Jackpot Jimmy
08-04-2010, 10:55 PM
Today, I fished on the Redondo Special out of Redondo Sportfishing. The seabass bite had opened up a little bit the day before, with free swimmers all around the boat, but not a lot of hook ups to show for it. Still, it had some great potential. First thing in the morning, I grabbed a quick breakfast at Polly’s. Then, I got a ticket and brought my stuff up on the pier and waited to load up. I was joined by my friends and fellow Redondo regulars Ray and Smitty, and quite a few other familiar faces. There would be a total of 30 anglers on the morning half day trip.
Our crew in the morning consisted of Captain Eric Hobday, Marky in the galley, and Kelsey on deck. Eric quickly went over his safety speech/game plan. We would be fishing primarily for seabass. We soon headed out of King Harbor to our fishing destination. En route, I rigged up my rods. I rigged up my kelp cutter rig with a light slider and a big hook, as we had live squid on board with plenty of fresh dead. Soon, we were at the spot.
When we anchored up, the current was going down and out, and we had to make a quick reposition. As the morning went on, we hooked and lost one fish that looked like the right kind, and we had a little pick on some big barracuda and other miscellaneous stuff. The barracuda were plentiful, but the knotheads put a damper on that real quick. I threw the jig fruitlessly for a while, and then I went back to fishing for an exotic. The current kind of died off, so we moved on to another spot.
At the next spot, we had a little bit of current, but the water was still kind of cold, hovering around 61.5 degrees. Ray and I decided to fish the plastic for a while, and Ray managed to pull some quality calicos out of the kelp, but I only caught shorts. Soon, it was time to head in.
Before the afternoon half day trip, we walked up to the pier to grab our tickets and relax for a little bit. Then, Dee collected everyone’s ticket stubs, and we boarded the boat once again. We would have 25 anglers on this trip. Joining us this afternoon was Long Range Bobby K, back from a five day on the American Angler.
We headed back to the same area and dropped anchor. Throughout the afternoon, we had a pick at some quality calicos with quite a few released. The conditions made a complete turn-around, with the water temperature at a very clean 66 degrees. The bass bite subsided and we made a quick move. After soaking squids for a little while, we had a nice little show on the yellows, with a nice 20 pound class yellowtail surrounded by a bunch of five to eight pound fish. A nicer yellowtail was hooked out of that, but it got away in the kelp. Near the end of the day, I broke out my new Pep jig and had a ball with the barelycudas.
Anyways, conditions were fantastic, but the exotics were down. They could bust wide open any day, and if the water keeps warming up, we could see a nice yellowtail bite happening somewhere down the line. The crew of the Redondo Special is top notch. Eric tries his hardest to find the fish, and Marky cooks up some of the best galley food on the whole coast. Kelsey on deck was very personable and provided help to anyone who needed it. Great times, great fishing!
Author’s Aside
I bought this Pep jig this morning after my friend Ray had very good luck on it with the barracuda recently. This jig is probably the best jig I’ve ever fished. It kicks very easily on a slow grind, and with proof from today, it drives the barracuda wild. I can’t wait to fish this for big calicos at the island!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-57.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-36.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-45.jpg
Our crew in the morning consisted of Captain Eric Hobday, Marky in the galley, and Kelsey on deck. Eric quickly went over his safety speech/game plan. We would be fishing primarily for seabass. We soon headed out of King Harbor to our fishing destination. En route, I rigged up my rods. I rigged up my kelp cutter rig with a light slider and a big hook, as we had live squid on board with plenty of fresh dead. Soon, we were at the spot.
When we anchored up, the current was going down and out, and we had to make a quick reposition. As the morning went on, we hooked and lost one fish that looked like the right kind, and we had a little pick on some big barracuda and other miscellaneous stuff. The barracuda were plentiful, but the knotheads put a damper on that real quick. I threw the jig fruitlessly for a while, and then I went back to fishing for an exotic. The current kind of died off, so we moved on to another spot.
At the next spot, we had a little bit of current, but the water was still kind of cold, hovering around 61.5 degrees. Ray and I decided to fish the plastic for a while, and Ray managed to pull some quality calicos out of the kelp, but I only caught shorts. Soon, it was time to head in.
Before the afternoon half day trip, we walked up to the pier to grab our tickets and relax for a little bit. Then, Dee collected everyone’s ticket stubs, and we boarded the boat once again. We would have 25 anglers on this trip. Joining us this afternoon was Long Range Bobby K, back from a five day on the American Angler.
We headed back to the same area and dropped anchor. Throughout the afternoon, we had a pick at some quality calicos with quite a few released. The conditions made a complete turn-around, with the water temperature at a very clean 66 degrees. The bass bite subsided and we made a quick move. After soaking squids for a little while, we had a nice little show on the yellows, with a nice 20 pound class yellowtail surrounded by a bunch of five to eight pound fish. A nicer yellowtail was hooked out of that, but it got away in the kelp. Near the end of the day, I broke out my new Pep jig and had a ball with the barelycudas.
Anyways, conditions were fantastic, but the exotics were down. They could bust wide open any day, and if the water keeps warming up, we could see a nice yellowtail bite happening somewhere down the line. The crew of the Redondo Special is top notch. Eric tries his hardest to find the fish, and Marky cooks up some of the best galley food on the whole coast. Kelsey on deck was very personable and provided help to anyone who needed it. Great times, great fishing!
Author’s Aside
I bought this Pep jig this morning after my friend Ray had very good luck on it with the barracuda recently. This jig is probably the best jig I’ve ever fished. It kicks very easily on a slow grind, and with proof from today, it drives the barracuda wild. I can’t wait to fish this for big calicos at the island!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-57.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-36.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-45.jpg