They will cancel your trip canceled twice on me when I came all the way from Georgia to check out the San Diego fishing charters! I wouldn't recommend it at all. They really ruined my trip! read more

The whole experience was 5 star The entire crew helped us and went above and beyond to help us and teach us the correct way to fish Got my first dorado fish a moment I'll never forget read more

Went on a trip on the Malahini on 9/10/20. Captain Bill and crew are extremely knowledgeable and friendly. They put us on fish and fished extra time for us. Everyone went home happy with full sacks of fish. Kimo has great customer service and knowledge of fishing. Crew even made sure that the kids and less experienced fishermen caught fish. Highly recommended!!! read more

Malihini Sportfishing - A few Yellowfin Tuna from our trip. - Boating Near Me - San Diego, California

Bill works hard and is a very dedicated captain. One of the best dayboats in the fleet.

Rough waters out there but Captain Bill did his best to find some fish . I've been on a few other boats and never has the Captain come down to assist passengers . He did his best to make our trip an enjoyable experience. Special thanks to his crew - Chris, Huckleberry, Nick, and Peyton. They were all very helpful as well . read more

Dan lost a fan and subscriber. Really hate to be that guy but this needs to be said. I wouldn't go on Malihini again here's why Capt. Bill was great however his crew was not, to start they were charging people for Mexican permits and when people showed them their permits that they already had the crew got upset about the confrontation. The deckhands had no patience my uncle had a dorado on, and people were getting tangled not following their lines and they cut my uncles line with the FISH ON! When he asked the deckhand why he did that they just said, "sorry to many lines" Nope. That's not cool. Also, aside from fishing a boat burger is what I really look forward to. Nothing beats a good o'l boat burger right? But the Chef cooked a pretty bad burger.. I even seen one guy go up and complain to him that he has to cook better lol. As with Dan on the other hand he's not what I expected. I went that day and Dan Filled that boat to the point where there were not enough pole racks people had to put their poles anywhere, they could find. Bags were all over the place due to not enough room. Also when you would talk to Dan or ask for tips he say short, simple and had a cocky vibe/ attitude. He was always on his phone or getting people to say "FISHING WITH DAN HERNANDEZ" as if he found the fish lol. The whole experience was basically like Dan was not there, he had little interaction with people. Captain Bill is what put us on those Dorado thanks Captain! Dan on the other hand..nah its all a façade. read more

Man, this boat is absolutely NOT a low star boat. Bill (the owner) and Mike Z (the Captain) along with the crew are absolutely awesome. I fished this boat for my first time 2/20/2016 and can't say enough good things about these guys. I'm a 30 year seasoned vet of fishing So Cal waters and they are top notch. We left the dock at 5:30am and steamed out to the Finger Bank where all the yellowtail action was happening. We made it to the bank about 7:45am. The area is plugged with bait so the fish are not biting anything but Yoyo reaction bites. We decked 36 yellows from 15-25lbs for 20 anglers. On a day that fish are not known to bite id say that is a solid number. You can bet I'll be back to fish this boat soon. Please note that I drive from Ventura, CA to SD just to hit this boat. Thumbs up guys. Keep on rocking! read more

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Online Reservation process for our 3/4 day trip on the Malihini was easy. We enjoyed being able to check the daily fish count leading up to the trip. The crew was patient and did an excellent job managing the chaos that can happen with inexperienced anglers on these trips. Captain Mike put us right on the fish and knew exactly when to move to a new hot bite. The crew were friendly and helpful and handed fresh bites off to some of those who weren't having luck to make sure most had a good time. I could have caught a limit if my arms weren't burning. 4 yellowfin for my first try = can't complain. It was Epic! Tip: if you are renting gear at the landing be sure to check it before you load up to make sure it works properly. Credit cards are accepted for reservations and rod rentals at the landing but cash is required for on boat purchases (food, drinks, fish filleting). read more

Malihini Sportfishing - My first yellowfin tuna! - Boating Near Me - San Diego, California

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Outrageously awesome experience! -- 33 degree salt-water immersion cooler with flowing water to immediately keep ALL fish fresh!! -- I love that they bleed out your fish for the best quality meat! Other boats I've been on don't do this because they don't want to make a mess on their decks. -- Captain Bill is awesome and has integrity. He knows where to go, and he directs the anglers on where to cast, and when. Awesome! -- Crew aboard the boat is very very helpful. They also displayed true empathy to customers who needed help, or got seasick. I was impressed! -- My fillets were REALLY CORRECTLY DONE when I looked at them when I got home! So many other boats just hack them quickly to get their filleting fee, and don't care about keeping your fish meat. I will absolutely go back here again, and soon! I had to drive hours to get here. I originally picked them because they are close to Mexican waters. BUT THIS IS NOW MY GO-TO BOAT for all fishing. It's worth the drive, at least in my opinion. Even though I am 10 minutes away from one major marina, and 30 from another! read more

I have never been more impressed with a captain and crew. Helpful, professional and clear communicators. Bill the captain even escorted us and asked if we were ready to have fun. It was a good vibe from the start. It was a tough day fishing and the captain tried very hard, staying out an extra 2 hours or so. There weren't many people on the open party all day boat, but the captain wasn't cheap on getting bait. The captalso asked us toward the end if we wanted to continue trolling (which had limited success today) or fish the kelp beds for the rest of the day. He could have decided for us and saved money on gas. There was also an older customer who was seasick, which is not uncommon on an all day trip. The captain checked on her and the Patrick and Kimo did too, frequently offering her water and toast. Very impressed with the caring nature of the captain and staff. I will be back based on the captain and the crew. read more

Went on this boat last week for a private charter and what a poor experience from start to finish. We were immediately greeted by a cranky and unfriendly crew upon arrival on the dock. Once we were finally allowed to board they seemed annoyed that I had brought my own gear. Most of our party had limited fishing experience as it was a client appreciation trip. The crew decided the appropriate time to hose the decks was after allowing us all to come aboard and many of our party had worn running type shoes and ended up with wet feet before we even left the dock because they were either too busy to ask them to move or just didn't care and hosed wherever they wanted to. I luckily was able to avoid this because I had worn my deck boots. We had a very similar situation upon reaching the bait dock. Instead of asking everyone to go to one side of the boat or hang out in the front or galley they had opted to pass full scoops of bait over everyone's head and let them figure it out the hard way. Once underway we only stopped and fished twice for a total of about 20 minutes and spent a total of almost 12 hours on the boat. This was a full day charter and we never lost sight of the shoreline despite the tuna being just a few miles out. Not sure if this was an attempt to run the galley tabs up, save gas or a combination of both but after 12 hours on the water with 29 people we landed one small fish and that was pure dumb luck! The cook was rude but easy to find as he was always up top in the wheel house smoking cigarettes. We were not allowed to choose what we wanted for breakfast and he just decided if you got chorizo or bacon burrito or a breakfast sandwich. I was handed a chorizo burrito and that would have been my last choice. I asked for some bacon and was told they had none even tho he had a giant tin full on the back of the griddle covered in foil. Not sure what they saved it for because we weren't allowed to get it on our burgers with lunch either. The few times I ordered a beer I had to search for him or get it myself at his request. The one time he was actually in the galley and handed me one with a minimal wait the beer had eggs on it because he felt he didn't need to wash his hands after barehanding leftover eggs and chorizo into the sink or trash, I couldn't see where he was putting them but definitely saw them on the mouth piece of my can. Apparently food handling standards don't apply at sea. The overall condition of the boat was poor and in desperate need of repairs. They had cracked fiberglass everywhere that appeared to be painted over with a yellow colored resin and only one of the 2 restrooms was in service. They had yellow lined paper on the other one with a hand written "out of order" sign that appeared to have been there for a while. Upon our painstakingly slow crawl back to port the crew did manage to get some trolling rods out but never managed a rotation past the first group up. In the end it didn't matter because this boat couldn't catch a cold let alone some troll fish! Once we were docked the cook came and told me that I had 12 beers and owed $102. Not only do I highly doubt that 12 beers ended up on my tab but that still puts them at $8.50/ea even if so which is outrageous for a coors light anywhere! They would not accept credit or debit card and was not allowed to walk to the ATM at the top of the dock on my own. I had to wait for the cook to come up to the ATM with me and was one of the last guys on our private charter to leave the boat. Needless to say I was frustrated by this and ended leaving a small tackle bag full of gear and tackle on board. I realized this halfway home and reached out to H&M to try to obtain my bag. Captain Bill called me around 8:30AM the next morning and said he had remembered seeing it where I had said I left it and would bring it up to the H&M office for me. More than 12 hours later I received another call from Bill around 9PM at night, which seemed odd at the time considering I already thought he did what he said he was going to do and brought it to the office, which apparently was not the case. His call was to ask if all I had in the bag was a tee shirt. I told Bill I had a bunch of tackle in it and he immediately became defensive and said they were not thieves. Obviously you don't bring a tackle bag for just a tee shirt. Not only was this a private charter with a bunch of industry colleagues, but many had never fished and didn't even own their own poles, but would have no use for a bunch of jigs, hooks, weights, expensive pliers, fighting belt, bait knife and weights amongst other things. All in all they stole about $300 in tackle and gear. My bad for forgetting it but shouldn't have been a problem on an honest boat. I ended up picking my bag up from H&M the other day since we were in the neighborhood anyways and all the zippers were open and it just had my long sleeve and a neck gator in it. This was just the final straw in the worst day of fishing ever. read more

Went on the Malihini a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. Captain Bill was chasing yellow fin and blue fin all day. We saw a lot of boils out there and were trying to hook those tuna but they weren't really biting that day. Captain Bill did an awesome job that day. He tried really hard for all the anglers to come back with tuna. Deck hands Kimo and Matt did a really great job helping out all the folks. Kimo made really tasty breakfast burritos and awesome burgers . Matt is a workaholic, he's non stop all day untangling lines and helping the rookie fisherman with their hooks and bait. Towards the end of the day Captain Bill asked if we wanted to stay out a little later and we all said yes , man this crew is top notch, they really wanted everyone to come back with full coolers. Can't wait to book another trip with this crew and boat. read more

Malihini Sportfishing - Boating Near Me - San Diego, California

This boat has a beautiful scam working for them that more and more anglers are staring to take notice of. You will notice a common thread amongst the negative reviews of this boat, and its Captain, which is too much of a coincidence to ignore... It would seem that this Captain and his crew use a packed (30+ anglers) Malihini to maximize profit and satiate their need to catch yellowtail without having to do a good job in assisting the paying customers on their boat. Expect less than 4 hours fishing on this boat. There will be no fishing for anything other than yellowtail with a run and gun pursuit; the Captain is only interested in keeping yellowtail numbers up - he does not care that you paid over $100 to fish. Run and gunning for yellowtail is all fine and good, but when the captain positions the bow 100' off the school, he's not exactly setting everyone up for success. You see, the captain and his crew really enjoy catching yellowtail. And they love to throw surface iron out to maximize their excitement. Step one, tell everyone to move to one side of the boat (opposite the school). Step two, tell them all to drop yo-yo or dropper rigs. Step three, have your crew position on the opposite side of the boat, with plenty of room, to cast surface iron right on top of the school and haul in the fish. In order to be successful on this boat, follow this advice: Bring an 8ft+ jig stick, and associated reel, capable of 100' casts. Be assertive and muscle into the bow Bring surface iron (it's the only thing the captain fishes with) Always take the side of the bow opposite the captain tells everyone else to fish (fish the side his crew is fishing on). If you do not have the gear, the skill, and will to stand your ground, do not board this boat. But, if you like watching the deck hands high-five each other after landing a yellowtail, while three paying customers are holding up other anglers trying to figure out how to untangle their lines, then you'll love this boat! read more

Well...the breakfast burrito and coffee was great! The fishing. ..not so much. Although the fish count was high most ofthe yellowtail was caught by the deckhands. They had taken the best spot on the boat leaving the paying customers to fish off the left side of boat. Which then drifted over the school of yellowtail that had been fished out by the deckhands. At one point the skipper drove over a school of bonito in search of yellowtail. I like bonito and would have been happy to have caught bonito!!! Then we drove for 2 hours non-stop up to 4pm for a quick drop of the line and off again towards home. I'm a seasoned fisherman and this was not a pleasant experience. read more

Really hate to leave this review but needs to be said for others thinking of going. They pack their boat for how small it is, wasn't even enough room for everyone to put their gear. The deckhands were just as bad, charging people for Mexican permits when most people showed theirs in the beginning of the trip and they got mad when people confronted them about it. The food wasn't good either, one person complained to the chef that they got the runs right after eating from them lol. The deckhands had no Patience! My dad had a nice dorado on and people weren't following their lines as they should and instead of cutting other peoples line the deckhand cut my dads line with the FISH ON! When confronted the deckhand just said " sorry too many lines" like wth!? I've been on the other boats where people got tuna on lines and tangles and the deckhands are able to undo the tangles. Only good thing about the boat is Capt Bill, he put us on fish and we caught dorados and tuna. read more

We had such a great time fishing on the Malihini. The whole crew was very helpful and Captain Bill did a great job. We are looking forward to another trip with them! read more

Where do I begin. 1st thank you Captain, an thank you Crew. An I mean entire crew. When I set out Monday evening with my 10yr old to San Diego I wanted 1 thing. I wanted to see the look on my sons face when there's a yellowtail attached to rod. I didn't want him to go out an not feel anything more then his bait swiming in freespool. An by 2pm my son had his limit of yellowtail on the deck. The crew of this vessel from the Captain to the lowest on the totum pole all pitched in. Even if they pitched a line over the side it was only to hook up so they could pass it to 1 of the children or guests on the boat. Heck even the bathroom on this boat smelled like it was anywhere other then on a fish boat. All around A+ my son is absolutely hooked like I was. Thanks guys.. read more

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What a PHENOMENAL time with Capt. Bill and the crew. Everyone was so nice and helpful. My husband and I had such a great experience. If I were to do a whole day fishing trip again I wouldn't hesitate to go with these AWESOME gentleman! Thanks so much guys, you rock! read more

This boat is first class. They have always put me on fish and the crew does an amazing job. I'm a somewhat novice angler and every time I have a question (no matter how stupid) they have a good answer and demo ready for me. I have probably fished this boat 5 times since last June and have gone home with fish everytime. (Tuna, Dorado, and Yellowtail) Also I highly recommend if your looking for a boat for your kid take them on this one. They do a great job about getting the kids stoked on fishing. read more

Deck hands are cool , Food was good But I don't understand on why you advertise on the website to bring a Valid Passport if we didn't even head south and still charged me ( 150.00 ) and was told by the deck hands that we are heading West because that they didn't get the permits . We spent 3 hrs getting to a location to where they saw ( tuna ) Yesterday , After spending half the day Riding and looking for something they would stop at a small paddy hoping and wishing to catch and boost the morale on the boat to find nothing ! So I SPENT 12 hrs on a boat ride that went in circles and came home with NO FISH read more

Amazing captain and crew. Captain Bill, Kemo, and Matt were amazing! Going to book directly with the Malihini for future trips because of the ease and fun fishing/crew! read more

Had the opportunity to fish the Malihini on Saturday Aug 4th. Thanks to Captain Bill Wilkerson, Christopher Bovain, Matt Maldanado and Kim Redulla for working so hard to keep us on the fish, keep us fed and making the trip enjoyable. This is a great boat with a great crew! Captain Bill you should be proud! Thanks again for making this trip memorable! read more

MALIHINI: SHE'S BACK....and in awesome form. Get yourselves out there and get in on this summers action packed adventures on her. Capt Bill will do his best to put YOU on the fish YOU came to catch...I know they call this "Sport Fishing" but Capt Bill and crew have made this season one to remember.I don't get to fish often as I am a slave to my job but when I get lucky at work like today my boss says GO FISHING....1st time in 9 years he's said this. I hope I have enough room in my freezer!! Get onboard folks as so many are becoming aware. THIS IS the BOAT to make it happen for you. No matter where you used to fish..... read more

Thank you Malihini Sportfishing for the great time and hospitality. The Captain "BILL"let's you know you are a welcome fisherman upon arriving for your day of fishing on the Malihini. He has a crew with great attitude and love for helping each fisherman have their successful fishing experience. The Malihini on it's first voyage after undergoing extensive repairs 6/16/ 2018 drew past patrons and several newcomers almost all limiting out on yellowtail and bonita. I know I will certainly be back and will spread the word that the Malihini Sportfishing is your five star chance to get out and fish out of San Diego. Phil F. read more

I have fished often off the Malihini and it's been just ok until now, Lately the fish count has been high and that's why I chose this boat. But after the last trip i saw why the fish count was high. There werer lots of deck hands fishing at the front of the ship where I like to cast iron. they were the ones catching all the fish leaving their guest to take the alternate method which was not effective. They left no room for others. I thought deck hands were to help their guest catch fish. They (the deck hands) were very rude and not helpful at all with the exception of one honest deck hand who was the only one who asked if I needed any help. This was the last time I step foot on the Malihini. This was an expensive whale watching trip. read more

The report they had for this boat said they caught 171 fish the day before my trip. However, that was not to be the case when we went out to sea. The total haul for that trip was only 18 fish. 5 of those were from so called deck hands and even though most of our group left empty handed. These guys didn't share their catch. That's over $100 a person and we just paid for these guys to have a fishing trip. Waste of money and a Saturday. read more

Good food from the galley. Very professional and helpful crew - Captain Bill is the man! We always come home with fishies ;)

I went out with my uncles a couple of months ago and I had a blast. The only reason why I gave 4 stars is because there was one person ( I am not sure if he is a crew member or not, but the crew seemed to know him) was going to cut my line because he said I crossed his. He was very rude and it turned out that he crossed my line and I had the fish. This was a small issue and everything else was great. There were two younger guys that were the deck hands and they were running around helping everyone out. I would absolutely book with the Malihini again. BTW, everyone I went with caught at least 2 yellowtail, among other fish. read more

Dirt boat, deck hands smoking all day and throwing cigarette butts overboard. Bathrooms out of order and to top it off no fish. Captain mid way through decided to go look for fish. Never again. read more

Thought I was going on a boat with 13-18 people. ..31 came aboard. 80% of the time we were cruising leaving little time to actually fish. Only four yellows and they stated 30 rockfish caught. Seemed like quite a bit to pay for the little amount of fish caught. Deck hands were pretty good. The cook did a good job on the hamburgers. Always fun to get on the water. Skipper did not apologize or say anything about the poor day of fishing which I thought was kinda weird. read more

I made reservation on Malihini. There were 37 spots left when i arived. Had to be in San Diego by 5:30. The boat didn't leave untill 6:45 was suposed to leave at 6:00. 59 people on board from 6:15 to 6:45 three walk on families came on board with little kids. H&M over charged on the tickes for all the kids had to issue credits to all of them. Not to mention I went to go fishing with fishermen not ten 6 year old kids to tangle everything up that show up late. Ordered food for breakfast took 1:15 because I had to wait for the crew to get there food that was ordered 45 min after me. I thought I was the customer the guy who was paying for the trip. Poor attitude from all but Mike the skipper and the main deck hand with the tatoos both great guys. I have been on this boat 2 times and no fish. Not even rock fish. Boat travels so far south you lose time with your pole in the water. I'm sorry but this boat is not confortable especially with tons of families that we lost time waiting for. I'm going on diffrent boat next time. I want to catch fish not go on a long boat ride. The first mate with the tatoos is a very nice guy and very helpfull. But besides that I would rather catch fish then hang out with a nice guy an a long boat ride. especilly if it cost $90... The fish counts were not right eigther unless they don't count the children. I dont want to spend $90 and not come home with a single fish, fishing is a luck thing the more time your pole is in the water the more likely you are to catch a fish. When the boat never stops you can't fish much, so many people were upset with no fish and so many on board you couldn't get to the rail or find a seat on the long ride home, and when you did get to the rail you were tangled instantly by others lines and children. read more

To captain Mike. Don't go driving around all day looking for kelp when all the other boats are catching limits at the same spot everyday, including this day. I noticed that there were more rental rod fisherman on this overloaded boat than I ever thought possible, and I know there were a lot of boats at that spot, but don't avoid good fishing to make work easier for you and your crew. That was my one chance this year to catch some tuna. read more

6 yellow tail, 35 rock fish, 6 Bonito, 2 Lingcod. Not worth $145 especially when that count includes fish caught by overly aggressive deck hands. I got the impression that the deck hands had priority to fish over the paying fishermen. They were aggressive and rude. The deck hands assigned to help the anglers directly were very helpful but the rude ones fishing, along with the weak fish bite, added insult to a weak day of fishing. read more

I have never posted anything before. save your money. See other reviews capt and crew more interested in there own fishing chasing. Blues. Only even when no bite i will never go on this boat again i should have listened to prior reviews. Expensive boat ride.... read more

My kid went out on Malihini and hooked up 4 tuna. The family got histamine poisoning because the idiot crew members never iced down the fish. What a bunch of dopes. read more

Best fishing trip EVER!!!!! Love the crew. Alex, Michael and Daniel. Best experience EVER!!! Gotta do it again. You guys have to go on this boat. It's the best!!!! read more

we thought we were going on a 3/4 day trip to the Coronado islands and were in for a big surprise when the day before mexico had a policy change making it necessary for all passengers in Mexican waters to carry passports + visa + a Mexican fishing licence so it looks like there canceling all 3/4 and full day trips in Mexican waters from San Diego until further notice , so instead with out telling us they took us about 60 miles out to sea serching for blue fin tuna, which we found some and couldn't get to bite and ended up landing 3 fish total for the boat, had to cut the day short because we were so far from home, round trip pro bally around 120 miles and being only a 3/4 day trip....fishing trip 145.00, licence 15.00, parking 8.00 and 1 cup of coffee + one hell of a sunburn come to around 170.00....I have been fishing H&M landing for years but this really sucks the big one, i guess you cant blame them entirely but the miss information didn't help any...I also noticed the trip was sold out today, are they going to be surprised, also noticed they stopped posting fish counts.....talk to you latter buddy..note: I found the fishing reports on sportfishing.com and they were incorrect, way off, there was only 4 fish brought on board and one was a bonito, they counted 4 yellow fin, 1 bonito and 12 blue fin tuna....who can you trust anymore and is this the way they have to make there money now...they just lost one customer..what a scam. read more