Jackpot Jimmy
11-24-2012, 08:18 PM
Sum Fun Halibut Derby – Friday, November 23
My dad and I made our resos three weeks in advance for the Halibut Derby trip the day after Thanksgiving, and we were highly recommended to do so by our friend and derby regular Jeanne as derby days often fill up fast. A lot of the Saturday regulars would also be going as they got the day after Thanksgiving off just like us. It’s nice to have good company when you’re waiting for one of those big flat things to bite your bait.
Today’s crew would be Captain Chris Pica, Bryan on cooking duties, and a deckhand whose name I forgot (my apologies). We had a full limited load of 25 anglers, and after grabbing some medium to large sardines to compliment some live squid, we headed out of the harbor in icy cold fog.
We got a few short halibut and some lizardfish on our first drift, which was our fastest of the day (six ounces was barely cutting it). Luckily after moving down the coast, the wind subsided and our drifts became more pleasant (but it was still cold and foggy the whole day). Around mid-morning we had a drift where it started out pebbly and then went to hard bottom/sand. This edge was where angler Kyle Nelson hooked what turned out to be the only legal halibut of the day, a smaller one at 5.2 pounds. But it’s still enough to get on the board!
http://imageshack.us/a/img43/9227/img0025oj.jpg
The drifts for the remainder of the day were at different areas, sandy and hard bottom, shallow and deep. Hard bottom spots are where we usually catch halibut on anchor, but the drifts didn’t produce any halibut, only a few sand bass and some miscellaneous rockfish. A brief moment of excitement occurred when derby regular Paul Pappas hooked into what looked to be the right kind, but ended up being a nice shovelnose guitarfish. That was pretty much it for the day – we gave it an honest effort but only found one legal. As for me, I had one bite on a sardine on the last drift that looked promising.
Sum Fun 10am Half Day – Saturday, November 24
Dad and I also planned to do the half day the next day to at least get some bass fishing in our agenda. We stayed at our friends’ house nearby and headed back down to get in line early for the 10:00 half day – we were in for a full load. Our crew for this trip was once again veteran Captain Chris Pica, Capt. Brian Woolley on his Saturday head chef duties, and Jake as our deckhand. Just shy of a full load, we ended up with 53 anglers.
Mr. Woolley taking up the jackpot…
http://imageshack.us/a/img233/4083/img0026cf.jpg
Capt. Pica went out to make squid the night before, so we were jugged with live squid and see if the bass would respond like they should when we have the candy bait. And sure enough we had a pretty good pick going at the first spot. Our colorful friend (he’s a New Yorker) Lee and I were fishing with eight-pound test – being true sportsmen – and while Lee had a hard time getting bit for some reason, I was getting bit but was losing them to the rocks. Even so, stubborn as a mule, I kept at it, and ended up losing five fish to the rocks. But I wound up getting four nice bass to the boat, at least having a chance to release them myself and not having an LDR. My dad was tied with me with four bass, all calicos. Lee, I think, had one nice sand bass and a big sculpin.
As for the rest, the first big fish of the trip was caught by angler extraordinaire Peggy Stein, who caught a nice sand bass which weighed around four pounds. Not long after, an angler landed a nice big triggerfish, which usually come out to play when Dana Wharf anglers have live squid to pin on their hooks. Later on another angler landed a fat calico that looked as though it could compete with the other two contenders, but the angler was not in jackpot.
Peggy and Capt. Pica with the Nice Grumpy Sand Bass
http://imageshack.us/a/img593/3949/img0027y.png
Fat Triggerfish
http://imageshack.us/a/img51/8289/img0028up.jpg
By the end of the trip, our final count was 52 mixed bass for our efforts, with a bunch of miscellaneous stuff along with that triggerfish. The trigger barely edged out Peggy’s sand bass to take jackpot, and the grumpy was happily released after weigh-up. The fishing was really good. I would have had probably close to a limit if I was fishing heavier line, but one wonders if I would have gotten bit at all. Who knows, but I may have to arm myself with NINE pound test next time around. But all in all, we have a lot of fun and a bunch of laughs – it sure is good fishing with friends.
Jackpot!
http://imageshack.us/a/img23/2415/img0031zba.jpg
My dad and I made our resos three weeks in advance for the Halibut Derby trip the day after Thanksgiving, and we were highly recommended to do so by our friend and derby regular Jeanne as derby days often fill up fast. A lot of the Saturday regulars would also be going as they got the day after Thanksgiving off just like us. It’s nice to have good company when you’re waiting for one of those big flat things to bite your bait.
Today’s crew would be Captain Chris Pica, Bryan on cooking duties, and a deckhand whose name I forgot (my apologies). We had a full limited load of 25 anglers, and after grabbing some medium to large sardines to compliment some live squid, we headed out of the harbor in icy cold fog.
We got a few short halibut and some lizardfish on our first drift, which was our fastest of the day (six ounces was barely cutting it). Luckily after moving down the coast, the wind subsided and our drifts became more pleasant (but it was still cold and foggy the whole day). Around mid-morning we had a drift where it started out pebbly and then went to hard bottom/sand. This edge was where angler Kyle Nelson hooked what turned out to be the only legal halibut of the day, a smaller one at 5.2 pounds. But it’s still enough to get on the board!
http://imageshack.us/a/img43/9227/img0025oj.jpg
The drifts for the remainder of the day were at different areas, sandy and hard bottom, shallow and deep. Hard bottom spots are where we usually catch halibut on anchor, but the drifts didn’t produce any halibut, only a few sand bass and some miscellaneous rockfish. A brief moment of excitement occurred when derby regular Paul Pappas hooked into what looked to be the right kind, but ended up being a nice shovelnose guitarfish. That was pretty much it for the day – we gave it an honest effort but only found one legal. As for me, I had one bite on a sardine on the last drift that looked promising.
Sum Fun 10am Half Day – Saturday, November 24
Dad and I also planned to do the half day the next day to at least get some bass fishing in our agenda. We stayed at our friends’ house nearby and headed back down to get in line early for the 10:00 half day – we were in for a full load. Our crew for this trip was once again veteran Captain Chris Pica, Capt. Brian Woolley on his Saturday head chef duties, and Jake as our deckhand. Just shy of a full load, we ended up with 53 anglers.
Mr. Woolley taking up the jackpot…
http://imageshack.us/a/img233/4083/img0026cf.jpg
Capt. Pica went out to make squid the night before, so we were jugged with live squid and see if the bass would respond like they should when we have the candy bait. And sure enough we had a pretty good pick going at the first spot. Our colorful friend (he’s a New Yorker) Lee and I were fishing with eight-pound test – being true sportsmen – and while Lee had a hard time getting bit for some reason, I was getting bit but was losing them to the rocks. Even so, stubborn as a mule, I kept at it, and ended up losing five fish to the rocks. But I wound up getting four nice bass to the boat, at least having a chance to release them myself and not having an LDR. My dad was tied with me with four bass, all calicos. Lee, I think, had one nice sand bass and a big sculpin.
As for the rest, the first big fish of the trip was caught by angler extraordinaire Peggy Stein, who caught a nice sand bass which weighed around four pounds. Not long after, an angler landed a nice big triggerfish, which usually come out to play when Dana Wharf anglers have live squid to pin on their hooks. Later on another angler landed a fat calico that looked as though it could compete with the other two contenders, but the angler was not in jackpot.
Peggy and Capt. Pica with the Nice Grumpy Sand Bass
http://imageshack.us/a/img593/3949/img0027y.png
Fat Triggerfish
http://imageshack.us/a/img51/8289/img0028up.jpg
By the end of the trip, our final count was 52 mixed bass for our efforts, with a bunch of miscellaneous stuff along with that triggerfish. The trigger barely edged out Peggy’s sand bass to take jackpot, and the grumpy was happily released after weigh-up. The fishing was really good. I would have had probably close to a limit if I was fishing heavier line, but one wonders if I would have gotten bit at all. Who knows, but I may have to arm myself with NINE pound test next time around. But all in all, we have a lot of fun and a bunch of laughs – it sure is good fishing with friends.
Jackpot!
http://imageshack.us/a/img23/2415/img0031zba.jpg