H & M Landing

We went on a 6 pack boat (The Reel Champion). The crew was helpful and worked hard. What I did not like was that they hooked the fish and then handed off to us.
Then the other 5 fisherman could not be in the water as the backend of the boat was so small and they wanted to bring in the fish.
It seems that the crew would have let us throw out a popper and try our luck… but I think they are more concerned with fish count. That is why they have the other fisherman reel in their lines when a hook up occurred.
The parking at H & M is a joke, you pay $ 8 and most of the time the lot is full.
This review is for the Reel Champion and the parking at H & M. The Malihini out of H & M is a great boat with a great crew willing to help and let you catch your own fish on a stop.

The staff at the HM office were friendly and helpful. However, underway operations on the Premier were hard to swallow today. It took 1.5 hrs to get to the first fishing spot on a ½ day charter. Some of the deck hands were great… others less attentive. Refilled forward bait tank pretty late, making the front portion of the passengers struggle to net one of the 5 baitfish left. Misplaced our catch, but offered replacement-​Thx. Did not help that fish were shy which of course they can’t control. Fillets by Justin were pretty impressive-​he got lots of meat off of the rockfish and sculpin.

This review is for Old Glory. We went on an over night trip to look for tuna and yellowtail. The fishing itself was not that bad since we hit A small school of 5−10lbs yellowtail and dorado. But the crew are not professional compare to other San Diego boats I been experienced. I can see that when we hit a school of fish everyone is busy getting hooked but to see the crew fishing for them self and not getting the gaff is not what I paid for. Also when we came back to the harbor instead of unloading the passengers first the captain decided to gas the boat instead and made us all wait 30 plus minutes just standing and staring at the crew. The part that got me mad was the crew lost some of my fish and made me stand at the dock until everyone left and the captain promise to ship me some fish but that never happened. Over all if you like to experience top notch service don’t book Old Glory.

TOP GUN 80
Went on 2.5 day trip for the first time on the boat. Boat is nice an well maintained. Sleeping accommodations, galley seating are good. Was really impressed with the Captain ensuring we had great bait. So now, I’m really excited.
We had great fishing, limits of tuna so this review is not about the fishing but the overall EXPERIENCE. I was not expecting service like the Excel or RR3 but was really disappointed on the Crew Staff. Sal was the only one helping us with the gear while the other one was very arrogant, yelling, cussing at people, and treating them like children. As for the chef, expect to wait for the meal to be served.
BTW, we had limits so we were at the docks and spent/​slept the night by the bait barge…
Recommend to consider options for your $ 1K budget for a 2.5.

I bought a groupon for myself and my sister for a 3 hour whale watching tour. I was extremely excited but it didn’t live up to my expectations. The customer service was excellent no complaints there but this should be renamed to a tour of the ocean not a whale watching tour. We saw no whales which was the point of the tour, and it was extremely boring. The captain kept saying, «there’s a whale there’s a whale» but nothing, he probably just said it to get us all hyped up. I did see a splash twice at a far distance but I didn’t pay to see water splashes that could be whales or not, I payed to see whales. I also didn’t pay to see birds which he mentioned quite often while giving his speech. What a waste of money and time, I am glad I didn’t pay full price. If you want to see whales, this is not the company to go to, go elsewhere and save yourself the disappointment and money.

Good whale watching experiance. We went on the luxury boat for a 5 hour trip. We saw 3 whales, which was great since we were not in the peak migration time for the area. I booked this trip through groupon, so we paid half off the price.
The boat captain gave us information throughout the trip. We also got information about the birds, seals, and other animals. He also gave us information about san diego in general around the piers.
Boat was well maintained and bathrooms were clean. The crew was nice and helpful. They also had snacks on the boat for a small charge.
There were a lot of experianced whale watchers on our trip, which may not have been thr norm, but it made it a more insightful whale watching experiance for us!

Based on my experience today: I called early at 7:30 am to ask for the groupon deal on the whale watching tour. The person I spoke to was amiable and made my purchase easy and proceed to reserve my seats.
We departed @2pm and the excitement began. First, it’s just plain beautiful to be on a boat in the ocean on a sunny day like this. Be prepared that it will get both hot/​cold towards the ride.
Then the captain and the crew are the nicest people. Captain is funny. (Mike) one of the boat crew was the nicest & we love his passion. Let’s talk about the whales for a minute. Yes they are there swimming in the ocean showing off their footprints and tails here and there!!! It’s just a beautiful experience… The ocean view, the waves and yes the whales. We also spotted dolphins and cute sea lions! For the hungry, There are snacks and drinks for less than $ 5. I’m not gonna lie though I was hardcore sea sick after the 1^st hour as it was my 1^st time on a boat but the CREW named Mike and thankfully a nurse I met made it all breezy for me and helped me thru it…
It was all worth the experience!!!

Great whale watching trip! Went out on the Producer boat. Pier was clean with nice clean bathrooms (a huge plus!) Whale watching trip was just over 3 hours. The best part of this trip was the information that was given the entire time we were out on the boat. The captain gave us all kinds of info on the area, sights we saw, facts, etc., all while searching for whales. We saw several white sided dolphins and 3 whales. We took the morning trip out. Came back in and ate at Point Loma right there. Super delicious. Worked out perfectly. Great trip. Highly recommended.

Had a great time on the old glory 1.5 day trip. Capt Kley was fun to be around and new the area well. The boat was very clean. The crew was nice and seemed to take the time to engage all 23 passengers. The sleeping berth was very comfortable. Note the bow of the boat has outdoor seating. It can make landing a fish upfront a problem. However, it was nice to relax outside during down time. The dinner was excellent our only full night at sea. Steak, fresh salad, baked potatoe, and dessert. Great fishing good crew & capt.

Great crew on the Premier! Went on the November a.m. ½ day trip. Looked like almost everyone caught something. Too bad the seals kept snatching our fish before we could reel
them in. They catered to everything you needed on the boat and were really helpful especially with the tangled lines. Thanks guys, hopefully we get to book with you again!

H&M is a great company, always worked with me when I need to cancel to late, or book to late. They are not responsible for the boats, so I will not give them a bad review because one of there boats is horrible (Old Glory). AC went out it was 92 degrees in the bunks, so I ended up sleeping sitting up in the galley. We caught fish limits in like 4 hrs. But it’s about more then that. Food was burnt, no room to cast because second level overlaps 1^st, any rod over 7′ won’t fit in holders.
I’m you want to be stoked and find out what a great fishing atmosphere is all about book the FIRST STRING!!! Great crew awesome spacious boat, food is awesome. Very helpfull while fishing, hardly wait for a gaff. And go where you want when you want, the cook greg will cook whatever he has whenever you want it.

Top Gun 80
Great Boat, clean and well maintained.
However, I recently did a 1.5 day on this boat and was disappointed. Never have I had an experience where a deck hand ran his mouth as much as on this voyage. It made it very unpleasant.
one thing to add, make sure you pay for a 1.5 day and not for something less. we departed at 7:30pm only to park in the harbor at idle for 4 hrs. to make it worst, on our way back we returned at 10:30pm only to be parked another 6.5 hrs in the harbor. The explanation, because we where in international waters.
Thank you H&M for an unpleasant experience.

Took a 1.5 day trip on First String with my friends. We paid more money than other 1.5 day boats H&M was sending out on the same day because ours was a sponsored boat with tackle giveaways, according the the H&M Landing Website when we booked the trip. Strangely that whole description changed on the day of our excursion to no longer include any verbiage associated with sponsored anything. We got on the boat and soon discovered that not only was this not a sponsored boat, but the guys running the boat knew nothing of what we talked about.
After our trip, H&M send out an email asking how your trip was, something about wanting to make sure they learn from our experience to provide the best service they can. I replied explaining the above. A business wanting to be the best they can would read my email and know that they could seize this moment, it is the perfect opportunity. They could offer me, knowing they effed up, a voucher for the amount I over paid… get this… on another fishing boat through H&M Landing! They could have made me a happy customer and also brought me and my money back again, probably within the next few weeks. Instead, crickets. SMH.
I will fish again in a few weeks. I will again tip well. I will again spend a ton of money on beer and food for me and my friends on a boat, but I guarantee you it will not be through H&M Landing.
Just for clarification this in no way is a bad review of First String or it’s crew. They were good people.

Great time on an overnight trip on the Producer! My wife had never been on a serious trip before and they made her feel right at home and hooked fish and handed her the rod to make sure she had fun! Some other guys complained that we didn’t spend enough time fishing /​that we took too long going back to the dock and got back early, but everyone was pretty fished out after several hours on a WIDE OPEN bite with Yellowfin and Skipjack Tunas.
INSIDER TIP: tip the crew well but don’t have them clean your fish, just core them (heads and guts) and the go to FISHERMANS PROCESSING they’ll make your Ahi filets table ready, make burgers out of Skipjack, keep some fresh, flash freeze the rest and keep it all in their freezer for you until you’re ready to leave San Diego!

If Dr. Seuss wrote a book about our fishing excursion it would go something like this:
One fish head
Two fish head
Red fish head
Blue fish head.
So many fish heads! We had 3 sea lions following our boat the entire (half day) trip and devouring all of our live bait before we could catch anything. I really felt for one guy who caught a yellowtail only to watch it be devoured as he reeled it in. Biggest fish (head) catch of the day, I guess! I should also mention that if you’re not a very experienced fisherman, I wouldn’t expect a lot of help or attention from the deck hands. These boats are fairly packed on the weekends (you’ll be fishing off the sides with up to 50 other people) and the staff, understandably, is kept very busy with tangled lines and the few people who do manage to catch a fish. I only talked to a deck hand once during the entire trip. About half our boat caught sea bass or rock fish, with one lucky yellowtail catch, but the rest of us left empty handed. Despite our rotten luck, however, the trip was fun. We lucked out with beautiful weather and it was nice to take in the coastline around Point Loma and even saw some dolphins. Make sure you bring a light jacket, close-​toed shoes and sea sickness meds, if you’re prone to it– the mixed smells of the kitchen and fish don’t pair well with the rocking of the boat! I’d cautiously recommend these excursions if you’re looking for something new to do on a weekend, though next time we may try our luck elsewhere.

I had to call and try to change our trip date due to the 3 military members having duty, and the staff was very understanding and helpful.
However day of the trip it took over 30 min to check in and pay for our rods. The office people had no idea what they were doing and must have asked me 10 times what I wanted, check in, rent 3 poles. Not that difficult.
The crew on the boat was really great and helpful, even though out of 40 people only 5 fish were caught.
I would go again, but hopefully the office gets their game together.

I booked a ¾ day fishing excursion with H&M last week and it was miserable.
I had spoken to the staff on the phone twice and both times more charges were added. When I got to the pier a third charge was added. Both previous times I was promised that there would be no other fees. Either I was lied to, or they have an incompetent staff.
The boat was a decent sized one. but it was way overloaded. There were 50 of us trying to fight for the same area. We were told to fish off of one side at a time. which made it even harder to find a spot.
I own a small travel business and I always try to look out for other local businesses. But I can’t with a clear conscious recommend this company
The only nice thing I can say about H&M landing is that the staff on board the boat was friendly and helpful.

My buddy wanted to go deep sea fishing for his birthday and I was happy to join him on the special excursion. He is a sea fishing veteran (whereas I was a rookie) and said that H&M Landing was his favorite company in San Diego to launch out to sea with. We went with the morning ½ day trip. I needed to buy a fishing license and rent a pole too, making my total cost $ 75. This seemed pretty pricey to me but I sucked it up since this was a unique occasion. Once on board, we set down our poles, bought bait and a spot in the big fish jackpot, and then enjoyed the gorgeous boat ride out to sea. The views of San Diego from the Pacific Ocean at dawn are some of the most breathtaking you will ever see.
We settled near the Coronado Islands and moved to different spots as needed over the course of the day, but the fish weren’t biting much at all. I ended up with three rockfish at the end of the day which I was happy with considering this was my first time deep sea fishing. We paid to have our fish filleted by the deckhands and it was a treat seeing them use a knife with such skill and watching the seagulls fight over the discarded fish scraps.
The deckhands were very helpful over the course of the day and always patient when lines got tangled, etc. They did a quick lesson on casting at reeling at the beginning of the boat ride which was helpful for beginners like me. Overall, I had a blast on the trip and will definitely do this again in the near future!

Went on a half day trip this morning hoping to catch some tacos for dinner. The crew said that fishing has been great in previous days so we were hoping today would be the same. I only caught 3 very small fish. One mackerel, one bass, and one lizard fish. None of them were big enough to fill anyone up for a meal. I paid $ 60 for a pass to get into the boat and a rod rental. Trip was from about 6 to 1230 and we went out and around Point Loma.
The boat was very clean and the crew was nice and helpful. They offered to tie on all hooks and weights which came with each rod rental. The captain has a underwater navigation and fish finder that he used to help find fish. All live bait is included with your boarding pass. The crew will suggest what bait to use for each section where you fish.
They have really good breakfast burritos on board. They sell beers, sodas, and waters on board. The boat was not packed when we went at all (Tuesday). There was plenty of room to fish without getting lines caught up.
They charge $ 1 for a bag to put your days catch in. We didn’t catch anything today over 3 lbs. we hope to have better luck next trip. Two people did get sea sick, so be ware if you are sensitive to the motion of the ocean.

Love this place! They always have deals on Amazon local! Last year we went on a whale watching excursion that was fantastic! Last month I surprised my girlfriend for her birthday with a sport fishing trip and it was awesome! It was a half day trip to the border that left at 6:30 am. The staff is always so kind, very helpful, and gracious of your patronage.
On the boat I met Adam, he helped me fish and I was able to catch 2. They were little guys but I was happy to have learned to fish. Adam was also an amazing cook on the boat, food… so much better than I expected on a small boat! Breakfast burrito and burger, yum!
Sadly, we chose not to have our tiny fish filleted by the professional on the boat and, if I didn’t state earlier… I’m not a big fish touchy kind of person. Wish I had known that! I watched the guy fillet the many o fishes on the way back to the landing and thought it would be easy, it’s not!
Looking forward to our next trip! Thanks H & M Landing for a great day!