ffunluving
07-13-2007, 07:13 PM
Greetings Fishermen and women. This was my first overnight saltwater trip and first time on the Freedom. Got to the landing and only 18 reservations...ah a good start. At 10:00, there were 41 people on the boat...oh well at least I get to fish.
Wondered what it would be like to sleep on the boat...not bad once you fall asleep. Next morning the sound of the motor shutting down wakes me. Jump into my boots and ready to fish.
Wow, it's really windy. The captain told us we're after yellow tail today and they haven't been biting until late morning. Well, he was right. First few stops result in one farmed yt and a fly-lined halibut being the only fish boated.
We are hooking up quite regularily with sea lions. The fin bait is nice sized, but very lethargic (only had about three runners all day) and every other cast the bait is bitten in half. This continued throughout the day. We would only stay at each place for an hour at most before the number of hungry sea lions would force us to relocate.
Started getting a few more bites about 9:00 and finally there's a yt flopping on the deck. Here's a brief summation of what occurs at each stop for the rest of the day. Drop anchor, within about 10 minutes a small flurry of bites resulting in two yt on the boat and one being munched by a sea lion. Then nothing. Crank up the anchor.
Here's a pix of today's total catch of 15 yt. Not much size which was disappointing as I understand San Clemente often produces some old guard.
http://fishingnetwork.net/images/tmp2/fish40
Fortunately, the wind died somewhat at about 11:00. I landed my first yt soon after. It was a double hook up with the guy next to me getting hit at the exact same time. We both managed to land our fish (the only ones at that stop). I also got lucky at out last stop of the day with another yt a little larger than the first. I was #6 for the day so here's a pix of my fish.
http://fishingnetwork.net/images/tmp2/myfish50.jpg
I also caught a 15-inch calico and 27-inch barracuda. I think there were two barris caught and 40 calicos. Most on the smaller side, but a few over three-lbs. All the yt were caught on fly lined fin bait. Most of the calicos were caught on lead head and squid.
Not quite the type of production I hoped for, but it was a pretty good group of people on the boat and I was fortunate to bring fish home when most didn't catch any.
Have to give the Freedom crew a big thumbs up as the captain kept moving and trying to put us on fish. The deckhands were all over the place untangling lines and gaffing fish. Here's a pix for those of you who haven't seen the boat.
http://fishingnetwork.net/images/tmp2/freedom50.jpg
Hope to get out there again soon and file another report. Best of luck to all of you.
Wondered what it would be like to sleep on the boat...not bad once you fall asleep. Next morning the sound of the motor shutting down wakes me. Jump into my boots and ready to fish.
Wow, it's really windy. The captain told us we're after yellow tail today and they haven't been biting until late morning. Well, he was right. First few stops result in one farmed yt and a fly-lined halibut being the only fish boated.
We are hooking up quite regularily with sea lions. The fin bait is nice sized, but very lethargic (only had about three runners all day) and every other cast the bait is bitten in half. This continued throughout the day. We would only stay at each place for an hour at most before the number of hungry sea lions would force us to relocate.
Started getting a few more bites about 9:00 and finally there's a yt flopping on the deck. Here's a brief summation of what occurs at each stop for the rest of the day. Drop anchor, within about 10 minutes a small flurry of bites resulting in two yt on the boat and one being munched by a sea lion. Then nothing. Crank up the anchor.
Here's a pix of today's total catch of 15 yt. Not much size which was disappointing as I understand San Clemente often produces some old guard.
http://fishingnetwork.net/images/tmp2/fish40
Fortunately, the wind died somewhat at about 11:00. I landed my first yt soon after. It was a double hook up with the guy next to me getting hit at the exact same time. We both managed to land our fish (the only ones at that stop). I also got lucky at out last stop of the day with another yt a little larger than the first. I was #6 for the day so here's a pix of my fish.
http://fishingnetwork.net/images/tmp2/myfish50.jpg
I also caught a 15-inch calico and 27-inch barracuda. I think there were two barris caught and 40 calicos. Most on the smaller side, but a few over three-lbs. All the yt were caught on fly lined fin bait. Most of the calicos were caught on lead head and squid.
Not quite the type of production I hoped for, but it was a pretty good group of people on the boat and I was fortunate to bring fish home when most didn't catch any.
Have to give the Freedom crew a big thumbs up as the captain kept moving and trying to put us on fish. The deckhands were all over the place untangling lines and gaffing fish. Here's a pix for those of you who haven't seen the boat.
http://fishingnetwork.net/images/tmp2/freedom50.jpg
Hope to get out there again soon and file another report. Best of luck to all of you.