Jackpot Jimmy
07-02-2010, 07:03 PM
Dad and I decided to do something a little different, but, at the same time, familiar. I talked to my good friend, George, who cooks on the Dana Pride, and he said bass fishing was pretty consistent down in that area. He made resos for us on Thursday, and we decided to go on that day knowing we would be joined by a lot of our old friends and regulars of Dana Wharf Sportfishing.
We woke up at 2:30 in the morning and quickly got ready and headed on down to Dana Point. We arrived at about 4:20 to heavy mist, but not quite drizzle. We said hello to Captain Skip on the Fury and shot the breeze with the other guys while we waited to board the boat. One of our deckhands for the day, Evan, came up with the manifest sheet and collected our tickets. For those that don’t know, Dana Wharf has a “first come, first serve” policy, so whoever is first on the boat gets the first choice in spot. There are numbers at the rail, but they are only there to minimize confusion in rotating if there is a heavy load. Thankfully, we only had 36 people on the boat, so we didn’t have to rotate.
I got my spot at the stern to start out, and put my tackle box up, put the rest of the rods in the racks. I brought the following gear:
• Curado 200DHSV with 10# test, Calcutta rod Medium 7-1/2 foot w/Size 1 hook
• Curado 200 with 12# test, Calcutta rod Medium Heavy 8 foot w/quarter oz. Cotee leadhead with blam – switched during the day to 1-1/2 oz. anchovy pattern megabait
• Torium 14 with 15# test, Super Seeker 809 w/2-0 size hook
• Torium 20 with 30# test, Super Seeker 90M w/Bird colored Candy Bar
I decided to bring a little lighter string with me, and I’m sure glad I did! Anyways, I ordered a nice breakfast plate from George in the galley, and as always, it was excellent! Eggs over easy, potatoes, and whole grain toast with boysenberry jelly…Mmm!!!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-22.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-27.jpg
Our crew today would consist of Captain Tom White, George Clough in the galley, and Mark and Evan working the deck. Before we left the dock, Mark collected the jackpot for those who wanted to get in. We then left the dock and headed over to the bait receiver to load up on a good mix of anchovies and sardines. We headed out of the harbor while Tommy gave his safety speech/game plan, and we would be heading down the coast looking in the mud for any signs of barracuda or sand bass, and if not, we would fish the spots.
Nothing doing out in the mud, so we headed into the beach. We dropped anchor, and the bass busted wide open. There were clouds and clouds of calicos hanging out just below the surface. I started out fishing my blam, and every cast was a calico or a short barracuda. After a bit of action, some legal barracuda started to show up. I couldn’t get one to bite the Candy Bar, so I switched to a small megabait, and I started getting a short every cast. I did end up getting a couple of barely legal cuda. On one cast, I hooked and brought a nice one to the boat. Evan tried to gaff it, but it did something squirrely on him, wrapping the line around the gaff, and it broke off. All in good fun, the crew calls him “Zorro”, because he leaves a mark when he tries to gaff. It’s all good!
The bite died off a little bit, and we headed on down the coast, stopping at a kelp paddy for a couple mackerel on the way. At the next spot, we got a few bass, but fishing was definitely not as good. We backtracked up to the area where we started out, but fishing was worse. We did scratch out a few more bass, but fishing was definitely at its high point in the morning. We headed in with a count of about 150 mixed bass and 20 barracuda.
When we got in, we decided to do what we had always done before – stick around and fish the twilight. Tonight’s twilight would be on the Reel Fun, a boat I had always liked to fish, because you are fishing very low to the water. The crew would consist of Captain Dusty, Dan “Donut” Johnson in the galley, and Chris on deck. We just went 10 minutes up the coast to the point and anchored up on the kelp, which has finally grown back out to the red buoy! Dad and I were fishing plastics on the stern and I told him, “Jackpot will probably be won by a green tipper (my term for a person using a rental rod down there because the rental poles’ tips used to be green for differentiation) with a big halibut.” Not ten minutes after dropping anchor, Donut hoists up a 25 pound halibut caught by a green tipper. Oh well, with jackpot out of the way, time to have some fun! I caught calico after calico on my red flake blam. Later on in the night, I tried fishing a sardine on the fly line, and I got some nicer calicos. I also tried fishing the dropper loop, and I ended up getting a legal barracuda.
Anyways, bass fishing was excellent…what more can I say. There were also quite a few sand bass caught…a good sign for the summer spawn!! The crews were phenomenal, as usual, and I look forward to going back down and fishing with them again sometime. Great times, great fishing!
Time for some asides:
Aside #1: One of our friends, Hans, who is also a regular, gets more bird’s nests on the boat than anyone. So, from now on, when you get a bird’s nest, don’t call it a bird’s nest. Call it a Hans.
Aside #2: The Dana Pride does cruises every week, and I noticed they added something called “Pride Punch” to their menu. I have no idea what it is…but if you like good drinks and good music, make a reservation, and hop on the Dana Pride for a good cruise!
Aside #3: Sorry again…no pictures of fish this time.
We woke up at 2:30 in the morning and quickly got ready and headed on down to Dana Point. We arrived at about 4:20 to heavy mist, but not quite drizzle. We said hello to Captain Skip on the Fury and shot the breeze with the other guys while we waited to board the boat. One of our deckhands for the day, Evan, came up with the manifest sheet and collected our tickets. For those that don’t know, Dana Wharf has a “first come, first serve” policy, so whoever is first on the boat gets the first choice in spot. There are numbers at the rail, but they are only there to minimize confusion in rotating if there is a heavy load. Thankfully, we only had 36 people on the boat, so we didn’t have to rotate.
I got my spot at the stern to start out, and put my tackle box up, put the rest of the rods in the racks. I brought the following gear:
• Curado 200DHSV with 10# test, Calcutta rod Medium 7-1/2 foot w/Size 1 hook
• Curado 200 with 12# test, Calcutta rod Medium Heavy 8 foot w/quarter oz. Cotee leadhead with blam – switched during the day to 1-1/2 oz. anchovy pattern megabait
• Torium 14 with 15# test, Super Seeker 809 w/2-0 size hook
• Torium 20 with 30# test, Super Seeker 90M w/Bird colored Candy Bar
I decided to bring a little lighter string with me, and I’m sure glad I did! Anyways, I ordered a nice breakfast plate from George in the galley, and as always, it was excellent! Eggs over easy, potatoes, and whole grain toast with boysenberry jelly…Mmm!!!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-22.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-27.jpg
Our crew today would consist of Captain Tom White, George Clough in the galley, and Mark and Evan working the deck. Before we left the dock, Mark collected the jackpot for those who wanted to get in. We then left the dock and headed over to the bait receiver to load up on a good mix of anchovies and sardines. We headed out of the harbor while Tommy gave his safety speech/game plan, and we would be heading down the coast looking in the mud for any signs of barracuda or sand bass, and if not, we would fish the spots.
Nothing doing out in the mud, so we headed into the beach. We dropped anchor, and the bass busted wide open. There were clouds and clouds of calicos hanging out just below the surface. I started out fishing my blam, and every cast was a calico or a short barracuda. After a bit of action, some legal barracuda started to show up. I couldn’t get one to bite the Candy Bar, so I switched to a small megabait, and I started getting a short every cast. I did end up getting a couple of barely legal cuda. On one cast, I hooked and brought a nice one to the boat. Evan tried to gaff it, but it did something squirrely on him, wrapping the line around the gaff, and it broke off. All in good fun, the crew calls him “Zorro”, because he leaves a mark when he tries to gaff. It’s all good!
The bite died off a little bit, and we headed on down the coast, stopping at a kelp paddy for a couple mackerel on the way. At the next spot, we got a few bass, but fishing was definitely not as good. We backtracked up to the area where we started out, but fishing was worse. We did scratch out a few more bass, but fishing was definitely at its high point in the morning. We headed in with a count of about 150 mixed bass and 20 barracuda.
When we got in, we decided to do what we had always done before – stick around and fish the twilight. Tonight’s twilight would be on the Reel Fun, a boat I had always liked to fish, because you are fishing very low to the water. The crew would consist of Captain Dusty, Dan “Donut” Johnson in the galley, and Chris on deck. We just went 10 minutes up the coast to the point and anchored up on the kelp, which has finally grown back out to the red buoy! Dad and I were fishing plastics on the stern and I told him, “Jackpot will probably be won by a green tipper (my term for a person using a rental rod down there because the rental poles’ tips used to be green for differentiation) with a big halibut.” Not ten minutes after dropping anchor, Donut hoists up a 25 pound halibut caught by a green tipper. Oh well, with jackpot out of the way, time to have some fun! I caught calico after calico on my red flake blam. Later on in the night, I tried fishing a sardine on the fly line, and I got some nicer calicos. I also tried fishing the dropper loop, and I ended up getting a legal barracuda.
Anyways, bass fishing was excellent…what more can I say. There were also quite a few sand bass caught…a good sign for the summer spawn!! The crews were phenomenal, as usual, and I look forward to going back down and fishing with them again sometime. Great times, great fishing!
Time for some asides:
Aside #1: One of our friends, Hans, who is also a regular, gets more bird’s nests on the boat than anyone. So, from now on, when you get a bird’s nest, don’t call it a bird’s nest. Call it a Hans.
Aside #2: The Dana Pride does cruises every week, and I noticed they added something called “Pride Punch” to their menu. I have no idea what it is…but if you like good drinks and good music, make a reservation, and hop on the Dana Pride for a good cruise!
Aside #3: Sorry again…no pictures of fish this time.