Jackpot Jimmy
11-28-2010, 03:16 PM
First of all, I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, because I sure had a good one. I spent time with family and sat down to a good meal with a moist turkey. Then, it was time for my second annual trip out to the Inland Empire for a day of trout fishing with my friend Bill, the Redlands Yak. It was pretty slow with trout biting about mid day in one corner of one lake. I ended up with one and Bill ended up with two. Sorry, no pictures as we fished hard the whole time.
With slow fishing in freshwater, we hoped that fishing would be much better in the saltwater. We woke up early and headed west to Redondo. We rolled up into the parking lot and we were surprised to see that there was only one person there, our friend Kevin. We waited for a little while and ended up with 8 anglers, a nice light load. Also fishing with us today was fellow board member, Willie (Really Drunk). We boarded the boat soon after, got some nice live squid, and headed north out of the harbor to the fishing grounds.
Our crew today was Captain Anthony Le, Joe in the galley, and Morgon on deck. En route to the fishing grounds, Joe made some fantastic breakfasts, which included a creation of fried rice, a fried egg, and homemade turkey gravy. Afterwards, we set up our rods and waited as we continued on to the fishing grounds.
My choice of set up was the usual diamond jig/shrimp fly combo. Anthony started a starboard side drift and we dropped down to the depths. Fishing started out pretty slow but we picked away at some boscos and boccacio. The guys who were using the whole squids were getting the bigger boccacio, like these two caught by John Kim:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/002-57.jpg
The bite dwindled out, so we moved on to try another one. We started another drift, and the guys started to catch some quality barber poles. I was stubborn and still tried to get something on the diamond jig and shrimp fly, but only the dink half-bandeds were interested. We tried drifting that area again, and I decided to put some squid on my jig. I made the right choice as I ended up catching a quality red and barber pole. Others also caught some nice reds and barbers too, but it slowly started to peter out, and we went back and tried it again, but we didn’t get a re-bite out of it. I guess it was just one spot of reds that passed through quickly. But we were happy with the results:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-60.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/003-60.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-48.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-64.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-50.jpg
We fished rockfish a little while longer, but Anthony wanted to fish lings as it closes in a few days, so we headed over to some rockpiles to do just that. We had to reposition on our first try, but once we were on it, things looked pretty promising. We were fishing dropper loops on 30 pound test with live squid for bait. A couple guys started to get some nice starries like this one that Kevin caught:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-43.jpg
There were a few snags but luckily it didn’t happen to me at all. The big thing was to find the rock, and try to keep it in there without getting snagged. As we soaked our baits, our friend Ray got bit, set the hook, and brought a nice fighting fish up from the rocks. Morgon netted it with our extra large landing net, and up came this monster:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-39.jpg
Nice one Ray! Now that we had one on the boat, the pressure was on to get another. John Kim soon relieved that pressure, bringing up a little smaller, yet legal, model:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-32.jpg
Soon after, a short ling was caught, and quickly thrown back. At least we were catching something! Then, Ray hooked up to another fish that we thought was another ling, but it turned out to be a nice big male sheephead:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-35.jpg
This spot petered out after that, and we moved on to another rockpile close by. No legal lings came out of this spot, but we did get a short, a smaller sheephead, and a nice big female sheephead that I caught:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-25.jpg
After this, Anthony wanted to try and round out our rockfish quota with some quality belindas, which bit really well the day before. It was pretty instant on the belindas (which are actually bank perch, the orange-brown rockfish with the thinner body) about 10 to 20 cranks off the bottom. Most of them were of pretty nice size. After a while, the wind started to come up, and we were swinging around pretty good on the anchor. Meanwhile, I switched over to my bass rod with a double dropper loop. I didn’t end up getting a belinda on it as I was fishing the bottom, but I got a nice bosco and barber pole, which felt pretty nice reeling up from the depths on light line. Another kid was fishing all the way at the bottom as well, and he pulled up this nice red:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-22.jpg
After that, we headed in as the wind was bearing down on us. We ended up with just about limits of rockfish, a couple of nice lings, and a few nice sheephead. Jackpot went to Ray Mesina with his lingcod, which weighed 13 pounds. John Kim’s lingcod weighed eight pounds.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-26.jpg
On the way in, Morgon expertly filleted most of the rockfish, sheephead, and lings so well that there were no bones left in the fillet. We definitely got some good taco meat today, with all the reds and barbers, and the boscos and belindas.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-15.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/018-9.jpg
Fishing out on the big pond definitely made up for the poor fishing on the landlocked pond. But, I had a great time regardless, and I plan to go back and fish trout during my Christmas Vacation, which is only a few weeks away! Until next time, have a good one and great fishing!
Home Sweet Home
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/017-15.jpg
With slow fishing in freshwater, we hoped that fishing would be much better in the saltwater. We woke up early and headed west to Redondo. We rolled up into the parking lot and we were surprised to see that there was only one person there, our friend Kevin. We waited for a little while and ended up with 8 anglers, a nice light load. Also fishing with us today was fellow board member, Willie (Really Drunk). We boarded the boat soon after, got some nice live squid, and headed north out of the harbor to the fishing grounds.
Our crew today was Captain Anthony Le, Joe in the galley, and Morgon on deck. En route to the fishing grounds, Joe made some fantastic breakfasts, which included a creation of fried rice, a fried egg, and homemade turkey gravy. Afterwards, we set up our rods and waited as we continued on to the fishing grounds.
My choice of set up was the usual diamond jig/shrimp fly combo. Anthony started a starboard side drift and we dropped down to the depths. Fishing started out pretty slow but we picked away at some boscos and boccacio. The guys who were using the whole squids were getting the bigger boccacio, like these two caught by John Kim:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/002-57.jpg
The bite dwindled out, so we moved on to try another one. We started another drift, and the guys started to catch some quality barber poles. I was stubborn and still tried to get something on the diamond jig and shrimp fly, but only the dink half-bandeds were interested. We tried drifting that area again, and I decided to put some squid on my jig. I made the right choice as I ended up catching a quality red and barber pole. Others also caught some nice reds and barbers too, but it slowly started to peter out, and we went back and tried it again, but we didn’t get a re-bite out of it. I guess it was just one spot of reds that passed through quickly. But we were happy with the results:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-60.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/003-60.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-48.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-64.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-50.jpg
We fished rockfish a little while longer, but Anthony wanted to fish lings as it closes in a few days, so we headed over to some rockpiles to do just that. We had to reposition on our first try, but once we were on it, things looked pretty promising. We were fishing dropper loops on 30 pound test with live squid for bait. A couple guys started to get some nice starries like this one that Kevin caught:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-43.jpg
There were a few snags but luckily it didn’t happen to me at all. The big thing was to find the rock, and try to keep it in there without getting snagged. As we soaked our baits, our friend Ray got bit, set the hook, and brought a nice fighting fish up from the rocks. Morgon netted it with our extra large landing net, and up came this monster:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-39.jpg
Nice one Ray! Now that we had one on the boat, the pressure was on to get another. John Kim soon relieved that pressure, bringing up a little smaller, yet legal, model:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-32.jpg
Soon after, a short ling was caught, and quickly thrown back. At least we were catching something! Then, Ray hooked up to another fish that we thought was another ling, but it turned out to be a nice big male sheephead:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-35.jpg
This spot petered out after that, and we moved on to another rockpile close by. No legal lings came out of this spot, but we did get a short, a smaller sheephead, and a nice big female sheephead that I caught:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-25.jpg
After this, Anthony wanted to try and round out our rockfish quota with some quality belindas, which bit really well the day before. It was pretty instant on the belindas (which are actually bank perch, the orange-brown rockfish with the thinner body) about 10 to 20 cranks off the bottom. Most of them were of pretty nice size. After a while, the wind started to come up, and we were swinging around pretty good on the anchor. Meanwhile, I switched over to my bass rod with a double dropper loop. I didn’t end up getting a belinda on it as I was fishing the bottom, but I got a nice bosco and barber pole, which felt pretty nice reeling up from the depths on light line. Another kid was fishing all the way at the bottom as well, and he pulled up this nice red:
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-22.jpg
After that, we headed in as the wind was bearing down on us. We ended up with just about limits of rockfish, a couple of nice lings, and a few nice sheephead. Jackpot went to Ray Mesina with his lingcod, which weighed 13 pounds. John Kim’s lingcod weighed eight pounds.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-26.jpg
On the way in, Morgon expertly filleted most of the rockfish, sheephead, and lings so well that there were no bones left in the fillet. We definitely got some good taco meat today, with all the reds and barbers, and the boscos and belindas.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-15.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/018-9.jpg
Fishing out on the big pond definitely made up for the poor fishing on the landlocked pond. But, I had a great time regardless, and I plan to go back and fish trout during my Christmas Vacation, which is only a few weeks away! Until next time, have a good one and great fishing!
Home Sweet Home
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/017-15.jpg