Catalina 3/11 on the Pursuit

[CalamARI]

Fished catalina yesterday for a slow pick on the rockfish, forecast said the weather
would be nice but it was overcast with a cold breeze. Fished deep for the rockies
early in the day, decent bite on a couple of stops. Moved inside along the kelp
after we had a few in the sack to look for bass, but no such luck. Picked up and
went in search of the boneheads, found them and it went wfo for a good 30min.
Managed seven on a Curdado 300 with 65lb spectra on my bass rod throwing a small
surface iron (Fire 1 if you know what that is). Would have landed more on heavier gear,
but don't think it would have been as fun on the little guys. Once things slowed down
and just before we headed back to port I switched to a 3.5 inch swimbait and landed
one more, a little better grade of fish. Last thing I was expecting on this trip was full
speed surface bite. Took a pic of my buddy(a.k.a. Greenie) who wanted one.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc176/i8CalamARI/ZZZPursuitPost.jpg?t=1236908365

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With the spring season almost upon us I was thinking about the barracuda
and bonita trips that a lot of us will doing soon and how many of those trips
are fast pace spent chucking lures with lots of treble hooks. On this last
trip I noticed a few things that I'd like to share, so here goes...

When the fish started to bite people just freaked out. It was like a Chinese fire
drill, all of a sudden it was panic mode and people forgot about safety and
common sense. That's not good, especially with kids aboard which there were.
I saw guys getting mad, pushing, tripping over each other, hitting the boat/tackle
boxes/rods while casting, and yelling "hot rail" like it was some sort of epic bite
on cow tuna. Tempers were flaring, it just made things ugly.

Do what you want to do but I bet you'll catch more fish and have more fun if you
keep a level head. It's a lot more fun when people keep their cool and are able to
treat each other with respect. You're out there to have fun not impale a fellow
angler or mow down a little kid in hopes of landing a fish sandwich.

Remember people BREATHE.

[trashetanush]

Wow, sweet job out there. Those fish look really good.

[calico killer kevin]

SWEET! Thanks for the report.

[ghetto dad]

lmao..yeah ari....light tackle bonita is fun.....ESPECIALLY when youre using 65 lb spectra!!! :ROFL::ROFL:

Nice job brother...glad you got out man.....take care

GD

[CalamARI]

lmao..yeah ari....light tackle bonita is fun.....ESPECIALLY when youre using 65 lb spectra!!! :ROFL::ROFL:

Nice job brother...glad you got out man.....take care

GD

I never said it was light gear, I said more fun than heavier gear. HA
Actually I could only put so much pressure on them, with that set up
and those little guys had my rod doubled over pretty good. It was a
mother trying to wind through the bite with those little paddle grips.
Although it was nice being able to bounce them with the 65 instead
of having to wait for a gaff like using 10lb mono. Compared to guys
fishing with 30-40lb mono on equally rated rods it felt like light tackle
fishing. It was funny too, there was a lot of guys getting worked on
the heavier gear.

[newster]

Them curado 300's are beastly. Thanks for the report and unfortunately what you say about the cattle boats are often true. People often make mountains out of mole hills and it causes a dangerous environment on board. I can't wait to hook into some boneheads this year.

[JapanRon]

Hi CalamARI,

Thanks for the detailed report ..... much appreciated. The boat seemed to produce very, very well. 51 anglers for 56 Whitefish, 25 Vermilion Rockfish, 5 Sculpin, 230 Rockfish, 58 Halfmoon, 19 California Sheephead, 2 Calico Bass, 128 Bonito, 25 Bocaccio !! Still 51 anglers ....... Ouch !! I don't care how big the boat is ...... in the worst case ... 50 of those anglers will attempt to occupy 10 percent of the boat at any given time on a Catalina trip. Oh, the other one person .... that's me or you !! $45 Wed ride (w/51 folks) is one I can~not afford !! I'm spoiled. Still, I fully agree that the trip is well, well worth it !!

Yes, the novice jig slingers are dangerous to both man and beast .... or tackle e~ven !! The self-centered know-it-all, hot-shots are even worse as they'll second-tier you ... until you set your hook (oh shoot, missed 'em) and step back quickly to knock the crap out of them .... 'ops where you standing inches behind me ? ... sorry' is the question you can ask while they try to pick themselves up off the deck or (my preference) hop around on one foot (flip-flops are typically their favorite footware). No, I don't judge anyone solely by their footware ! ha ha

You are a brave man to use the spectra on the lightening-fast bonies on a boat with 50 other guys but I understand using the iron would keep you out of trouble most of the time. Same with plastics ... one can manuever around limp-lines and such.

I had a couple of buddies on that trip but haven't spoken with them yet. One guy is a fairly tall, skinny, old black guy (Perchinator) and his buddy (Big-fish Roger). Did you meet them ... they are very personable ?

JapanRon

[ghetto dad]

I never said it was light gear, I said more fun than heavier gear. HA
Actually I could only put so much pressure on them, with that set up
and those little guys had my rod doubled over pretty good. It was a
mother trying to wind through the bite with those little paddle grips.
Although it was nice being able to bounce them with the 65 instead
of having to wait for a gaff like using 10lb mono. Compared to guys
fishing with 30-40lb mono on equally rated rods it felt like light tackle
fishing. It was funny too, there was a lot of guys getting worked on
the heavier gear.

I was just playin man.....lmao

GD

[CalamARI]

Hi CalamARI,

Thanks for the detailed report ..... much appreciated. The boat seemed to produce very, very well. 51 anglers for 56 Whitefish, 25 Vermilion Rockfish, 5 Sculpin, 230 Rockfish, 58 Halfmoon, 19 California Sheephead, 2 Calico Bass, 128 Bonito, 25 Bocaccio !! Still 51 anglers ....... Ouch !! I don't care how big the boat is ...... in the worst case ... 50 of those anglers will attempt to occupy 10 percent of the boat at any given time on a Catalina trip. Oh, the other one person .... that's me or you !! $45 Wed ride (w/51 folks) is one I can~not afford !! I'm spoiled. Still, I fully agree that the trip is well, well worth it !!

Yes, the novice jig slingers are dangerous to both man and beast .... or tackle e~ven !! The self-centered know-it-all, hot-shots are even worse as they'll second-tier you ... until you set your hook (oh shoot, missed 'em) and step back quickly to knock the crap out of them .... 'ops where you standing inches behind me ? ... sorry' is the question you can ask while they try to pick themselves up off the deck or (my preference) hop around on one foot (flip-flops are typically their favorite footware). No, I don't judge anyone solely by their footware ! ha ha

You are a brave man to use the spectra on the lightening-fast bonies on a boat with 50 other guys but I understand using the iron would keep you out of trouble most of the time. Same with plastics ... one can manuever around limp-lines and such.

I had a couple of buddies on that trip but haven't spoken with them yet. One guy is a fairly tall, skinny, old black guy (Perchinator) and his buddy (Big-fish Roger). Did you meet them ... they are very personable ?

JapanRon

I may have met your buddies, not sure, there was a couple of brothers fishing right
next to me, both very personable and knowledgeable, one was pretty big but the
other one wore glasses and wasnt' that skinny. There was another pair fishing on
the other side of the boat, and one was very skinny (I'd guess close to 60 yo),
I'm guessing those were your bro's and I didn't have a chance to meet them.


I was just playin man.....lmao

GD

No need to explain yourself, I get your humor. I know, it's all good.
Fire away. I know you can dish it out better than that. I tried adding
a "ha" in there to let you know I was playing too. Actually it was a
valid point you made, even though you were joking when you made it.

[FISH_HUNTER]

"Still 51 anglers ....... Ouch" !!


That's a "light" load for the Pursuit :ROFL: And it's not even spring yet! But they do a pretty good job on putting fish on the board.

[kgselect]

Nice report. I agree with you on the frenzy. It's very scary. It gets dangerous when people start thowing jigs without regard to safety. Everyone needs to keep a cool head. Even on the tuna boats, a bit of caution would make the trip better and safer for everyone. Thanks.

[JapanRon]

Hi again calamARI,

Ya .... I'll bet the guys on the other side of the boat were my buds ... one black the other white ... well ... kinda white ...... but more rosy toned after 10:30am or so ! :)

Ya .... the 65lb spectra tempted me to make one of my usual comments too ... glad I kept it shut !! I use 30lb test braid Powerpro Phantom Red and will often will go down to 8 or 12lb test Seaguar 5' leaders and that is what I say qualifies as a legit lite-tackle setup.

again .... thanks,

JapanRon

[SOSO]

Thanks for the report. Bonito @ Catalina are always fun! Wu-Tang Clan has no boundaries.

[ghetto dad]

LOL...i know i made a valid point....hope to fish with you soon bro...

GD

[TONTO6190]

I was on the retard bus. 51 people that knew which way the sky is wouldn't have been as bad. But the people that where on this trip ooohhh man. Some people had a clue and the others got worked by the bones. You would have thought that they had 30lb yellows on their lines. I had to throw my jig, hook them, and then work the fish in as fast as I could just to keep out of the tangles.

There was even a guy that thought his sardine was jig. He would cast the poor thing out and then wind it in like a jig. Then cast the same dead dine again and wind it in. I must have bounced 4 over buy the time he lost his bait.

But all and all good way to start the season.

[supasportkid]

nice bones. i hear you on the panic attack anglers! its kinda funny when you see that