BigBass777
06-30-2009, 12:46 AM
Ooh the benefit of being unemployed!! Yeah I know what you guys are gonna say!! You get to go fishing and we work! Yep! The money is mine and not from the state anyway so don’t feel so bad. Going during the week has it’s advantages but today was a cluster of anglers. At least 45 were on board and you wonder don’t you guys work today? Others tend to take Monday off as part of a 3 day weekend vacation. Weekend day or not it was a cluster and tangles everywhere.
Went out of 22nd St Landing today for a full day trip aboard The Pursuit with my brother, guys from his work, and a few of their friends. We went to Catalina Island and fished the backside (west) for a mixed bag. No yellowtail or white sea bass were even hooked on this trip. The wind blew in all Sunday night and chilled the water 3 degrees cooler. The water temp was not given.
The weather was on the cooler side with overcast skies and clouds. The sun popped our for maybe a ˝ hour before we were blanketed with clouds for the rest of the day. We targeted those big breaks and points on the far backside of the island with kelp on them. You can’t miss them as they separate the coves. A flylined anchovy was key. We had really good size sardines but they were not the primary feed for the calico bass and sheepshead. A #1 or #2 hook tied with 12-20lb line was the ticket. Flyline the anchovy into the kelp or on the outside edge and it was clobbered. Many anglers swung and missed at a lot of fish. I had countless swing and misses. They were grabbing the bait off very easily when nose hooked. Your best bet is to tail hook the anchovy by the anal fin to get better hook sets. I used a #2 live bait Hayabusa hook on 20lb line. I caught numerous small calicos, legal ones and threw them back, plus a few small barracuda.
Bottom feeders:
The perch were attacking strips of squid on a small hook like crazy. A 2oz torpedo was plenty of weight to get it down to the bottom. A 1oz would work just as well as it was not rough with no big swells. The perch were all around and in the kelp. The jackpot fish was about a 25” halibut. The lady had a rental pole and a 1 day fishing license on. Go figure!
Barracuda:
Many flurries of small and legal size barracuda as well. I landed the first legal barracuda on board. All barracuda were caught on a live flylined anchovy. The bigger the anchovy the better. The blue/white iron was thrown by some anglers but the barracuda school wasn’t big enough to see any chasers.
Bass: Calico bass were hitting the live anchovy. Some used plastics and got a few. The plastics was getting hung in the kelp so less of them were being thrown. The calicos were small, legal and up to 4lbs. A lot of good size calicos caught.
Hilite of the day: A guy with a freshwater bass set up had it pulled from his hands and dives in after it. “Man over board”. It was classic!! He lost his prescription glasses and use of his cell phone. He used the wet money to buy his beer. Luckily his wallet wasn't lost. He did get the rod and reel back because the guy next to him caught his line and it had a fish on it. Both guys were in our group of guys. I was too busy fishing to watch the whole episode.
Nature: A pair of bald eagles was diving in the water after the chum and some dead rockfish caught. I wish I took the time to take a few pics of the action. When you’re fishing pics are secondary.
Boat Crew:
It was our first time going out of this landing and it could be our last perhaps. We caught a lot of fish but it came without service. Has anyone ever fished from this landing? What was your experience? Do the deck guy help out or just watch? Or does the crew on The Pursuit have that as a rule? Rule or not I have never ever seen this before. I felt the vibe (lazyness) as soon as I walked onto the boat. The deckhands offered no help whatsoever unless you needed a fish gaffed. They offered to tie hooks on and that’s about it. All fish caught were flung over the rail by you, hook removed by you, fish measured by you, and put into gunny sack by you. The deckhand helped me with my legal barracuda.I mean wtf!! Isn’t that part of their job? It's much more time consuming when you do everything by yourself while the fish are crashing on bait, others measuring fish before you, others moving around you as you are trying to get the hook out with pliers etc. It’s like a mound full of ants sprayed with pepper spray. Anglers and everyone everywhere. To go along with it was live bait all over the deck, smashed, stepped on by everyone, making the deck slightly slippery, as the deckhands did nothing about it. They would spray the deck after we moved. A one point the rookie deckhand took the hose and sprayed it into the air and got a bunch of us wet on the back rail. Surprised nobody was on his tail about it. It was a very unprofessional crew. Even the skipper was like we have a lot of perch down there. Ask our perch pro Mike on how to set up for perch. I don’t give a hoot about perch. You don’t pay $65.00 a person to catch perch all day. I don't get it why a skipper would be excited about catching perch all day. If I would have won the jackpot, the crew would have gotten very little. My brother mentioned he would have tipped them $10.00.
Well! It was cool to get out and fish. All the swings and misses were feeding the fish!! I caught enough to eat and the ones let go will grow to get bigger. Hope this report helps any of you going out this upcoming holiday weekend. Have a safe fishing July 4th!! Here are some pics!!
Weather: It continued from morning to the rest of the day.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Weather.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Weather2.jpg
Areas fished: Here is what the structure or areas we fished looked like.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/AreasFished.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/AreasFished1.jpg
Warms up a bit then goes away.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/SunComesOut.jpg
Today’s mixed bag: This was my first sheepshead.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/TheCatch.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/TheCatch1.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/TheCatch2.jpg
Scenery: The rock formations are cool.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Scenery.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Scenery1.jpg
Went out of 22nd St Landing today for a full day trip aboard The Pursuit with my brother, guys from his work, and a few of their friends. We went to Catalina Island and fished the backside (west) for a mixed bag. No yellowtail or white sea bass were even hooked on this trip. The wind blew in all Sunday night and chilled the water 3 degrees cooler. The water temp was not given.
The weather was on the cooler side with overcast skies and clouds. The sun popped our for maybe a ˝ hour before we were blanketed with clouds for the rest of the day. We targeted those big breaks and points on the far backside of the island with kelp on them. You can’t miss them as they separate the coves. A flylined anchovy was key. We had really good size sardines but they were not the primary feed for the calico bass and sheepshead. A #1 or #2 hook tied with 12-20lb line was the ticket. Flyline the anchovy into the kelp or on the outside edge and it was clobbered. Many anglers swung and missed at a lot of fish. I had countless swing and misses. They were grabbing the bait off very easily when nose hooked. Your best bet is to tail hook the anchovy by the anal fin to get better hook sets. I used a #2 live bait Hayabusa hook on 20lb line. I caught numerous small calicos, legal ones and threw them back, plus a few small barracuda.
Bottom feeders:
The perch were attacking strips of squid on a small hook like crazy. A 2oz torpedo was plenty of weight to get it down to the bottom. A 1oz would work just as well as it was not rough with no big swells. The perch were all around and in the kelp. The jackpot fish was about a 25” halibut. The lady had a rental pole and a 1 day fishing license on. Go figure!
Barracuda:
Many flurries of small and legal size barracuda as well. I landed the first legal barracuda on board. All barracuda were caught on a live flylined anchovy. The bigger the anchovy the better. The blue/white iron was thrown by some anglers but the barracuda school wasn’t big enough to see any chasers.
Bass: Calico bass were hitting the live anchovy. Some used plastics and got a few. The plastics was getting hung in the kelp so less of them were being thrown. The calicos were small, legal and up to 4lbs. A lot of good size calicos caught.
Hilite of the day: A guy with a freshwater bass set up had it pulled from his hands and dives in after it. “Man over board”. It was classic!! He lost his prescription glasses and use of his cell phone. He used the wet money to buy his beer. Luckily his wallet wasn't lost. He did get the rod and reel back because the guy next to him caught his line and it had a fish on it. Both guys were in our group of guys. I was too busy fishing to watch the whole episode.
Nature: A pair of bald eagles was diving in the water after the chum and some dead rockfish caught. I wish I took the time to take a few pics of the action. When you’re fishing pics are secondary.
Boat Crew:
It was our first time going out of this landing and it could be our last perhaps. We caught a lot of fish but it came without service. Has anyone ever fished from this landing? What was your experience? Do the deck guy help out or just watch? Or does the crew on The Pursuit have that as a rule? Rule or not I have never ever seen this before. I felt the vibe (lazyness) as soon as I walked onto the boat. The deckhands offered no help whatsoever unless you needed a fish gaffed. They offered to tie hooks on and that’s about it. All fish caught were flung over the rail by you, hook removed by you, fish measured by you, and put into gunny sack by you. The deckhand helped me with my legal barracuda.I mean wtf!! Isn’t that part of their job? It's much more time consuming when you do everything by yourself while the fish are crashing on bait, others measuring fish before you, others moving around you as you are trying to get the hook out with pliers etc. It’s like a mound full of ants sprayed with pepper spray. Anglers and everyone everywhere. To go along with it was live bait all over the deck, smashed, stepped on by everyone, making the deck slightly slippery, as the deckhands did nothing about it. They would spray the deck after we moved. A one point the rookie deckhand took the hose and sprayed it into the air and got a bunch of us wet on the back rail. Surprised nobody was on his tail about it. It was a very unprofessional crew. Even the skipper was like we have a lot of perch down there. Ask our perch pro Mike on how to set up for perch. I don’t give a hoot about perch. You don’t pay $65.00 a person to catch perch all day. I don't get it why a skipper would be excited about catching perch all day. If I would have won the jackpot, the crew would have gotten very little. My brother mentioned he would have tipped them $10.00.
Well! It was cool to get out and fish. All the swings and misses were feeding the fish!! I caught enough to eat and the ones let go will grow to get bigger. Hope this report helps any of you going out this upcoming holiday weekend. Have a safe fishing July 4th!! Here are some pics!!
Weather: It continued from morning to the rest of the day.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Weather.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Weather2.jpg
Areas fished: Here is what the structure or areas we fished looked like.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/AreasFished.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/AreasFished1.jpg
Warms up a bit then goes away.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/SunComesOut.jpg
Today’s mixed bag: This was my first sheepshead.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/TheCatch.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/TheCatch1.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/TheCatch2.jpg
Scenery: The rock formations are cool.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Scenery.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Reelanglers/BigBass777/Scenery1.jpg