Orion 1.5 day (4/24 - 4/26)

[sansou]

First things first, thank you DavidE for the invite. I had a great time fishing with you....lots of laughs were had. Likewise, DeanHall...always a pleasure to fish Mexico with ya & congrats on Jackpot!!

Original plans for this boat were to head to SCI, but that was scrapped once Brian (Capt) saw the weather & lack of fish counts. Instead, we headed out for San Jose, which is some 90 miles south, after loading some good looking sardines/mackerel. Total of 13 passengers (??).

Weather on the way out was poopy. We compensated with copious amounts of gin & tonics. Woke up early morning after getting "donkey punched" probably due to my excessive snoring. Shortly around 6:30 am, we hit the first spot, for decent reds. I think the first hole produced 70 reds @ 300ft.

From there we meandered up the coast, with a final goal of trying for some inshore yellows at or below Todos Santos...and if conditions permitted, Brian was willing to "cross the line" into T/S to sneak a couple YT.

On the way up the coast I decided to setup a troll using some new deep divers I bought at Fred Hall. I got a couple healthy size bonito, but one particular strike definately was something much larger and sexier....we'll never know other than the fact that it was stripping good amounts of line at "strike". The bonito never hit the boat's trollers equipped with little feathers....the fish were a little under the surface. Water color was green outside, and clean inshore!?!?

By the end of the day we anchored in a little notch cove just below T/S, and fished right on a kelp forest a few hundred feet from shore. It was nicely sheltered from the waves and looked fishy as heck. We fished 60-80 feet, all different styles. I threw jigs for a while, then switched to flylining light line. We saw at least one good yellowtail swirl right next to us, but no takers. We ate dinner in the cove, and reluctantly started our journey home. Fishing in the cove was the best part of the trip for me.

The ride home was rough. No fun.

I think total fish counts were limits all around...a few lings but nothing to write home about. I kinda noticed we caught a bunch of chuckles and chocolates though, which makes sense cause we did fish a close on the way up.

All in all a great trip in spite of the weather, super light load (especially when a couple of the anglers were permanently sick!). I highly recommend this boat if you don't mind fishing a smaller platform. Capt Brian keeps you informed all along the way of what he's seeing or thinking....very intense fisherman who really wants you to get on fish. The crew are helpful and have a positive friendly attitude...no macho crap you see on certain other boats.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009042.jpg

No one around....everyone's sleeping while we're trolling....LOL!
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009044.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009045.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009046.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009047.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009048.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009050.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009053.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009054.jpg

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009055.jpg

Yeah, it was tasty....and to think all these years I used to toss them back in the ocean!
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/April2009057.jpg

[cappo]

Crappy weather, but i bet you guys loaded up on nice reds. And you got to hang with Deanster. Hey why is your trolling reel on backwards? LOL

[sansou]

Crappy weather, but i bet you guys loaded up on nice reds. And you got to hang with Deanster. Hey why is your trolling reel on backwards? LOL

It's a tevA XH !!

Whenever your ready for a dose of swine flu, gimme a heads up we'll caravan down with El Coach!

[Liteliner]

Nice pics sansou. Sorry I couldnt make this trip. Sucks about the weather but damn its gotta be good to get out on the sea once again with an almost empty boat. Did you get any really big whitefish? :Wink: Thanks for the report and heads up on the boat man. That sashimi looks killer.

[victor101]

Too bad about the bad weather. At least you still got out there and got limits of Rockfeesh. Im sure you'll get plenty of yellows this summer. Any info on the game plan? SQ? SF?

[sansou]

Too bad about the bad weather. At least you still got out there and got limits of Rockfeesh. Im sure you'll get plenty of yellows this summer. Any info on the game plan? SQ? SF?

Victor: looks like memorial day weekend....trying to plan out 2 days of fishing down in SQ. Hopefully we'll habve significant warming by then and a realistic shot at some YT and whatever else...

Litliner: Dean's big whitefish carried the JP! I didnt get a pic though....sorry for the lack of "whitefish pr0n"....I know how you love the "poor man's yellowtail"!

[JapanRon]

Hi sansou,

Very nice report and pics. Sounds like you had a good time. I know how you feel on the fishy spots .... there's so much anticipation when one comes across such a place. In my case .... places such as coves and close-in shelves I thought looked especially fishy at Catalina seems to have been a barren as I and others couldn't catch a fsh there our save my lives !! :)

Thank you for the great write-up and photos !!

JapanRon

[BIGRED KILLA]

Thanks for the pics and report Rich. Thats to bad the nicer fish did not stick to the deep diver those things are killer in SQ.



Bigred

[olfishergal]

very good report Rich, be happy to fish with you again sometime soon, hopefully, look forward to your report. OFG

[Oz]

great report rich...its always a good trip if u got the homies to fish with.

[deanhall32]

The words just flow off the tip of your pen Rich!! Great trip even though we got beat to s**t.

There were 11 people on the boat and 2 didn't even get a line wet because they were so seasick. I thought I was gonna be a victim too-even though I have never gotten seasick before. A churning started to set in, then a few burps and a wet fart and I was starting to sweat it out but then I caught a large whitefish and forgot about it. I think it is true that catching fish is a good remedy.

You are always a real crack-up and so is DavidE. Looking forward to the next trip! Just hope we don't have 25 MPH winds and 8 foot seas......

[DavidE]

Dudes that was a fun trip!! Whats not fun about 8ft swells, heavy winds, donkey punchin, minding your own business lookin out the window and ...., good times just keep coming!!!

Bryan definitely is very informative and works like a madman to find the fish. Our job is easy, put those fish on tha boat. We did well considering out of 11 - 2 were perma sick, 3 had never fished before. That means 6 of us caught limits for the entire boat!!

Hey Rich I talked to Bryan about an overnight in Sept. Lemme know if you wanna put something together. I'm sure he'll do us a favor in pricing. BTW way cool fishin with you!!

Dean, what can I say, Never know what you'll see lookin out windows man. Hopefully sooner but if not see ya in August Bro. Always a blast fishin with ya.

BTW on the mystery troll fish I'm thinking shark, big shark. On my mystery fish down deep, I'm still trying to convince myself it was a very large piece of kelp that would let me gain 20-30 yards of line then shake its branch and try to return to the seafloor.

Peace!!!

[ironshrimp]

yeah, you motha soccer...thanks for calling me!!! kidding

seriously beautiful bunch of pics, I can almost feel the ocean breeze blowing through my hair

judging from your description of the ocean conditions, sounds like a trip I'll have to build up to...

awesome report, keep em coming...oh yeah San Quintin here we come....pasa le pasa le!!!!!!!

[pineapple express]

nice report sansou
felt like i was right there with you guys. SORRY i missed this trip David.
always good times on your charters, catching ><> is a bonus ...would
of love to been on that roller coaster ride & in the trenches with y'all.
sorry the yt & wsb didn't cooperate. at least you guys beat the skunk
in those tough conditions. coach won the jp again, WTH? always winning
those jp's... WTG bro...! see you guys on the next trip. the Orion rocks...!!!
mahaloz for sharing
PE

[Wingnut]

Nice report Rich, too bad conditions & the fishing wasn't up to par, but a nice trip nevertheless, see ya around. :Wink: