed a couple more quality Yellowtail to finish off the trip and call it a trip and head home.
I have to say the crew on the Top Gun 80 was great...the anglers were really cool to fish with and taught me some good useful shit, the Yellowtail fishing was world class. All in all I had a blast for my first long range trip and will be back next year for another round.
Now the pics.
fish hard or swim home
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