10/10
Launched from Dana Point 0630. Was heading toward Oside Canyon area but wanted to make bait at a proven ground and check out some water in between where I saw some breezer tuna last week.
Got to the bait grounds where the party boats are absolutely plagued with mackerel. Really just wanted a fresh dead mack so I could set it up as a skip bait. I couldn't buy one. Caught back to back to back bonito before getting the hint.
No ice so they will become bait later.
Started heading south, no signs of life. Then came up on like a dozen paddies within a mile of each other. Trolled by em for nothing.
Got down to Oside area and then Chris came up on me. We shared notes that we hadn't already been texting and then trolled and scanned. I came up on one kelp holding a few marks down deep, worked it for a minute then gave up. Then came back over to Chris and we rolled up on a monster paddy, biggest I've seen this year.
Something was under it.
No biters.
We split ways because I needed to start heading north again. Chris disappeared west, and found some players, though not the tuna we were both looking for. I trolled a Yozuri Bonita for about 5 miles before kelp became a constant issue on the line. Back to the ramp around 1500.
10/11
Decided to stay local in HB and go smack around the bonita that people were saying were so easy to find and catch. Slept in, launched around noon. Bit of a breeze but no swell.
As soon as I left the harbor I saw some splashes. Bonita? No wait, looks like a sword bill coming out of the water....seal slapping around a fish? Nope! Thresher slapping around bait. OF course, this was the first trip this year that I only brought bass rods....and no macks to toss to it. I said f@ck it, threw an LC spook at it. Thresher left. Topwater lure did make sense in that instance though. Would prefer more than 15# leader though.
Went off to Izor's to find the bonito. Brought the 4wt fly rod to cast and troll flies with. Started trolling since I didn't see any surface action and got my first saltwater fish on the fly...
Thresher bait for later....wanted to find the bonito though. Kept trolling and picked off 5 mackerel while not seeing anything else. Of course. Isn't this water infested with bonito? Not while I'm looking for 'em.
Decided to leave Izor's and head in shallower. Switched to the mini iron. Picked off a legal sandie. Had a friend follow him to the surface. Drift that spot a few more times and pull another short. Nervous bait ball up top distracts me for a minute, it disappears, so do the bites on this stone.
Headed in shallower and put together a nice steady pick on legal and barely short bass for an hour or so.
Left that, filleted 2. Chop picked up a bit and it was a wet ride in. Checked out the spot where the thresher was and no sign of it. Never leaving for an inshore trip without a capable thresher rod again. Probably gonna try targeting them a couple times in the next month. Also need to stock up on mackerel for the winter.
Tomorrow's a 3/4 day, probably looking for mahi, so time to sleep.
