Jackpot Jimmy
11-14-2010, 08:03 PM
On Thursday, I decided to take advantage of my day off in honor of Veteran’s Day and head out on the big pond for a day of fishing. I talked to a couple of my friends last weekend and they managed to get away as well, so it was nice knowing there would be someone I know out fishing. I headed down to the landing early as usual, and we left the dock at 6am with a light load of 10 anglers. Our crew was Captain Anthony Le, Joe in the galley, and Morgon on deck.
As we cleared the King Harbor jetty, Anthony explained to us his game plan for the day. He said that fishing was tough the day before due to the fish being full from all the squid in the water, but he would do his best to put us on some fish before the wind was supposed to come up. On the way out, I hung up gunny sacks for everyone and proceeded to set up my own rigs. Instead of my usual jig/shrimp fly combo, I set up a double dropper loop with a twelve ounce torpedo sinker. I also set up a dropper loop for a lingcod.
We soon arrived at our first destination and Anthony started a starboard side drift. To begin with, it was a little bit bumpy, but the wind wasn’t bad and the drift wasn’t too fast. We chipped away at a few boscos and other miscellaneous rockfish, just bouncing around on some spots out deep. At one spot, I hooked a nice fighter at the bottom and brought him up slow and steady, landing this:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/367.jpg
This fella had a fresh octopus down its gullet, which I pulled out and used the tentacles for bait, catching some fine sand dabs (oh well). Anyways, we continued the drift for a little while. My friend Tom started out with the jig/shrimp fly combo, but they just were not eager to bite a jig…not even the midgets. So, he too switched to bait, getting a couple of rockfish. Anyways, the wind was coming up fast, so Anthony decided to anchor up on this spot. It took a little while for the anchor to come tight. We fished for a little while, with not a whole lot to show for it, except for this nice chucklehead caught by Ray:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/371.jpg
The wind blew up something fierce, and we were forced to pull the hook and high tail it out of the bank and into the protection of the shallows of the South Bay.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/370.jpg
On the way to the inside, the wind ceased and it became pretty stagnant on the water which was a nice surprise considering the victory at sea we just left. We made a quick stop to try for some lings, but no lings were home, so we decided to give the local rockfishing a shot and bounced around on a few spots. It wasn’t that great, so we decided to give sculpin a shot. I tied on my sculpin lure as did everyone else.
The sculpin fishing at this spot was all about picking through the shorts to get the legals. When you did hook a legal, you knew it unless it turned out to be a snagged short or something like that. After a couple hours of this, we moved closer inside to try for some bass and other miscellaneous stuff.
Anthony said that at the spot we would be fishing, it would take a little time to get the bass going, so we would sit tight and wait for the right conditions for the afternoon bass bite. While waiting for the right conditions, I fished with a tiny hook and had a ball with the whitefish for a while. Then, the bass started to pick up so I grabbed my kelp cutter rig with the leadhead and started bouncing on the stone. While doing this, I noticed I had a little backlash (and I can’t remember how it happened) underneath, and I tried to get it out, but it was further down than I thought, so I tried winding my excess spectra in, but it got caught and knotted. I furiously mumbled a few expletives under my breath as I worked carefully to get it out, and I ended up getting out most of it, but the core of it could not be undone. So, I wound it down and put it away, grabbing my other rod with a leadhead.
We ended up getting eight bass for our efforts, with yours truly getting none, but still having fun. One lady that was on the boat got a few nice ones on the dropper loop with squid, and this guy got the biggest one of the day:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/374.jpg
Ray ended up winning jackpot with the big chucklehead. Fishing was a bit tough, but we made the best of things and had a great time.
On Saturday, we headed down to the landing early as usual, meeting the usual group of Bill, Kevin, Tom, Jerry, Jim, and John. Also making a surprise guest appearance by none other than the Chak-Man himself. Also fishing today were a few other people who were very nice. Morgon came up and collected the ticket stubs. We left the dock at 6am and headed over to the bait receiver to pick up some quality live squid. Once we were all baited up, we left the harbor on a course for the cod grounds.
Our crew today was Captain Anthony Le, Shaun in the galley, and Morgon on deck. Anthony explained to us that they caught a couple nice lings the day before, as well as some nice rockfish. Meanwhile, Shaun had breakfast cooking in the galley, with the special being Breakfast Fried Rice with two eggs your way on top. On the way out, we rigged up our gear, and I once again opted to go the bait route and set up a double dropper loop.
Once we were out to the spot, we picked away at some nice boscos and other stuff. Soon, however, we were into ling territory, and the first one on the boat hit the steel, caught by John Kim on a live squid. In this area, we ended up getting three more nice lings, and headed up to the true lingcod spot, where Anthony put his anglers over some lings the day before.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/031-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/032-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/033-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/034-2.jpg
Jim caught a nice red in the first area along with the lings
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/042-2.jpg
Four nice lings was a beautiful start to the morning, and we all were hoping for more. At the next spot, Morgon advised us that some as-big-as-they-get starries were caught the day before on strips of rockfish, along with the lingcod. I rigged up with a Roy Rose knot with a big hook and a torpedo sinker, as did a few other people.
In short, two lingcod were caught at this spot, both caught by Anthony. Some people did lose some lings, either to the rocks or because of their sharp teeth. Anthony’s biggest, weighing in at 18 pounds, had a circle hook in its mouth that belonged to one of the anglers, Jim. But he did end up getting a piece of it. The other ling was caught on a little rockfish.
Anthony told me to take a picture with his ling, but at least I’m honest that it was his.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/038-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/039-1.jpg
After paying my dues for a little while fishing for lings, I decided to switch the jig/shrimp fly combo and see maybe if I could get a ling that way. No love from Mr. Lingcod, but I did end up getting a couple nice square spots and a blue bass:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/040.jpg
Also, my friend Kevin caught an ultra-mini bosco that he wanted me to share:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/035-2.jpg
Compared to a ten ounce torpedo sinker:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/036-3.jpg
Anyways, after this, we headed inside for the afternoon bass bite, which we hoped would be better since we had live squid. We set up on the spot, but we had no condition to work with, so we had to reset and try again. After waiting for a while, the bass finally started to bite…and some of us turned out to be farmers. I was the farmer-in-chief, missing five bass bites, but luckily I wasn’t alone, as others also were farmers (even Bill missed one). We ended up staying a little bit later, and we ended up with 14 bass for our efforts (could’ve been 30 bass sans the farming). I did end up getting one bass.
Being that we were so close to the harbor, we pulled the hook and started a drift. We threw on an additional three bass, bringing our bass count to 17 bass – not bad at all. We all were tired but it was worth it for a great day on the water. And, until next time, may God bless you, and great fishing to you all!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/043-1.jpg
As we cleared the King Harbor jetty, Anthony explained to us his game plan for the day. He said that fishing was tough the day before due to the fish being full from all the squid in the water, but he would do his best to put us on some fish before the wind was supposed to come up. On the way out, I hung up gunny sacks for everyone and proceeded to set up my own rigs. Instead of my usual jig/shrimp fly combo, I set up a double dropper loop with a twelve ounce torpedo sinker. I also set up a dropper loop for a lingcod.
We soon arrived at our first destination and Anthony started a starboard side drift. To begin with, it was a little bit bumpy, but the wind wasn’t bad and the drift wasn’t too fast. We chipped away at a few boscos and other miscellaneous rockfish, just bouncing around on some spots out deep. At one spot, I hooked a nice fighter at the bottom and brought him up slow and steady, landing this:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/367.jpg
This fella had a fresh octopus down its gullet, which I pulled out and used the tentacles for bait, catching some fine sand dabs (oh well). Anyways, we continued the drift for a little while. My friend Tom started out with the jig/shrimp fly combo, but they just were not eager to bite a jig…not even the midgets. So, he too switched to bait, getting a couple of rockfish. Anyways, the wind was coming up fast, so Anthony decided to anchor up on this spot. It took a little while for the anchor to come tight. We fished for a little while, with not a whole lot to show for it, except for this nice chucklehead caught by Ray:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/371.jpg
The wind blew up something fierce, and we were forced to pull the hook and high tail it out of the bank and into the protection of the shallows of the South Bay.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/370.jpg
On the way to the inside, the wind ceased and it became pretty stagnant on the water which was a nice surprise considering the victory at sea we just left. We made a quick stop to try for some lings, but no lings were home, so we decided to give the local rockfishing a shot and bounced around on a few spots. It wasn’t that great, so we decided to give sculpin a shot. I tied on my sculpin lure as did everyone else.
The sculpin fishing at this spot was all about picking through the shorts to get the legals. When you did hook a legal, you knew it unless it turned out to be a snagged short or something like that. After a couple hours of this, we moved closer inside to try for some bass and other miscellaneous stuff.
Anthony said that at the spot we would be fishing, it would take a little time to get the bass going, so we would sit tight and wait for the right conditions for the afternoon bass bite. While waiting for the right conditions, I fished with a tiny hook and had a ball with the whitefish for a while. Then, the bass started to pick up so I grabbed my kelp cutter rig with the leadhead and started bouncing on the stone. While doing this, I noticed I had a little backlash (and I can’t remember how it happened) underneath, and I tried to get it out, but it was further down than I thought, so I tried winding my excess spectra in, but it got caught and knotted. I furiously mumbled a few expletives under my breath as I worked carefully to get it out, and I ended up getting out most of it, but the core of it could not be undone. So, I wound it down and put it away, grabbing my other rod with a leadhead.
We ended up getting eight bass for our efforts, with yours truly getting none, but still having fun. One lady that was on the boat got a few nice ones on the dropper loop with squid, and this guy got the biggest one of the day:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/374.jpg
Ray ended up winning jackpot with the big chucklehead. Fishing was a bit tough, but we made the best of things and had a great time.
On Saturday, we headed down to the landing early as usual, meeting the usual group of Bill, Kevin, Tom, Jerry, Jim, and John. Also making a surprise guest appearance by none other than the Chak-Man himself. Also fishing today were a few other people who were very nice. Morgon came up and collected the ticket stubs. We left the dock at 6am and headed over to the bait receiver to pick up some quality live squid. Once we were all baited up, we left the harbor on a course for the cod grounds.
Our crew today was Captain Anthony Le, Shaun in the galley, and Morgon on deck. Anthony explained to us that they caught a couple nice lings the day before, as well as some nice rockfish. Meanwhile, Shaun had breakfast cooking in the galley, with the special being Breakfast Fried Rice with two eggs your way on top. On the way out, we rigged up our gear, and I once again opted to go the bait route and set up a double dropper loop.
Once we were out to the spot, we picked away at some nice boscos and other stuff. Soon, however, we were into ling territory, and the first one on the boat hit the steel, caught by John Kim on a live squid. In this area, we ended up getting three more nice lings, and headed up to the true lingcod spot, where Anthony put his anglers over some lings the day before.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/031-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/032-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/033-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/034-2.jpg
Jim caught a nice red in the first area along with the lings
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/042-2.jpg
Four nice lings was a beautiful start to the morning, and we all were hoping for more. At the next spot, Morgon advised us that some as-big-as-they-get starries were caught the day before on strips of rockfish, along with the lingcod. I rigged up with a Roy Rose knot with a big hook and a torpedo sinker, as did a few other people.
In short, two lingcod were caught at this spot, both caught by Anthony. Some people did lose some lings, either to the rocks or because of their sharp teeth. Anthony’s biggest, weighing in at 18 pounds, had a circle hook in its mouth that belonged to one of the anglers, Jim. But he did end up getting a piece of it. The other ling was caught on a little rockfish.
Anthony told me to take a picture with his ling, but at least I’m honest that it was his.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/038-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/039-1.jpg
After paying my dues for a little while fishing for lings, I decided to switch the jig/shrimp fly combo and see maybe if I could get a ling that way. No love from Mr. Lingcod, but I did end up getting a couple nice square spots and a blue bass:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/040.jpg
Also, my friend Kevin caught an ultra-mini bosco that he wanted me to share:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/035-2.jpg
Compared to a ten ounce torpedo sinker:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/036-3.jpg
Anyways, after this, we headed inside for the afternoon bass bite, which we hoped would be better since we had live squid. We set up on the spot, but we had no condition to work with, so we had to reset and try again. After waiting for a while, the bass finally started to bite…and some of us turned out to be farmers. I was the farmer-in-chief, missing five bass bites, but luckily I wasn’t alone, as others also were farmers (even Bill missed one). We ended up staying a little bit later, and we ended up with 14 bass for our efforts (could’ve been 30 bass sans the farming). I did end up getting one bass.
Being that we were so close to the harbor, we pulled the hook and started a drift. We threw on an additional three bass, bringing our bass count to 17 bass – not bad at all. We all were tired but it was worth it for a great day on the water. And, until next time, may God bless you, and great fishing to you all!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/043-1.jpg