A Heavy Diet of Iron (9/21)

[Latimeria]

Lobster season is fast approaching and the surf shark season is also upon us.  I have not taken the boat out in a while and Steve and I were ready to load up on some bonito and mackerel for the upcoming season.

We decided to make it more fun and sport catch our bait instead of sabiki'ing them up.

I rigged up all metals and we went for a short trip to catch our goal.  The plan was to be off the water by noon... and surprisingly, we were! 

The guns and ammo...


On the way out, we thought we saw "Where's My Beer", but instead was his unscrupulous friend, Paul heading out looking for tuna.  LOL, just kidding Dave.


We actually kicked the snot out of HUGE mackerel mixed with really nice mackerel as well as nice grade of bonito.  Steve might have lost as many fish as he caught, but we definitely accomplished our goal!


If you are heading out though, let me say that LJ is LOADED with hungry dawgs!  We lost macks and bonito to those vermin that were everywhere!  It was just nuts how many sea lions were out there stealing fish!

I hooked a few barracuda, but only got one in.  I almost had a double on one Tady45 as a calico bum rushed the cuda trying to steal the tady out of its mouth.  That would have made for an epic pic!



I think Steve ended up with 20+ baits including some bonito and I kept 32 total.  I had a really good bait run with 6 bones that were pretty legit and maybe too big for casting baits along with some monster macks and some perfect surf shark baits!



My chest freezer has no more ice in it, but instead is LOADED with lobster baits and surf shark baits.  I'm ready for the season to commence!



Good fishing with you Steve.  Time to lay the wood to some surf critters!

[MASSfisher]

Sweet! Can't wait to see what kinda critters are captured on those bonito. Heard they make awesome lobster bait, might needa try it this year.

[Latimeria]

Sweet! Can't wait to see what kinda critters are captured on those bonito. Heard they make awesome lobster bait, might needa try it this year.

If you get some nets and have bait along with gas$, I usually run into a night or two over the season looking for an extra hand to split everything.  I can't guarantee a trip, but I'll keep you in mind if I need someone as I usually do at some point.

[Pinoyfisher]

I need to make a bait trip as well. I kept some tuna heads and bellies in case my buddy decides to take his boat out for hooping. He's not the hooping type though, hope to convert him or it'll be a lot night dives for me and hopefully my brother.

[WheresMyBeer]

Classic!

They did 100+ miles today for rat yellows, 2 football YFT and a skippy. LOL.  Heard it was a long fricken day.

Nice job on the bonito! Lobster Lobster Lobster Lobster :-)

[raychavez91]

Damn must of bin a fun session on the mini tunas, but I have a question when it comes to how you are preserving bait, you straight freezing the bait whole or chunked? As is, or cured? I'm very curious as u can see lol

[sasquatch]

Hey Ray, I just ziploc bag my baits whole and uncured. I try to put what will be used for one session together.

Had a great time yet again on th Boma.

[Latimeria]

Damn must of bin a fun session on the mini tunas, but I have a question when it comes to how you are preserving bait, you straight freezing the bait whole or chunked? As is, or cured? I'm very curious as u can see lol

Yep, what Steve said.  I have a bunch of carcasses in bags for lobster bait, but I bag up and freeze the macks/bonito whole and usually bag the amount of baits I will use in a session.  I also lay them flat so they freeze separately.  It makes a big difference as you do not have to thaw them out all the way to separate them and they will not look deformed as they sometimes get when frozen in a block like that.

[raychavez91]

Alright sweet. Thanks guys, tomorrow I'll be on a bait gathering session up here in LA, and try and prepare my bait in similar form and see how that works

[sasquatch]

Damn must of bin a fun session on the mini tunas, but I have a question when it comes to how you are preserving bait, you straight freezing the bait whole or chunked? As is, or cured? I'm very curious as u can see lol

Yep, what Steve said.  I have a bunch of carcasses in bags for lobster bait, but I bag up and freeze the macks/bonito whole and usually bag the amount of baits I will use in a session.  I also lay them flat so they freeze separately.  It makes a big difference as you do not have to thaw them out all the way to separate them and they will not look deformed as they sometimes get when frozen in a block like that.

That's kind of funny, I bag mine all together then freeze them. I feel like they stay colder longer and in better shape than if they were separate. Once they are cut into 2 or 3 sections, any curve/deformity is pretty much negligible. Sometimes it is a little tough to separate the first one from the rest, but a couple fingers under the head usually does the trick.

All that, and the truth is, I'm too lazy to freeze them individually. They seem to be working just fine to me.

[raychavez91]

I'll try both ways haha, thanks guys