jplee3
05-17-2008, 10:26 PM
Went out on the Sea Horse overnighter out of Dana Wharf with a couple buddies of mine. They went to San Clemente Island on a full load of 25 anglers. The boat left a bit late as they got in late from Thursday's overnighter - Butch, in the galley, was pissed because that group had no clue what they were doing. Today's group was pretty decent - there was at least one guy from Bloodydecks and most of the other guys seemed to have some experience.
Anyway, I'll cut to the chase [warning: long story if you hate to read]...
Around 3:30am I got up because I hear the boat's motor on but no movement. I went up to the deck and Butch is up along with several other guys. We start dropping anchovies and dead squid in the water for calicos. I picked off a few (mostly shorts) here and there. Then I dropped a chovy to the bottom and my rod loads up - it was probably a good 2lb'er. I released it. Even though they're tasty, I have an affinity towards releasing calicos :)
We make a few more drops and some of us picked up some sculpin.
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474318_6483.jpg
The morning was pretty slow - we made a couple moves for breezing yellows but missed. Also tried for WSB near one of the shores but to no avail. Bummer... we moved to a couple more locations to take a pick at more calicos, sculpin, whiteys, and blue perch. Mostly just little fun. I got a short calico off my Tady. First fish off an iron! :P Got lots of practice with the Saltist and got to launch irons with the Curado... it was so smooth until I bird nested it beyond repair. I was able to salvage the backing when I got home but the mono is all cut up :(
Capt decides to move around the island in search of more breezing yellows. He finds a school but it turns out to be bonito! Several guys hooked up - two guys w/ spinning reels kept hooking up but losing them! I threw out my iron but was too slow and missed a strike - bonito grabbed it and spit it back out right away. These guys were crashing the surface! It was amazing! Anyway, after about 30 seconds of the flurry, it dies again. Capt goes a bit further down still in search and finds yet ANOTHER school! We throw lines out and I tried again with the iron (scrambled egg) and missed on another hit! UGHH... I decided to switch up to live bait at this point. We had live squid, so that was a big plus. My friend ended up hooking up with a nice bonito as well. He's not used to open faced reels so it was a good thing I had him using my levelwind :D He landed it no problem with a little coaching.
Capt still was in search of yellows and suddenly warned us again of a school heading right towards us. After several moves on the yellows (they were breezing back and forth) about 5 other boats and ours got them circled and they started showing fin closest to us. I immediately tossed out a live squid w/ a 1oz egg sinker & circle hook. After about 5 mins of letting it drift, I reel it back in and toss it out again. Still no love. I start reeling in a little bit but let the squid run since my line is further out. All of the sudden, my 'spidey sense' goes off and I point the rod tip up slowly.... the rod loads up and I reel (circle hook): BENDO!!! FRESHIE!!! At this point I wasn't sure if it was a yellow or a bone but I was hoping for a yellow. Since this was my first big fish, 2nd Capt Todd coached me through it and helped out at the hard times. After about 15 mins I landed a 20+ lb yellow! YES!!! It turned out to be the only yellow of the day (a few guys also said they had hooked up on a couple but lost them)... most of us thought it was gonna be the jackpot fish but it got beat by a MONSTER 30lb halibut that some guy pulled up earlier on. DARN!
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474320_7013.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474322_7534.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474325_8357.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474329_9448.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474330_9775.jpg
In either case, I was pretty stoked. And I'm still pretty stoked. In fact, I still need to go cut up the belly and eat some yellowtail SASHIMI! YEEEAH!!!
About the boat: the crew of the Sea Horse is pretty awesome. In accord with what others have said about the boat, the captain (Tyler) worked extremely hard to put us on fish. And he'll actually let us fish too :) He's a good guy and is smart in his approach and tactic to following and moving in on the fish. The crew was great too - they really tried to help all of us out when we needed it. RE the bunks, yea it was pretty cramped and it smelled like BUNK. But I'm a guy... what else? I felt bad for the one girl that came along with her boyfriend though - I can only imagine what she must have been thinking :O Brave girl...
My final count:
1 Yellowtail
1 Whitefish
1 Sculpin
1 Sheepshead
1 Blue Perch (not sure why I decided to keep this)
Anyway, I'll cut to the chase [warning: long story if you hate to read]...
Around 3:30am I got up because I hear the boat's motor on but no movement. I went up to the deck and Butch is up along with several other guys. We start dropping anchovies and dead squid in the water for calicos. I picked off a few (mostly shorts) here and there. Then I dropped a chovy to the bottom and my rod loads up - it was probably a good 2lb'er. I released it. Even though they're tasty, I have an affinity towards releasing calicos :)
We make a few more drops and some of us picked up some sculpin.
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474318_6483.jpg
The morning was pretty slow - we made a couple moves for breezing yellows but missed. Also tried for WSB near one of the shores but to no avail. Bummer... we moved to a couple more locations to take a pick at more calicos, sculpin, whiteys, and blue perch. Mostly just little fun. I got a short calico off my Tady. First fish off an iron! :P Got lots of practice with the Saltist and got to launch irons with the Curado... it was so smooth until I bird nested it beyond repair. I was able to salvage the backing when I got home but the mono is all cut up :(
Capt decides to move around the island in search of more breezing yellows. He finds a school but it turns out to be bonito! Several guys hooked up - two guys w/ spinning reels kept hooking up but losing them! I threw out my iron but was too slow and missed a strike - bonito grabbed it and spit it back out right away. These guys were crashing the surface! It was amazing! Anyway, after about 30 seconds of the flurry, it dies again. Capt goes a bit further down still in search and finds yet ANOTHER school! We throw lines out and I tried again with the iron (scrambled egg) and missed on another hit! UGHH... I decided to switch up to live bait at this point. We had live squid, so that was a big plus. My friend ended up hooking up with a nice bonito as well. He's not used to open faced reels so it was a good thing I had him using my levelwind :D He landed it no problem with a little coaching.
Capt still was in search of yellows and suddenly warned us again of a school heading right towards us. After several moves on the yellows (they were breezing back and forth) about 5 other boats and ours got them circled and they started showing fin closest to us. I immediately tossed out a live squid w/ a 1oz egg sinker & circle hook. After about 5 mins of letting it drift, I reel it back in and toss it out again. Still no love. I start reeling in a little bit but let the squid run since my line is further out. All of the sudden, my 'spidey sense' goes off and I point the rod tip up slowly.... the rod loads up and I reel (circle hook): BENDO!!! FRESHIE!!! At this point I wasn't sure if it was a yellow or a bone but I was hoping for a yellow. Since this was my first big fish, 2nd Capt Todd coached me through it and helped out at the hard times. After about 15 mins I landed a 20+ lb yellow! YES!!! It turned out to be the only yellow of the day (a few guys also said they had hooked up on a couple but lost them)... most of us thought it was gonna be the jackpot fish but it got beat by a MONSTER 30lb halibut that some guy pulled up earlier on. DARN!
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474320_7013.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474322_7534.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474325_8357.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474329_9448.jpg
http://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v240/191/33/545848653/n545848653_474330_9775.jpg
In either case, I was pretty stoked. And I'm still pretty stoked. In fact, I still need to go cut up the belly and eat some yellowtail SASHIMI! YEEEAH!!!
About the boat: the crew of the Sea Horse is pretty awesome. In accord with what others have said about the boat, the captain (Tyler) worked extremely hard to put us on fish. And he'll actually let us fish too :) He's a good guy and is smart in his approach and tactic to following and moving in on the fish. The crew was great too - they really tried to help all of us out when we needed it. RE the bunks, yea it was pretty cramped and it smelled like BUNK. But I'm a guy... what else? I felt bad for the one girl that came along with her boyfriend though - I can only imagine what she must have been thinking :O Brave girl...
My final count:
1 Yellowtail
1 Whitefish
1 Sculpin
1 Sheepshead
1 Blue Perch (not sure why I decided to keep this)