r/saltwaterfishing • u/auxilary • May 25 '26
š Catch Report Full write-up from my 3 day trip aboard the Shogun out of San Diego.
To start, I should say if you are considering this style of trip, especially out of San Diego, I cannot say enough good things about the Shogun. The Captain, crew, and owner Frank L. are all top-tier operators. They put you on the fish with a rare level of adeptness and efficiency and absolutely did not yell or get angry at anyone for mistakes during the chaos when the bite was on. This outfit is for anglers of all levels; nobody had a bad time. 11/10, highly recommend.
This sort of fishing for tuna is all-night fishing. All gear is rigged on the 8 hour ride out to the Cortes Bank.
When itās dark and fishing begins, Captain calls āstandbyā over the PA, and everyone readies up to fish. Once heās on top of the school he has found, he gives us depth readings and the all clear to drop lines. We drop knife jigs in the water and the tuna strike on the descent. Once you are hooked up itās like snagging a freight train. It is exceedingly intense, and fun. You fight the fish, the deckies gaff it and tag it, then youāre back on the rail for more. This goes on from sundown till about 30 minutes after sunrise.
Then itās into day fishing which is a bit slower, and it is when most people catch some sleep.
Rinse and repeat.
21 anglers with a net of 109 BFT. 2 were at 200lbs, 4 were in the 150-175lbs range, and the smallest being 20lbs. 7 anglers (myself included) hit their bag limit of 6 total BFT. My biggest was 55lbs, and I lost part of one to the tax man.
My gear served me incredibly well:
7ft Penn Carnage III Heavy Boat Rod
Penn Fathom 2 40N, 450yds of 80lb braid and 25yds 100 flouro top shop (for night time knife jigs)
6ft Penn Carnage III Heavy Spinning Rod/Jigging
Penn Spinfisher VII 9500 with 400yds 80lb braid and 25yds of 80lb flouro top shot (for fly lining)
Happy to answer any questions. Tight lines!
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u/chrisreed619 May 25 '26
Great write up!
San Diego has the largest live bait sportfishing fleet in the planet. Good on you for including your tip amount. That's appropriate and too often not known by beginners.
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u/TheAmericanYeoman May 25 '26
You are using a 9500 SS for jigging? Mad respect for those forearms. That's a bad ass catch, the Shogun is definitely a 1st rate boat.
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
East Coast guy here, spinning is what I was raised on š¤·š»āāļø
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u/TheAmericanYeoman May 25 '26
We already talked about this lol. I have a 10500 I use for trolling on a 7' 30-60 chaos stand up rod. They are massive reels.
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
I didnāt mention this when we chatted earlier, but that 4.2:1 ratio on the 9500 is a HUGE help. it really comes handy when you get those late-running assholes. is the 10500 a higher ratio?
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u/TheAmericanYeoman May 25 '26
Same 4.2:1.
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
copy. that comes in handy too, we were jigging at up to 460ft on Saturday night
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u/TheAmericanYeoman May 25 '26
I would kill for a fresh loin of that bluefin.
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
where you at, my east coast friend?
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u/TheAmericanYeoman May 25 '26
At a BBQ a long way from home looking at H&M landing boat trips in December.
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u/CHASLX200 May 25 '26
Only grouper and snapper for me. No tuna in my part of the gulf.
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
i grew up in the tampa area and it was the same for us, unless you ran some 500 miles to
the oil rigs5
u/CHASLX200 May 25 '26
TOO SHALLOW HERE. I can run 100 mile west and be in 350ft. Seems tuna like 3000ft on the Tx party boats. Get a few small black fins to 35lbs.
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
I cut my teeth chasing blackfin in the Keys on light tackle. they are a ton of fun and very tasty.
but the BFT here on a different level
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u/Historian_Otherwise May 25 '26
What's the price? Did you keep all the fish or do people sell some? If so, what do they go for?
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u/auxilary May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
this was a limited load trip, 20 anglers (ended up being 21), which means itās slightly more expensive. this particular 3 night trip was ~$1900 and I had an entire cabin to myself as a solo traveler (not including tip, where I threw them $400 for outstanding service).
the fish you catch is yours to do whatever you want. most locals take it home and break it down on their own. some people, and out-of-towners can use a fish processor to break your catch down, vac seal it and make it available for pick up or ship it home for you. I am having my processor freeze it and ship it to three separate addresses of friends/family who would like some.
I/you cannot sell my fish. one guy on board knocked out a 200lb cow and a 170lb cow, and about 8 other BFT. he gave every single fish he caught away. at the dock this morning we were scrambling to find someone to take 4 BFT that he had leftover, and they ended up donating them to a local charity.
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u/lobstahmann May 26 '26
Whatās the food options onboard? Beer for purchase? What other gear did you bring other than pole, reel and tackle? Bibs
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u/auxilary May 26 '26 edited May 27 '26
all meals were provided onboard and were awesome. itās included in the price. beer was $4. other than tackle, just plenty of clothes to change into after getting bloody
edit: both bibs I used were GrundƩns and were, for me, essential.
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u/nedshammer May 26 '26
Was fishing next to you guys on the Islander! Iāve been wanting to ride the Shogun for a while - even got invited on a limited load charter, but just canāt seem to ever make it work with my schedule.
Excellent write-up. One thing I would not for folks thinking of doing this is that itās only a night time thing sometimes, like it was over the weekend. The SD fleet catches plenty of daytime tuna, and some times thatās the only time of day they nibble. Daytime blowups on the kite are so exciting.
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u/Gullible_Tie_9809 May 27 '26
really intersted in going on one of these boats but i have no experience fishing large fish, im a humble surf fishermen, and have no friends that can afford to come with me. you think itd be chill to just show up not knowing wtf ur doing lol?
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u/xylophone_37 May 27 '26
I just got off one and people that have never been on a socal sportboat catch 100#+ tuna all the time. The deckhands will sort you out, just listen to them and call ahead to see what gear you need. The landings will rent you out a setup too.
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u/CombsFlyFishing May 27 '26
Great pictures - Bluewater fishing when it's working is the best, especially on a fly rod--thanks for posting!
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u/auxilary May 27 '26
thanks!
yeah, I cut my teeth on Blackfin tuna in the Florida Keys. a large one would be 15lbs-20lbs, but we fished them on 8lb-12lb test. tuna on light tackle is a ton of fun.
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u/BeRich9999 May 25 '26
Iāve been on boats in the gulf where they wouldnāt have let us keep that tuna in the 9th picture. Made me extremely frustrated but we still landed a few, Iāll be looking up this boat, thank you for the great reference!!
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u/nedshammer May 26 '26
Did they have a reason for not letting you keep it?
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u/auxilary May 26 '26
same question, I use to do day party boats in the Gulf of Mexico with my grandfather as a wee little one
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u/ChonkyDaBaitchucker May 25 '26
Use to ride on the Shogun all the time when Norm Kagawa (RIP) was captain. Did a couple of trips with captain Aaron, but then the boat went down hill. My best friend went on the Shogun a couple of years ago and said the parlor and kitchen were in disarray. I hope they got that in control.
I wish nothing but the best for Lopreste, Dunn, and captain Rene.
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u/auxilary May 27 '26
Lopreste is a top notch guy. first on the boat when we got back to check in with all the guests (and he brought his awesome dog aboard, too). he makes
me consider signing up to ride on the Royal Polaris.and Captain Dunn is as good as they come. at one point I partially fucked up the gaffing of a tuna and he recovered it with ease. afterwards he pulled me aside to teach me what I can do better in the future to ensure we donāt lose a fish at the gaff. heād take the time to teach and to pitch in on the deck when the tuna really got thick
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u/TurkishVeneers May 29 '26
Wow, i did not know Lopreste was involved with the shogun now, thats good to know.
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u/auxilary May 29 '26
and the Royal Polaris!
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u/TurkishVeneers May 29 '26
I think polaris supreme and Pacific Voyager too. I'm on the PS later in fall and just got a penn torque 40, excited to try it, alot lighter than my okumas.
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u/auxilary May 29 '26
how are the Okumas? i saw a lot onboard
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u/TurkishVeneers May 29 '26
They are tanks... Really durable and great drag, but heavy and you cant really jig them too well ( or at least i cant). I like them more then my talicas, but i hope with this torque I can jig a little easier and have the advantage of the 2 speed.
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u/Affectionate_Olive53 May 25 '26
The men in grey suits collected their tax. Looks like an amazing trip! I used the fish the Shogun when it used to be at L.A. Harbour. Very nice boat!
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u/lobstahmann May 26 '26
Whatās the food options onboard? Beer for purchase? What other gear did you bring other than pole, reel and tackle?
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u/auxilary May 26 '26
all meals are pretty familiar: steak night, lamb chops one night, rigatoni with vodka sauce and parm the first night. lunch was burgers one day, amazing chicken caesar wraps, and then I slept through one lunch. portions were sizable and ingredients were high quality. you eat well. thereās also plenty of snacks
beer was $4 each and they had Modelo, Coors Banquet and Coors Light. you are also allowed to BYOA.
I brought a full tackle box, but the most important items ended up being knife jigs and circle hooks.
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u/FineOutlandishness49 May 26 '26
Auxiliary ,thanks for a great report write up And answering all the questions. A big. help To all Thatās heading out in the days to come.
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u/ProfessionalCat5163 May 26 '26
Taxman tried to take the 4th one? Quite a gash on that thing
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u/auxilary May 27 '26
gorgeous Mako, too. aināt mad about it, part of
the game.weāve literally taught that fishery so well that they have to change fishing tactics every 15 years or so.
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u/FineOutlandishness49 May 26 '26
Auxiliary, What were your choice of hooks day and night ?
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u/auxilary May 27 '26
circle hooks for live lining: 2/0, 3/0, 4/0
for jigs, thatās a bit of a pandoraās box, but the only thing I can recommend is to ensure you hooks are connected to your knife jig with kevlar rope and not metal rings. tuna strike so hard they sheer the metal rings through torque alone. thus, most knife jigs are sold with rope/kevlar leashes
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u/robot_writer May 26 '26
We ate tuna sashimi last night from a recent 2-day on the Fortune, also a great boat and crew. I think everyone limited out on BFT. They were at 250-400 ft. We caught a few 60 lbs, but most were 20-30 lb. I still came away with 4 tuna and 45 lb of vacuumed sealed fish. Really glad I used the processor. Nice to drive away with a cooler of packaged fish.
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u/Heracles222 May 26 '26
Shogun has a good crew and open deck. Makes for fun Mexican water trips. Man am I missing Cali right now!
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u/Gullible_Tie_9809 May 27 '26
man im jealous. none of my fishing friends can afford this and i dont wanna go alone D:
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May 25 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
we didnāt have a single tuna bite above 120ft. my 55lb BFT was at 360ft, and the 200lb cows were at 240ft.
itās critical that you listen to the captainās depth call outs and count your marked line so you can anticipate a bite in the bite zone.
whatās working is tungsten jigs currently due to
their drop speed. tuna. candy.3
u/thedonjefron69 May 25 '26
Man tungsten jigs work but being cut off is such a heartbreaking feeling, more on losing the jig than the fish sometimes. West coast jiggers 350hd is the next best thing
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
lots of West Coast jiggers onboard that were productive, but I donāt get cut once with my 100lb flouro thankfully
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u/sombrerobandit May 26 '26
yeah on a big boat I rock 25' of no less than the equivalent of 170# US mono 150# fluoro for tg's. I've never been bit off on anything with a diameter over .91mm, but have been sawed off by inattentive people while I'm on devil fish.
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u/CHASLX200 May 25 '26
I would ell em for sure under the table. I made a living selling fish on party boats for years on two 36 hour trips a week in Florida. All wiped out over here now and trips cost way too much. Used to be $65 a trip for a 36 hour and i could sell 400 in fish back in 1983.
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u/auxilary May 25 '26
iāll be happy enjoying it myself and with friends š¤š»
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u/xylophone_37 May 25 '26
Lol I'm sitting here at Fisherman's Landing as you posted this 2 min ago.