jplee3
07-10-2009, 10:43 PM
Was itching so bad to get on the Sea Horse again and finally got the chance last night/today. It was great to finally get back on the water again after such a long time. I think this is the FIRST open party I've been on this year!
In either case, I got to Dana Wharf around 8:30 or so and checked in. I was hoping for a small crowd, but we ended up with 23 on the boat, which still isn't TOO bad. Got my bunk, put away my gear, checked in and signed up for the jackpot. Today's crew consisted of the usuals: Travis, Todd, Tucker, Jordan/Frodo, and ??? - I don't know his name! Butch, the 'usual' galley chef was not on for today. Anyway, I ended up going to sleep a bit early between 10-11pm. Took a Dramamine just in case and that definitely helped. I slept pretty well, waking up only a couple times. Got up around 3-4am and realized we went straight to San Clemente. Watched them make squid (had to chip in $5 extra but it's all good) and then went back down to try to get more shut-eye; although I ended up just laying there wide awake with eager anticipation.
Around 5am at greylight, capt anchors the boat and tells us to fish a dropper loop w/ 4oz torpedo or 3/4 egg sinker and squid, so that's what we do! I wanted to try something different so I went on the reverse dropper. After about 10 mins of having my line out... tap tap *BAAAAAAAM!* and then the guy to the immediate left of me goes *BAAAAAM* and hookup for him. Turns out to be a nice WSB that HE ended up bringing in. What I think happened is the WSB lined up and took my bait first, then my neighbor's. Since my neighbor was the last one to get hit, it was his to claim. What I didn't appreciate was the capt or one of the deckies yelled "you're on his line!" to me and hit my bail in the heat of the action, almost causing me a BAD bird's nest >:T I wasn't too happy about that, but what can you do...? So I ended up losing that setup and switched over. Then I got tied up AGAIN with someone else and lost my rig. I think we were just getting 'accustomed' to one another, but I noticed later in the day that quite a few of these guys were noobs who didn't follow their line or reel in their slack on the bottom. What can ya do...? Well, several more WSB were brought in. I got a couple interesting bites but no takers. The bite literally disappeared. Darned ghosts!
Capt decides to move on the yellows. So we move a bit and then start fishing the drift. He advises 3/4oz egg sinker + squid, and reminds us not to waste bait since we're a bit short. I'm thinking "uhhh, that isn't gonna get me down there fast enough..." and I had the feeling they were on the bottom. So I keep the reverse dropper on, with a dead squid (out of respect for the captain's advisory) and send it down. Literally within 15 seconds I get a *tap tap BOOOOOM!" and my rod doubles over. BENDO!!!... *SNAP* ughhh, the dropped loop knot was weak and I didn't double check it. Bye bye yellow :(
So I retie another dropper, ensuring it's good this time, and go back to the same reverse setup with another dead squid. Drop it down on the port side, since everyone's shuffling counter-clockwise with the drift. My side is less crowded in terms of anglers and I see a private boater on a major hookup. So I'm thinking "I have a GREAT feeling about this" and send it out a ways away from the boat. It gets to the bottom and "TAP TAP BOOOOOOOOOOM!" again! BENDO! IT'S ON!!! The hot rail went from the port stern corner to the starboard front of the bow before it was gaffed. I was on it for probably 15-20 mins or so... my drag was set way to loose so I was having major issues gaining line back :P Jordan helped me through it though. That kid's awesome. He brought it up and it was HUGE - I'm guessing between 30-35lbs. This beats last year's record! The most shocking part was that I hooked it on the OUTSIDE of the lower jaw. I was shocked that I was able to get it in. MAKE SURE YOUR HOOKS ARE SHARP GUYS!!! Anyway, I was STOKED. Especially after multiple fails with the WSB >:T
We probably could have a stayed a bit but the capt decides to move on to look for more WSB. The next stop mostly proves unproductive. I picked up a nice sized sheephead for keepers. My first legal! So I was pretty happy about that. As far as the reverse dropper, it turns out that setup became VERY popular for the rest of the day. At least for fishing on the bottom ;)
After that it was mostly a blur of unproductive fishing. We stopped at several kelp forests looking for yellows but picking up smallish calicos mostly. Some nice grumper calicos were picked up though as the day went on. The halibut bite started heating up after lunch. Within 10-15 mins, guys had hooked onto 3-4. At one point I had a short bendo bite that nearly sawed my sardine in half. I was hoping for that hali but ahhh well. I was also hoping that a repeat of last year's jackpot steal wouldn't happen again. After picking up that 24lb yellow, some guy latched onto a 36lb hali... ugh. Anyway, I was fortunate to win it this year. Of course, 14 of the 23 people aboard signed up for the jackpot. Otherwise, I didn't really pick up anything else worth keeping for the rest of the day: undersized calicos, a baby sculpin (lol), nasty blue perch, and that's about it... oh yea, some other guys ended up catching a few nice barricuda as well. And a couple people picked up some opaleye.
As far as jackpot 'etiquette' goes, I'm not sure if I did it right or wrong, but I ended up giving $50 of it back (well, for payment for the fish cleaning/galley too), so I actually gave $35 to them. Total was $140 which seems kinda low to me. Now that I think about it, I'm wondering if I should have given $70. I had no clue at the moment and wasn't really thinking through how much to give back and why. Hopefully they're not all pissed at me! One guy, who didn't catch anything, left a $1 tip in the galley! The chef was *pissed* about that!
All in all, it was a great day for me. I'm just glad I actually won the jackpot for the first time! It was getting a bit competitive cause there were some really good fishermen aboard, but they just didn't get the bite (at least on the yellows). It would have been sweet to pickup a WSB and hali, but next time ;)
Got a cheeseburger before the galley closed. That's become somewhat of a 'tradition' for me on fishing trips. "Fish hard. Eat later." hahahaha. Traded a steak of yellow for hali and wsb steaks from another dude. And gave a couple steaks to a dude I met who caught *nothing* and was totally bummed throughout the day - I also helped him get a bad birds nest out. Turns out he has a Triumph Center Console boat and wants to hook up sometime so we exchanged #s.
The sashimi was incredible, btw :D Planning to make some hali, wsb, yellowtail and sheephead ceviche tomorrow :) The galley chef made a BOMB blue fin, albacore, yellowtail ceviche - he let me try a bit of it. It was incredible.
Anyway, here are the pics
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmO1pzJPI/AAAAAAAABiY/OsfAMSnTS7k/s640/IMG_2861.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmMJXdC_I/AAAAAAAABiU/bUiOekylkPA/s640/IMG_2852.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmILD8XNI/AAAAAAAABiQ/BAyQuz9HgDA/s720/IMG_2858.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmDC6aq0I/AAAAAAAABh0/YJlzZLv2teQ/s512/IMG_2865.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmBf7wfLI/AAAAAAAABhw/XcKBRqzW4z4/s640/IMG_2866.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl9WnNWoI/AAAAAAAABho/BdoHbzdhNcE/s720/IMG_2869.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl41oLgOI/AAAAAAAABhk/j-Gpdk2MSB4/s720/IMG_2872.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl4WzZnII/AAAAAAAABhg/cAJsL1YIYkU/s512/IMG_2873.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl3Ht7ErI/AAAAAAAABhc/xVJCp0BQAH4/s512/IMG_2874.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl1SCGUbI/AAAAAAAABhY/l6-fym9do2c/s720/IMG_2878.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl0uiHH9I/AAAAAAAABhU/_7xRByc856k/s512/IMG_2879.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlglG17wIwI/AAAAAAAABg4/zlOfperh9lU/s720/_DSC1880.JPG
In either case, I got to Dana Wharf around 8:30 or so and checked in. I was hoping for a small crowd, but we ended up with 23 on the boat, which still isn't TOO bad. Got my bunk, put away my gear, checked in and signed up for the jackpot. Today's crew consisted of the usuals: Travis, Todd, Tucker, Jordan/Frodo, and ??? - I don't know his name! Butch, the 'usual' galley chef was not on for today. Anyway, I ended up going to sleep a bit early between 10-11pm. Took a Dramamine just in case and that definitely helped. I slept pretty well, waking up only a couple times. Got up around 3-4am and realized we went straight to San Clemente. Watched them make squid (had to chip in $5 extra but it's all good) and then went back down to try to get more shut-eye; although I ended up just laying there wide awake with eager anticipation.
Around 5am at greylight, capt anchors the boat and tells us to fish a dropper loop w/ 4oz torpedo or 3/4 egg sinker and squid, so that's what we do! I wanted to try something different so I went on the reverse dropper. After about 10 mins of having my line out... tap tap *BAAAAAAAM!* and then the guy to the immediate left of me goes *BAAAAAM* and hookup for him. Turns out to be a nice WSB that HE ended up bringing in. What I think happened is the WSB lined up and took my bait first, then my neighbor's. Since my neighbor was the last one to get hit, it was his to claim. What I didn't appreciate was the capt or one of the deckies yelled "you're on his line!" to me and hit my bail in the heat of the action, almost causing me a BAD bird's nest >:T I wasn't too happy about that, but what can you do...? So I ended up losing that setup and switched over. Then I got tied up AGAIN with someone else and lost my rig. I think we were just getting 'accustomed' to one another, but I noticed later in the day that quite a few of these guys were noobs who didn't follow their line or reel in their slack on the bottom. What can ya do...? Well, several more WSB were brought in. I got a couple interesting bites but no takers. The bite literally disappeared. Darned ghosts!
Capt decides to move on the yellows. So we move a bit and then start fishing the drift. He advises 3/4oz egg sinker + squid, and reminds us not to waste bait since we're a bit short. I'm thinking "uhhh, that isn't gonna get me down there fast enough..." and I had the feeling they were on the bottom. So I keep the reverse dropper on, with a dead squid (out of respect for the captain's advisory) and send it down. Literally within 15 seconds I get a *tap tap BOOOOOM!" and my rod doubles over. BENDO!!!... *SNAP* ughhh, the dropped loop knot was weak and I didn't double check it. Bye bye yellow :(
So I retie another dropper, ensuring it's good this time, and go back to the same reverse setup with another dead squid. Drop it down on the port side, since everyone's shuffling counter-clockwise with the drift. My side is less crowded in terms of anglers and I see a private boater on a major hookup. So I'm thinking "I have a GREAT feeling about this" and send it out a ways away from the boat. It gets to the bottom and "TAP TAP BOOOOOOOOOOM!" again! BENDO! IT'S ON!!! The hot rail went from the port stern corner to the starboard front of the bow before it was gaffed. I was on it for probably 15-20 mins or so... my drag was set way to loose so I was having major issues gaining line back :P Jordan helped me through it though. That kid's awesome. He brought it up and it was HUGE - I'm guessing between 30-35lbs. This beats last year's record! The most shocking part was that I hooked it on the OUTSIDE of the lower jaw. I was shocked that I was able to get it in. MAKE SURE YOUR HOOKS ARE SHARP GUYS!!! Anyway, I was STOKED. Especially after multiple fails with the WSB >:T
We probably could have a stayed a bit but the capt decides to move on to look for more WSB. The next stop mostly proves unproductive. I picked up a nice sized sheephead for keepers. My first legal! So I was pretty happy about that. As far as the reverse dropper, it turns out that setup became VERY popular for the rest of the day. At least for fishing on the bottom ;)
After that it was mostly a blur of unproductive fishing. We stopped at several kelp forests looking for yellows but picking up smallish calicos mostly. Some nice grumper calicos were picked up though as the day went on. The halibut bite started heating up after lunch. Within 10-15 mins, guys had hooked onto 3-4. At one point I had a short bendo bite that nearly sawed my sardine in half. I was hoping for that hali but ahhh well. I was also hoping that a repeat of last year's jackpot steal wouldn't happen again. After picking up that 24lb yellow, some guy latched onto a 36lb hali... ugh. Anyway, I was fortunate to win it this year. Of course, 14 of the 23 people aboard signed up for the jackpot. Otherwise, I didn't really pick up anything else worth keeping for the rest of the day: undersized calicos, a baby sculpin (lol), nasty blue perch, and that's about it... oh yea, some other guys ended up catching a few nice barricuda as well. And a couple people picked up some opaleye.
As far as jackpot 'etiquette' goes, I'm not sure if I did it right or wrong, but I ended up giving $50 of it back (well, for payment for the fish cleaning/galley too), so I actually gave $35 to them. Total was $140 which seems kinda low to me. Now that I think about it, I'm wondering if I should have given $70. I had no clue at the moment and wasn't really thinking through how much to give back and why. Hopefully they're not all pissed at me! One guy, who didn't catch anything, left a $1 tip in the galley! The chef was *pissed* about that!
All in all, it was a great day for me. I'm just glad I actually won the jackpot for the first time! It was getting a bit competitive cause there were some really good fishermen aboard, but they just didn't get the bite (at least on the yellows). It would have been sweet to pickup a WSB and hali, but next time ;)
Got a cheeseburger before the galley closed. That's become somewhat of a 'tradition' for me on fishing trips. "Fish hard. Eat later." hahahaha. Traded a steak of yellow for hali and wsb steaks from another dude. And gave a couple steaks to a dude I met who caught *nothing* and was totally bummed throughout the day - I also helped him get a bad birds nest out. Turns out he has a Triumph Center Console boat and wants to hook up sometime so we exchanged #s.
The sashimi was incredible, btw :D Planning to make some hali, wsb, yellowtail and sheephead ceviche tomorrow :) The galley chef made a BOMB blue fin, albacore, yellowtail ceviche - he let me try a bit of it. It was incredible.
Anyway, here are the pics
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmO1pzJPI/AAAAAAAABiY/OsfAMSnTS7k/s640/IMG_2861.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmMJXdC_I/AAAAAAAABiU/bUiOekylkPA/s640/IMG_2852.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmILD8XNI/AAAAAAAABiQ/BAyQuz9HgDA/s720/IMG_2858.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmDC6aq0I/AAAAAAAABh0/YJlzZLv2teQ/s512/IMG_2865.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlgmBf7wfLI/AAAAAAAABhw/XcKBRqzW4z4/s640/IMG_2866.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl9WnNWoI/AAAAAAAABho/BdoHbzdhNcE/s720/IMG_2869.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl41oLgOI/AAAAAAAABhk/j-Gpdk2MSB4/s720/IMG_2872.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl4WzZnII/AAAAAAAABhg/cAJsL1YIYkU/s512/IMG_2873.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl3Ht7ErI/AAAAAAAABhc/xVJCp0BQAH4/s512/IMG_2874.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl1SCGUbI/AAAAAAAABhY/l6-fym9do2c/s720/IMG_2878.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/Slgl0uiHH9I/AAAAAAAABhU/_7xRByc856k/s512/IMG_2879.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_83VUZvDN5V4/SlglG17wIwI/AAAAAAAABg4/zlOfperh9lU/s720/_DSC1880.JPG