Jackpot Jimmy
11-11-2012, 03:31 PM
My dad and I were planning to go on a morning half day trip out of Dana Point Saturday morning, but the forecast looked too gnarly, so we slept in and decided to go out on Sunday morning, hoping that the weather would die down. But our lunatic friends did end up making it out on the Saturday morning half, and the fishing was actually really good with live squid despite the big swells and swinging around on the anchor. So we made our reso on the Reel Fun for Sunday morning and planned to join our friends down there bright, cold and early.
It was so cold when we got down there (~35 degrees) that my dad said “screw it” and went to our friends’ house in Laguna Niguel and took a nice four hour nap in lieu of fishing in the frigid cold – and he sure did have a nice warm nap. So I would be the crazy one along with the usual suspects on this cold morning in Dana Point. Our crew today was Capt. Dusty, Chris in the galley, and Brandon as our deckhand. We shipped off at 6:30am and grabbed some sardines to compliment the live squid we had on board, and we headed out to the fishing grounds.
The first spot was the best spot of the day, and my friend Lee and I were the high sticks. We were the only ones fishing eight-pound-test line, which seemed to make a very big difference as people fishing 12 pound were not getting bit as well. It was mostly sand bass, but a few nice calicos came up. The calicos would pick at the bait until it got the hook, whereas the sandies would suck it down or slam it and take off. Some of the sandies were decent size – easily legal by the new impending regulations. But we were releasing the bass today, and tanking the contenders for jackpot. Others caught some nice bass as well. After a good two hours or so, the bite finally petered out, so we moved on to find another bite.
The second stop on a reef with some kelp stringers started off slow until I got slammed and pulled a nice big sand bass out of the kelp and rocks. This was a possible contender so I tanked it. But all bets were off as Lee got slammed about 10 minutes later and pulled up what looked to be an even bigger sandy. His was tanked along with mine. Lee managed to catch and release a couple more bass before a young angler celebrating his 14th birthday hooked into something BIG. It started running like a bat ray, but even around kelp, bat rays usually surface relatively quickly. Then the bass bite shut off, which gave an indication that the fish hooked might be a black seabass. Capt. Dusty would try to hand-line it carefully out of the kelp, and it would get mad and take out another 20 feet of line. The young angler would then fight it and gain on it a little bit, but it would just bury itself even more. After a good 20 minutes, the line gave way. It would have been nice for the young angler to bring it to the surface to see what it was, but he did a very good job battling it nonetheless. And sure enough, a couple minutes after the big battle ended, we started getting bass bites again. But fishing had still slowed down, so we moved on to try one final spot.
At the last spot, I decided to try fishing with the clam to try and catch a sheephead – and I managed to catch two keepers, which were thrown back. A few more sheephead and some bass came up here too. But after a while it was time to call it a morning and head for the barn. Jackpot went to Lee with his sandy that edged my nice one out of competition. They were then happily released.
Considering we were fishing in 56 degree water, fishing was pretty good, and it paid generously to have live squid. But what gave Lee and me the edge definitely was the lighter line, so it might be good to have some on hand just in case. These reefs aren’t as jagged as the “stones” fished elsewhere – you just have to be prepared to PULL when you hook a fish, and retie if you feel the slightest nick. Anyway our group of friends had a lot of fun and had a few laughs and enjoyed each other’s company. Lee joked that he probably won’t catch a thing for another month (he ended up with about 11 or 12 keepers and he usually loses more than he catches – the money’s usually on the fish). I ended up with about eight keepers, which was beyond my expectations seeing that the water took an eight-degree nosedive from last week. Today it was freezing, but it warmed up and the seas flattened out by mid-morning. I sure hope they continue to get some live squid – it definitely spurred up the fishing today. Great times, great fishing!
Sorry, no pictures on this report.
It was so cold when we got down there (~35 degrees) that my dad said “screw it” and went to our friends’ house in Laguna Niguel and took a nice four hour nap in lieu of fishing in the frigid cold – and he sure did have a nice warm nap. So I would be the crazy one along with the usual suspects on this cold morning in Dana Point. Our crew today was Capt. Dusty, Chris in the galley, and Brandon as our deckhand. We shipped off at 6:30am and grabbed some sardines to compliment the live squid we had on board, and we headed out to the fishing grounds.
The first spot was the best spot of the day, and my friend Lee and I were the high sticks. We were the only ones fishing eight-pound-test line, which seemed to make a very big difference as people fishing 12 pound were not getting bit as well. It was mostly sand bass, but a few nice calicos came up. The calicos would pick at the bait until it got the hook, whereas the sandies would suck it down or slam it and take off. Some of the sandies were decent size – easily legal by the new impending regulations. But we were releasing the bass today, and tanking the contenders for jackpot. Others caught some nice bass as well. After a good two hours or so, the bite finally petered out, so we moved on to find another bite.
The second stop on a reef with some kelp stringers started off slow until I got slammed and pulled a nice big sand bass out of the kelp and rocks. This was a possible contender so I tanked it. But all bets were off as Lee got slammed about 10 minutes later and pulled up what looked to be an even bigger sandy. His was tanked along with mine. Lee managed to catch and release a couple more bass before a young angler celebrating his 14th birthday hooked into something BIG. It started running like a bat ray, but even around kelp, bat rays usually surface relatively quickly. Then the bass bite shut off, which gave an indication that the fish hooked might be a black seabass. Capt. Dusty would try to hand-line it carefully out of the kelp, and it would get mad and take out another 20 feet of line. The young angler would then fight it and gain on it a little bit, but it would just bury itself even more. After a good 20 minutes, the line gave way. It would have been nice for the young angler to bring it to the surface to see what it was, but he did a very good job battling it nonetheless. And sure enough, a couple minutes after the big battle ended, we started getting bass bites again. But fishing had still slowed down, so we moved on to try one final spot.
At the last spot, I decided to try fishing with the clam to try and catch a sheephead – and I managed to catch two keepers, which were thrown back. A few more sheephead and some bass came up here too. But after a while it was time to call it a morning and head for the barn. Jackpot went to Lee with his sandy that edged my nice one out of competition. They were then happily released.
Considering we were fishing in 56 degree water, fishing was pretty good, and it paid generously to have live squid. But what gave Lee and me the edge definitely was the lighter line, so it might be good to have some on hand just in case. These reefs aren’t as jagged as the “stones” fished elsewhere – you just have to be prepared to PULL when you hook a fish, and retie if you feel the slightest nick. Anyway our group of friends had a lot of fun and had a few laughs and enjoyed each other’s company. Lee joked that he probably won’t catch a thing for another month (he ended up with about 11 or 12 keepers and he usually loses more than he catches – the money’s usually on the fish). I ended up with about eight keepers, which was beyond my expectations seeing that the water took an eight-degree nosedive from last week. Today it was freezing, but it warmed up and the seas flattened out by mid-morning. I sure hope they continue to get some live squid – it definitely spurred up the fishing today. Great times, great fishing!
Sorry, no pictures on this report.