Can anyone help me with some gear & tackle questions?

[Badtaste2k]

So first off, this isn't necessarily Kayak related... sorry

Since a bunch of you guys are down in SD and pulling Yellows, I thought y'all may be able to give me some advise. I think I am going to head out on one of the overnight cattle boats out of San Diego in Sunday night. The wife gave me the nod so I am going to jump at it. I haven't been on a cattle boat in a while, and I haven't been on one looking for anything other than bottom dwellars in probably 8 years or so now.

First off, Any suggestions on a boat? Right now my choices are:

Producer @ H&M
Sea Adventure II @ H&M
Dolphin III @ Point Loma
Fortune @ Fishermans Landing

10 years or so ago I limited on some nice yellows out of H&M if I remember correctly, but that was the only SD fishing spot I have been to. I'll probably end up back there unless anyone has any suggestions?

As for gear, I want to be prepared, But I don't want to bring a lot of crap onto a cattle boat. I don't have a great selection of fantastic rods. I use an 8 ft Heavy and a 7'6" Medium Shimano Teramar inshore rod as well as an 8ft heavy Turners Californian Inshore with two Cardiff 400's and a 300 on the Yak. I am guessing that gear will be too light for the boat. I have a couple 40 lb 8ft Jig sticks I picked up from Big 5 - I know they are not the best. I have a Torium 10II and a Sealine x40 both loaded with 65lb braid. I also have an old Penn rod and reel and a Penn Senator trolling rod and reel. I think I brought that last time I went out, but never used it.

Will those two jig rods be sufficient? Should I bring a light gear set up as well? It looks as if the overnights are targeting Yellowtail, Yellow & Bluefin ,and Dodos.

That brings me to my last question. For the tackle, I am guessing we will be flylining dines or squid? As for hooks and weight, I think the largest I have are 4/o and 8oz torpedos. Should I be looking at getting anything larger? I have some Salias & Tady Irons as well as some large Spoons, bucktails, lots of swimbaits, and one fairly large firetiger Rapala. I am thinking of bringing most of those since I only have a handful, but should I focus on fishing with any one in particular?

Sorry for this long post. I try to avoid seeking too much assistance, but since I will be driving down from San Pedro, I want to get everything set up and ready to go and not worry about too much last minute.

Who knows, maybe after all that I'll decide to throw the Yak on the car, save some dough, and just make my first run at La Jolla on Monday. We'll see. It would be nice to get on some decent fish.

Thanks again

Dan

[Dannowar]

Your setups sound fine. Bring a slew of irons and yo yo. If you really wanna have fun bring a heavy spinning setup with 20 lb.

[Dennis]

Call the landing (which ever you choose) to see what has been working, and the size of the fish. That will cut down a lot of your tackle. On my last 1.5 day all we used was bait, and 15-20lb outfits. I brought a 40lb, just in case.

[fishingfiend]

How did you do? It's great out there now. I had to put the kayak away and get in on the grand slam action too. Hope you got some tuna love...

[Badtaste2k]

Originally Posted by fishingfiend

How did you do? It's great out there now. I had to put the kayak away and get in on the grand slam action too. Hope you got some tuna love...

I ended up on the Dolphin III out of Point Loma with only 19 anglers. Had a great trip! Pulled in Limits on Yellowfin and a Skipjack. Hooked and lost a couple DoDo's. Second biggest fish with a 48LB Yellowfin, I also had a 42lb Yellowfin. Jackpot went to a 52lb. The boat brought some rat Yelllows and some nice Dorado also.

I didn't really put the Kayak away, just a timeout. Now I'm back on the hunt for those damn Halibut!

Dan

[Badtaste2k]

Some Pics

Dan

[addicted2sp33d]

Originally Posted by Badtaste2k

Some Pics

Dan

Wow! Solid work!

What setups did you end up using?

[Badtaste2k]

Originally Posted by addicted2sp33d

Wow! Solid work!

What setups did you end up using?

I ended up using the cheap Sabre Jigsticks with 3/0 Hooks fly lineing dines. I never threw an iron because the catch was wide open on dines. If the shitty rod hadn't decided to fall apart on me while I was pulling in one of those big Yellowfins I would have said it worked great. I had the Sealine 40 on it and the reel would stay seated on the shaft. The cork eneded up peeling and it wouldn't tighten at all to the bar rod. I was able to pull the Yellowfin up with some help and a scerwdriver to keep tightening down the reel during the fight.
I should have just brought my Heavy inshore Teramar rods. They would have worked fine, just a bit more fight! I need to go buy some good Jigsticks now. I feel I am officially past the bargain basement crap.

Dan