I was planning on fishing offshore today, but saw the marine forecast that it may be a bit bumpy. I didn't want to deal with the SW wind, so headed south in anticipation of the wind being at my back on my trip home. I decided to just stay local trying to catch bait, but the sea lions were stealing my bait like crazy. For every 4 macks I hooked, I only got one in.
I was deciding what to do, when I saw a familiar boat fishing near by. I knew my buddy was going to be out there, but I wasn't expecting him to be so super local and only 2 or 3 miles from the inlet. He said that I would need some good macks and hooked me up with a bucket of the best macks I've seen all year! Not too long after hooking me up, I saw him go bendo and he had a good crew on board to rally and get him to the boat! It was a legit yellow in the 20's to be sure!
We kept working this area right under everyone's nose and no one paid us any mind. The boats just were running straight out and we just drifted by the kelp without anyone realizing what was going on. I hooked up and immediately thought it was a sea lion that managed to take the hook. I soon realized that it was a yellow, but had a hard time believing it...
I'll just cut to the chase... I went 0-3 on BIG yellows as there was too many obstacles to deal with and being by myself, I never thought I would ever need to have someone on board to land these local bruisers. I did get a nice calico and a few baits that were ripped from the hook on the bite.
My buddy and his crew ended the day going 3-10 on BIG yellows with the same problems of obstacles all over the place and trying to tame the beasts with 65 and 80 pound just didn't cut it. They were dialed in enough to still manage bruisers like this 40 pounder!
In any case, I'm sure this weather system coming through might ruin a good thing, but it was still pretty cool to see. It wasn't wide open by any stretch of the imagination, but when a bite happened, it was a good one!
Oh well, my farming streak continues, but I feel a little closer to climbing out of my slump.
Enjoy the weather and I'll have some new contests showing up soon thanks to Eric's donations.
