Jackpot Jimmy
08-09-2010, 02:34 PM
On Saturday, we had 24 anglers on board and we headed north to see what we could find. We had one tank of live squid, so things looked pretty promising. First stop was the BKR, which Steven wanted to check out to see if we could find something that wanted to bite. When we arrived there after a two hour trek across the bay, we found pretty slack conditions with cold and off-colored water. We hit a couple spots and picked away at some rockfish and whitefish, which were marking really well, but even as the current picked up a little bit, they weren’t that eager to bite. While guys were fishing standard dropper loop rigs for the rockfish, I decided to use my little spinning set-up and have some fun for a little while. I caught a few miscellaneous rockfish and whitefish.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/020-7.jpg
With the fish not biting, we headed back down the coast. We hit one spot along the way and we had a little pick on some sculpin and a couple bass, but nothing really substantial. We made a move even further down the coast, and we hit the jackpot.
I was the first to hang the rock mid-ship on the port side, and immediately pulled up a nice bass. Everyone moved over to this side, and for the next few hours, we had a really good consistent bite on the quality sand bass. I was using spectra with a short top shot of 30 pound mono, which gave me the advantage of feeling every little tap. These bass were aggressive for the most part. Everyone was fishing a leadhead with live squid or a leadhead/mogambo combo with squid. This is the kind of fishing we do in the winter time, but it’s so fun that we were all okay with doing it in the middle of summer.
The key was to cast out on the other side of the rock and slowly drag it over. Just as you came over the rock, it was, for the most part, and instant and most aggressive bite. The wind was increasing and we were swinging around a little bit, so you didn’t have to cast out most of the time – sometimes you could drop straight down and get a bite. Anyways, there were a lot of casualties and lost leadheads, but I got lucky and didn’t lose a single leadhead until we had to leave (by this time, my section of mono was super short, and I lost the rest of the top shot). I ended up with nine bass for my efforts, with some fish up to the three pound class (not to mention a spectra cut in my left thumb from getting ruined by a bass).
Also, Carlos, one of our regulars, hooked into a huge bat ray that looked to be around 150 to 200 pounds. Probably the biggest bat ray I’ve ever seen.
Jackpot went to Bill Mozingo of Redlands with a big sand bass. We ended up with 70 bass for the day, with most bass caught at the last spot in the last few hours of the trip. It was a blast to fish the stones again!
Bill and Tom with a couple nice ones
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-55.jpg
Me with a couple
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/002-53.jpg
Carlos with some nice sandies
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-42.jpg
Ray with some nice bass
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-58.jpg
Dr. Chuck with nice bass
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-46.jpg
Jerry with a nice sheephead
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-33.jpg
Angel and Chito with some nice bass…Red mixed in there, too
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-21.jpg
Master Fish Cutter Morgon
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-26.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-30.jpg
We got back to port and waited for the twilight trip. On this trip, we would be joined by some guys who were on the day trip. Our friend Bill called his friend Kevin and told him about the good bass fishing, and he drove up from Orange County to come fish with us!
The night before, twilight bass fishing was exceptional, with nine anglers catching 85 bass. We headed up to the area and dropped the hook. The fishing was dead to begin with, so for a while, I dropped my spinner down to the bottom to see what I could hook. We had to reposition, and then the fish started to bite a little. I caught a nice sheephead to begin with on my spinner, but then, the bass started to bite. I switched over to a little heavier gear, but the fish weren’t so eager to bite leadhead and squid. Russ, a regular on the twilights, was using a Gulp jerk shad and was slaying the bass. I pulled out a jerk shad and also started to catch a couple. Russ shared some Gulp with others, and they started to catch fish as well. The bite was going good for a little while, but it died off. Captain John wanted to try one more spot before we had to head in.
I tried leadhead and squid one more time, but it just wasn’t working. So, I went back to my spinning set up, and caught a couple nice bass in consecutive casts. The bass were there, but they wanted a small profile bait. In addition, throughout the night, some guys hooked up on some gigantic bat rays, with the biggest one probably weighing around 100 pounds.
Russ won the jackpot with a nice bass. He caught all of his bass on the Gulp. It was a pretty good day of bass fishing. Structure sand bass fishing is a real kick, and we were very happy to do it again. Great times, great fishing!
Bill with some more nice ones…thanks for coming out again Bill!!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-21.jpg
Kevin with some nice bass…thanks for driving up and fishing with us!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-16.jpg
A couple nice ones for a lucky angler
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-12.jpg
A happy Russ with a bag of fillets…thanks for coming out fishing and thanks for the Gulp!!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/019-6.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/020-7.jpg
With the fish not biting, we headed back down the coast. We hit one spot along the way and we had a little pick on some sculpin and a couple bass, but nothing really substantial. We made a move even further down the coast, and we hit the jackpot.
I was the first to hang the rock mid-ship on the port side, and immediately pulled up a nice bass. Everyone moved over to this side, and for the next few hours, we had a really good consistent bite on the quality sand bass. I was using spectra with a short top shot of 30 pound mono, which gave me the advantage of feeling every little tap. These bass were aggressive for the most part. Everyone was fishing a leadhead with live squid or a leadhead/mogambo combo with squid. This is the kind of fishing we do in the winter time, but it’s so fun that we were all okay with doing it in the middle of summer.
The key was to cast out on the other side of the rock and slowly drag it over. Just as you came over the rock, it was, for the most part, and instant and most aggressive bite. The wind was increasing and we were swinging around a little bit, so you didn’t have to cast out most of the time – sometimes you could drop straight down and get a bite. Anyways, there were a lot of casualties and lost leadheads, but I got lucky and didn’t lose a single leadhead until we had to leave (by this time, my section of mono was super short, and I lost the rest of the top shot). I ended up with nine bass for my efforts, with some fish up to the three pound class (not to mention a spectra cut in my left thumb from getting ruined by a bass).
Also, Carlos, one of our regulars, hooked into a huge bat ray that looked to be around 150 to 200 pounds. Probably the biggest bat ray I’ve ever seen.
Jackpot went to Bill Mozingo of Redlands with a big sand bass. We ended up with 70 bass for the day, with most bass caught at the last spot in the last few hours of the trip. It was a blast to fish the stones again!
Bill and Tom with a couple nice ones
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-55.jpg
Me with a couple
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/002-53.jpg
Carlos with some nice sandies
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-42.jpg
Ray with some nice bass
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-58.jpg
Dr. Chuck with nice bass
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-46.jpg
Jerry with a nice sheephead
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-33.jpg
Angel and Chito with some nice bass…Red mixed in there, too
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-21.jpg
Master Fish Cutter Morgon
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-26.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-30.jpg
We got back to port and waited for the twilight trip. On this trip, we would be joined by some guys who were on the day trip. Our friend Bill called his friend Kevin and told him about the good bass fishing, and he drove up from Orange County to come fish with us!
The night before, twilight bass fishing was exceptional, with nine anglers catching 85 bass. We headed up to the area and dropped the hook. The fishing was dead to begin with, so for a while, I dropped my spinner down to the bottom to see what I could hook. We had to reposition, and then the fish started to bite a little. I caught a nice sheephead to begin with on my spinner, but then, the bass started to bite. I switched over to a little heavier gear, but the fish weren’t so eager to bite leadhead and squid. Russ, a regular on the twilights, was using a Gulp jerk shad and was slaying the bass. I pulled out a jerk shad and also started to catch a couple. Russ shared some Gulp with others, and they started to catch fish as well. The bite was going good for a little while, but it died off. Captain John wanted to try one more spot before we had to head in.
I tried leadhead and squid one more time, but it just wasn’t working. So, I went back to my spinning set up, and caught a couple nice bass in consecutive casts. The bass were there, but they wanted a small profile bait. In addition, throughout the night, some guys hooked up on some gigantic bat rays, with the biggest one probably weighing around 100 pounds.
Russ won the jackpot with a nice bass. He caught all of his bass on the Gulp. It was a pretty good day of bass fishing. Structure sand bass fishing is a real kick, and we were very happy to do it again. Great times, great fishing!
Bill with some more nice ones…thanks for coming out again Bill!!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-21.jpg
Kevin with some nice bass…thanks for driving up and fishing with us!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-16.jpg
A couple nice ones for a lucky angler
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-12.jpg
A happy Russ with a bag of fillets…thanks for coming out fishing and thanks for the Gulp!!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/019-6.jpg