ghetto dad
07-26-2009, 10:32 PM
Good evening guys, (PLEASE excuse this crappy format, my MS Word is down, and I had to use notepad....grrr...:Evil:)
The original plan was to take my son 3/4 Day fishing on the Native Sun. The migratory bass are finally on the spawn in the mud, and he
hasn't even been interested in fishing for quite awhile. So when he said he wanted to go, it was kind of cool. But, as usual, I was let down,
because he decided to go to Disneyland with his friend for his birthday. Oh well, I should be used to him flaking by now. So after a short
arguement, I decided I was going to jump on the Icon in the morning for a 1/2 day session. After another sleepless night, I decided to go in the
PM instead. I NEEDED to fish!
I arrived at the landing early just in case there were 50 people going to be on the boat, and received a call from Shawn Morgan on the Icon. The bass were WFO for him in the mud, and they were chewing the plastics. So i made sure to inform the PM passengers that they should
purchase some whams if they didn't already have any. At about 1215 pm, the Icon came down the channel, docked, unloaded the passengers, then proceeded to load the 32 PM passengers. I would say at least 25 of them had rent rods, and I knew this would be a "challenging," to say the least, fishing trip.
Crew today was Captain Shawn Morgon, Taylor in the galley, and Pete, Sean, and Matt on the deck. As we were on the way out,
Shawn informed us that he had been talking to the boats that stayed behind and fished the mud in the morning (the 3/4 day boats), and they
informed him that the bite basically shut off. Shawn was upset, because his only other option was The Shoe, and the reason behind it was
because he knows he needs anchovy to have a better chance to get the calicos biting. We had live bait on the boat, but it consisted mainly of
rainbow trout sized dines. He also knew he had a LOT of beginners on the boat, and wanted to put them on fish. I told him, "Don't worry man, you
ALWAYS put us on fish, no matter what the conditions are, or bait situation." About 30 mintues later, Shawn found the rock he wanted to start out on, dropped the anchor, and told us to start fishing.
As I figured, Shawn has his deckhands "chunk" the dines for chum. Conditions were not optimal at this first spot, the wind was whipping pretty good. After a few minutes, we started to catch a few dink Calicos. I was fishing 10 lb test and a green Wham, and was
CONSISTENTLY getting bit on the drop, but could not get them to stick. After about an hour or "warming us up," and after going through at least
200 shorties to get about 30 legals on the boat, Shawn told us, "Ok, enough warming up, were going to a spot where the fish are bigger." My
count as of then was 30+ shorties, and ended up with 3 decent legal Calicos, so I was already content.
After a short move, and some professional boat handling by Shawn, we dropped the anchor, and started fishing. Immediately we started catching fish, and they were better quality then the first spot. They would bite in "waves," where we would get a few, then they would shut
off for a few, etc. I kind of felt bad for most of the other passengers on the boat, as a lot of you know, certain bass fishing areas are for the more
"experienced" anglers, and like I previously mentioned, there were a lot of "newbs" on this trip, that didn't catch very many, if any, fish. The wind
was blowing pretty steady all afternoon, so you really needed to stay in "contact" with your line, these fish were quick to pick up, and twice as
quick to spit the plastic, so you had to be quick. After a short time, I set the hook on a nicer fish, and landed this nice quality calico.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10168.jpg
Myself and Shawn
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10169.jpg
It was scaled at 5.6 lbs, and I wanted to release the fish, but it was bleeding, so we kept it in the tank so that it could recover, which it never did. I felt, and still feel, really bad for not being able to release that fish, but there was nothing that I could do. That was the first calico over 3 lbs that I have not been able to release safely in very, very many years.
We stayed on this spot the rest of the day, because it was pretty consitent for most.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10171.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10172.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10174.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10175.jpg
Me on another bass! :Big Grin:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10176.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10177.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10178.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10179.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10180.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10181.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10182.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10185.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10187.jpg
Days like this, Captains like Shawn Morgan really stand out. He knew the fishing in the mud was probably going to be a bust, so he decided to fish away from everyone else, and this is where knowledge and skill fall into play. He took what little bait we had, into not the best of conditions, and produced some nice fish for people, and we also ended up having quite a bit more fishing time than we would have if we would have went all the way to the Flats. I ended up with a nice quality limit of bass, 6 Calicos and 4 Sand Bass. It required a little bit of work, but well worth it.
Great boat, excellent crew, and good times again on the Icon with Captain Shawn Morgan. The Icon leaves Monday thru Friday at 9 am and returns about 330 pm, and on weekends they run 2 trips, 630 and 1230. Call the landing at 562 432 8993 for further info and reservations. Don't forget about our "Buy 2, Get One Free" on all of our open party trips. You may also PM me if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!!
GD
The original plan was to take my son 3/4 Day fishing on the Native Sun. The migratory bass are finally on the spawn in the mud, and he
hasn't even been interested in fishing for quite awhile. So when he said he wanted to go, it was kind of cool. But, as usual, I was let down,
because he decided to go to Disneyland with his friend for his birthday. Oh well, I should be used to him flaking by now. So after a short
arguement, I decided I was going to jump on the Icon in the morning for a 1/2 day session. After another sleepless night, I decided to go in the
PM instead. I NEEDED to fish!
I arrived at the landing early just in case there were 50 people going to be on the boat, and received a call from Shawn Morgan on the Icon. The bass were WFO for him in the mud, and they were chewing the plastics. So i made sure to inform the PM passengers that they should
purchase some whams if they didn't already have any. At about 1215 pm, the Icon came down the channel, docked, unloaded the passengers, then proceeded to load the 32 PM passengers. I would say at least 25 of them had rent rods, and I knew this would be a "challenging," to say the least, fishing trip.
Crew today was Captain Shawn Morgon, Taylor in the galley, and Pete, Sean, and Matt on the deck. As we were on the way out,
Shawn informed us that he had been talking to the boats that stayed behind and fished the mud in the morning (the 3/4 day boats), and they
informed him that the bite basically shut off. Shawn was upset, because his only other option was The Shoe, and the reason behind it was
because he knows he needs anchovy to have a better chance to get the calicos biting. We had live bait on the boat, but it consisted mainly of
rainbow trout sized dines. He also knew he had a LOT of beginners on the boat, and wanted to put them on fish. I told him, "Don't worry man, you
ALWAYS put us on fish, no matter what the conditions are, or bait situation." About 30 mintues later, Shawn found the rock he wanted to start out on, dropped the anchor, and told us to start fishing.
As I figured, Shawn has his deckhands "chunk" the dines for chum. Conditions were not optimal at this first spot, the wind was whipping pretty good. After a few minutes, we started to catch a few dink Calicos. I was fishing 10 lb test and a green Wham, and was
CONSISTENTLY getting bit on the drop, but could not get them to stick. After about an hour or "warming us up," and after going through at least
200 shorties to get about 30 legals on the boat, Shawn told us, "Ok, enough warming up, were going to a spot where the fish are bigger." My
count as of then was 30+ shorties, and ended up with 3 decent legal Calicos, so I was already content.
After a short move, and some professional boat handling by Shawn, we dropped the anchor, and started fishing. Immediately we started catching fish, and they were better quality then the first spot. They would bite in "waves," where we would get a few, then they would shut
off for a few, etc. I kind of felt bad for most of the other passengers on the boat, as a lot of you know, certain bass fishing areas are for the more
"experienced" anglers, and like I previously mentioned, there were a lot of "newbs" on this trip, that didn't catch very many, if any, fish. The wind
was blowing pretty steady all afternoon, so you really needed to stay in "contact" with your line, these fish were quick to pick up, and twice as
quick to spit the plastic, so you had to be quick. After a short time, I set the hook on a nicer fish, and landed this nice quality calico.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10168.jpg
Myself and Shawn
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10169.jpg
It was scaled at 5.6 lbs, and I wanted to release the fish, but it was bleeding, so we kept it in the tank so that it could recover, which it never did. I felt, and still feel, really bad for not being able to release that fish, but there was nothing that I could do. That was the first calico over 3 lbs that I have not been able to release safely in very, very many years.
We stayed on this spot the rest of the day, because it was pretty consitent for most.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10171.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10172.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10174.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10175.jpg
Me on another bass! :Big Grin:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10176.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10177.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10178.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10179.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10180.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10181.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10182.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10185.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/ghettodad/SDC10187.jpg
Days like this, Captains like Shawn Morgan really stand out. He knew the fishing in the mud was probably going to be a bust, so he decided to fish away from everyone else, and this is where knowledge and skill fall into play. He took what little bait we had, into not the best of conditions, and produced some nice fish for people, and we also ended up having quite a bit more fishing time than we would have if we would have went all the way to the Flats. I ended up with a nice quality limit of bass, 6 Calicos and 4 Sand Bass. It required a little bit of work, but well worth it.
Great boat, excellent crew, and good times again on the Icon with Captain Shawn Morgan. The Icon leaves Monday thru Friday at 9 am and returns about 330 pm, and on weekends they run 2 trips, 630 and 1230. Call the landing at 562 432 8993 for further info and reservations. Don't forget about our "Buy 2, Get One Free" on all of our open party trips. You may also PM me if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!!
GD