Jackpot Jimmy
08-02-2010, 01:02 PM
On Friday, my friend Ray picked me up and we headed down to Redondo. The barracuda bite had been pretty good, but the fish were biting in a weird way, and not how they should be. Nevertheless, they were biting, so I was pretty excited about having another GAR slay.
We headed north towards the area where the tankers park and Steven found a solid meter mark outside the southernmost tanker. Morgon threw some bait, and the fish became solid underneath the boat. Boils were everywhere with a mixed batch of fish jumping everywhere. I got a few fish on my mint and white Tady C while others were getting bit every cast. Then, a tug boat came over to us and told us to leave the area for a little while, as the tanker was about to depart. We then moved on and searched the area for a little while, but we were unable to locate the school again.
While we waited for the fish to regroup, we hit the pipe for a shot at some bass. I got a nice bass right off the bat on a plastic with squid strips, but nothing for the rest of the time we were there. I fished a bigger wham with squid for a while in pursuit of a bigger bass, but all that came of that was getting stuck in the rocks and a bent hook on the leadhead. The best bet at this spot was a mackerel strip with a sliding sinker. Anyways, after a while of slow fishing, we moved on in search of more barracuda.
At this time, I switched to a Tady AA light, as the fish were becoming very finicky. I got one on the jig before switching to my last resort of fly lining for the barracuda. I tied a loop to double up my line, and I got one fish on bait, but I was becoming frustrated because the barracuda were biting baits like seabass, so I stubbornly went back to the jig, and I was rewarded with another nice GAR.
Meanwhile, there was a thick layer of squid that moved in close to the bottom, so Steven and Derrick dropped down squid catchers and went bendo on every drop. By the end of the day, they made over 100 pieces!
The bite petered out, so we moved in front of King Harbor and did a halibut drift while Morgon started filleting the barracuda, which throughout the day he hung up in the sacks with loops around the tails, keeping the meat as straight and as fresh as possible. No biters on the halibut, so we headed on in and called it a day, with about 50 barracuda in the sacks.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-32.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-56.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-20.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-44.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-35.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-21.jpg
The next day, Steven decided to head over to the island to try fishing the calicos with the squid, and if we were lucky, maybe a seabass or two. Today, fellow forum member Peter “Liteliner” Ly would be fishing with us. We anchored up at our first spot, but it was pretty much dead except for one nice barracuda that got away. We then continued up around the west end and up the back. We made a few spots where some nice sheephead and other mixed bottom grabbers came up, but nothing much in ways of calicos in the kelp, and the lack of current made things worse. We did come across a couple spots that had meter marks of the right kind, but only calicos wanted to play with the live squid. I also caught and released a bat ray at one of these spots. At the last spot of the day, we started to get some more calicos on the squid, but we had absolutely no condition, so they didn’t bite like they should have. I got a couple of nice bites on the live squid that seemed like sheephead bites, but I was stubborn and used a bigger hook, and all they would do is bite for a while, and then steal the squid. Oh well…the island was showing potential with the live squid, but the lack of conditions plagued us as it kept the fish off the bite. Sorry, no pictures, as my camera died before I could take any on Saturday.
On twilight, we headed north in search of barracuda. We found a good meter mark, but they didn’t want to get with it, so we anchored up on some rockpiles for the sand bass. Once the sun went down, fishing got pretty good on the mogambo and live squid. The idea was to cast at different angles relative to the rock if you weren’t getting a bite casting a certain way. Once you found that angle, it was game on for a little while, and then you would try casting at a different angle, and you caught another fish. Things slowed down after a while, and we moved on closer to the harbor.
Fishing was pretty good at this last spot, but the fish didn’t want the squid with a mogambo on it. I was being stubborn and kept my squid down there, but the fish just wouldn’t bite it. Right before it was time to head home, I slipped the squid onto a straight leadhead, and got a bass bite as soon as it hit the bottom. Meanwhile, others were catching some quality bass, with the best bet being a live squid on a dropper loop.
Anyways, fishing was okay for the weekend, but I’m hoping things really pick up as the month goes on, but we shall see…
We headed north towards the area where the tankers park and Steven found a solid meter mark outside the southernmost tanker. Morgon threw some bait, and the fish became solid underneath the boat. Boils were everywhere with a mixed batch of fish jumping everywhere. I got a few fish on my mint and white Tady C while others were getting bit every cast. Then, a tug boat came over to us and told us to leave the area for a little while, as the tanker was about to depart. We then moved on and searched the area for a little while, but we were unable to locate the school again.
While we waited for the fish to regroup, we hit the pipe for a shot at some bass. I got a nice bass right off the bat on a plastic with squid strips, but nothing for the rest of the time we were there. I fished a bigger wham with squid for a while in pursuit of a bigger bass, but all that came of that was getting stuck in the rocks and a bent hook on the leadhead. The best bet at this spot was a mackerel strip with a sliding sinker. Anyways, after a while of slow fishing, we moved on in search of more barracuda.
At this time, I switched to a Tady AA light, as the fish were becoming very finicky. I got one on the jig before switching to my last resort of fly lining for the barracuda. I tied a loop to double up my line, and I got one fish on bait, but I was becoming frustrated because the barracuda were biting baits like seabass, so I stubbornly went back to the jig, and I was rewarded with another nice GAR.
Meanwhile, there was a thick layer of squid that moved in close to the bottom, so Steven and Derrick dropped down squid catchers and went bendo on every drop. By the end of the day, they made over 100 pieces!
The bite petered out, so we moved in front of King Harbor and did a halibut drift while Morgon started filleting the barracuda, which throughout the day he hung up in the sacks with loops around the tails, keeping the meat as straight and as fresh as possible. No biters on the halibut, so we headed on in and called it a day, with about 50 barracuda in the sacks.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-32.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-56.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-20.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-44.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-35.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-21.jpg
The next day, Steven decided to head over to the island to try fishing the calicos with the squid, and if we were lucky, maybe a seabass or two. Today, fellow forum member Peter “Liteliner” Ly would be fishing with us. We anchored up at our first spot, but it was pretty much dead except for one nice barracuda that got away. We then continued up around the west end and up the back. We made a few spots where some nice sheephead and other mixed bottom grabbers came up, but nothing much in ways of calicos in the kelp, and the lack of current made things worse. We did come across a couple spots that had meter marks of the right kind, but only calicos wanted to play with the live squid. I also caught and released a bat ray at one of these spots. At the last spot of the day, we started to get some more calicos on the squid, but we had absolutely no condition, so they didn’t bite like they should have. I got a couple of nice bites on the live squid that seemed like sheephead bites, but I was stubborn and used a bigger hook, and all they would do is bite for a while, and then steal the squid. Oh well…the island was showing potential with the live squid, but the lack of conditions plagued us as it kept the fish off the bite. Sorry, no pictures, as my camera died before I could take any on Saturday.
On twilight, we headed north in search of barracuda. We found a good meter mark, but they didn’t want to get with it, so we anchored up on some rockpiles for the sand bass. Once the sun went down, fishing got pretty good on the mogambo and live squid. The idea was to cast at different angles relative to the rock if you weren’t getting a bite casting a certain way. Once you found that angle, it was game on for a little while, and then you would try casting at a different angle, and you caught another fish. Things slowed down after a while, and we moved on closer to the harbor.
Fishing was pretty good at this last spot, but the fish didn’t want the squid with a mogambo on it. I was being stubborn and kept my squid down there, but the fish just wouldn’t bite it. Right before it was time to head home, I slipped the squid onto a straight leadhead, and got a bass bite as soon as it hit the bottom. Meanwhile, others were catching some quality bass, with the best bet being a live squid on a dropper loop.
Anyways, fishing was okay for the weekend, but I’m hoping things really pick up as the month goes on, but we shall see…