Do you catch yellowtail on the full day boat(liberty)at longbeach sport fishing?

Question

we are planing to go there in the summer to catch yellowatail, but do they?we don't want to waste money.

Answer 1

The Liberty is scheduled for full-day Catalina fishing departing at 6AM. In the summer, Catalina can be great for yellowtail, but if it's a cooler water year, it can be nothing but bass and barracuda, or nothing but mackerel and sculpin. On top of that, conditions change quickly -- the fishing can be great one day, but two days later, it can be dead. My suggestion is to watch the counts online at http://www.sportfishingreport.com/ to see if the fish you want are biting. (They have links to all the landings.)

If you're set on yellowtail, you might be better off on one of the overnight trips. At Long Beach, the Eldorado does these trips, but all the landings from Redondo south to San Diego run these trips. The extra 6 hours or so of travel time lets the boat get to the backside of Catalina, or San Clemente island, or for the San Diego boats, lets them run into Mexican waters. A 6AM departure really only lets the boat fish the front side of the island, and you don't get a crack at the early bite. (it's about a 3-hour trip across the channel.)

One thing to remember, though, is yellowtail can be hard to catch -- they're often called "talent" fish. If you don't know what you're doing, you might come home with a dry sack, while the guy next to you catches a bunch. I've been on trips with 100 yellows on the boat for 30 people, and there were people who didn't manage a single fish, and others who put close to their 10 fish limit on board.