06-08-2009, 03:10 PM
I've never done a shark fishing trip before, although I've heard they're pretty fun. Out here the shark boats leave around 9:30 or 10:00 at night and get you back to the docks early evening the next day. You get to strap into the seat and everything, they put up a hell of a fight.
I do half and 3/4 day trips pretty regularly down here. In Santa Barbara the channel is a pretty prime spot for rockfish and red snapper, we usually come back at or close to limits (10 fish) every trip. Rockfish make for some pretty good eating although they're one of the more boring fish to catch imo. Since they live a couple hundred of feet down, they put up a fight for the first minute or two and then decompression kills them and you reel them up to the surface.
In San Diego during the summer Yellowtail is my favorite target for the short trips, they come pretty close to shore so easily in range of the half-day boats. The ones ive seen range in size from 5-15lbs with some being significantly larger. They usually put up a decent fight and are absolutely delicious on the bbq. I keep seeing reports of albacore and bluefin tuna getting caught just out of range of the short boats though... catching a bluefin would be amazing but coming back with 20lbs of tuna filets would be great regardless of species.
I do half and 3/4 day trips pretty regularly down here. In Santa Barbara the channel is a pretty prime spot for rockfish and red snapper, we usually come back at or close to limits (10 fish) every trip. Rockfish make for some pretty good eating although they're one of the more boring fish to catch imo. Since they live a couple hundred of feet down, they put up a fight for the first minute or two and then decompression kills them and you reel them up to the surface.
In San Diego during the summer Yellowtail is my favorite target for the short trips, they come pretty close to shore so easily in range of the half-day boats. The ones ive seen range in size from 5-15lbs with some being significantly larger. They usually put up a decent fight and are absolutely delicious on the bbq. I keep seeing reports of albacore and bluefin tuna getting caught just out of range of the short boats though... catching a bluefin would be amazing but coming back with 20lbs of tuna filets would be great regardless of species.