Advice for a San Diego trip (retirement gift for dad)

Hey NCKA,
I'm taking my dad on an epic fishing adventure for a retirement gift. I've got a budget of about $2000. After considering a few options, I'm thinking San Diego for the following reasons:
-A few nights hotel stay and 1-3 days worth of charters will fit in my budget.
-it's an entirely new fishery to my dad and I which I hope translates to an exiting time.
-the target species are all great game fish and can fill a freezer with great quality meat.


I plan on doing as much reading on San Diego fishing seasons, tactics and tackle, and available types of charters/popular boats to book with as i can over the next couple of weeks, but also would like to learn anything I can from the NCKA anglers who have experience fishing the area or booking charters so that I can plan a truly memorable trip. Here is what I'm thinking for now, but I remain open to any suggestions.
- 3/4-1 day trips. My dad doesn't have a lot of experience in charters and may not enjoy an overnight or multi day trip.
- targeting smaller open water fish like yellowtail, barracuda, rockfish, maybe WSB?

My dad has worked for 45 years in a variety of roles for Safeway and taught me almost everything I know about work ethic. I'm excited about the opportunity to show him my gratitude and kick his retirement off right. Thanks in advance for helping me make the most of it.

Nothing to add about fishing the area. Big props to you for taking your Dad out for what I am sure will be a great time for the 2 of you. Make the  trip about quality time together, fishing will always be there.

I enjoy the time i spend with my Dad on fishing outings . I don't make it about the fishing so much anymore, just the time i spend with him. He is a young 75.

Hope you catch a lot of fish as well.

Alex

What Alex said.  It's all about spending time with your dad.

Sent to my pm. 

I think it is meant for this post. 

I quit focusing on fishing and more on what my Dad wanted to do and that is usually reminiscing about family, friends and trying to make each other laugh.

Sorry for the thread jack. You just don't know how much time we have. Things got even a little more personal when a good friend of his died right in front of him in a dugout while they were playing softball at a super seniors tournament. Just last weekend. But his friend did what made him happy.

Alex

Feel free to send me an IM if you want a good recommendation on a hotel. My son and I found a nice place that is cheaper than most. I think you plan is a good one. My son and I go there every summer. The short fishing trips are just okay. Mostly barred sand bass and small other fish. I don't know what the fall looks like, but Summer is a bit boring on the local trips. The trips that are 3/4 offshore are cool. My boy and I limited on yellowtail two years ago. It was a blast.

Around what time are you looking at? I can throw a lot of input here but would prefer to target it a little more towards a certain season.

But I will say,  rock fishing down here is nothing compared to up there. 

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The yellow tail fishing can be fun, fast and fierce if you hit it at the right time... Unfortunately it's a lot like salmon fishing where it can be inconsistent even during the "Season" where it should be good. There's always fishing opportunities though even if the yellow tail fishing isn't hot, the rock fishing pales in comparison to northern California fisheries.

To change things up a bit if you guys are feeling adventurous check out fishing in Rosarito down in mexico... The charters down there do really well and a lot of the 2 day trips out of SD head down there anyways. The costs are cheaper and there's a lot less people on each charter.

If you're not stuck on San Diego why not head up this way to Portland or Seattle area? If you come at the right time you can fill your freezers with Salmon or Steelhead. Just another idea... Certainly likely to be a more rainy one though! There's plenty of guys up here with spare kayaks you guys could go that route too if you wanted.

Regardless of what you choose to do it's all about enjoying the time with your dad, having lost my dad not too long ago I can only wish we had spent just a few more days together, fishing, or just spending quality time together.

-Matt

Nothing to add about fishing the area. Big props to you for taking your Dad out for what I am sure will be a great time for the 2 of you. Make the  trip about quality time together, fishing will always be there.

I enjoy the time i spend with my Dad on fishing outings . I don't make it about the fishing so much anymore, just the time i spend with him. He is a young 75.

Hope you catch a lot of fish as well.

Alex

Agreed Alex, the trip will be a success as soon as the old man and I hook up...it always is whether or not the fish cooperate. He is a really avid angler though, so I know he is going to want to get into something that tugs on the other end of our lines.

Around what time are you looking at? I can throw a lot of input here but would prefer to target it a little more towards a certain season.

But I will say,  rock fishing down here is nothing compared to up there. 

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I am hoping to target yellowtail, barracuda, dorado (if they get close enough to San Diego) halibut and other larger game fish. To your point, if we were going for rockfish, we would stay north. Right now I'm thinking summer, probably June. Spring break in April is an option as well. What time of year do you think offers the best "local" bite as I think we will be on 3/4 day to full day trips rather than the overnight/multi day variety. I know the multi day trips put you on bigger and more plentiful game fish, but I don't think he will be comfortable with the idea of multi day trips...thanks!

If you are set on YT and dorado, definitely look in to MX fishing. The most regular YT catches, in season, from San Diego ports are on the 3/4 day trips down to the Coronado Islands (in MX) anyways. Late spring/early summer is usually when the calico bass bite really picks up. If you're only looking at 1/2 day trips, then that would be your ticket. It's what you're looking for if you want a hot bite with lots of action. A decent number will be smalls, but are still fun just pulling them in. The 1/2 day boats based out of SD never target halibut per se but have been known to catch them sometimes as they motor around some spots. Cuda and bonita show up when the water warms up a little after the bass bite gets going and are caught on the same trips, usually not targetted specifically though.

I'm not sure what it'll be like next year, but this past summer had some great runs of tuna within the 1 day range (and one landing ran "extended 3/4 day" trips).

So I'd suggest a MX fishing trip if you want more consistent catches of larger fish (mostly YT). If you just want a good 1/2 day of fun then SD is just fine during the time frame you mentioned although I would look at early summer rather than spring break. Note, weekday trips are much less crowded than weekend loads if you can swing that. You mentioned he's an angler, so if 12-20" fighters will do it for him the bass would be great. Also a heads up, boats down here provide live bait (sardines or anchovies) so most fishing is done with that, but experienced anglers often have great luck with plastics and some various hardware.

link that includes local SD landings, can search for specific dates as well (to get a better idea of what they were catching when).
http://www.sportfishingreport.com/pages/docktotals.php

Hope that helps and good on you for getting a trip together with the old man.