Quick trip report…took the kids out yesterday on the New Del Mar out of Marina Del Rey Sportfishing. Regular crew onboard…Capt. Danny driving, Vic, Eric and Julian on deck, and Dale on the grill. For the first time in a long time, they had fin bait…oversized sardines and pinner anchovies, but still. Going out, I had high hopes that there would be an opportunity to finally cross a ling off my Top 10 for the year.
There were about 40 anglers on the boat. Rick has a deal running on Travel Zoo, so there were a lot of rent rodders onboard. As a result, on the first couple spots of the day, Capt. Danny focused on putting some fish in the sacks. The advice was to go double dropper with 8 oz. of weight. Light gauge hooks, couple pinner choves, and work it 10-15 cranks off the bottom. A couple bocaccio (grouper salmon as one of the rent rodders called them) came over the rail, but mostly belindas, starries and other smaller rockfish. Me and Jake put a half dozen or so in the sack before we decided to just go big and work the bottom for hopefully a ling.
Once Danny was satisfied that everyone had enjoyed catching fish and had some in their sacks, he hit a rocky spot that had been consistently holding some prized lings. Immediately, a woman to my right, hooked into something big and sure enough it was a ling.
Looks like the right kind
Yup, it’s a ling
She had a great day. She ended up getting another one. Regular Jeff Lerma got one on the port corner on the other side of the lucky girl. The angler to my immediate left got another one. And then a big beautiful one caught by an angler at the starboard corner ended up taking jackpot (red visor in the pic below). Lings all across the stern where I was fishing, but luck wasn’t with me on Saturday. I guess I used up my fishing luck for awhile last week. Five lings though on a halfie. Definitely a solid trip.
*EDITORIAL NOTE – Sunday the New Del Mar got 33 lings combined on the morning and afternoon rides.
I texted my buddy Vance Saturday morning. “Dude, I had a dream. Maybe a premonition. But I’m seeing this headline…Trip Report: Mother’s Day Massacre.” Whoa…it happened…well that’s the title of this post at least
It wasn’t quite a massacre…the count was 25 yellows for 17 anglers…but it was pretty good. The day started out normally enough. I met Vance at the landing around 4:45 am Sunday morning. We boarded the boat and took off from Seaforth at 5:30. Capt. Ryan Bostian wasn’t driving, so Capt. Ray Montoya was at the wheel. Deckhands Matt and Rene were managing the deck and Amato was working the grill. There were 2 pinheads, Dylan and Nick helping out. We made a quick stop at the bait receiver to pickup live sardines and anchovies and we were on our way.
Surface iron setup
Capt. Ray said we’d be starting our day at the middle grounds, anchor up shallow (60-80 ft) in a spot he saw fish the previous day and go from there. He mentioned most of the fish were coming on a flylined bait, so there wasn’t much to getting ready. I had a fresh 100 yards or so of 30 lb. mono tied onto the spectra backing of my bait stick. I attached a 3/0 bait hook and that rig was ready to go. My buddy John Anjard wanted me to try out his jig stick, a 9 ft Teramar 90H. It had a Newell 332 with straight 30 lb mono on it. I tied on a Salas JPOT in green sardine, adjusted the drags and I was done. Amato made me a breakfast burrito and I snuck in a nap during the 2 hour ride to the Coronado Islands.
We got there and settled into our first stop around 8. There were a lot of private boaters already there…lots of sea lions too I started the day using my bait stick. Throw a ‘dine, let it run in freespool, little tug and I can’t feel my sardine anymore. Reel it back in. No wonder, you’re missing your body Mr. Dine. Friggin sea lions. After a few times, I got tired of that routine and setup my light combo to work the bottom…reverse dropper with a sardine or anchovy. Other anglers had the same idea and a few sculpin and rockfish came over the rail.
After the first few stops, we got the first yellow on the boat. Not bad! Still early and we’re catching yellows. By 11, I think we had about 5. When I got my first yellow of the year on the Mission Belle in March, we got 3 for the whole trip. So from that point of reference, we were doing ok. That said, I also knew that a lot of the time this year, all or most of the fish caught for the day were caught by lunchtime. Vance already had 2…a fat one maybe 25+ and then a smaller one around 10 lbs. At this point, I had a calico and a cuda to my credit, but I hadn’t gotten the “right” bite yet.
Me and Vance’s 1st casts of the day
Scully’s will bite anything
Nice calico, but no yellows
Vance with a kelp fish
I took a lunch break and gathered my thoughts. When I finished up, I went back out to the rail. Vance could tell I was bumming. “Hey man, you want take a little of my yellowtail home?” Appreciate it man, thanks. I needed to change something up. Time to bust out some fluoro. Still haven’t learned a good mono to fluoro knot, so I had Rene help me tie on about a 2-1/2 foot leader of 25 lb fluorocarbon. On the business end, I took it one step further and tied a loose eye knot to my hook. Not as strong, but it gives your bait a little more freedom to swim freely. At this point, I was willing to tradeoff the risk of breaking off on the loop for a bite.
Rene brailing some choves
We settled into a spot between 2 of the islands. Ray said he was metering fish and Rene was on top of the bait tank aggressively tossing bait to hold them next to the boat. I got bit 3x in the spot with my new setup, but each time it was a short pull and then a release. My hooks were coming back empty, so I don’t think they were sea lion bites. One of my baits came back and was crushed, but it was midway down the body of the sardine…short bite
It was getting late. I figured we had maybe an hour to an hour and half left in the day. All of the fish on the boat had been caught on bait. It was typical of how it’s been going for the fleet of late. That said, it wasn’t working for me, so I decided I’d throw the jig to end the day. At least I’d get the practice time in on the water.
We made our last move and settled into a spot off the lee side of the south island. As soon as we got there, you could tell it was fishy. Lots of bird activity going on. Matt saw a boil just off the starboard side of the bow and ran to the bow with his jig stick to throw on it. I was about 3 steps behind him and threw just after him. 1…2…whomp! I’m bit! Matt put down his stick and we followed the fish down the starboard rail. It took me across the stern and through the majority of the anglers on the boat. At one point, I had about 3 lines gummed up on mine (including some white spectra) and Matt had to cut them. I followed the fish back across the stern to the starboard corner and I had him up and down at that point before Matt stuck him. Wow…my first yellow on the surface iron!
1st yellow on the plug…Extra Salty!
The spot ended up being huge. The school stuck to the boat for a good hour and we got the majority of our fish there before having to call it a day. All the fish, but 2 were a nice 20-30 lb. grade. Vance got one more fat one. After my first fish, I got a blind jig strike on the port side, and then picked up 2 more on bait. Just goes to show…you got to have faith in what you’re doing and just keep plugging (pun intended) away at it.
As usual, very impressed with the boat and crew. It’s a real testament to Capt. Ryan’s influence that the boat is run just as well when he isn’t there as when he is. Thank you Capt. Ray and crew for a great day on the water. Tight lines!
I know you’re looking for the Trip Report from yesterday, but I got back too late from San Diego on Sunday, so this is what you’re getting for Monday. I rode the The San Diego out of Seaforth Landing yesterday. Although the focus and excitement for the trip was all about yellowtail, it is worth mentioning that I got my first cuda of the year. It wasn’t on surface iron, it came on a flylined sardine which kind of sucks. You’re out there hoping for a big yellow to bite. You get the bite, but it isn’t the hard pull you expect from a yellow. It comes in too fast and too easily. You’re hoping that maybe it’s just a junior sized yellow, but then you see color and your hunch is confirmed.
The barracuda is important though because it signals a change. You only see them once the water gets over 60 degrees. Their appearance is the start of Summer for us SoCal anglers. Once they are in the mix of predators, you often see a more aggressive and consistent yellowtail bite too because they (the yellows) have to compete with these toothy fish for the bait fish out there that makes up their diet. Further north, white seabass can often be found lurking below the barracuda…picking up an easy meal off the scraps falling down after a cuda attack. And, it’s just fun to throw surface iron on cuda after a couple months of packing heavy lead for rockfishing!
I predicted we’d see them in Santa Monica Bay the Tuesday after Mother’s Day which is tomorrow. We’ll see if that plays out, but in the meantime I take a little satisfaction from knocking #7 off the Top 10 list for the year.
Crazy week we had of fishing here in Southern California. The week began with a bang up north where out of nowhere on Monday some seabass were caught. It wasn’t just one or two boats finding a couple, it was 2 boats, the Aloha Spirit and the Mirage (both out of Channel Islands Sportfishing) LIMITING OUT with 24 and 29 seabass respectively. And not only were the numbers eye popping, but the fish were a really nice grade too…one caught May 1st was over 51 lbs. The numbers dropped off over the course of the week as the boat pressure mounted, but even a half day boat, the Speed Twin, scored a couple on Friday. Weather moved in and killed the bite, but things will settle out and I’m sure the elusive ghosts will be found again.
Best Halfie Ever?
Meanwhile, further south down the coast, a most unusual of catches occurred. Capt. Jeff Patrick of the Western Pride (out of Davey’s Locker) wasn’t driving the boat on Wednesday. He was just another one of the anglers on the boat. But Wednesday was a day unlike any other. Capt. Jeff hooked into a 125 lb. opah. The opah is a very rare catch as it is, but unheard of on a half day boat. Typically, they are only caught on boats that are out tuna fishing offshore. Angler Paul Rodriguez Jr. was on the boat and got this shot.
125 lb. Opah on the Western Pride
Clemente Island Is Poppin’!
Freedom Sportfishing is stringing together consistent trips scoring the exotics. They’re leaving with live sardines and making squid when they get out to the islands. Tuesday, Capt. Tommy Lee took out 27 anglers on an overnight to fish Clemente May 1st. They scored 1 yellowtail, 1 white seabass and 3 halibut. Saturday’s trip yielded 9 yellowtail and a 300 lb thresher shark!
Meanwhile, Down In San Diego
It’s still the same one day on, most days off pattern for the yellowtail by the Coronados Islands. The 3/4 boats are seeing a lot of fish, but it’s anyone’s guess what day they’ll bite. Wednesday, the San Diego caught 10 big forks. Capt. Ryan Bostian says the fish are being scored up top on a flylined sardine on 25lb test, and that you’ll help your cause adding 3-5 feet of fluorocarbon leader. Weather moved in by the weekend, but they still managed to catch 5 in really sloppy conditions Saturday before canceling the Sunday trip.
Photo courtesy San Diego Sportfishing
This weather is supposed to settle out Tuesday. The water is over 60 degrees on our whole SoCal coast. We’ll probably see some nice scores again by midweek this week. Keep up to date with the latest news from the sportboats via our facebook page. Tight lines!
EDITORIAL NOTE: As I was hitting publish on this post, saw a pic from one of our favorite half day boats, the New Del Mar. They caught a king salmon on Sunday! Crazy week indeed…
Last month, I launched a contest here to win a pair of Costa sunglasses from the new Kenny Chesney line to benefit the Coastal Conservation Association. I think I made it too complicated. So we are re-setting the contest. Those of you who participated last time will have an entry in the new contest.
This is how it’s going to work:
1) Like the SoCal Salties page on facebook if you haven’t already
2) Share this post (and the rest of the Costa posts) from the SoCal Salty facebook page during the month of May to your wall on facebook (you need to share it from facebook so I can see who shared)
Each share will give you a ticket into the final drawing. At the end of the month, I’ll draw a winner from all the entries. We’re giving away a pair of the Costa Hammerheads with the blue glass, and driftwood frames. The lucky winner will receive the sunglasses and the entire kit as seen below. Good luck!
Early Sunday morning, I met up with new fishing friend Randy and we carpooled down to Dana Wharf. We were headed down to board the Fury for a full day trip to Catalina Island. At the landing, we met up with my other friend Vance and boarded the boat for a 5am departure. In the last few weeks, some boats had found yellowtail in and around Clemente and Catalina islands. I was hopeful we might run into them too, but I knew that I’d at least get a chance to knock off a ling or sheephead on this trip.
Capt. Rick Doesburg introduced the crew…2nd captain Marcus would also run the galley, and Aliyar and Mike were going to manage the deck. Including the 3 of us, there were 17 anglers for the trip.
Wake me up when we get there
It was a very comfortable load as the boat actually has the ability to sleep 46 passengers! Good thing too…I wasn’t able to sleep much the night before. After we hit the bait dock and got the trip briefing, I sacked out for the ride over.
I woke up around 8:00 and the island was in sight. The plan for the day was to start here on the east end of the island and rockfish, then work our way along the backside in the afternoon, hug the outside of the kelp line and see what’s around. We had cut squid and live anchovies to work with. The boat anchored up in about 250 feet of water. I kept it simple…double dropper with some light wire 3/0 circle hooks. I used the chove. I started out with 6 oz. of lead, but the current was ripping pretty good. It seemed like the spot was kind of small as dabs were getting picked up if you weren’t in the right spot on the boat. I went up to 8 and then 10 before I was able to get up and down and benefit from Rick’s positioning of the boat. Once I did, the bocaccio (aka salmon grouper) were ready to eat. I quickly got my limit of 3, and so did Vance and Randy.
Randy with a big bocaccio
The boat was close to limits on the salmon grouper, so we made a series of moves hoping to find a rock holding some reds. We never found “the” rock, but we made a steady pick of it. Reds, starries, barberpoles and handful of tasty bankies made their way into the sacks.
Time to head to the beach. Capt. Rick recommended to use the chovies, as the plastic hadn’t been working so far. On the move, I had some lunch and rigged up my light pole. I’m still using the Shimano Crucial 711H, but I updated the reel to an Abu Revo Toro 50. Really liking this reel, and it actually has more drag than my Avet MXJ. I have 40lb spectra on it and tied on 20# mono. I wasn’t thinking bass though. At this point in the day, a grouper Vance caught looked to be the lead for JP. I tied a reverse dropper and was thinking cast & drag along the kelp line for a hali…and snatch JP from Vance Just in case, I tied on a small slider and a hook onto my 30# stick.
We parked on the outer edge of the kelp, in about 25 feet of water. Most were flylining or using a small sliding sinker to a chove and tossing them into the kelp. The calico bite was immediate and there were a few of legal size. I worked my plan and hooked up a few times for a short calico, short sandy, and a nicer sand bass (3 lbs.). I released all of them. I was thinking later on I should’ve saved the big sandy in the bait tank for the JP weigh in, but oh well.
People were having fun catching the calicos, and the newer anglers were using strips of squid on droppers to easily have their way with various kinds of perch. We even saw a few boils of smaller cuda (water was about 61). I noticed another angler using a small glow sinker to a piece of shrimp and nailing small sheepheads. Hmmm, there could be a big one around… I retied to copy him, but to no avail. No sheepies for me. He didn’t get a big one, but I swear he caught 5 or 6 which was pretty impressive.
Vance with a nice red
Sportcoat!
My big grump
Sheephead man
Mike weighing for JP
Vance hoists the big fish
That was pretty much the day. Vance ended up taking JP with his grouper. Randy and I both had respectable bags. Everyone had fish. No sign of yellows or any other exotics, but a solid day on the water. Team Fury was a tight crew. The boat was nice. I’ll definitely ride again. Thank you Capt. Rick and crew for a good day on the water. Tight lines!
At the end of October last year, I wrote about how the Dept. of Fish and Game raised the maximum depth that we are allowed to fish from 60 fathoms to 50 fathoms. The regulation was changed in response to the maximum allowable bycatch limit of cowcod being reached for the year. It was hoped at the time that the change was a temporary response and that it would change back with the start of the new season. Well March 1st rolled around, rockfish season opened and the 50 Fathom rule is still in effect.
I personally think that sportsmen (or women), be they hunters or anglers, are the best stewards of our natural resources. Typically, we are the first ones to observe changes in the environment and have a good sense for what might be behind those changes (good or bad). We have a vested interest in the long term viability of the resource because we depend on it for food and enjoyment. For many, the resource is how they make their living. Yet often times we are portrayed as anything but good stewards of these resources. Organizations like the Sportfishing Association of California(SAC)are around in order to tell our side of the story.
Rockfish being released with a Seaqualizer on the Cobra
Earlier this month, the SAC testified on our behalf to the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC). The PFMC is the governing body that makes rules for waters 3 miles offshore from WA, OR and CA. Generally, whatever the PFMC advocates, the state organizations (which govern inside of 3 miles) adopt. The SAC was testifying to the PFMC to give us credit for the use of descending devices for releasing cowcod. The idea being that if a cowcod was safely released back into their environment, then it shouldn’t count against us in the bycatch tally.
What you may ask is a descending device? If you’ve been out rockfishing, you know that when they come to the surface, their eyes are often bugged out and their air bladder may be protruding out of their mouth. The fish is suffering the effects of barotrauma from rising too fast from the depths in which they live. If you release them without doing anything, you will see them struggle on the surface to right themselves…usually just before they become an easy meal for a pelican or other seabird. You could puncture their air bladder, and often times they will swim back down, but doing so will often lead to an infection which would kill them anyway. Because of this fact, a certain amount of bycatch is factored in whenever the PFMC and DFW (Dept. of Fish and Game is now Dept. of Fish and Wildlife) are making their decisions.
Back to the PFMC meeting…after much testimony by the SAC on our behalf, the PFMC voted to recommend to NOAA that release credits be given to those using descending devices. Does this mean that the 50 Fathom rule will be rescinded? Not immediately, but it is a step in the right direction. Bottomline, use of these devices is important and it’s a practice we should all adopt…sportboats, private boaters, and even individual anglers out on the sportboats.
Channel Islands Sportfishing is a leader in the use of descending devices. All their boats have been outfitted with the Seaqualizer, and all the captains and crews are trained in how to use them. They also sell 2 types of descending devices in their tackle shop if you’d like to buy one. Take a look at the video below to see one of them, the Seaqualizer, in action.
I like to fish braid (aka spectra) on most of my reels. It costs more upfront, but there are lots of advantages to fishing braid. It lasts longer. It cuts through kelp. It allows you to pack more line on a smaller reel. It gives you a really good feel for what’s happening at the end of the line…lots of great attributes. There are downsides too. One downside of braid is that it doesn’t have any give. That lack of give can be a good thing, but you also run a higher risk of pulling the hook. Once you are hooked up, a certain amount of give helps you absorb the headshakes in a fight with a tough fish. One way to balance braid’s lack of give is to use a leader of either mono or fluoro. Those lines stretch to help absorb the shock of a violent fight.
Another way to counterbalance the lack of give is to use a more forgiving rod. I found a couple that I liked when I hit Fred Hall Del Mar a few weeks back…
Hot rep demo wrap
Calstar GFX 800H
I told John Cameron of Calstar Rods that I fished a lot of braid. The GFX 800H is the rod he showed me. It didn’t have that customary black/teal coloring scheme…he only had a rep demo version available at the show. The GFX 800H is 8 feet long and rated 30-60 lb. Going back to the 3 rod premise, it could fill the role of your heavy rod. I’d probably fish 65 lb braid, with a topshot of 40 or 50 lb on it. The rod has that familiar parabolic Calstar bend to it, yet felt very strong. I could imagine pulling as hard as you want and not needing to finesse the fish as much. Maybe that saves enough time that you get one or 2 more fish during a good bite? If you’re paying good money to be out and there’s only one good hit all day, 1 or 2 more fish would make all the difference in the world, right?
I definitely want to check this one out further.
Seeker Inshore Pro Series
Calico Bass by Matt Kotch. Nice touch!
These are the new series of rods updating the Corey Sanden Blue Lightning line of inshore focused rods. Corey is the maker of MC Swimbaits and likes to fish heavy braid in heavy kelp, targeting big calico bass. When I say heavy braid, I mean heavy…like to 80 lb braid to a short 80 lb fluoro topshot kinda heavy. That heaviness is not so much to fight the fish, but to be able to get it out of the kelp and into the boat after he’s hooked one. Corey’s home fishery is San Diego Bay and if you know calico fishing in San Diego, you know that the Point Loma kelp is some of the thickest, most unforgiving kelp we have to deal with in SoCal.
Now imagine you’re in that kelp…you get bit, and you go for the big swing to set that hook. If you are fishing a stiff rod and were fishing heavy like Corey, good chance you’ll rip your bait right out of the bass’ mouth or tear a hole in his mouth allowing the fish to shake itself off. The bend on these rods is designed to counteract that violence and maintain a proper hookset.
Calico on the MC weedless in the Pt. Loma kelp
Seeker General Manager, Darin Dohi, showed me the ISP808 model. The 808 is one of 5 rods available now. The others are the 659, 706, 708, and 807…all designed to throw specific MC Swimbaits. The 808 was designed to fish Corey’s weedless bait. Seeker is introducing 2 new, beefier models at the Pacific Coast Sportfishing show later this month designed specifically for Cedros Island. The rods are an S-glass/graphite composite, making for a very light (20% lighter than the original Blue Lightning rods), yet strong weapon. After bending the rod, I made the comment to Darin that I wouldn’t feel overmatched if I was fishing calicos in the kelp and got picked up by a yellow. ”Exactly” Darin stated. ”And with the beefier Cedros models, you could fight a 40 or 50 lb Cedros sized yellow.” These would be the perfect rods if you are lucky enough to be going on that Shogun Skiff Trip to Cedros in June. Darin said that the stouter models are designed to throw a big bait. In a pinch, you could even use them to throw surface iron. Hmmm…
Conclusion
Both of these rods bear further investigation. I could easily see them making it into my lineup. I like the fact that both are proudly made here in SoCal. The Calstar rod was supposed to be ready by the Fred Hall show, but a supply problem with one of their vendors prevented that from happening. They should be making their way into a showroom soon though. The Seeker Inshore Pro rods are available now (except the 709 and 809).
My parents are in town for Jake’s birthday (he turned 13 on Sunday). My only window to get in a fish was going to be Saturday. I’ve been traveling a lot the last 6 weeks, so I missed the rockfish opener and Fred Hall – Long Beach…kind of the mental start of the new season. A steady stream of pics flowed thru facebook, as I was on the road longing to get salty. My last time on the Pacific Islander was the year end blowout where the last yellowtail of 2012 was caught and I got that sheephead albatross off my neck! Epic trip. I love Capt. Steve Virtue and his crew on the PI. The boat is very comfortable…one of my very favorite rides. So I’ve been dying to go out on the boat and get in on the quality rockfish with a good chance for ling cod and sheephead.
My good friend Jimmy Bass hit me up early in the week. ”Joe, the PI just opened up for Friday, fishing Saturday.” Perfect. I’m in. Monday and Tuesday were scary breezy at the outer islands, but things calmed down on Wednesday and the counts were really good. Thursday was another good day. The weather was supposed to pickup again Friday, but the outlook improved to where we were looking at very workable conditions for the trip.
I got to the landing around 8pm Friday night for the 10pm departure. I met Jimmy and LeRoy at the boat. Jimmy brought a couple of the Saturday Spitfire regulars with him, Tom and Jim. The PI fished on Friday and didn’t quite get limits of rockfish, but managed 5 lings for 13 anglers. Part of the issue was the bait situation…only boxed squid, and not a lot of it at that. No fin bait in weeks, and the live squid isn’t popping yet either. I’ve seen plenty of big fish caught on a strip of squid though, so I shrugged it off. We left the dock with 26 anglers.
Optimism ran high, despite the bait situation
Deckhand Bryan with Buff and his ling
The ride out was somewhat bumpy, but I slept fine. By 6:30am, we were on the north side of Rosa, just off the west end of the island. Miguel was in sight as we setup the first drift of the day in about 180 feet of water. It wasn’t windy, but pretty cold and overcast as we started the day. Kinda scratchy for the first couple drifts…some smaller reds and chuckies with several blues in the mix. The drifts went pretty fast. Capt. Steve said as fast as a knot and a half at times. As the day went on though, the fishing quickly built up. A better grade of reds and chucks started coming over the rail.
There was an older gentleman fishing to the right of me named Buff. Buff runs a tackle shop and brought his own bait…some smaller sized (maybe a foot long) octopi. He pulled in the highlight fish of the morning with the eventual jackpot ling caught on a whole octopus!
I had read somewhere how octopus are a ling cod’s favorite food. Buff’s catch seemed to back that idea up. He only had one small pack though, and was sharing it with a buddy. I didn’t want to ask. My answer though was to pull out an octopus soft bait that had been sitting in my bag for awhile. Immediately, I hooked into a big red with it. Then a nice chuck. Then a big hit…head shakes all the way up. Ling-a-ding me. C’mon baby. It was a ling alright, but just short. Lots of shorts all around the boat.
Meanwhile, Jimmy was up working the bow. Tom had brought some large tube jigs with heavy tube shaped leadheads. He and Jimmy were fishing those and Ahi diamond jigs and connecting on lings bouncing them along the bottom. Jimmy told me later that every time he hit a rock and it dropped down on the other side he was getting bit. He ended up with 5 legal ling for the day! Nice.
Jimmy & Capt. Steve with the diamond jig sheepie
It was getting close to lunch and the boat was close to limits on rockfish. Laura was working the galley and made me some fish tacos. After lunch, we anchored up in a shallow spot (80 feet) and tried to fish some whitefish. Not a lot, but the ones we got were quality. An angler to my left got a fatty that I guessed was pushing 7 lbs!
We were getting towards the end of the day and tried a couple more drifts. I joined Jimmy and LeRoy up on the bow and the fishing was furious to wrap things up. I was fishing a heavy tube jig setup on the bottom, with a bare hook and a strip of squid about a foot up. I got that big hit that I thought might be my legal ling. Steve was cheering me on from the wheelhouse and came down as we saw color. Unfortunately, it was a short that managed to get all wrapped up in my tackle and was just coming back funky. At this point, Jimmy was now fishing the P-line version of the diamond jig. He ended his day with his personal best sheephead…right around 10 lbs on the jig! LeRoy got a legal ling fishing a bleeding trout swimbait on a dropper loop…crazy! It seemed like I was a step behind all day, but took home a nice bag of 10 reds and chuckies. I also took home 2 lings thanks to the largesse of my friends The boat ended up with limits of big reds and chucks, 34 lings, 2 sheepies, and some random other fish to round it out. Jimmy was the hot stick, but his sheepie was just edged out by Buff’s big ling. All in all another epic trip on the PI. Tight lines!
Saturday morning, me and the kids got an early start and made our way down to Long Beach Marina to ride the Enterprise. Capt. Andrew Siratt had the day off, but the rest of the regular crew was there, David and Sheila in the galley, and Austin (Hollywood) and Matt were on deck. Capt. Frank Savino was filling in at the wheel. As it’s been everywhere but San Diego, issues with bait…we left the dock with box squid and a handful of sardines.
Gulp scully
We headed northwest and stopped in about 250 feet of water, just over an hour out of the marina. Pretty deep, but we anchored up to fish sculpin. I rigged up Juj and I with the standard sculpin rig…long dropper loop almost dropping down to the level of the weight. I put a bullet leadhead with a pink/white Gulp grubtail on the business end. Jake rigged the same way, but chose to go with a yellow flake split tail plastic. Capt. Frank needed to reset a couple times, but once he got on the rock, it was good. Good enough that we didn’t even need the squid and picked them off on the plastic alone. I got into double digits before the boat limited out and we made a move.
On the move, Jake enjoyed one of David’s famous beef quesadillas. We drove about an hour south. On the move, I re-rigged Juj and I with the standard double dropper. Jake decided to play with a butterfly jig, but couldn’t get any fish to play. He eventually joined us on the conventional rig. We worked a series of stones. A few nice reds hit the deck, but it was scratchy. For anglers working mid-column, a mix of bocaccio, belindas, barberpoles, honeycombs and the like made their way into sacks. I tried to work a ‘dine on the bottom to see if I could get a ling to play, but no takers. I saw one short for the boat. At least my lucky streak on the flea cod continued Only 3 reds and a honeycomb made it into our bag.
Nice double Juj!
Jake enjoys the beef quesadilla
Jake scores a red on the bow
Pay on the red
Jake and Juj kick back on the upper deck
The ride home
We made one more move closer in and worked some shallower spots (120-140 feet) to try for whitefish and sheephead. The boat got several whitefish and a pinkie sheephead (at least it wasn’t mine) to end the day. Tough second half of the day. My biggest sculpin was in the mix at the end for jackpot, but one of the nicer reds took the prize. We went into the day expecting a blowy, overcast day, but the sun came out and we enjoyed calm seas. And we had some fun with an octopus (video below). Thanks to Capt. Frank and the crew of the Enterprise for a good day on the water. Tight lines!
I started the day using my bait stick. Throw a ‘dine, let it run in freespool, little tug and I can’t feel my sardine anymore. Reel it back in. No wonder, you’re missing your body Mr. Dine. Friggin sea lions. After a few times, I got tired of that routine and setup my light combo to work the bottom…reverse dropper with a sardine or anchovy. Other anglers had the same idea and a few sculpin and rockfish came over the rail.
