I have to be honest, that was the first time I remember seeing a Livingston in real life.  It really looked like a great platform.  I couldn't tell the length, but it seemed bigger than 16', or at least more boat than usual 16 footers.

Awesome (and very unique) fish Tom! Congrats on a PB yellow. I wonder how long it lived with that scoliosis, if it was an old age condition or it managed its whole life with it. 20 minute fight tells me it never slowed it down.

Speaking of The Odyssey, that livvie is my siren's song. Just gotta resist a bit longer...

My plan was to get out on the water Saturday to unwind from my usual hell week. The girls wanted do a family movie day which messed up my plans since I wanted to get to Kevin's Party later that day and now something had to give...  I decided to just fish Sunday instead.

We saw The Odessey in IMAXX and I really liked it!  It was a different rendition of what I remember reading, but the acting was really well done and I thought it was a good call to see it in the movie theatre!

We got back and I headed to Kevin's to meet up with some buddy's I haven't seen in a bit.  Long story short and we were doing shots off shot glasses that were epoxied to a snow ski... 

Thankfully home wasn't far away!  lol

Next morning and it was a struggle to motivate, but I did.

I was launching when Jeremy's future boat was being dropped in.



The water was crazy warm heading out the inlet.



I found the fleet of 100 boats all piled up in the same area.  I tried fishing it, but was over that quickly.  I also couldn't find the fresh squid I brought with me (I swore I packed it) so now I had to just wing it with lures.



I went inside to stay away from everyone else!



I didn't see much in the way of bait but there was plenty of dolphin around.



I was ready to call it since I didn't even get as much as a sniff all morning.  Then it sounded like a dolphin breach next to the boat but when I looked, I didn't see any others so I grabbed the new jig stick and cast out the good old Tady 45 (with a mackerel skin wrap).  5 cranks in and PLOOOOOOOSH!!!!!! I almost thought I snagged a dolphin and could tell this thing was a giant.

I lost track of time, but it was probably around 15-20 minutes under some tight drag.  I saw it and was like WTF?!?!

I got the gaff sunk and was exhausted.  My shoulder was shot and I was having a hard time holding it up but what a slug!  It looked like an oarfish!!!  It had a weird scoliosis going on with a deformed back end but was over 50" forklength from what I could gather from my boat tape that was too small.



I knew it was my PB, but guessing it was closer to 50# than 40#.  I took a few pics but my shoulder was having real troubles.  The head on this thing had a bigger head than me!

I left it packed in ice overnight since it was too late to clean and I really wanted to firm up the meat.  I also figured that I could get some really accurate measurements.

After a quick measurement, I had 51.2" fork length and the scale tells the tale.  I had super high hopes it would be 50#, but pretty close. 48.34#


https://imgur.com/azH7QN4

It was a female filled with eggs but a mostly empty belly.  Filleting it was difficult because of something wrong with the spine as seen here.





In any case, my PB and what a fish!  The meat was a little on the tough side and what a weird backbone! 

Anyway, One bite and One fish.  I'm glad I never found the squid or I wouldn't have caught this beauty!

Thanks for reading and until the next trip!

Quote from: Latimeria on July 27, 2026, 06:49:44 AMThat was pretty funny with the "Stock Photos" of the loungers.  hahahaha

Great trip!  That's some damn fine yellowtail fishing you guys got into!  Congrats to Jared also.

BTW... just out of curiosity, why did you bring the trout rod? Did you use it, or just wanted to give it a salt bath?

Bravo once again!

4000 spinning reel with a 1/2-2oz 8' rod would make bass or smaller yellowtail more fun, and small baits like anchovies more castable. The captain saw it first thing in the morning, grabbed it and put on a sardine and had a firecracker on it in minutes. I tried for about half the day with it but I didn't get any yellows on it.

And one destroyed shoulder ?? Hopefully not. I saw the pic, great catch and a big Congrats !!!

One explosion on the surface iron...

One crazy battle...

One fun weekend...

That was pretty funny with the "Stock Photos" of the loungers.  hahahaha

Great trip!  That's some damn fine yellowtail fishing you guys got into!  Congrats to Jared also.

BTW... just out of curiosity, why did you bring the trout rod? Did you use it, or just wanted to give it a salt bath?

Bravo once again!

Nice trip, the season is only going to get better

This was my annual co-worker trip on Blackfish Charters. This time, conditions and opportunities constituted us to San Clemente Island for a shot at yellowtail, with a chance at paddy pelagics on the way there and back.

Boarded at 0430. Off the dock and baited up before 0500.

The convertible style boat has left me wanting a little more for ventilation on the way out, so this time I bought an inflatable lounger to plop upon the c*ckpit to relax and perhaps nap on the way out.

Here I am inflating the lounger.



Here I am relaxing in the c*ckpit.





It was 3-5' in the San Pedro channel with white caps. While the swell was comfortably to our starboard, it would occasionally cause the bait tanks to splash and get me on the leg a bit. I repositioned and got a touch of mist, but otherwise I was actually quite comfortable. Once we passed Catalina, though, it picked up to 4-6' with a couple 7-8'ers to slow the captain's pace on the throttle. I ended up finding myself mercilessly misted and endlessly enema'd by the bait tanks. Very unfortunate design, that lounger. I approve of the lounger for future use, but I gave up on it at this point.

My poor little spinning reel (and every other reel on the boat) got waterfall'd on by the oncoming water.



Thankfully, the lee of the island cut down the swell significantly to a 2' chop, and eventually cut out the wind as well for a bit. We arrived at our first spot on the island around 0730 and it was instant. We ended up with 19 yellows at 5-10lbs for 6 anglers before the captain told us "lines out" to get the sea lions to leave for the cattle boats down the line.



We took a breather for 10 minutes then it was game on again. 30 yellows alongside bonito and bass before it slowed down and we started making our way up the island for a different grade.





We had a slow pick at half a dozen spots. I managed to lose another firecracker at the boat on an SPJ, which was a nice confidence boost going forward on that. Other than that, not too exciting.



Then we got to our last stop and we began long soaking some of our last sardines. Things picked up, with guys getting big bites. We ended up going 6 for 10 on 15-20lb yellows, alongside more bonito and bass. I wasn't able to get in on these big fish, but Jared did well in getting 2 of them, both being PB class fish for him around 20lbs.




On our way back, we stopped on a paddy that the captain saw mahi under. I woke up from my nap to pitch a sardine out there, and my bait started zooming immediately. I engaged my reel and wound tight to find it was just my bait being manic. No action on that paddy. We got into the dock around 1730, with bags and bags of yellowtail to be distributed.









I always insist on the boat keeping at least the first 5 bonito just for me, and nobody else is ever interested in keeping them. They continue to be maybe a top 3 food fish for me!

Quote from: Tim524 on July 23, 2026, 09:22:11 PMInsurance doesn't cover the shot ?

Nope... Seems crazy.