Have you seen the movie Moneyball? Well we did something similar here. We analyzed the data of 8 boats, 2654hrs of fishing trips, 3826 anglers and 6879 fish caught in Point Loma landing. We at Fishfishme used fish count data of August 2015 which was provided by 976-tuna.com.
In this analysis we answer some of the questions below:
- What is the best boat for Yellowtail, Bluefin Tuna or Yellowfin Tuna?
- Who is the top performing captain in Point Loma for August 2015?
- What is the optimal duration of a trip?
And many other questions.
Bluefin Tuna:
There were 815 Bluefin Tuna caught in August from boats at Point Loma landing.
Top three boats by fish count:
New Lo-An had the majority of Bluefin count followed by Grande and El Capitan.
| Boat Name | Fish Count | Distribution |
| New Lo Ann | 345 | 42.33% |
| Grande | 266 | 32.64% |
| El Capitan | 181 | 22.21% |
Which boat has the best chance at catching Bluefin Tuna?:
It’s difficult to compare big vessels (aka Catel boats or Party boats) to 6 pack fishing charter boats. Catel boats carry more people (sometimes 70 people) and in many cases stay longer in waters. To get a better estimate of which boat will have a higher chance to land a Bluefin we factored three additional variables:
- Time spent in waters.
- Number of anglers per trip.
- Number of trips.
Hi Count sport fishing has the highest percentage chance to catch a Bluefin tuna if time and number of anglers is considered.
| Charter name | Chance to land a Bluefin per angler per hour | Chance to catch a Bluefin per angler per trip |
| Hi Count | 0.44% | 8.27% |
| El Capitan | 0.13% | 5.13% |
| New Lo Ann | 0.11% | 3.71% |
However, we must highlight that Hi Count had all of his 22 Bluefin count from one single 48hrs trip. With this data we believe that El Capitan is a safer bet landing Bluefin. They landed a Bluefin in 40% of their trips.
Yellowfin Tuna:
Boats in Point Loma landed a massive 3,808 Yellowfin tuna in August 2015, 4.5 times more than Bluefin Tuna.
Top three boats by fish count:
New Lo-An, Grande and Mission Belle all did very well this month, with New Lo-An taking the lead.
| Boat Name | Fish Count | Distribution |
| New Lo Ann | 1088 | 28.57% |
| Grande | 849 | 22.30% |
| Mission Belle | 633 | 16.62% |
The small fishing charters (the 6 packers) beat big vessels when we compare the results per angler per hour (or per trip).
| Boat name | Chance to land a Yellowfin per hour | Chance to land a Yellowfin per trip |
| Hi Count | 1.73% | 32.71% |
| Josie Lynn | 1.04% | 11.97% |
| Point Loma | 0.54% | 4.64% |
| El Capitan | 0.44% | 17.35% |
We recommend going in a 6 packer for Yellowfin, especially if you are looking for ¾ day trips. El Capitan is a great option as well, but only if you are ready for the 1 ½ day trips.
Yellowtail:
832 Yellowtail were landed last month.
Top three boats by fish count:
Mission Belle has the highest fish count of 262, thanks to a special day were they landed 105 Yellowtail.
| Boat Name | Fish Count | Distribution |
| Mission Belle | 262 | 31.49% |
| Daily Double | 192 | 23.08% |
| El Capitan | 169 | 20.31% |
Which boat has the best chance at catching Yellowtail?
Based on our analysis you’ll have a better chance to land a Yellowtail with Mission Belle per hour spent in the water (Mission Belle runs ¾ day trips, 9hrs trips). However, with El Capitan you’ll have a better chance to catch a Yellowtail per trip, since the trips are usually 36hrs.
| Boat name | Chance to land a Yellowftail per hour | Chance to land a Yellowtail per trip |
| Mission Belle | 0.22% | 1.95% |
| Point Loma | 0.14% | 1.22% |
| Josie Lynn | 0.13% | 1.48% |
| El Capitan | 0.12% | 4.79% |
Who’s the top overall performer in Point Loma, San Diego - August 2015?
To estimate the best performer boat and captain we included Dorado and Bonito to the count. We calculated the percentage of fish caught per angler per number of hours in waters as the factor to arrive to our best estimate. Below are the top 3 performers:
| Boat name | Captain name | Chance to catch a fish per angler per hr |
| Hi Count | Jason Reese | 4.37% |
| Josie Lynn | Mike Hatfield | 1.77% |
| Mission Belle | Steve Peterson | 0.96% |
The small fishing charters (6 packers) outperformed big vessels. With Hi Count sport fishing you’ll have at least 4 times more chance to catch a fish than any other big vessel. We didn’t factor price here, yes the trip will be more expensive, but obviously for a good reason.
What’s the optimal duration of a fishing trip?
There were 154 trips done by Point Loma charters during August. The majority were 9hrs and 6hrs trips.
We did our analysis across 8 boats and 154 trips. The optimal duration for a fishing trip is ¾ day trip (9hrs trip).
| Trip Duration | Chance to catch a fish per hour in waters |
| 1/2 day (6hrs) | 8.08% |
| 3/4 day (9hrs) | 29.15% |
| Overnight (24hrs) | 16.30% |
| 1 1/2 day (36hrs) | 11.02% |
| 2 days (48hrs) | 13.94% |
| 2 1/2 days (60hrs) | 10.25% |
You’ll have at least 2 times better chance to catch a fish per hour in waters in a 9hrs trip than any other trip duration. This is mainly due to less travel hours and more time spent on fishing. Still if you are looking to maximize the number of fish you catch in a single trip, then you’ll be catching more fish in an overnight or 36hrs trips.
Study limitations:
As much as we wanted to make this analysis comprehensive, we admit that the study had many limitations and is incomplete. Below are some possible reasons for that:
- We depended solely on 976-tuna.com data. The data might have some entry errors.
- We excluded Rockfish, Halibut and other types of fish from the fish count.
- The data is only for August and doesn’t reflect other boats performance during previous periods.
- We didn’t include price as a factor in the study. We believe price is a big factor and we are considering to include it in future studies.
- All fish are treated at the same value. A better estimate would be to have a points system for each fish. Bluefin tuna should have more points than a Bonito for example.
About Fishfishme.com:
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