Tunaslam
06-30-2012, 05:29 PM
Fishing Sat. 6-30-12, with Lal on his 18’ boat: The “Rubber Ducky”. I met Lal at his house in Cerritos at 4:30am. We headed down to Huntington Harbor and launched the boat at 5:15 am.
Both of us wish we were headed to Catalina to catch White Seabass, or Yellowtail, or to San Diego to fish the Coronado Islands to catch Yellowtail, and of course offshore to fish Tuna. Yet we monitor the fish reports, and most carefully the weather reports and determine: that kind of fishing is still on hold for most private boaters? The weather being a big detriment, with high winds forecasted for almost every afternoon. In addition show us how often the fish bite two days in a row, Nada! How sad?
Lal set a course for the Huntington Flats, stopping on a variety of stones along the way to Newport Reef. We caught mixed Bass on most of the stones we stopped on. Between 7am and 9:30 am, The Bass were on a serious chew.
As is always the case, Lal and I fish exclusively with Plastics, primarily Clear Red Flake in the 4” mostly, and 5” size, with as light a lead head as the conditions allow, starting with ¾ oz. to 1 oz. and on up.
The current and drift play a significant role in how we fish the stones. Today it was wind against the current and the current won, which provided ample opportunity for getting bit.
At first we caught numerous Calico and Sand Bass in the 1 to 2 pound range. Then I get slammed on a bigger fish, a 3.5 pounder:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2202640x480.jpg
It was my day to howl on the big fish, although Lal was ahead of me in fish count. Here is a decent four pounder:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2206640x480.jpg
Lal caught a lot of 3+ pound fish which he decided were not picture worthy, so I decided to continue to hog the show with another Dandy Sandy:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2201640x480.jpg
Lal moves us to some other points on the Reef and I hook a nice Sand Bass. This one is a little over 3.5 pounds:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2204640x480.jpg
The water temp was 63 degrees when we first arrived, and now it was down to 61.5 degrees, how it could drop is mind boggling, considering the calm conditions?
OK Lal says enough is enough; I need a picture, as he comes up with a double on the Sand Bass, one in the Rod holder and one on the wind:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2209640x480.jpg
We love to count our doubles, which indicate how good the Bass fishing is. We had five doubles today and one triple. A double is both of us bit at once, a triple is both of us bit at once, plus a rod holder fish!
Fishing the same area were Ryan and Phil. They were not having much luck until Lal suggested they switch to Clear Red Flake Plastics. In the next half hour we watched as they caught a bunch of Bass including this nearly four pounder by Phil:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2212640x480.jpg
Continuing on my hot streak of catching big Sand Bass, this brute hit me on the drop on my 12 pound outfit, taking drag and giving me some violent head shakes, then taking more drag as I got her off the bottom and away from the reef:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2207640x480.jpg
She weighed a sweet 6.5 pounds!
The fishing was almost as good as it gets for 2.5 hours as we caught and released over 50 mixed Bass.
I caught one more picture worthy Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2205640x480.jpg
Just like that, someone turned off the switch? How that happens, is beyond us? We spent another hour metering fish, which had lockjaw and therefore no bites?
Time to move north, as the wind was giving notice it was going to be on the prowl. The ride north was pleasant, some bigger swells, yet far apart and the winds were not yet over 5 knots.
The current was now ripping, as we stopped on a variety of stones for nada. We both switched to larger lead heads, up to 2 oz. It did not help as the big lead heads could not hold bottom.
At high noon, the winds were on the way. It has been nearly two hours without a bite so we called it a day. As we entered the harbor the winds were up to 15 knots, with lots of popcorn. We were on the trailer at 1pm.
Over 50 mixed Bass released, another amazing day on the water with Lal on the Rubber Ducky!
Hook up! Cory
Both of us wish we were headed to Catalina to catch White Seabass, or Yellowtail, or to San Diego to fish the Coronado Islands to catch Yellowtail, and of course offshore to fish Tuna. Yet we monitor the fish reports, and most carefully the weather reports and determine: that kind of fishing is still on hold for most private boaters? The weather being a big detriment, with high winds forecasted for almost every afternoon. In addition show us how often the fish bite two days in a row, Nada! How sad?
Lal set a course for the Huntington Flats, stopping on a variety of stones along the way to Newport Reef. We caught mixed Bass on most of the stones we stopped on. Between 7am and 9:30 am, The Bass were on a serious chew.
As is always the case, Lal and I fish exclusively with Plastics, primarily Clear Red Flake in the 4” mostly, and 5” size, with as light a lead head as the conditions allow, starting with ¾ oz. to 1 oz. and on up.
The current and drift play a significant role in how we fish the stones. Today it was wind against the current and the current won, which provided ample opportunity for getting bit.
At first we caught numerous Calico and Sand Bass in the 1 to 2 pound range. Then I get slammed on a bigger fish, a 3.5 pounder:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2202640x480.jpg
It was my day to howl on the big fish, although Lal was ahead of me in fish count. Here is a decent four pounder:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2206640x480.jpg
Lal caught a lot of 3+ pound fish which he decided were not picture worthy, so I decided to continue to hog the show with another Dandy Sandy:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2201640x480.jpg
Lal moves us to some other points on the Reef and I hook a nice Sand Bass. This one is a little over 3.5 pounds:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2204640x480.jpg
The water temp was 63 degrees when we first arrived, and now it was down to 61.5 degrees, how it could drop is mind boggling, considering the calm conditions?
OK Lal says enough is enough; I need a picture, as he comes up with a double on the Sand Bass, one in the Rod holder and one on the wind:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2209640x480.jpg
We love to count our doubles, which indicate how good the Bass fishing is. We had five doubles today and one triple. A double is both of us bit at once, a triple is both of us bit at once, plus a rod holder fish!
Fishing the same area were Ryan and Phil. They were not having much luck until Lal suggested they switch to Clear Red Flake Plastics. In the next half hour we watched as they caught a bunch of Bass including this nearly four pounder by Phil:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2212640x480.jpg
Continuing on my hot streak of catching big Sand Bass, this brute hit me on the drop on my 12 pound outfit, taking drag and giving me some violent head shakes, then taking more drag as I got her off the bottom and away from the reef:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2207640x480.jpg
She weighed a sweet 6.5 pounds!
The fishing was almost as good as it gets for 2.5 hours as we caught and released over 50 mixed Bass.
I caught one more picture worthy Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass-06-30-12/100_2205640x480.jpg
Just like that, someone turned off the switch? How that happens, is beyond us? We spent another hour metering fish, which had lockjaw and therefore no bites?
Time to move north, as the wind was giving notice it was going to be on the prowl. The ride north was pleasant, some bigger swells, yet far apart and the winds were not yet over 5 knots.
The current was now ripping, as we stopped on a variety of stones for nada. We both switched to larger lead heads, up to 2 oz. It did not help as the big lead heads could not hold bottom.
At high noon, the winds were on the way. It has been nearly two hours without a bite so we called it a day. As we entered the harbor the winds were up to 15 knots, with lots of popcorn. We were on the trailer at 1pm.
Over 50 mixed Bass released, another amazing day on the water with Lal on the Rubber Ducky!
Hook up! Cory