So, I get the call to pick up the boat. They can't replicate the issue on the Dyno under load anymore, so are fairly certain they got the motor fixed. Not the ringer "Motor Works Perfect" I was hoping for, but I'll take anything at this point.
Between the Truck, Vet Bills and now the motor, my Savings account dwindled to nothing...ugh... I was so excited getting the boat ready for Friday to give it a test run, the wife and I celebrated with some c*cktails. A bit WAAAAaaayyyy too many apparently as Friday morning was terrible. I would have cancelled on myself, but was not going to do that to the Curmudgeon or myself.
I decided to launch from Dana this time and as was driving down Seaworld Drive saw a ton of signs for road closures. I almost thought about taking it out on Saturday too, but thos sealed the deal that I wasn't as even Ingram St had closures posted.
The surge and swell at the ramp was crazy! I knew the swell was pumping with some high energy, long period swells... but mixed with the rushing tides, it made things pretty sketchy.
It felt great to be out again!
Since I didn't have a plan, I just decided to just drive and stop at some of my usual haunts along the way. I was really stoked because there was no "beeping" and stalling!
The bass were snapping the plastic pretty good, but everything was generally 12-14 inches with a single 15" to be the kicker.
I kept moving and didn't stay anywhere too long as I wanted to get to LJ and see what else was around. I didn't see much bait around and no fish action at the surface. Along the way I picked up some nice Brownies for the cooler.
I find absolutely nothing at the inshore rockfish spots at LJ, so ran out to the deeper humps to give it a shot. I also tied on an 8oz Spro bucktail with squid as I wanted to see if there were any ling or bigger cod out there. Instead I got a lone Sculpin. Greedy bastard!
I got the jig stick and almost had to break it off, but got lucky and got it back. These suckers aren't cheap, so I decided to move on since I couldn't meter sh!t out there. I ran again and stayed deep, but couldn't get on anything that wanted a bigger bait. At this point, I was thinking I wanted a triggerfish and knew where some live at least at some times of the year.
I ran in and decided to try more of the shallow stuff.
I tied on my inshore rig and immediately started to smack the hell out of the fish. A lot more bass, but all in the 12-13 inch size.
Found a sheepshead spot as I got 6 in the next 30 minutes as well as a plethora of other critters over the next hour or so.
I also caught 3 nice Skrilla Fish for the cooler...
Nice medium Goats
I caught 3 Johnny bass also...
I released all of the sheepshead as I've realized that I don't really think they taste super good. I've always tried to convince myself they did, but always wound up giving them away rather than eating them, so they all went off to get a little bigger!
Everything I pulled up was puking up tiny shrimp. They literally littered my boat!
I then made my way to the Trigger Spot. I dropped down a live mackerel (I only caught two all morning) and hoped for a halibut or Lingcod to grab it.
In the meantime, I started looking for triggers and BAM! The rod almost rips out of my hand and I was just trying to get it out of the rocks and away from the lobster pot lines! These friggand triggers are unreal and once you catch one, you don't forget the fight. After 5 or more minutes of back and forth, I feel a loud click and hear a pop! Damn! I think I still feel my jig???
The fugger busted my inline VMC hook! WHAT THE HELL!?!? I've had light wire hooks get bitten in half out east from triggers, but this hook was pretty meaty.
I checked my mackerel rod to get my wits back together and grabbed a jig with a stinger hook. I hooked squid on all 3 hooks and dropped it again... BAM! Screamer! Another Trigger onA 5 minute tug of war and it happens again. This time I reel up to see a missing hook on the treble and the other two just demolished! Of course it didn't grab the stinger hook.. UGH...
I tied on another jig, but couldn't get anymore triggers to hit. Only the usual suspects.
I decided to call it quits and try to get in before the inlet walls up with big swell and rushing outgoing tides. Too late... It was f@cking sketchy as hell trying to get in the inlet and my little motor barely had enough power to get in, but finally made it past the wall of death.
I ended the day with 2 dozen bass, limits of rockfish with quite a few released, and 6 released Sheepshead. I was bummed to farm the Triggers, but I was still stoked they were where I thought they would be.
Back at home and my body was sore as hell since I haven't been on a little boat in a while and those swells were something else. In any case, it felt great to get back on the water and have no motor issues!
Thanks for reading!
