Jackpot Jimmy
05-07-2011, 10:18 PM
It’s finally that time – the barracuda have shown up in the Santa Monica Bay. I put my jig box in my tackle box and eagerly went down to the landing in hopes of slaying some gar. We headed off the dock at 6am and waited a short while for the In-Seine to bring in the bait, which was worth it as we received a great chovy/dine mix. We then proceeded out of the harbor and kept our eyes open for any birds working. Meanwhile, Alex was busy in the galley making some great breakfasts including jumbo breakfast burritos like the one Morgon has…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/003-68.jpg
We continued working north scanning for any signs of life. After a good couple hours of looking, the New Del Mar finally found then, and we headed for that direction. We slid in and started catching them right away. They bit the surface iron very well for the first few minutes with a fish being caught every cast. But they eventually scattered so we went looking for a while and got on them again. We had a few really good stops but it seems the fish scattered every time and wouldn’t stick for long. Run and gun was the name of the game today, but it nevertheless was very good fishing and the barracuda were all big stovepipes with the biggest being 9 pounds, 3 ounces. The fish seemed to be keying in on a smaller jig today as Killer Jigs, Tady A1 and Tady AA were working the best today, but my friend Cory had a limit mostly on a Tady C and my friend Bill had seven on a Salas 7X.
After a good bite on them in the morning, they finally scattered and we decided to move on to some rockfishing. We counted up the barracuda on the move and ended up with a tally of 106 barracuda for 16 anglers.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-58.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-77.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-43.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-32.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-33.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-27.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-22.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-17.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/018-11.jpg
Once at the rockfishing grounds, we started to have a little pick on the boccacio with some fish up to four pounds. Also in the mix were some nice reds, chuckleheads, speckles, and boscos. It was pretty evident that the rockfish mainly wanted the chovies but the boccacio were eager to bite the jig very well too. My friend Chak got a nice big red and I got a nice chucklehead that bit on the way down.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-62.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-54.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-41.jpg
All in all, it was a fantastic day of fishing and great to finally pull on some gar again. The bad new is it’s supposed to blow Sunday night which will most definitely put a damper on fishing for a while, but I sure hope it will get better as we get into this late spring season and into the summer. Stay tuned…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/003-68.jpg
We continued working north scanning for any signs of life. After a good couple hours of looking, the New Del Mar finally found then, and we headed for that direction. We slid in and started catching them right away. They bit the surface iron very well for the first few minutes with a fish being caught every cast. But they eventually scattered so we went looking for a while and got on them again. We had a few really good stops but it seems the fish scattered every time and wouldn’t stick for long. Run and gun was the name of the game today, but it nevertheless was very good fishing and the barracuda were all big stovepipes with the biggest being 9 pounds, 3 ounces. The fish seemed to be keying in on a smaller jig today as Killer Jigs, Tady A1 and Tady AA were working the best today, but my friend Cory had a limit mostly on a Tady C and my friend Bill had seven on a Salas 7X.
After a good bite on them in the morning, they finally scattered and we decided to move on to some rockfishing. We counted up the barracuda on the move and ended up with a tally of 106 barracuda for 16 anglers.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-58.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-77.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-43.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-32.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-33.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-27.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-22.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-17.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/018-11.jpg
Once at the rockfishing grounds, we started to have a little pick on the boccacio with some fish up to four pounds. Also in the mix were some nice reds, chuckleheads, speckles, and boscos. It was pretty evident that the rockfish mainly wanted the chovies but the boccacio were eager to bite the jig very well too. My friend Chak got a nice big red and I got a nice chucklehead that bit on the way down.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-62.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-54.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-41.jpg
All in all, it was a fantastic day of fishing and great to finally pull on some gar again. The bad new is it’s supposed to blow Sunday night which will most definitely put a damper on fishing for a while, but I sure hope it will get better as we get into this late spring season and into the summer. Stay tuned…