Topics

166

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Alien Attack 11/7/15

« on: November 08, 2015, 07:36:49 AM »

Had a free evening after the horse show so I loaded up and headed out.

Got set up and ready for magic hour.


Decided to take the chill off.


As you can see, conditions were great. Soaked baits indefinitely with little weeds to make things unpleasant. No bait stealers, biters, or any sign of life at all.

I was enjoying the evening and the fire when I saw a bright orange glow over the water to the south west. Thought a boat exploded or something. It was so bright it looked like the sun was coming back up. The glow rose above the horizon and became an orange fireball moving north. Much slower and larger than any shooting star I have ever seen. It continued on its course for 30 seconds or so then seemed to putter out a little and then became bright white and changed course to move up and west. Soon after it got much brighter and a perfect circle of smoke formed behind it and grew larger. It seemed like it was going to envelope me. At this point I became sort of nervous that I was going to be abducted. Probably the coolest thing I have ever seen in the sky.





Ran out of wood so I packed up and headed home.

Still a great evening. Maybe I'll get one next time. Maybe not.

167

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Bay Run 10/20/2015

« on: October 20, 2015, 09:47:52 PM »

Soaked 2 1/2 pounds of squid at the bay. 4-830. O
Lots of bait stealers picking off the heads. One slow pull that dropped it. Not a run exactly, more like a walk.
Jim dropped by to hang out. Nice to meet you. Good luck Saturday.

168

Fishing Talk / 10/20 PM

« on: October 20, 2015, 04:17:27 PM »

Kicking it at the Bahia til 8. Maybe 9 if the shuttle is running late. Cruise down. Just set up.

169

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Pacific Voyager 10/9-10/12

« on: October 13, 2015, 06:31:38 AM »

 My long awaited 2.5 day trip was finally here.  Friday at work was nothing but clock watching.

 It started with the group meeting in the parking lot to shoot the breeze.

 We Loaded the boat and hit the bait barge. We emptied two boxes of primo sardines, 6-9".

 The plan was to fish Tanner Bank, but as we got near, the report from another boat already there was dismal so we switched it up and headed to the Cortez.

 On the way we stopped at a kelp loaded with 10" YT. Then spotted some breezing fish that turned out to be skipjack. We continued on to the Cortez where we anchored with 6 other boats in the same area.

 Baits in the water and soon the sound of line peeling off reels, shouts of "Fresh One" and "Chomper" began to be heard.

 The fish were a mix of small yellowfin, small yellowtail, big bonito and big skipjack. Then the big yellow fin started to be mixed in.

 Fish were caught on bait and the flatfall jigs, even some on poppers. 20# line was the only thing getting bit. Floro made the difference.

 Hammerhead sharks circled the boat constantly, resulting in lost fish, and some that came in missing the body.

 We fished there all day with a steady bite. Lots of fish were lost due to the light line, some to tangles and some to people hammering the drag to try and stop a freight train run.

 After dinner Nicky and Ethan, another young man started to bait the hammers. I hit the hay so I don't know how they did.

 We stayed on the hook all night, and fished the second day in the same spot. The action was steady again. More YFT and some bigger YT.

 For me the highlight of the trip was Nicky's popper fish as we pulled the anchor to head for home after emptying the bait wells.

 So much fun with good people. My body aches, but I would get on that trip again right now.















So many more stories. Lots more pictures. Nothing I write can do it justice.

170

Fishing Talk / Can't wait

« on: October 09, 2015, 12:13:23 PM »

To get out of work today. 2.5 day trip leaving tonight.

171

Tackle Talk / Penn Fathom 40 star drag

« on: September 27, 2015, 12:37:51 PM »

Picked up a fathom 40 star drag to replace my sealines I shredded.

Impressed.

Went to grease frame screws and found tiny plastic washers between screw and frame. Should help keep them from welding together.

Took off the handle to grease the star drag and handle nut and washers. They were greased already.

Spooled it up and gave it a test session. Cast great but I might need to tame it a little with the brakes.

172

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Bass Sniper 9/26/15

« on: September 26, 2015, 07:22:57 PM »

Had a short window before barn duty this morning.

Decided to throw the swimbait and see what happened.

First stop, no structure.

Second stop, weedy.

Third one is the charm. Glassy, shorebreak, and bait popping here and there.

Time was short. One bite, one fish.


Not a monster, but at least I didn't lose it.

173

Food & Recipe / Opah

« on: September 25, 2015, 04:59:02 AM »

Just throwing it out there.

Son's friend works for Catalina Offshore Products. Said they sell Opah for $5 a pound. Sounded cheap to me. Said they just got 4000 pounds in. I always thought they were kinda rare. Guess not.

174

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / PL Kelp 9/12/2015

« on: September 13, 2015, 04:06:38 AM »

 Got a text Friday night to fish the kelp with my friend, so I rearranged my schedule and went for it.

 Boat was already in the water tucked under the bow of a 73 foot fishing yacht/home.

 Start time of 630 got pushed back to 7, which ended up being 8 before we left the house.

 Then the 5 minute one mile trip to the yacht club took 1/2 an hour and ten miles of driving to get to the other side of the triathalon. That sucked.

 Next up, catch some macks from the bait hotel under the dock. Those suckers are fast. Going to have to work out a system to corral them like the bait barge has.

 Out on the kelp finally and it is glassy, no breeze and the sun pounding down.

 Managed a few bass, from legal to maybe 3 pounds. I texted a few pics to Tom, working on a saturday. Like a good friend, to raise his spirits.

 



 We found a few crashing schools of bonito but we got close to them as the seal found them and drove them down. No love on the bonito.

 At one point about 15 go fast boats went thundering by in the distance. Think airliner noise on the water.


 Highlight of the trip was 7 year old Anton hooking up on a nice bass. He was casting a weedless swimbait I loaned him on his dad's rod with a Torium conventional. Never got it very far out, but never got a backlash that we couldn't get out. Not bad, Anton.

 

 Got hot and tired. Headed back to the club for Sculpins in a to go cup, cleaned the boat, then hung out on the 73' boats deck with a couple more beers before heading home.

 

175

Fishing Talk / O'side pier 9/5/15

« on: September 05, 2015, 08:54:08 AM »

Good bite on one bait size mackerel this morning. Saw a couple nice bonito come over the rail too. Only had $.75 for the meter but I got 7 baits for that. Probably spend some time tomorrow morning making bait.

176

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Hunting Hammers 8/27/15

« on: August 28, 2015, 04:58:42 AM »

 Acted on some reliable third hand info and headed out for a quick week night session. Thought I had a shot at a hammer. Longshot, but, hey, sometimes they come in.

 Got to the beach around 7. Packed. Had to circle twice to get a spot. On the way I saw a couple guys set up with long rods. They must have been after Jaws because they had the biggest gaff I've ever seen. Could have fit my head in the hook with space all around.

 Anyway, got to the water and it is wall to wall people. I spotted a human free zone and hoofed it over.

 Bait in the water and enjoy the sunset.

 Not much going on, but I did manage a nice leopard before the impossible grass started moving in.




Not bad for a quick session.

177

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Hunting Tuna 8/20-21

« on: August 23, 2015, 07:30:40 AM »

Took a day off work to chase tuna with a couple friends. We heard bait was limited at MB so we decided to get there early. I left the house at 2 to make Jon's place by 3.

Loaded the boat and we were on the road at 330.

Made our way to Dana and launched the boat, then put it back on the trailer and went to fuel up. Oops.

It was early, what can you say?

Final launch at 415 and we got in line at the bait barge. Only 6 ahead of us, and the bait was 8-9" dines.

There was already a little breeze, but we didn't expect to see whitecaps at 5am outside the inlet. Blech.

Headed northwest and saw a group of about 4 boats close together, did a driveby and saw they were working a huge paddy. We gave them their space and kept looking.

That was the only paddy we saw for a couple hours more until we came upon another group of boats working a paddy. Like 15 boats. We saw a couple bendos, watched for a few to get the lay of the land and found a spot to drift down on it. It was cool that everyone was working together to get their fish and not shut down the bite.

I popped a rally beer for luck and offered a drink to my friends of the sea.



Well, it worked, sort of. My friend David got bit and pulled in a small YFT 15lb or so.

Made another drift and I got bit this time.



The whole time we drifted the paddy we were dropping a line of chunk baits. Small dorado were taking them right off the corner. Except the ones with hooks in them. We watched them swim up and turn away countless times.

Finally Jon got one to go.

I took a pic but won't show it out of respect for my friend.

We were one of the last two boats on the paddy when a guy from the other boat jumped in with a speargun. No big deal, the bite was off and they were on the other side, so we kept fishing. We didn't get another bite so it was easy to move on when the spearfishing charter boat showed up.

We went bouncing around looking for paddies again. The wind layed down a little which was nice, but picked back up before long.

With no luck finding paddies we decided to head in. We passed a group of boats on a drift that had birds working the area as well and decided to to try a soak on the way home. Slid in, started the chunking and waited.

Glad we did. Jon ended up with the best fish of the trip.



Back to the barn, changed clothes and headed out for the opening of Bay City Brewery near Sport Arena.  Had a few beers, some BBQ and went back to Jon's to have a couple whiskies and crash out for saturday's run.

Saturday's conditions were very different, starting with an hour wait for bait at MB barge. Glad we got there when we did because when we left the line was beyond the bridge. I think the last three boats in line were still on the trailer at the ramp.

Beautiful seas made for easy going. We ran over 100 miles looking for paddies. Found a couple, but no players.

Joined a fleet and soaked bait for one screaming bite that chewed me off. Light line with a small hook. Got me bit, but couldn't seal the deal.

Headed home early since the captain had a gala to attend for work and needed a nap and time to change into his tux.

Best part of the two days fishing with my friends was dropping my tuna off to my adopted Grandmother. When she heard I was coming with a fish she got me a huge tray of lumpia and another of pancit. When she saw the fish she was so happy I saw her eyes tear up just a little. Gave her a hug, told her I loved her and hit the road eating fresh hot crispy lumpia all the way.

Not the best catching, but I had two great days with friends on the water.

178

Fishing Talk / Heading out

« on: August 22, 2015, 04:53:45 AM »

As soon as we get some bait. Mb line is out the inlet almost to the bridge. Been here 20 min. Looks like at least 20 more. When we got here the line was only to the inlet.

179

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / MOVED: Hard work finally paying off....

« on: August 16, 2015, 05:52:23 AM »

This topic has been moved to Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports.

http://prehistoricsoul.com/forum/index.php?topic=930.0

180

Fishing Talk / Shark bite

« on: August 13, 2015, 04:51:25 AM »

http://www.10news.com/news/man-bitten-by-hammerhead-shark-off-coast-of-san-diego-081215

Knew it was a bad idea to jump off a perfectly good boat.