JapanRon
07-13-2007, 08:31 AM
Fantastic Days for Barracuda And Calico/Sand Bass!!
Hi there guys,
1) Tuesday’s Report
Went on my usual ½-day-trip on the Southern Cal, out of Pierpoint to fish local waters i.e. fished both outside and inside Horseshoe Kelp with 25~30 anglers. Went on the PM run. Collin was the skipper, while Stan decked, Ed did galley duties, and Alex helped out on deck.
Note: Countdown 1: Sand Bass …… Sand Bass numbers are growing substantially in the counts. Hope the Giant Squid aren’t really impacting the migration that much. Looking at water temps, it seems like we’ve stalled around 70. It’s about NOW that we get warmer water and start to consistently have the fish counts including Sand Bass as the dominant species.
Note: Countdown 2: Remember there’s only 2~3 more weeks till school starts so get those kids out on the boats to take advantage of the Kids Fish for FREE deals as well as the other promotions around town. Landings’ websites often have special promotion announcements.
Target Fish: Barracuda and Bass
Short Report-Tuesday 07/10
25~30 anglers, including yours truly, caught tons…… well not literally …. lots of fish on the PM run. Although we had just a couple of Barracuda boated, we soon focused on Bass ….. both Calicos and Sand Bass.
Although we didn’t have boat limits, I had a personal best day on the number of Calicos …. for this year up to now anyways. I C&Red at least 15 ‘shorts’ or ‘sqeekers’ which, which although legal, are not what I like to give away. Grade of fish was not spectacular but the top Calicos and Sandies weighed in at maybe …. 3lbs. For whatever reason, a number of boats at Pierpoint have not made public their counts (their right to do so for sure), therefore I have no exact count. No biggie …… I’ve got eyes and can guesstimate pretty well! ha ha ha
Bass mix was around 70/30 on Calicos and Sandbass. We did the usual pattern of most moo-moo at present and fished an outside spot first for a shot at Barracuda and then came in a little closer for the bass. Fished with a considerable number of both moo-moos and Pbers. Finbait consisted of larger pinhead Anchovies and Sardines … the usual fare of what has been available recently on the moo-moos. Had a great bunch of anglers on the boat sharing the rail.
A special note to my good buddies (Lil Ceez, his fishin’ buddy, and a couple of other ‘young turks’ that pretty much socialize and fish together) that are cool, good anglers, sincere, treat us old guys pretty good, and have respect for the fishery. Nice fishin’ with ya again …. Hey Ceez …. you fish iron (for the bigger models) with the same intensity I fish plastics ….. that’s excellent!!
The AM run: Coming off the boat, there were 30 or so anglers and it looked like they caught plenty of fish with a mix of Barracuda and Bass …….. from the bulges of un-cleaned fish in a few of the sacks. I admit that the cooler morning has less impact on the deterioration of the eating experience of the barries but …… with cleaning right away those things eat pretty darn good! I’m told.
Twilight: It looked like the boat may … only may have been going on a twilight trip too although the boat is officially only on-line Wed~Sun for the twilight schedule. Didn’t ask. I’ll bet, like some other landings I know, if there were enough SOLID reservations, the boat would go whatever the day.
(Please widen your view to fit monitor if word-wrap looks off)
07/10 Jackpot
Winner!
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Barracuda
Way to go Lil Ceez on catching the jackpot fish! A Barracuda, one of the few caught on the PM run, was the clear winner today. No need for a weigh-in although the call was made. The near 8-lb fish was caught on iron but I didn’t notice what color with it’s head flailing around!! Hey … who’s that guy standing beside you? Should be calling you the Iron-Man.
Long Report
LA Light Bye Bye
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The Days Fishing
Out, Down, and Back …………………………………........... . Currents!
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Grazing in the Pasture
Moo-moos This Week
Moo …............................................... .... Moo-moo …........................................... Another Moo
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Next Moo ………………………….................... .Again Moo ………………....................... Last Moo!!
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PBer’s This Week
First …………................................... Second ………….......................... Third
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Fourth …………………….......................... ............ Charter?
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Round-Up
2 Rounds
First Stop
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Round 1. First thing we did was go through the LA light entrance and head straight out to the area where Barracuda had been caught on the AM run. Made a couple of stops and dropped the hook a couple of times on metered fish but we couldn’t seem to chum them up and get them motivated to bite. The toothy critters were sulking no doubt!
The few cuda we did get to show some interest weren’t around very long and as I had said … only a couple gar were caught. I got a few following on the plastic but nothing but a single tail nip-off ……. no ……. it wasn’t a Mackerel! Ha ha
A few bass were also picked up but no sustained bite to keep us from looking for greener pastures. People fished everything i.e. Iron, plastic, fly-line, slider or dropper loop w/Sardines and pinhead Anchovies. Current wasn’t bad for the afternoon so many were using lighter stuff ….. except for the two guys right beside me!! Personally I think 6~8ozs is over kill on smaller baits!!
Dang ….. CAT looks close!!
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I digress …….
Still the ‘Shoe’
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Round 2 With just the couple of cuda and few Bass we headed a little inside for the Calicos and Sandies. It may have taken us about 2~3 moves to find a patch of fish that were willing to be coaxed into biting and ‘rise’ to the occasion. Loaded up on fish (don’t want to hit a spot too hard) and fished one more spot before heading home.
For the bait dunkers, they pretty much used the same setups as they had earlier in the afternoon but added weight to compensate for the increasing wind, swell, and wave conditions. Fly-lining a bait did fairly well as did jigs. Seems like the jigs got bigger fish on average but plastics ruled! Absolutely ruled. More anglers really need to get with the program and learn to throw plastics. Especially when the bait available now is smaller. Ohhhhhhh ya …. and plastic. I caught all my fish on the plastic as described in the Plastic section.
Fish were waaaaaay out, under the boat ……. like everwhere!! No place in the water column you couldn’t find fish! Dumb ol’ Sand Bass weren’t falling for the ol’ drop straight down trick!! As I said before, the real fun to me is catching them out a distance, right on top where you can actually kinda sight-fish if you know the signs …….. or the friendly deck who is chumming is telling you to cast!! For newbies: Listen to the deckhands ….. especially the guys on the tanks as they are up above us and also have an experienced eye!
Conditions: Warm but overcast with a comfortable breeze! Water visibility at maybe 15 feet. Air temp stayed in the 65º~75º during the fishing day. Please check out the graphics for additional weather and water condition.
Gallery For This Week's Fishing
Fish & Anglers
Cuda …………............. Nice Grade ………......................................... ........ Hali & Bass ………....... Nice Bass
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Sandy ………........ Nice Fish ………...........Newbie ………............More Fish
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Other
Spin-Trash .......................................Half-full? .................................Tiny Spool
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Iron Chunkers ................. 3 Buddies ............................................ My Corner
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Families
First …………............................ Second .................................Third
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Forth
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Let Them Know
The photos above are just a sample of the fish and things of interest, at least to me, on this trip. Note: If you see a friend in the pictures, let them know they can copy the photo off the report. Directions: Click the right button with the ‘cursor’ on the picture, then click on ‘save picture as’, next choose where they wish to copy the picture, and lastly click ‘save’. Later, they can edit and print the picture at their leisure with a simple photo-editing program.
Tweeking Plastics #33
Nothing again for this week but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.
Plastics
The Right Stuff
leadhead Colors …………………...............Bass Plastics!
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Barracuda Plastics ……………….............. Plastics Fishys!
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Fantastic
No skunk …………... Limits …. Limits …. Limits! This week tsurikichi could do no wrong. On one series, I had 12 fish out of 18 casts with 4 casts resulting in my pants being pulled down and only two totally ignored! Tuesday ….. it was wide open ‘ON THE PLASTICS’ on the Bass …… 80/20 Calicos and Sandies at the ‘Shoe’. Wednesday ….. it was wide open around Huntington Beach at the ‘Flats’ and or ‘Pipe’ for Barracuda. Cast for cast, my usual rail buddy and I almost out-fished the bait and iron ….. although …… bait got the quality fish! As usual, I fished nothing but plastic both days. I may never touch another finbait as long as I live! Ha ha
Tuesday- Of all the colors and combinations I used, only three seemed to work consistently (See photo above). The bite I experienced was best had by either fishing heavier leadheads (1oz) and doing a grind near the bottom for both species or the lighter stuff on top where I tried to keep the bait up as long as possible awaiting a hit from the Calicos. The bite would usually come as the swimbait (Kalin, BH, FT, or Blams) hit the water or before you could count to 3. The bass weren’t absolutely stupid as I had a lot of short biters at first until I really started to see an improvement in the solid bite ratio when I brought my leaders to 8lb-test and 1/4oz leadheads. The Sand Bass didn’t usually come back for a second hit if they missed the first time too. Red and to a lesser degree green leadheads worked great.
Strange ….. the yellow leadheads that normally work so well earlier in the season (especially in combination with a dark green metalflake body swimbait) seemed to be less effective now. Hummmmmm and I’ve stocked up on both at a million of them too! ha ha
As is almost always the case, I got three different comments from fellow anglers. 1) after a number of fish straight in a row, guys would say something like …. Is he getting them on that plastic thing ….. 2) I’ve been watching you and gotta strart fishing those things and 3) what are those …. so I set these guys up with a couple and they (newbies) started to catch fish consistently. I was so busy catching fish, I thought …. the heck with taking another picture of a Calico!
Wednesday- Interesting that so few people are as yet convinced on the effectiveness of plastic. Time after time …….. I overhear the same old phrase. ‘Dang that guys is catchin’ ‘em like crazy on plastics’. I’m the only guy fishing plastics and half an hour later, a quarter of the boat is fishing plastics! ha ha ha funny!
Fished, my usual search routine …… mostly ¾ oz standard triangle and a few dart head leadheads first ¾ oz, then ½ oz, and even down to 3/8th oz (unpainted, red, yellow, and green) and 6 different color combos of 4-inch versions of Kalins and blams. I did go lighter to ¼ oz leadheads to keep the plastic up nearer the top longer when casting for the outside fish! Still seems like the bite was subtle on the bass with a lot of pants being pulled down near the bottom while the surface strikes were few and far between!
In retrospect, in the afternoon, whichever day, and the wind blowing to bow line, wind-waves kicking up 2~3 foot, as well as a 2 foot swells, it’s harder to sense a top water strike when the boat is in both vertical motion and swinging at anchor.
The Usual Colors
1st .. 2nd .3rd ..4th ..5th …6th
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Tuesday Out There
Lunar …………………………………….….... ....... Wind Direction and Speed!
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Tides ………………………………………….. ....................................Water Temps!
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UV Alert!
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Tuesday’s Conditions
Fishing Grounds: Check pics and stats!!
Wild Creatures: Saw many Sealions say …… 2~3 at a time. Few Cormorants on the grounds but Pelicans, Terns, and Seagulls were around especially when it was time to clean fish.
Asides
Aside:
DFG Regs
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h313/tsurikichi/FROM1229/FROM0422/DFGTophalf.jpgTsurikichi©2007
Multi-day Permit
For Private Boaters Too?! Browsing thru the 2007 Ocean Sport Fishing booklet, I noticed on page 4 …..under fees and as the last entry ‘Other Permits’ a ‘Declaration for Multi-day Fishing Trip ………………………. 4.75.
That’s when it hit me ……. I guess private boaters are supposed to have these declarations (DFG money makers) for the two and three days some often spend at Catalina. Wonder if anybody actually goes to the hassle of going to buy this permit? Do the DFG guys at the islands regularly ask for these things? Does anyone admit to being out over a day! Ha ha ha Any input from readers?
Another Aside:
Handi-Fishing
Choosing A Boat
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h313/tsurikichi/FROM1229/FROM0422/NwHndihalf.jpgTsurikichi©2007
Finding Open Space
As I had mentioned, the off season and week-days are great for making test runs for handicapped or disabled anglers on the moo-moos. Especially, if you find a boat with regularly low numbers on a given day of the week. That’s for those who would need special accommodation at the rail. The largest issue seems to be actually fishing at the rail and position to it. The stern is generally the easiest to fish as …… 1) it has corners one could use for extra support and 2) the rail is lowest along this stretch of the boat.
Although you have no right to receive ‘extra’ space along the rail gratis, with few anglers on the boat, people generally spread out anyways. Unless they are a spot dog like me! Anyhow ….. the upshot is that if you are lucky, a space or so will be left ‘unsold’ wink … wink on one side of the other for added space that would add to make a comfortable and safe fishing experience for you.
Yet Another Aside: Interesting observation. Before the boat leaves the dock it is sometimes interesting to make an estimate of how many anglers ]u]MAY[/u] be either new to moo-moos or sportfishing or may not have been fishing in a while. This game should be played without even taking a careful look at those who are on board.
As mentioned in a previous post … one tip-off of inexperienced anglers … besides in some cases but not always …… rental rods … is the in-appropriateness of tackle for the given fishing trip. The NEW observation entails observing the state of fish sacks hung on the bait tank.
Yep ….. as silly as it sounds …. by looking at the condition of the fish sacks hung on the bait tank, depending on the boat itself, if one sees a brand new sack, chances are the anglers didn’t have one in the first place. Many regular anglers bring their own bags all dried, washed, and rolled up on their gear.
Additionally, if the boat has rail numbers, you can spot the rail numbers on as-yet-unused sacks and relate them to your own fishing position (number). If close, chances are high that you will be fishing with a lesser experienced angler or group of anglers with the numbers next to yours! Be assured …. I’m not speaking ill of newbies or ANYONE …….. it’s just one more area that you can better be aware of your surrounding and be prepared to make allowances. I don’t know about most ….. but I sometimes alter my fishing … just a bit ….. to ‘adjust’ to others around me. It’s part of fishing with a group.
Still Another Aside:
More on Fish Sacks Fish sacks, unless bought by the angler, are property of the landing and or boat and shouldn’t be taken off the boat unless purchased from one or the other. That’s my opinion as a moo-moo patron. On ½ and ¾ moo-moos …. the sack is not included in the fare in the landings I patronize.
Near Last Aside:Moo-moos’ Blues
Mooooooo
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Moderate Loads
We’ve had mostly ½ to ¾-capacity loads overall this week ……. with the fairly strong and consistent Barracuda bite. Consistent Bass counts too ……. even without the long awaited Sand Bass ‘Rush’ yet to appear. Many landings (doing twilights) are running between 1 and 5 twilight trips a week and are showing respectable numbers on two of the 3Bs’s. Last weeks’ ‘Pack ‘em On’ award goes to the boat that went95 for 100 angler capacity for their twilight yes twilight trip. Now that would have been a boat to have been on deck for a live report. I just hope not too many anglers suffered from varying degrees of night blindness like me or you would have a bunch of moles running around squinting. Ha ha ha
Posted this paragraph previously
There is a reason these boats have the numbers they do so …….. hop aboard these fish-getters sometime. Good to see our moo-moos getting the business that will help them survive through the lean late-Fall and Winter months. At least one landing is reporting numbers (angler and catch totals) for their half-day trips (2 trips a day) with two figures … that is ….. 1) total anglers and 2) total fish caught. We get a break though …. as at least they break down the ‘caught fish’ totals into species! :) If you want to check the AM/PM ’catch trends’ (as I often do to simply fine tune my tackle choices) in their neck of the woods, you’ll have to go to other landings’ counts which often fish the same areas. No biggie Right?! Truth is … they will probably give you the count when you make a reservation so ……… don’t pass up landing due to no counts posted.
Last Aside:
Flailing Fish Com’ on guys !!! On a crowded boat, it’s not cool taking the time to stand around and admire your newly decked 8lb cuda that’s flailing on deck in a 3 or 4 foot radius with a jig in its mouth and barely hooked. Sheesh! With a jig …. It’s 1) Catch and boat fish, 2) Dispatch fish, 3) Remove hook and sack, 4) Return to fishing spot to assist (if necessary) untangling any lines and straighten up your fishing area, 5) Then ….. do whatever you want!!
I’m no wimp and I don’t wear sandals on the boat but I don’t need my feet whacked by a jig or worse have the jig go flying at ankle level nor …… do I need to see blood flying all over the place (sorry BloodyDecks) as I had enough of that in Viet~Nam!!
The SoCal
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Stern Numbers!
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Crew
Collin-skipper ……..1ST Deck-Stan …......... Ed- Cook ……............... Deck-Alex
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End of An Epic Day
Had a great day on the water with friends and caught lots of fish. A good number of regulars, familiar faces, families, made up a great group so I’m right at home!! There’s some of us that might regularly go on different days but we’re there whatever the case. Chickened out on the AM/PM re-ride trip again this week. Maybe next week.
2) Wednesday’s Report 07/11[/u]
Wednesday’s Trip 07/11
For My Trip
Went on a ¾-day-moo-moo trip first …to Horseshoe, back to load up on some decent-sized (3-inch) Anchovies (for now) and ….. then headed south to join the fleet at the ‘Flats’!!
Short Report- 07/11
35~40 guys on the boat. Very good cuda fishing. Buddy and I got near limits on barries in the 6~8lb range. Bass fishing was fair for most and great for those that knew what they were doing as it was NOT a wide-open, stupid Bass-bite ….. or for plastics either. A single legal Halibut (out of 2 or 3 caught), a few Sculpin, and a couple of Sharks were also caught.
07/11 Jackpot
Last Call .....................Roger ………………Tied!
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Barries Take It
Barracuda took the jackpot! Or should I say Barracudas or is that Barracudi!! It was a tie on the two 8~9lb fishys. Both fish were caught on bait. Grey power is still in force, as one of our own … K of C Angler’s club (also know as the Diaper Brigade) members …. Roger ‘Jackpot Killer’ Brunner was one of the jackpot winners ……. Again!!
Plastics
Fished Plastics Only
Me and my plastics slingin’ buddy boated near limits of Barracuda and had the dogs take more than just a few too! Very few short fish. Buddy got lots of bass on plastic while I got skunked on legals of that flavor……. Even though I made the effort. At least I caught the last cuda of the day!
Fun Day
Had a good number of people with familiar faces on the boat who did a great job, worked together, and the boat made for a happy trip without incident! Had a few dads and kids, as well as families on board too.
JapanRon
Hi there guys,
1) Tuesday’s Report
Went on my usual ½-day-trip on the Southern Cal, out of Pierpoint to fish local waters i.e. fished both outside and inside Horseshoe Kelp with 25~30 anglers. Went on the PM run. Collin was the skipper, while Stan decked, Ed did galley duties, and Alex helped out on deck.
Note: Countdown 1: Sand Bass …… Sand Bass numbers are growing substantially in the counts. Hope the Giant Squid aren’t really impacting the migration that much. Looking at water temps, it seems like we’ve stalled around 70. It’s about NOW that we get warmer water and start to consistently have the fish counts including Sand Bass as the dominant species.
Note: Countdown 2: Remember there’s only 2~3 more weeks till school starts so get those kids out on the boats to take advantage of the Kids Fish for FREE deals as well as the other promotions around town. Landings’ websites often have special promotion announcements.
Target Fish: Barracuda and Bass
Short Report-Tuesday 07/10
25~30 anglers, including yours truly, caught tons…… well not literally …. lots of fish on the PM run. Although we had just a couple of Barracuda boated, we soon focused on Bass ….. both Calicos and Sand Bass.
Although we didn’t have boat limits, I had a personal best day on the number of Calicos …. for this year up to now anyways. I C&Red at least 15 ‘shorts’ or ‘sqeekers’ which, which although legal, are not what I like to give away. Grade of fish was not spectacular but the top Calicos and Sandies weighed in at maybe …. 3lbs. For whatever reason, a number of boats at Pierpoint have not made public their counts (their right to do so for sure), therefore I have no exact count. No biggie …… I’ve got eyes and can guesstimate pretty well! ha ha ha
Bass mix was around 70/30 on Calicos and Sandbass. We did the usual pattern of most moo-moo at present and fished an outside spot first for a shot at Barracuda and then came in a little closer for the bass. Fished with a considerable number of both moo-moos and Pbers. Finbait consisted of larger pinhead Anchovies and Sardines … the usual fare of what has been available recently on the moo-moos. Had a great bunch of anglers on the boat sharing the rail.
A special note to my good buddies (Lil Ceez, his fishin’ buddy, and a couple of other ‘young turks’ that pretty much socialize and fish together) that are cool, good anglers, sincere, treat us old guys pretty good, and have respect for the fishery. Nice fishin’ with ya again …. Hey Ceez …. you fish iron (for the bigger models) with the same intensity I fish plastics ….. that’s excellent!!
The AM run: Coming off the boat, there were 30 or so anglers and it looked like they caught plenty of fish with a mix of Barracuda and Bass …….. from the bulges of un-cleaned fish in a few of the sacks. I admit that the cooler morning has less impact on the deterioration of the eating experience of the barries but …… with cleaning right away those things eat pretty darn good! I’m told.
Twilight: It looked like the boat may … only may have been going on a twilight trip too although the boat is officially only on-line Wed~Sun for the twilight schedule. Didn’t ask. I’ll bet, like some other landings I know, if there were enough SOLID reservations, the boat would go whatever the day.
(Please widen your view to fit monitor if word-wrap looks off)
07/10 Jackpot
Winner!
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Barracuda
Way to go Lil Ceez on catching the jackpot fish! A Barracuda, one of the few caught on the PM run, was the clear winner today. No need for a weigh-in although the call was made. The near 8-lb fish was caught on iron but I didn’t notice what color with it’s head flailing around!! Hey … who’s that guy standing beside you? Should be calling you the Iron-Man.
Long Report
LA Light Bye Bye
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The Days Fishing
Out, Down, and Back …………………………………........... . Currents!
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Grazing in the Pasture
Moo-moos This Week
Moo …............................................... .... Moo-moo …........................................... Another Moo
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Next Moo ………………………….................... .Again Moo ………………....................... Last Moo!!
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PBer’s This Week
First …………................................... Second ………….......................... Third
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Fourth …………………….......................... ............ Charter?
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Round-Up
2 Rounds
First Stop
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Round 1. First thing we did was go through the LA light entrance and head straight out to the area where Barracuda had been caught on the AM run. Made a couple of stops and dropped the hook a couple of times on metered fish but we couldn’t seem to chum them up and get them motivated to bite. The toothy critters were sulking no doubt!
The few cuda we did get to show some interest weren’t around very long and as I had said … only a couple gar were caught. I got a few following on the plastic but nothing but a single tail nip-off ……. no ……. it wasn’t a Mackerel! Ha ha
A few bass were also picked up but no sustained bite to keep us from looking for greener pastures. People fished everything i.e. Iron, plastic, fly-line, slider or dropper loop w/Sardines and pinhead Anchovies. Current wasn’t bad for the afternoon so many were using lighter stuff ….. except for the two guys right beside me!! Personally I think 6~8ozs is over kill on smaller baits!!
Dang ….. CAT looks close!!
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I digress …….
Still the ‘Shoe’
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Round 2 With just the couple of cuda and few Bass we headed a little inside for the Calicos and Sandies. It may have taken us about 2~3 moves to find a patch of fish that were willing to be coaxed into biting and ‘rise’ to the occasion. Loaded up on fish (don’t want to hit a spot too hard) and fished one more spot before heading home.
For the bait dunkers, they pretty much used the same setups as they had earlier in the afternoon but added weight to compensate for the increasing wind, swell, and wave conditions. Fly-lining a bait did fairly well as did jigs. Seems like the jigs got bigger fish on average but plastics ruled! Absolutely ruled. More anglers really need to get with the program and learn to throw plastics. Especially when the bait available now is smaller. Ohhhhhhh ya …. and plastic. I caught all my fish on the plastic as described in the Plastic section.
Fish were waaaaaay out, under the boat ……. like everwhere!! No place in the water column you couldn’t find fish! Dumb ol’ Sand Bass weren’t falling for the ol’ drop straight down trick!! As I said before, the real fun to me is catching them out a distance, right on top where you can actually kinda sight-fish if you know the signs …….. or the friendly deck who is chumming is telling you to cast!! For newbies: Listen to the deckhands ….. especially the guys on the tanks as they are up above us and also have an experienced eye!
Conditions: Warm but overcast with a comfortable breeze! Water visibility at maybe 15 feet. Air temp stayed in the 65º~75º during the fishing day. Please check out the graphics for additional weather and water condition.
Gallery For This Week's Fishing
Fish & Anglers
Cuda …………............. Nice Grade ………......................................... ........ Hali & Bass ………....... Nice Bass
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Sandy ………........ Nice Fish ………...........Newbie ………............More Fish
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Other
Spin-Trash .......................................Half-full? .................................Tiny Spool
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Iron Chunkers ................. 3 Buddies ............................................ My Corner
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Families
First …………............................ Second .................................Third
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Forth
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Let Them Know
The photos above are just a sample of the fish and things of interest, at least to me, on this trip. Note: If you see a friend in the pictures, let them know they can copy the photo off the report. Directions: Click the right button with the ‘cursor’ on the picture, then click on ‘save picture as’, next choose where they wish to copy the picture, and lastly click ‘save’. Later, they can edit and print the picture at their leisure with a simple photo-editing program.
Tweeking Plastics #33
Nothing again for this week but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.
Plastics
The Right Stuff
leadhead Colors …………………...............Bass Plastics!
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Barracuda Plastics ……………….............. Plastics Fishys!
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Fantastic
No skunk …………... Limits …. Limits …. Limits! This week tsurikichi could do no wrong. On one series, I had 12 fish out of 18 casts with 4 casts resulting in my pants being pulled down and only two totally ignored! Tuesday ….. it was wide open ‘ON THE PLASTICS’ on the Bass …… 80/20 Calicos and Sandies at the ‘Shoe’. Wednesday ….. it was wide open around Huntington Beach at the ‘Flats’ and or ‘Pipe’ for Barracuda. Cast for cast, my usual rail buddy and I almost out-fished the bait and iron ….. although …… bait got the quality fish! As usual, I fished nothing but plastic both days. I may never touch another finbait as long as I live! Ha ha
Tuesday- Of all the colors and combinations I used, only three seemed to work consistently (See photo above). The bite I experienced was best had by either fishing heavier leadheads (1oz) and doing a grind near the bottom for both species or the lighter stuff on top where I tried to keep the bait up as long as possible awaiting a hit from the Calicos. The bite would usually come as the swimbait (Kalin, BH, FT, or Blams) hit the water or before you could count to 3. The bass weren’t absolutely stupid as I had a lot of short biters at first until I really started to see an improvement in the solid bite ratio when I brought my leaders to 8lb-test and 1/4oz leadheads. The Sand Bass didn’t usually come back for a second hit if they missed the first time too. Red and to a lesser degree green leadheads worked great.
Strange ….. the yellow leadheads that normally work so well earlier in the season (especially in combination with a dark green metalflake body swimbait) seemed to be less effective now. Hummmmmm and I’ve stocked up on both at a million of them too! ha ha
As is almost always the case, I got three different comments from fellow anglers. 1) after a number of fish straight in a row, guys would say something like …. Is he getting them on that plastic thing ….. 2) I’ve been watching you and gotta strart fishing those things and 3) what are those …. so I set these guys up with a couple and they (newbies) started to catch fish consistently. I was so busy catching fish, I thought …. the heck with taking another picture of a Calico!
Wednesday- Interesting that so few people are as yet convinced on the effectiveness of plastic. Time after time …….. I overhear the same old phrase. ‘Dang that guys is catchin’ ‘em like crazy on plastics’. I’m the only guy fishing plastics and half an hour later, a quarter of the boat is fishing plastics! ha ha ha funny!
Fished, my usual search routine …… mostly ¾ oz standard triangle and a few dart head leadheads first ¾ oz, then ½ oz, and even down to 3/8th oz (unpainted, red, yellow, and green) and 6 different color combos of 4-inch versions of Kalins and blams. I did go lighter to ¼ oz leadheads to keep the plastic up nearer the top longer when casting for the outside fish! Still seems like the bite was subtle on the bass with a lot of pants being pulled down near the bottom while the surface strikes were few and far between!
In retrospect, in the afternoon, whichever day, and the wind blowing to bow line, wind-waves kicking up 2~3 foot, as well as a 2 foot swells, it’s harder to sense a top water strike when the boat is in both vertical motion and swinging at anchor.
The Usual Colors
1st .. 2nd .3rd ..4th ..5th …6th
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Tuesday Out There
Lunar …………………………………….….... ....... Wind Direction and Speed!
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Tides ………………………………………….. ....................................Water Temps!
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UV Alert!
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Tuesday’s Conditions
Fishing Grounds: Check pics and stats!!
Wild Creatures: Saw many Sealions say …… 2~3 at a time. Few Cormorants on the grounds but Pelicans, Terns, and Seagulls were around especially when it was time to clean fish.
Asides
Aside:
DFG Regs
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Multi-day Permit
For Private Boaters Too?! Browsing thru the 2007 Ocean Sport Fishing booklet, I noticed on page 4 …..under fees and as the last entry ‘Other Permits’ a ‘Declaration for Multi-day Fishing Trip ………………………. 4.75.
That’s when it hit me ……. I guess private boaters are supposed to have these declarations (DFG money makers) for the two and three days some often spend at Catalina. Wonder if anybody actually goes to the hassle of going to buy this permit? Do the DFG guys at the islands regularly ask for these things? Does anyone admit to being out over a day! Ha ha ha Any input from readers?
Another Aside:
Handi-Fishing
Choosing A Boat
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Finding Open Space
As I had mentioned, the off season and week-days are great for making test runs for handicapped or disabled anglers on the moo-moos. Especially, if you find a boat with regularly low numbers on a given day of the week. That’s for those who would need special accommodation at the rail. The largest issue seems to be actually fishing at the rail and position to it. The stern is generally the easiest to fish as …… 1) it has corners one could use for extra support and 2) the rail is lowest along this stretch of the boat.
Although you have no right to receive ‘extra’ space along the rail gratis, with few anglers on the boat, people generally spread out anyways. Unless they are a spot dog like me! Anyhow ….. the upshot is that if you are lucky, a space or so will be left ‘unsold’ wink … wink on one side of the other for added space that would add to make a comfortable and safe fishing experience for you.
Yet Another Aside: Interesting observation. Before the boat leaves the dock it is sometimes interesting to make an estimate of how many anglers ]u]MAY[/u] be either new to moo-moos or sportfishing or may not have been fishing in a while. This game should be played without even taking a careful look at those who are on board.
As mentioned in a previous post … one tip-off of inexperienced anglers … besides in some cases but not always …… rental rods … is the in-appropriateness of tackle for the given fishing trip. The NEW observation entails observing the state of fish sacks hung on the bait tank.
Yep ….. as silly as it sounds …. by looking at the condition of the fish sacks hung on the bait tank, depending on the boat itself, if one sees a brand new sack, chances are the anglers didn’t have one in the first place. Many regular anglers bring their own bags all dried, washed, and rolled up on their gear.
Additionally, if the boat has rail numbers, you can spot the rail numbers on as-yet-unused sacks and relate them to your own fishing position (number). If close, chances are high that you will be fishing with a lesser experienced angler or group of anglers with the numbers next to yours! Be assured …. I’m not speaking ill of newbies or ANYONE …….. it’s just one more area that you can better be aware of your surrounding and be prepared to make allowances. I don’t know about most ….. but I sometimes alter my fishing … just a bit ….. to ‘adjust’ to others around me. It’s part of fishing with a group.
Still Another Aside:
More on Fish Sacks Fish sacks, unless bought by the angler, are property of the landing and or boat and shouldn’t be taken off the boat unless purchased from one or the other. That’s my opinion as a moo-moo patron. On ½ and ¾ moo-moos …. the sack is not included in the fare in the landings I patronize.
Near Last Aside:Moo-moos’ Blues
Mooooooo
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Moderate Loads
We’ve had mostly ½ to ¾-capacity loads overall this week ……. with the fairly strong and consistent Barracuda bite. Consistent Bass counts too ……. even without the long awaited Sand Bass ‘Rush’ yet to appear. Many landings (doing twilights) are running between 1 and 5 twilight trips a week and are showing respectable numbers on two of the 3Bs’s. Last weeks’ ‘Pack ‘em On’ award goes to the boat that went95 for 100 angler capacity for their twilight yes twilight trip. Now that would have been a boat to have been on deck for a live report. I just hope not too many anglers suffered from varying degrees of night blindness like me or you would have a bunch of moles running around squinting. Ha ha ha
Posted this paragraph previously
There is a reason these boats have the numbers they do so …….. hop aboard these fish-getters sometime. Good to see our moo-moos getting the business that will help them survive through the lean late-Fall and Winter months. At least one landing is reporting numbers (angler and catch totals) for their half-day trips (2 trips a day) with two figures … that is ….. 1) total anglers and 2) total fish caught. We get a break though …. as at least they break down the ‘caught fish’ totals into species! :) If you want to check the AM/PM ’catch trends’ (as I often do to simply fine tune my tackle choices) in their neck of the woods, you’ll have to go to other landings’ counts which often fish the same areas. No biggie Right?! Truth is … they will probably give you the count when you make a reservation so ……… don’t pass up landing due to no counts posted.
Last Aside:
Flailing Fish Com’ on guys !!! On a crowded boat, it’s not cool taking the time to stand around and admire your newly decked 8lb cuda that’s flailing on deck in a 3 or 4 foot radius with a jig in its mouth and barely hooked. Sheesh! With a jig …. It’s 1) Catch and boat fish, 2) Dispatch fish, 3) Remove hook and sack, 4) Return to fishing spot to assist (if necessary) untangling any lines and straighten up your fishing area, 5) Then ….. do whatever you want!!
I’m no wimp and I don’t wear sandals on the boat but I don’t need my feet whacked by a jig or worse have the jig go flying at ankle level nor …… do I need to see blood flying all over the place (sorry BloodyDecks) as I had enough of that in Viet~Nam!!
The SoCal
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Stern Numbers!
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Crew
Collin-skipper ……..1ST Deck-Stan …......... Ed- Cook ……............... Deck-Alex
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End of An Epic Day
Had a great day on the water with friends and caught lots of fish. A good number of regulars, familiar faces, families, made up a great group so I’m right at home!! There’s some of us that might regularly go on different days but we’re there whatever the case. Chickened out on the AM/PM re-ride trip again this week. Maybe next week.
2) Wednesday’s Report 07/11[/u]
Wednesday’s Trip 07/11
For My Trip
Went on a ¾-day-moo-moo trip first …to Horseshoe, back to load up on some decent-sized (3-inch) Anchovies (for now) and ….. then headed south to join the fleet at the ‘Flats’!!
Short Report- 07/11
35~40 guys on the boat. Very good cuda fishing. Buddy and I got near limits on barries in the 6~8lb range. Bass fishing was fair for most and great for those that knew what they were doing as it was NOT a wide-open, stupid Bass-bite ….. or for plastics either. A single legal Halibut (out of 2 or 3 caught), a few Sculpin, and a couple of Sharks were also caught.
07/11 Jackpot
Last Call .....................Roger ………………Tied!
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Barries Take It
Barracuda took the jackpot! Or should I say Barracudas or is that Barracudi!! It was a tie on the two 8~9lb fishys. Both fish were caught on bait. Grey power is still in force, as one of our own … K of C Angler’s club (also know as the Diaper Brigade) members …. Roger ‘Jackpot Killer’ Brunner was one of the jackpot winners ……. Again!!
Plastics
Fished Plastics Only
Me and my plastics slingin’ buddy boated near limits of Barracuda and had the dogs take more than just a few too! Very few short fish. Buddy got lots of bass on plastic while I got skunked on legals of that flavor……. Even though I made the effort. At least I caught the last cuda of the day!
Fun Day
Had a good number of people with familiar faces on the boat who did a great job, worked together, and the boat made for a happy trip without incident! Had a few dads and kids, as well as families on board too.
JapanRon