Yellowtail and Bonito

[Mojave River Angler]

I'm headed out on an ocean trip on June 4th and my friends say we will be running into Yellowtail and Bonito. I don't know which boat yet, but we have been looking at 22nd street landing.

Can someone give me some clues as to what kind of rigging I'll be doing on my line and what kind of bait/lures I can expect to be using? This is my second time out, so I have an idea what to expect for general conditions, but I'd like to be a little more focused, "dialed in" on what I'm doing. I'd even like to have some rigs tied up in advance, so I can just snap them on, bait up and drop.

Thanks for any help.

MRA

[sansou]

It might be easier if you just tell us what setups and line you are running. That way people on the board can tell you what to rig for each setup.

In any case, a good crew will help you. Good luck, have fun & post a report!

[Ricky-Ray]

Flyline a live sardine or squid. If using a squid you might need to put on a 1/8-3/4oz sliding egg sinker to help it get down the water column. The weight will depend on the current. You can also try catching them on the iron/jigs. If they are on the surface something like a tady 45 if they are down and you need to yo-yo something like a sumo 6xjr. Colors something like a blue/white, mint, scrambled egg, black/white would be the basic colors to carry. Even the old crocodile spoon will catch bonito and yellowtail.

[Mojave River Angler]

I don't have expensive gear for saltwater. I picked up a South Bend Black Beauty 2 combo back in Dec. for my first trip out. It is a 20-40 lb single piece 6'-6"rod with 30 lb mono wound on. I use a larger freshwater spinning rod as a backup (better than nothing disposable stuff but rental may be better) with 15 lb. mono. I have a spool of 12 lb. cajun if I need to go smaller. I do have some pre tied carolina rigs from the earlier trip left over. I have krocadiles in two sizes. I have sinkers to 4 oz, sliding eggs to 1 oz. I can tie a few knots. So, I'm just dangerous at this point.

A friend may loan me his Penn jigmaster...but to tell you the truth, I'm anxious about using it. I can set world records with my birds nests...had to have the deck hand pull one of them out for me last time. I "may" be teachable.

MRA

[victor101]

20# flyline rig, 25# flyline rig, 30# Jig rig....I like using Tady 9 Jigs because u can fish them on the surface and are heavy enough to drop down deep if the fish are deeper. Scrambled egg pattern has been working pretty good for me. As far as flylining goes, I use 2/0 flyliner hooks for fishing sardines or squid. If fishing anchovies i use 1/0...sometimes u need to add a small egg sinker anywhere from 1/8-1/2oz to get your bait in the strike zone...If the fish are down deep then i just switch to a dropper loop.

[winningman]

well I get on that boat lots of time..and this is how I bring on the boat.
med rod/w 15# for calico bass
med-heany rod/w 20# for flyline and sand bass no egg sinker
med-heavy rod/w 25# for bottom(rock & sulpin)
jig rod/w 40# for salas7X jr...badacuda and bonita may be yellow