have2fish
07-24-2011, 10:34 PM
Hi all,
I was blessed with an invitation out to go fish flatties with X-Factor aka FishingYoda today!
He asked me what I wanted to target and how....
Halibut!
Bounce or drift?
BounceBall I quickly replied....
And so began our day this morning at ZeroDarkThirty... well, 600hrs....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0676.jpg
A quick stop for ice and off we went out of the harbor to go make bait....
Fishing with Yoda, one must always realize that lessons are being taught, whether you are present and learning, or if you are not paying attention, you miss the lesson....
Lots was learned today, even thought I have had many boats in the past 20 years, I think that we calculated that the last time we went halibut fishing was about 12 years ago!
A couple dozen beautiful sardines and we were off to the first of many honeyholes we would bounce through over the day.....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0677.jpg
We tried up and down, left and right. Lots of oil on the water early in the morning, but thankfully, not too many floating weeds or grass....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0687.jpg
we worked a 5 mile area pretty hard until about 11 when we decided to pull the gear and run down a few miles to try a different stretch of water....
Then Yoda decides to put a 3rd rod out with a very special rig..... (Note - lesson missed... I should have been watching and following.....)
We were working in 50-60 foot of water, up and down when all of a sudden, the long rod out back behind the boat starts pumping and singin....
FISH ON!!!!
A few tense minutes later, a very nice fish comes up and I sink a gaff and land a very nice one!!!
The whole time we had large beautiful sardines with the classic 7 inch hoochie behind the standard dodger..... no biters....
He got it on a special color, small hoochie with a smaller dodger (NOT FLASHER!)
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0882.jpg
After the fish was landed we switched to match what triggered this fish to eat, and after a while, I did get a hit, but no hook stuck...
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0720.jpg
We stuck it out and trolled almost all the way home, through areas of lots of bait, life, birds and porpoise crashing..... and then areas devoid, areas with lots of small kelp on the bottom, and other very clean areas for nothing but a few lizardfish and one mac....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0708.jpg
We started the day at 630 on the water and returned to the harbor at 1600hr with one very nice fish, but more importantly, we had a great day talking story, talking about fishing on the Hornet and Sea Hawk, in the early 90's and then all the other boats in the area..... We talked surf fishing to lake fishing to albacore to bluefin to long range, etc....
Yoda, thank you for taking me out, for always being ready to share a story or a lesson or tip....
YoungJedi....
(have2fish)
aka
Marco Farrell
Santa Barbara...
I was blessed with an invitation out to go fish flatties with X-Factor aka FishingYoda today!
He asked me what I wanted to target and how....
Halibut!
Bounce or drift?
BounceBall I quickly replied....
And so began our day this morning at ZeroDarkThirty... well, 600hrs....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0676.jpg
A quick stop for ice and off we went out of the harbor to go make bait....
Fishing with Yoda, one must always realize that lessons are being taught, whether you are present and learning, or if you are not paying attention, you miss the lesson....
Lots was learned today, even thought I have had many boats in the past 20 years, I think that we calculated that the last time we went halibut fishing was about 12 years ago!
A couple dozen beautiful sardines and we were off to the first of many honeyholes we would bounce through over the day.....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0677.jpg
We tried up and down, left and right. Lots of oil on the water early in the morning, but thankfully, not too many floating weeds or grass....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0687.jpg
we worked a 5 mile area pretty hard until about 11 when we decided to pull the gear and run down a few miles to try a different stretch of water....
Then Yoda decides to put a 3rd rod out with a very special rig..... (Note - lesson missed... I should have been watching and following.....)
We were working in 50-60 foot of water, up and down when all of a sudden, the long rod out back behind the boat starts pumping and singin....
FISH ON!!!!
A few tense minutes later, a very nice fish comes up and I sink a gaff and land a very nice one!!!
The whole time we had large beautiful sardines with the classic 7 inch hoochie behind the standard dodger..... no biters....
He got it on a special color, small hoochie with a smaller dodger (NOT FLASHER!)
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0882.jpg
After the fish was landed we switched to match what triggered this fish to eat, and after a while, I did get a hit, but no hook stuck...
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0720.jpg
We stuck it out and trolled almost all the way home, through areas of lots of bait, life, birds and porpoise crashing..... and then areas devoid, areas with lots of small kelp on the bottom, and other very clean areas for nothing but a few lizardfish and one mac....
http://www.hammondsbeach.com/mikefishing/DSC_0708.jpg
We started the day at 630 on the water and returned to the harbor at 1600hr with one very nice fish, but more importantly, we had a great day talking story, talking about fishing on the Hornet and Sea Hawk, in the early 90's and then all the other boats in the area..... We talked surf fishing to lake fishing to albacore to bluefin to long range, etc....
Yoda, thank you for taking me out, for always being ready to share a story or a lesson or tip....
YoungJedi....
(have2fish)
aka
Marco Farrell
Santa Barbara...