H&M Landing is the deepest history in San Diego sportfishing, the West Coast’s oldest sportfishing company, running out of Point Loma since 1935. It pioneered long range fishing out of San Diego, and today it books a large fleet, around two dozen boats from half day party boats up to 105 foot long range vessels, with one of the biggest bases of customer reviews of any operator in the port. For reach across the San Diego calendar, from a $75 half day to a multi week expedition, it is hard to match. What holds it in the middle of the field is consistency: this is a big fleet of individually run boats, and the day depends heavily on which one you draw.
The verdict and where it ranks
At 7.5 it is fifth in the San Diego ranking, a strong choice carried by history, reach, and a vast review base, and held back by a real inconsistency across its fleet and a run of pointed recent complaints. It runs everything the port offers and pioneered the long range game, but the reviews split sharply by boat, and a strand of recent ones describe a landing some regulars feel has slipped. It suits an angler drawn to the history and the breadth of the fleet who books a specific, well reviewed boat. For the strongest long range fleet today, Fisherman’s Landing edges ahead; for a private day, Pelican Sportfishing and Ironclad Sportfishing skip the crowd; the other Scott Street landing, Point Loma Sportfishing, and the Mission Bay landing, Seaforth Sportfishing, round out the field. The San Diego ranking compares them all.
The boats and the fleet
H&M books around two dozen boats, the deepest multi day fleet on Point Loma. The day and Coronado Islands boats include the 85 foot Grande, which runs the full day Coronado trips, and a string of overnight and multi day boats like the 85 foot Old Glory and the 80 foot Malihini. The multi day and long range fleet runs up to the 90 foot Vision and beyond, the boats that carry on the long range tradition the landing helped invent. It is a large, historic fleet, and the honest read is in its size: condition and crew vary boat to boat, and the reviews that praise one H&M boat sit next to reviews that pan another, so this is not a single standard across every hull.
The fishing and what you target
H&M runs a boat for every part of the San Diego year. The half day boats work the kelp off Point Loma for calico bass, rockfish, barracuda, and bonito much of the year. The full day boats run to the Coronado Islands, about 15 to 18 miles south in Mexican waters, for yellowtail and mixed bottom fish, and from summer into fall the overnight and multi day boats chase bluefin and yellowfin tuna, dorado, and yellowtail offshore. The long range boats run the distant Mexican banks in the cooler months. Bluefin carry a federal limit of 2 fish per person off California, and the southern rockfish season opens and closes by the calendar, so confirm the current rules with NOAA Fisheries and California Fish and Wildlife before a season specific trip.
Trips and prices
A half day runs about $75 to $90 per person, with a $19 to $23 tackle rental and a 3.5% processing fee, as of June 2026. A full day to the Coronado Islands on the Grande runs about $155, with the Mexican permit and visa included on that trip and a passport required, and overnight trips run about $215 to $225. The 3/4 day fare is not posted as clearly, and the multi day and long range trips are priced by the individual boat on their own schedules rather than as a fixed landing fare, so you confirm those when you book the boat. A one day California fishing license is bought at check in. The pricing is reasonable for the access, but it is less uniformly posted than at Point Loma Sportfishing, where the open party fares are all on one schedule. Our cost guide sets a San Diego day against other ports, and the party boat versus private charter guide weighs a landing seat against a private boat.
The crew
Each boat runs its own named captains, so H&M is a roster across a large fleet rather than a single owner operator. The praise in the reviews is real and recurring: knowledgeable, hard working crews who help first timers and put a boat full of anglers on fish, backed by decades of experience. The criticism is just as real, and it is the operation’s central weakness. The dominant negative theme is variance, that a great trip on one boat does not promise the same on the next, and a run of pointed recent reviews describes a landing some longtime customers feel is heading the wrong way, including complaints about how slow catches are reported. With this many boats, the safe move is to book a specific, recently well reviewed boat rather than the landing’s name alone.
Booking and what to know
Book online or by phone, choosing the boat as carefully as the trip and reading its recent reports. Bring layers and a rain shell, sunscreen, food, and a passport for any Coronado Islands or Mexican waters trip. Two recent incidents are worth knowing in the open, both ending with no injuries: in September 2024 the Jig Strike struck a submerged object and sank near Cortez Bank, about a hundred miles offshore, and all 17 aboard were rescued by another H&M boat, the Legend; in November 2025 the Alicia was lifted onto Zuniga Jetty on a lobster trip and lost, with all 8 aboard rescued. Neither drew a Coast Guard enforcement action, and both were handled without harm to passengers, but two hull losses in roughly a year are worth noting honestly, and they sit in our track record read.
How we scored it
The landing earns its 7.5 on the deepest history in the port, the original long range pedigree, wide access, and an enormous review base, held in the middle of the field by a real boat to boat inconsistency, less uniform pricing, and a recent stretch of pointed complaints and two no injury boat losses. Trips and access is its strongest factor. See how we scored this boat and the San Diego ranking for the rest of the field.