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View Full Version : Rpt-Sun.-04-15-12 A Catalina Bust!



Tunaslam
04-15-2012, 09:27 PM
First time fishing Sunday, 4-15-12, with Jeff on his 28’ Bertram, the “Ready to Assemble”. I met fellow crew members George and Jonathan at Jeff’s slip in San Pedro at 5:30 pm, Saturday afternoon. We left Jeff’s slip and headed towards the fuel station, filled up with gas, before heading over to San Pedro Bait for a couple scoops of Sardines.

The crew were all excited about catching their first Yellowtail of the year knowing Jeff had just returned from three successful trips to the Island catching Yellowtail, all solo.

We cleared the harbor at 6:15pm. While watching the waves crashing over the Wall, we battened down the hatches, expecting a rough ride across the channel to Catalina. Jeff set a course for the Isthmus, where we were hoping to make squid for bait. Our speed of 12 knots allowed the sturdy boat to manage the huge swells and 20 knot winds. Certainly it was bumpy all the way over, with a few big swells forcing a lump in the throat, and tightness in the sphincter muscles, whew; we made it over that one OK.

We arrived at our beginning destination around 8:15 pm, a half hour after sunset. Jeff looked around for signs of Squid. He settled on a likely spot and put out the lights. It was still seriously rock and rolling. Our expectations for a good float were very low, considering the conditions. For several hours a few Squid scooted through the lights, extremely skittish. Jeff and Jonathan worked hard with the net catching a few Squid that hesitated only a fraction of a second and became a victim of their efforts. George spent a good deal of time trying to jig up some Squid, while I gave him some techniques I have used successfully to snag some Squid on the jigs.

At midnight Jeff moved West to look for better signs of Squid to no avail, perhaps only a meager few more, bringing the total for the evening to about 50 pieces of new Squid to add to Friday’s leftovers of about 100 pieces, although they were primarily babies, no more than 3 inches in size. At 2am Jeff moved us to our beginning fishing location where he anchored up for the night.

At 4am, Jonathan’s dropper Loop rig goes off. The big fish heads straight past the bow towards the beach and rocks or kelps him. The head shakes appeared to represent a very large White Seabass?

We are all awake now and anxious for more hookups. Not long after George gets bit. Yikes, this fish is smoking the reel, the line is peeling out and George is hanging on for dear life. The line left on the spool is nearing the end and George buttons down the drag on 40 pound line, ping, gone! That fish must have been a huge Black Seabass that never intended to slow down.

The water temps were 58 degrees and the clarity of the water, according to Jeff, was close to or even better than on Friday. The storm on Saturday and roll over of the water did not affect this area that significantly? Jonathan got another hook up at grey light; however, it was a seal pup. It fought valiantly, but succumbed to the pressure of a hook in its mouth. I cut the line as close to his mouth as possible.

We waited and waited until 10am, for no more bites. We knew there were Yellowtail in the area, as several times we saw what looked to be boils off in a distance, and twice we saw seals tossing a Yellowtail up and slapping it on the water, driving the bird’s nuts.
What we did know was that the curse of Catalina was no current, and we just didn’t have any. Jeff moved us around from spot to spot to look for more encouraging signs and more favorable current. The swells had finally receded and the day was turning to grease conditions and quite warm.

At 2:30 pm we yelled uncle on the search for Yellowtail or White Seabass and setup on some likely Calico Bass habitat. It just wasn’t meant to be today. Jonathan got the skunk off the boat with a small Speckled Rockfish, and that was it for any other biters. However, the perch pecked us to death continuously.

We called it a day at 4:00 pm. We arrived back at the dock at 5:30 pm, having enjoyed a comfortable crossing. I guess the fourth time was not the charm for Jeff? As for us the rest of us we are still looking for our first Yellowtail of the year. Well you can’t catch from the dock, and we all knew that Saturday’s weather would most likely effect the bite.

Thanks Jeff, enjoyed meeting you, George and Jonathan, hope we share a rail again together soon!

Hook up! Cory

Jackpot Jimmy
04-16-2012, 07:08 PM
Thanks for the report and good job on the effort. Hopefully this is the year for yellows at the island.

Jig-Guy
04-16-2012, 11:29 PM
Cool detailed report and you were out there doing your thing. I look forward to your next report.

laserbrn
04-19-2012, 05:57 PM
Great report. I felt like I was out there with you. Hopefully your next report has lots of hookups.

JapanRon
04-19-2012, 07:31 PM
Hi tunaslam,

As said above, so enjoy the detail in your reports. Makes one really relate from the experiences we've all had and understand the spirit of the adventure and effort.

Better catching next time.

JapanRon