calico killer kevin
06-18-2011, 12:32 PM
After making squid, we left for Catalina. We arrived at approximately 3:00 in the morning and metered around for awhile. .Only a few boats here and there, but nothing much going on. Anchored around 3:30 and only about 10-15 guys, me included, were awake to make the first drop out of 33. This spot was 60 feet of water, so I fished a dropper loop with the live squid. After 15 minutes, I was falling asleep at the rail, so I said screw it, I’m going back to bed. Forgot to mention that I was almost late for the boat because I was surfing HB Pier and the waves were freaking awesome. Oh, and to the guy that tried to set the hook on me when I was untangling his line from my leg, F U.
Well, 6:00 rolls around and the school of WSB makes their rounds. Of the 15 or so guys fishing, every single rod get bit. EVERY SINGLE ROD. Didn’t matter where you were, or what rig you fished, if you were in the water, you were bit. Mass pandemonium wakes me up, and the deckhands are screaming for everyone to get baits in the water. My wake up scene was almost like the flyboys in Pearl Harbor as the first words out of my mouth were, “Oh F, oh F, get me a gawd damn rod!”. When I did finally grab my setup, pin a bait, and drop, I backlashed. Yup, I backlashed. What a noob. Didn’t matter though, cause if you didn’t get bit initially, you didn’t get bit at all. We ended up killing only 7 WSB as there were quite a few casualties in the dark. One fish was a monster though. This thing was a fata$$ PIG. Remember this fish, cause there’s some drama in the end about it.
Everybody was wide awake and fishing hard after that. A mini school came around again at 6:30 and bit two rods towards the bow. Pulled both of them in. Let me tell you, these were quality fish, not the barely legals you sometimes see at Catalina. Every single one of them was over 20lbs.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon were spent hitting up shallow spots of water near the kelpline hoping for the WSB to roll by and slurp up dead squid as the washed onto the beach. Well, we just picked away at the calicos, sargos, perch, and whatever else bit. We pulled in one halibut at 23.5”, but that was the extent of fun fish. I fished a 4” Big Hammer in Christmas Tree on a 1/2oz head with my 200DC/Dobyns 743 combo. Chris, you bet you’re ***** this rig worked for me. I pulled in almost 10 calicos, but only 2 legals. It’s been an afternoon bite, so it’s not the boat’s fault that we didn’t pick up any WSB during the day.
Well 4:30 comes around, and we hit up the spot the apparently, just two days ago, the Freedom pulled in 44 WSB in a matter of an hour. The Sea Horse and the Freedom were already parked, so we metered around, and dropped the hook right outside them. The discouraged, the persevere, the kids, the one girl, everyone fished hard from this point on. We all just fished. Gave it an hour and nothing materialized. Not a fish for any of the three boats. The Sea Horse left first, then the Freedom. Eventually, we decided that we had enough of this, so we went looking for one final Hailmary. Pulled up to the next spot where we saw one or two bent rods on the Sea Horse and the Big Game 90 right behind. This spot was a parking lot. The Sea Horse let us know that they were pulling out for the long ride home to Dana Point, so we pulled up as close as possible, but a little downwind. This spot was relatively shallow at around 45ft, so recommended was a light slider rig or leadhead and squid. Deckies chummed, and the WSB went NUTS! We immediately had four hanging on the bow and port side. Hoots and hollers all around! This was what we were hoping and praying for. Pulled them up, and waves and waves of WSB would come by and slurp up the squid as you drifted it off the stern. Every wave, we picked up 3,4,5 fish. I couldn’t get bit on the slider or the leadhead. It was one of those bites where I was like WTF? I can’t even hook my own ***** in this wide open bite!?
Well, I grabbed the rod that I just pulled off the dryer for this trip. I stayed up till 1 a.m. the night prior to finish this thing up. I didn’t even have time for a Decorative wrap. It was a Batson ISWB945 swimbait blank, split grip, spiral wrapped. Switched it to a dropper with 3 ounces. I dropped directly off the stern, straight down. INSTANTLY BIT as it hit the bottom. When I set the hook, this thing just TOOK OFF! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve caught WSB in the past, but none made an initial run like this. Had my thinking homeguard YT the whole time. I was fishing 65lb braid with 20lb fluoro and my Curado 300’s Drag was hammered. This thing ripped line for dear life. Pumped and wound my ***** off, I couldn’t stop this thing. As it pulled my toward the bow on the port side, I finally turned its head, and then proceeded to kick it’s *****. Once I got it straight up and down, the acid wrap proved its worth. I lifted it no problemo. James sunk the gaff and this thing was a BEAST! I had a JP contender. Couldn’t believe it. Didn’t even have enough time to celebrate before my bait was back in the water.
We keep hooking WSB and one guy hooks a YT. This thing nearly spooled him before the deckies intervened. Eventually we sunk the gaff and this thing was an absolute monster 40-45lbs easily. Well, there goes my JP, I thought. Across from us, the BG90 wasn’t hooking up much, but then they hooked up a monster as well. This thing took off under out boat, and we didn’t want the prop to hang it up, so the BG90 pulled their hook and chase it down like a marlin. Some nifty maneuvering skills left their bow only feet from our starboard side as the angler fought his fish from out under out boat. We even handed them a scoop of squirts. Captain Jessie eventually spliced the other guy’s spectra onto his rig and fought it from our boat only to have the hook pull. Bummer.
Unfortunately, we really had to leave. It was 7:00 and the boat was waaay overdue. We had our fair share of carnage. JP was weighed, and the YT beat out my WSB by an easy five pounds. Remember the monster WSB caught in the early morning? It actually beat the JP fish, but this was the guy’s first time on a boat and he didn’t know he had to be out there to grab his fish. Bummer again. No complaints from me though because the crew was handed the JP. They deserved it for sure.
I really have to thank deckies Sean and James for their amazing work keeping up with tangles and gaffing constantly as well as their precise filleting. Hey, next time I’ll bring you guys some pasta LOL. Captain Jessie drove us around all day looking for the right conditions and put us on top of the gold mine at the end. The passengers worked together and had fun. Great crowd and no “Pros”. The boat was awesome, the crew was awesome, and the fishing was great. Contemplating going out again tonight…
WHAT A HELL OF A WAY TO USHER IN THE SUMMER!
Some notes, get up early, stay late. WSB fishing is all about rail time. Leave your baits in the water because you won’t know when the school will make their rounds, they just will. Be patient and fish hard. Take your time when fighting the fish and listen to the crew. A helper Deckie hooked four straight on a 1/2oz yellow jighead with squid on 15lb. Bring your yellow jigheads.
Making Bait the night before. He is a bait boat.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0072.jpg
SCI
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0072.jpg
Mmmm….calamari.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0070.jpg
After the morning bite.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0069.jpg
The Carnage.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0083.jpg
The guy’s son with the YT.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0075.jpg
This is the way to do it.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0077.jpg
Couple guys with their fish.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0081.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0083.jpg
These fish were QUALITY. Here I am with my JP loser.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0073.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0074.jpg
Here’s my rod. Saved it and de-virginized it with a monster WSB.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0092.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0091.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0094.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0096.jpg
Well, 6:00 rolls around and the school of WSB makes their rounds. Of the 15 or so guys fishing, every single rod get bit. EVERY SINGLE ROD. Didn’t matter where you were, or what rig you fished, if you were in the water, you were bit. Mass pandemonium wakes me up, and the deckhands are screaming for everyone to get baits in the water. My wake up scene was almost like the flyboys in Pearl Harbor as the first words out of my mouth were, “Oh F, oh F, get me a gawd damn rod!”. When I did finally grab my setup, pin a bait, and drop, I backlashed. Yup, I backlashed. What a noob. Didn’t matter though, cause if you didn’t get bit initially, you didn’t get bit at all. We ended up killing only 7 WSB as there were quite a few casualties in the dark. One fish was a monster though. This thing was a fata$$ PIG. Remember this fish, cause there’s some drama in the end about it.
Everybody was wide awake and fishing hard after that. A mini school came around again at 6:30 and bit two rods towards the bow. Pulled both of them in. Let me tell you, these were quality fish, not the barely legals you sometimes see at Catalina. Every single one of them was over 20lbs.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon were spent hitting up shallow spots of water near the kelpline hoping for the WSB to roll by and slurp up dead squid as the washed onto the beach. Well, we just picked away at the calicos, sargos, perch, and whatever else bit. We pulled in one halibut at 23.5”, but that was the extent of fun fish. I fished a 4” Big Hammer in Christmas Tree on a 1/2oz head with my 200DC/Dobyns 743 combo. Chris, you bet you’re ***** this rig worked for me. I pulled in almost 10 calicos, but only 2 legals. It’s been an afternoon bite, so it’s not the boat’s fault that we didn’t pick up any WSB during the day.
Well 4:30 comes around, and we hit up the spot the apparently, just two days ago, the Freedom pulled in 44 WSB in a matter of an hour. The Sea Horse and the Freedom were already parked, so we metered around, and dropped the hook right outside them. The discouraged, the persevere, the kids, the one girl, everyone fished hard from this point on. We all just fished. Gave it an hour and nothing materialized. Not a fish for any of the three boats. The Sea Horse left first, then the Freedom. Eventually, we decided that we had enough of this, so we went looking for one final Hailmary. Pulled up to the next spot where we saw one or two bent rods on the Sea Horse and the Big Game 90 right behind. This spot was a parking lot. The Sea Horse let us know that they were pulling out for the long ride home to Dana Point, so we pulled up as close as possible, but a little downwind. This spot was relatively shallow at around 45ft, so recommended was a light slider rig or leadhead and squid. Deckies chummed, and the WSB went NUTS! We immediately had four hanging on the bow and port side. Hoots and hollers all around! This was what we were hoping and praying for. Pulled them up, and waves and waves of WSB would come by and slurp up the squid as you drifted it off the stern. Every wave, we picked up 3,4,5 fish. I couldn’t get bit on the slider or the leadhead. It was one of those bites where I was like WTF? I can’t even hook my own ***** in this wide open bite!?
Well, I grabbed the rod that I just pulled off the dryer for this trip. I stayed up till 1 a.m. the night prior to finish this thing up. I didn’t even have time for a Decorative wrap. It was a Batson ISWB945 swimbait blank, split grip, spiral wrapped. Switched it to a dropper with 3 ounces. I dropped directly off the stern, straight down. INSTANTLY BIT as it hit the bottom. When I set the hook, this thing just TOOK OFF! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve caught WSB in the past, but none made an initial run like this. Had my thinking homeguard YT the whole time. I was fishing 65lb braid with 20lb fluoro and my Curado 300’s Drag was hammered. This thing ripped line for dear life. Pumped and wound my ***** off, I couldn’t stop this thing. As it pulled my toward the bow on the port side, I finally turned its head, and then proceeded to kick it’s *****. Once I got it straight up and down, the acid wrap proved its worth. I lifted it no problemo. James sunk the gaff and this thing was a BEAST! I had a JP contender. Couldn’t believe it. Didn’t even have enough time to celebrate before my bait was back in the water.
We keep hooking WSB and one guy hooks a YT. This thing nearly spooled him before the deckies intervened. Eventually we sunk the gaff and this thing was an absolute monster 40-45lbs easily. Well, there goes my JP, I thought. Across from us, the BG90 wasn’t hooking up much, but then they hooked up a monster as well. This thing took off under out boat, and we didn’t want the prop to hang it up, so the BG90 pulled their hook and chase it down like a marlin. Some nifty maneuvering skills left their bow only feet from our starboard side as the angler fought his fish from out under out boat. We even handed them a scoop of squirts. Captain Jessie eventually spliced the other guy’s spectra onto his rig and fought it from our boat only to have the hook pull. Bummer.
Unfortunately, we really had to leave. It was 7:00 and the boat was waaay overdue. We had our fair share of carnage. JP was weighed, and the YT beat out my WSB by an easy five pounds. Remember the monster WSB caught in the early morning? It actually beat the JP fish, but this was the guy’s first time on a boat and he didn’t know he had to be out there to grab his fish. Bummer again. No complaints from me though because the crew was handed the JP. They deserved it for sure.
I really have to thank deckies Sean and James for their amazing work keeping up with tangles and gaffing constantly as well as their precise filleting. Hey, next time I’ll bring you guys some pasta LOL. Captain Jessie drove us around all day looking for the right conditions and put us on top of the gold mine at the end. The passengers worked together and had fun. Great crowd and no “Pros”. The boat was awesome, the crew was awesome, and the fishing was great. Contemplating going out again tonight…
WHAT A HELL OF A WAY TO USHER IN THE SUMMER!
Some notes, get up early, stay late. WSB fishing is all about rail time. Leave your baits in the water because you won’t know when the school will make their rounds, they just will. Be patient and fish hard. Take your time when fighting the fish and listen to the crew. A helper Deckie hooked four straight on a 1/2oz yellow jighead with squid on 15lb. Bring your yellow jigheads.
Making Bait the night before. He is a bait boat.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0072.jpg
SCI
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0072.jpg
Mmmm….calamari.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0070.jpg
After the morning bite.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0069.jpg
The Carnage.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0083.jpg
The guy’s son with the YT.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0075.jpg
This is the way to do it.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0077.jpg
Couple guys with their fish.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0081.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0083.jpg
These fish were QUALITY. Here I am with my JP loser.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0073.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0074.jpg
Here’s my rod. Saved it and de-virginized it with a monster WSB.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0092.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0091.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0094.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss257/KevinPhanSK/IMG_0096.jpg