Took Jared out on the Mosquito. We skunked out looking for halibut from the beach on Tuesday. Made something of a pact to get out surf fishing in the mornings before he goes to work, at least once a week for the coming year, and hold each other to it. Difficult to wake up early these days but the accountability should go a long way.
Back to this morning. Beyond surf fishing I figured I needed to get him out for bass again on the boat. I have a little more confidence in my local knowledge since the last time he came on board, and figured we could at least save skunk. Out of Huntington harbor jetty around 0800. I said, hey I have this one spot that's been working pretty well, everything else might be trash. If anything I think we should drive ourselves crazy over there and we'll probably have a more successful day than anywhere else, but we can leave it and explore at any point. He says sure whatever's good. He always out fishes me on the Mosquito and I'm dead set on ending that sooner than later.
4hp outboard trying with all its might with 2 people in the boat! Down from 12mph max to 8mph with him on board. Crawled to the spot and I got bit before I hit bottom. Ha! 1-0 pally!!!
He proceeded to also hook up before hitting bottom. 1-1...
Shortly after he picked off another short calico. Classic...2-1 him.....
Then the bite shut off. Gave it another 40 minutes and crickets. Knowing my other spots were a ways away and with today's outboard pace, it seemed like an uninspiring option.
We decided to head toward the beach and slow troll for halibut. We're both looking for our first legal and need to put the time in at some point, so today would be the day.
And as halibut fishing goes, we enjoyed the slow cruise in great weather for about two hours and several miles without a bite before being close enough to some stones to check for bass again. A whole lot of nothing here and there, then a sudden double on a couple of short turds. This one got me with the treble hook and it is by sheer miracle that it didn't get past the barb. Hate trebles.
Couple more bites, then I landed another short turd. Tied 3-3...tried for another 20 minutes before getting the hint and heading for the barn. Tough bite and nothing to bring home for tacos, but nice to have company out there with another fish geek.
