Jackpot Jimmy
08-15-2011, 02:41 PM
On Friday the Tradition headed over to Catalina. We had a couple of buckets of prime fresh dead squid, in hopes that it would spur a good calico bass bite. The day provided fair action on the calicos with a few nice ones, some big sheephead to five pounds, and other critters including some fat opaleyes. Fishing wasn’t the greatest but we picked a few. I ended up with 3 calicos including a 3-1/2 or 4 pounder released, 2 nice sheephead, and a couple opaleye. One of the calicos I got was on plastic – one of my better plastic-caught bass of the year. The best bet was a ˝ ounce sliding egg sinker and a whole fresh dead squid, but the small iron and squid produced very well on the calicos.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/033-4.jpg
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http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/034-3.jpg
On Friday night we headed out on twilight with Captain Alan up the line. We had a steady pick on some bass, shallow water rockfish (also a few small but keepable reds), and sheephead, including a 3-1/2 pounder I caught on what I call a “finesse rig” (small hook on a dropper loop above a torpedo sinker). After the sun went down, we settled in a spot where two years ago, Alan put us on some epic twilight sand bass fishing. Bass fishing wasn’t that good but we did get the vast majority of our bass for the night at this spot. My dad was fishing a slider and strips of squid and was doing very well on the bass. I fished a plastic with squid and didn’t do quite as well as my dad, but most of my bass were bigger. I casted out as far as I could and drug it along the bottom very slowly. There were also some bat rays caught here which kept the blood pumping. I ended up with four bass and dad caught five. Jackpot went to a nice barracuda caught by my friend Russell.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-32.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/017-22.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/020-12.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/021-10.jpg
On Saturday we headed up the line for some structure bass fishing. Today we had a trash can full of fresh dead squid made the night before, and today we would be putting it to use on a leadhead. We had a steady bite all day with about 75% of our bass being of the sand variety, and the rest nice calicos, actually more than we usually get in the structure. During the day two halibut were caught, the first one being caught by Pedro Hernandez, weighing in at 35 pounds, and the second caught by Jim Kelly. I’m especially glad Jim got one because he always fishes for them. Our total count was about 100 bass with a few black seabass, caught and released by the same angler. The best bet for the day was the straight leadhead and squid, and the key was to find the structure and try to stay in it, even when the boat swung, which can mean changing sides in some cases. If you did this, you did all right on the bass.
Nice Calico
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/022-8.jpg
Pedro with his big flattie
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/023-8.jpg
Captain Steven and Pedro with the big halibut
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/024-6.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/027-4.jpg
Jim with his halibut
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/026-4.jpg
Twilight fishing was slower than the night before, with only a handful of bass caught. I fished my “finesse rig” that I caught my sheephead on the night before, and I ended up with two calicos, one sand bass, and one whitefish for the evening. I believe jackpot went to a nice calico. It’s nice to see calicos being caught in the structure. Near the end of the evening, the bat rays took over, and some of these were true 767s, providing for some nice fights.
Twilight Bassin’
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/028-4.jpg
Bass fishing was great during the day and twilight fishing has really good potential. I hope fishing gets even better as the weeks go on. Great times, great fishing!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/033-4.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/032-3.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/035-3.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-58.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-53.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/034-3.jpg
On Friday night we headed out on twilight with Captain Alan up the line. We had a steady pick on some bass, shallow water rockfish (also a few small but keepable reds), and sheephead, including a 3-1/2 pounder I caught on what I call a “finesse rig” (small hook on a dropper loop above a torpedo sinker). After the sun went down, we settled in a spot where two years ago, Alan put us on some epic twilight sand bass fishing. Bass fishing wasn’t that good but we did get the vast majority of our bass for the night at this spot. My dad was fishing a slider and strips of squid and was doing very well on the bass. I fished a plastic with squid and didn’t do quite as well as my dad, but most of my bass were bigger. I casted out as far as I could and drug it along the bottom very slowly. There were also some bat rays caught here which kept the blood pumping. I ended up with four bass and dad caught five. Jackpot went to a nice barracuda caught by my friend Russell.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-32.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/017-22.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/020-12.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/021-10.jpg
On Saturday we headed up the line for some structure bass fishing. Today we had a trash can full of fresh dead squid made the night before, and today we would be putting it to use on a leadhead. We had a steady bite all day with about 75% of our bass being of the sand variety, and the rest nice calicos, actually more than we usually get in the structure. During the day two halibut were caught, the first one being caught by Pedro Hernandez, weighing in at 35 pounds, and the second caught by Jim Kelly. I’m especially glad Jim got one because he always fishes for them. Our total count was about 100 bass with a few black seabass, caught and released by the same angler. The best bet for the day was the straight leadhead and squid, and the key was to find the structure and try to stay in it, even when the boat swung, which can mean changing sides in some cases. If you did this, you did all right on the bass.
Nice Calico
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/022-8.jpg
Pedro with his big flattie
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/023-8.jpg
Captain Steven and Pedro with the big halibut
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/024-6.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/027-4.jpg
Jim with his halibut
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/026-4.jpg
Twilight fishing was slower than the night before, with only a handful of bass caught. I fished my “finesse rig” that I caught my sheephead on the night before, and I ended up with two calicos, one sand bass, and one whitefish for the evening. I believe jackpot went to a nice calico. It’s nice to see calicos being caught in the structure. Near the end of the evening, the bat rays took over, and some of these were true 767s, providing for some nice fights.
Twilight Bassin’
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/028-4.jpg
Bass fishing was great during the day and twilight fishing has really good potential. I hope fishing gets even better as the weeks go on. Great times, great fishing!