Ambassadorhawg
11-17-2008, 05:24 PM
Sunday, November 16:
Headed up to the Cen Coast to hang with my family, do some trail riding and to go codding one last time before the season closes at the end of this month.
I won the JP on my last visit up there so other than cleaning & galley tabs and tips, this trip was a freebee.
Climbed onboard the Pacific Horizon outta Patriot Sportfishing in the early AM of Sunday mornin'. We departed at about 6AM and headed for Purisma Point, a 2-1/2 hour cruise downhill. The water was simply spectacular, no swell to speak of and an ever-so-slight breeze. I've been lucky up there this year with weather!
Anyway, Captain Sal informed us over the P.A. that we would be starting out deep and then slide inside later in the morning. I chuckle about what they call "deep" in that area- we started in 95'! LOL!!!
Sal also said that it's been a picky bite lately since a big swell had gone through and stirred up the water clarity.
I went to kill, stained water ain't about to stop me, LOL! I tied a 1 oz. leadhead on and slid a gold/flake swimbait onto it. Then sent it down, down, down, into that ultra deep 95' of water, oh brother!
It was a little slow. Not dead, though, as myself and a few other guys were picking away at the quality cods that populate this area of our coast. We got fat browns, fat reds, a few lings, blues, blacks, coppers, gophers and some tremendous, I mean TREMENDOUS Cabezon!
The browns and reds were up to 5 lbs, the lings were up to 14+ lbs, and the Cabby's were pushing 10 pounds! I ended up with a limit of big cods and a limit of 8-9 pound class Lings. I had one other keeper that I gave to a fellow lady angler. I also had 2 shorts. I hadn't caught a Black in many years, so that was cool to see. I had a true stomper sized Blue and some small Johnny's, too. Quite a few of 49 anglers onboard did not catch much of anything, so I helped them round out their sacks, as did some of the other seasoned veteran shallow water codders onboard. I usually catch 50+ fish on these trips but this time I ONLY caught about 30, so I guess it was "slow"?
We fished 95-105' until late morning and then started moving on in. The last 2 drifts of the day were in 45'!!! Sal told me that they had fished in 15' there recently!!! What the heck? A sportboat in 15'? WOOOW!
I fished my swimbait most of the time. On a few stops, I did notice that the jigs were getting more bites, so I switched when I had to, to continue connecting. It really didn't matter what color you used on any type of lure. But skill was a huge plus. The fish were picky with lots of light bites and many, many soft bites that did not stick.
The catch of the day??? An 11+ pound Bonito! That thing worked the guy who landed it. He went almost all the way around the boat and tangled everyone but a few anglers (not me!) in the process. The deckhands did a marvelous job of untangling the messes that Bonehead caused. Frankly, I am suprised the guy landed it!
No pics, you guys know what fish look like already. I did take a pic of a Racoon that was looking for handouts on the pier before we boarded, though.
The Captain and crew are always great, I recommend them. The food is good and the people up there are very kind and nice to talk to. Thanks guys!!! I will be back next year...
Headed up to the Cen Coast to hang with my family, do some trail riding and to go codding one last time before the season closes at the end of this month.
I won the JP on my last visit up there so other than cleaning & galley tabs and tips, this trip was a freebee.
Climbed onboard the Pacific Horizon outta Patriot Sportfishing in the early AM of Sunday mornin'. We departed at about 6AM and headed for Purisma Point, a 2-1/2 hour cruise downhill. The water was simply spectacular, no swell to speak of and an ever-so-slight breeze. I've been lucky up there this year with weather!
Anyway, Captain Sal informed us over the P.A. that we would be starting out deep and then slide inside later in the morning. I chuckle about what they call "deep" in that area- we started in 95'! LOL!!!
Sal also said that it's been a picky bite lately since a big swell had gone through and stirred up the water clarity.
I went to kill, stained water ain't about to stop me, LOL! I tied a 1 oz. leadhead on and slid a gold/flake swimbait onto it. Then sent it down, down, down, into that ultra deep 95' of water, oh brother!
It was a little slow. Not dead, though, as myself and a few other guys were picking away at the quality cods that populate this area of our coast. We got fat browns, fat reds, a few lings, blues, blacks, coppers, gophers and some tremendous, I mean TREMENDOUS Cabezon!
The browns and reds were up to 5 lbs, the lings were up to 14+ lbs, and the Cabby's were pushing 10 pounds! I ended up with a limit of big cods and a limit of 8-9 pound class Lings. I had one other keeper that I gave to a fellow lady angler. I also had 2 shorts. I hadn't caught a Black in many years, so that was cool to see. I had a true stomper sized Blue and some small Johnny's, too. Quite a few of 49 anglers onboard did not catch much of anything, so I helped them round out their sacks, as did some of the other seasoned veteran shallow water codders onboard. I usually catch 50+ fish on these trips but this time I ONLY caught about 30, so I guess it was "slow"?
We fished 95-105' until late morning and then started moving on in. The last 2 drifts of the day were in 45'!!! Sal told me that they had fished in 15' there recently!!! What the heck? A sportboat in 15'? WOOOW!
I fished my swimbait most of the time. On a few stops, I did notice that the jigs were getting more bites, so I switched when I had to, to continue connecting. It really didn't matter what color you used on any type of lure. But skill was a huge plus. The fish were picky with lots of light bites and many, many soft bites that did not stick.
The catch of the day??? An 11+ pound Bonito! That thing worked the guy who landed it. He went almost all the way around the boat and tangled everyone but a few anglers (not me!) in the process. The deckhands did a marvelous job of untangling the messes that Bonehead caused. Frankly, I am suprised the guy landed it!
No pics, you guys know what fish look like already. I did take a pic of a Racoon that was looking for handouts on the pier before we boarded, though.
The Captain and crew are always great, I recommend them. The food is good and the people up there are very kind and nice to talk to. Thanks guys!!! I will be back next year...