Jackpot Jimmy
06-20-2010, 12:40 PM
Good afternoon everyone,
I hope everyone is enjoying this fine Father’s Day. Yesterday, my dad and I hopped on the ¾ day trip on the Tradition in search of calicos and maybe a seabass. Our crew was Captain Steven Konrady, Derrick in the galley, and Morgon and John on deck. We left the dock at 6am with a light load of 14 eager anglers, and we headed on over to the bait receiver, where we received some good news: ANCHOVIES!!! Our bait boat, the Magic made some anchovies the day before and brought them back to King Harbor’s bait receivers. This might be a perfect opportunity for you kayakers to try fishing King Harbor for a bonito, spottie, or whatever else that may bite.
Once clearing the bell buoy, Steven made his usual safety speech with the game plan for the day, which was to fish for calicos, and if we were lucky, catch a seabass. We headed on down the line while Morgon took up the jackpot and Derrick cooked some fantastic breakfasts. I set up my kelp cutter rig (Torium 14 w/enlarged torque handle, 50# spectra, 30# test top shot & Super Seeker 809) with a ½ oz. sliding egg sinker and a hook for the seabass, and I also rigged up a fly line set-up and my bass rod with a plastic. Soon, we were anchored and fishing.
I tried throwing plastic, but the bass weren’t quite awake enough to eat plastic. Some people were catching bass and rockfish on the bottom, so I rigged up a single dropper loop with a one ounce torpedo sinker on my bass rod. I got a few bites, but nothing that would latch on to the anchovy. Then, I hooked something that immediately took off under the boat. I held my rod as far down as I could, and with some assistance, got the rod around the prop to the other side, and immediately I knew it was a bat ray. I fought it for a while (remember, this was on my bass stick) and got it to the boat after having to thumb the spool a couple times to keep it from running again, and surprisingly, the line held strong. Steven got the gaff and wrapped it around the line several times, and snapped it off, and I got my torpedo sinker back. That Ande line is good stuff, and that fight was a heck of a way to stretch it!
We moved on to another spot, and the calicos finally woke up. I tried fly lining for a while, but I couldn’t get my bait close enough to the kelp most of the time, so I switched back to my plastic. The calicos have wanted something red, so I went to Bob Sands the other day and picked up some blams with the red flakes and some ¼ oz. red Cotee leadheads. I didn’t find the right retrieve at first, so I went back to bait while Derrick tried to find that right retrieve with the red blam, and he did. The idea was to dead stick the plastic for about 15 to 20 feet along the edge of the kelp, and if you didn’t get bit, use a slow, steady retrieve. Derrick got quite a few bass using this technique. I tried this technique also, and I got a few bass as well.
We got quite a few bass out of this spot, and the bite petered out, so we moved on to another spot. I tried soaking a bait on my kelp cutter rig at the next spot for a seabass, but there were no biters. We soon moved from this spot. In the time we had left, we tried a couple more spots, and I got some more calicos on the red blam. By now, they were eating the plastic more on the retrieve. At the last spot, the calicos were eager to chew the sardines, but for the most part, they would simply kill the bait and leave. We did get some fish on the sardines, but not a whole lot to show for all the bites we got. In addition, we were plagued the entire day by jumbo mackerel.
Calico fishing was fantastic, and I really enjoyed fishing the plastic. I guess summer’s finally begun – I just hope the good fishing stays. Great times, great fishing!
Sorry, no pictures this time. Besides, I’m sure everyone knows what a calico bass looks like!
I hope everyone is enjoying this fine Father’s Day. Yesterday, my dad and I hopped on the ¾ day trip on the Tradition in search of calicos and maybe a seabass. Our crew was Captain Steven Konrady, Derrick in the galley, and Morgon and John on deck. We left the dock at 6am with a light load of 14 eager anglers, and we headed on over to the bait receiver, where we received some good news: ANCHOVIES!!! Our bait boat, the Magic made some anchovies the day before and brought them back to King Harbor’s bait receivers. This might be a perfect opportunity for you kayakers to try fishing King Harbor for a bonito, spottie, or whatever else that may bite.
Once clearing the bell buoy, Steven made his usual safety speech with the game plan for the day, which was to fish for calicos, and if we were lucky, catch a seabass. We headed on down the line while Morgon took up the jackpot and Derrick cooked some fantastic breakfasts. I set up my kelp cutter rig (Torium 14 w/enlarged torque handle, 50# spectra, 30# test top shot & Super Seeker 809) with a ½ oz. sliding egg sinker and a hook for the seabass, and I also rigged up a fly line set-up and my bass rod with a plastic. Soon, we were anchored and fishing.
I tried throwing plastic, but the bass weren’t quite awake enough to eat plastic. Some people were catching bass and rockfish on the bottom, so I rigged up a single dropper loop with a one ounce torpedo sinker on my bass rod. I got a few bites, but nothing that would latch on to the anchovy. Then, I hooked something that immediately took off under the boat. I held my rod as far down as I could, and with some assistance, got the rod around the prop to the other side, and immediately I knew it was a bat ray. I fought it for a while (remember, this was on my bass stick) and got it to the boat after having to thumb the spool a couple times to keep it from running again, and surprisingly, the line held strong. Steven got the gaff and wrapped it around the line several times, and snapped it off, and I got my torpedo sinker back. That Ande line is good stuff, and that fight was a heck of a way to stretch it!
We moved on to another spot, and the calicos finally woke up. I tried fly lining for a while, but I couldn’t get my bait close enough to the kelp most of the time, so I switched back to my plastic. The calicos have wanted something red, so I went to Bob Sands the other day and picked up some blams with the red flakes and some ¼ oz. red Cotee leadheads. I didn’t find the right retrieve at first, so I went back to bait while Derrick tried to find that right retrieve with the red blam, and he did. The idea was to dead stick the plastic for about 15 to 20 feet along the edge of the kelp, and if you didn’t get bit, use a slow, steady retrieve. Derrick got quite a few bass using this technique. I tried this technique also, and I got a few bass as well.
We got quite a few bass out of this spot, and the bite petered out, so we moved on to another spot. I tried soaking a bait on my kelp cutter rig at the next spot for a seabass, but there were no biters. We soon moved from this spot. In the time we had left, we tried a couple more spots, and I got some more calicos on the red blam. By now, they were eating the plastic more on the retrieve. At the last spot, the calicos were eager to chew the sardines, but for the most part, they would simply kill the bait and leave. We did get some fish on the sardines, but not a whole lot to show for all the bites we got. In addition, we were plagued the entire day by jumbo mackerel.
Calico fishing was fantastic, and I really enjoyed fishing the plastic. I guess summer’s finally begun – I just hope the good fishing stays. Great times, great fishing!
Sorry, no pictures this time. Besides, I’m sure everyone knows what a calico bass looks like!