# September Bluefin Tuna out of San Diego…



## DannyNoonan (Mar 24, 2019)

Royal Star 4-day charter…

Just got home after returning from the annual Rhodes charter. Without question the most ridiculous BFT fishing I've ever experienced, and probably the front runner for best San Diego trip of the year (IMO)...

We left a little late Saturday after loading up on really nice sardines. Randy would be running the trip with Blake as 2nd. Jake, Ryan and Mike on deck with Cameron and Alex in the galley. No passports would be necessary this trip - we were sticking to US waters...

Heading west straight into a mixed swell with 15-20 winds. We were told it was going to be sloppy, but "fishable". Arrived early morning as I'm sure our speed was a bit slower than it otherwise would've been, and Randy got to work looking around...

Most of the morning was spent on drifts with a few nice tuna (30-70#) taken on sardines in small flurries. Late morning/early afternoon the kite started working with frozen flyers the bait of choice. Randy got us onto an area of big fish which decided to bite. Over the next 2-1/2 days we went thru the kite rotation twice. At one point late Sunday afternoon, and again on Monday mid-day, we had 6 kite rigs going at the same time...

Sunday night, with most tapping out after a long day of sloppy conditions, a few stayed up to enjoy a solid jig bite that ran from 7-midnight on this same grade fish. My friend John landed 4 out of 5, with 3 over 200#...

Monday night was spent anchored in shallower water on the Tanner, where we woke to a decent bite on 12-20# YT. I managed 2 on the surface iron early, but nearly all the rest were taken on fly-lined sardines...

Moving back to the big fish zone mid-day saw another round of heavy kite activity on only slightly smaller grade fish (100-140 avg), until nearly all passengers were "passing" on their kite opportunity so Randy called it a trip...

I have no idea how many personal bests were achieved - my guess is probably 80% of the group. I know I got mine...

30 - this is not a typo - 30 fish over 200#. On a 4-day trip. Absolutely crazy...










































(original thread posted on Bloodydecks dot com)


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## chuckb (Jun 7, 2008)

How awesome and those are huge. See any Navy ships out there?


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## motoscoota (Mar 9, 2021)

Yeah!!! I love The Pacific!

I used to get on Albacore out of Half Moon Bay.

Soooo much canning ensued!


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## Sasquatch Lives (May 23, 2011)

Man what a trip.


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## jrose (Aug 17, 2011)

My buddy just got back (May have been on the same charter!) with the same story and pics of 200# blue fin's!!!


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## Northernfisher (Jul 29, 2010)

Wow!

What is YTT?


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## Lightfoot (Feb 18, 2018)

yellow tailed tuna


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## DannyNoonan (Mar 24, 2019)

Northernfisher said:


> Wow!
> 
> What is YTT?


Actually, it’s a typo of sorts (the deckhands aren’t generally the sort to win a spelling bee!). Supposed to be “YT”, which stands for a California Yellow Tail (a member of the jack family, not a tuna)…


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## Northernfisher (Jul 29, 2010)

DannyNoonan said:


> Actually, it’s a typo of sorts (the deckhands aren’t generally the sort to win a spelling bee!). Supposed to be “YT”, which stands for a California Yellow Tail (a member of the jack family, not a tuna)…


Thanks, that makes sense. Heck of s trip. You must have all been sore.


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## Wannabe Angler (Oct 21, 2019)

WOW, nice haul! I can't imagine fighting those 200# ers! I've read about the Royal Star charters. Looks awesome and actually not crazy ridiculous pricing. It's def on my bucket list. Only thing better would be getting out with Ali H for tuna!


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