Tunaslam
05-01-2013, 09:33 PM
I went fishing Wednesday 05-01-12, with Bill Fisher, on his 18’ Trophy, “Toad Hall”. I drove down from work in San Bernardino and spent Tuesday evening at Bill’s place south of Rosarito. I stopped at Charley’s Place, just up the street from Bill’s trailer and ordered up some tasty fish tacos and shrimp burritos for dinner. Bill suggested the Shrimp Burritos and gad they were delicious!
We watched some Baseball, San Diego Padres and the Dodgers, as well as some Basketball before calling it a night, with a wake call set for 5:00 am. Up and at them bright and early, we were quickly off to Las Salinas where Bill slips his boat. We arrived in Las Salinas, at 5:45 am. Despite low winds and a not so low a tide, the exit through the harbor was treacherous at best. Creeping slowly toward the entrance/exit of the harbor, the waves were breaking big, similar to a beach, yikes! We had both put on our life jackets and surely we came close to needing them. At 150 feet before the entrance we had a wave break on us unexpectedly, and the boat rose up through the crest and slammed us down hard! Bill’s skill of running a boat came in handy as we scooted through the next set without further problems. Timing through the harbor is everything; however, the sea has many unknown twists, which we faced head on today!
It appears we will have to limit our trips to days with very small swells and extremely light winds with medium tides? If they don’t dredge that harbor entrance soon, more serious accidents are going to occur for sure!
Our hope was to make a run to Todos Santos to check out the Yellowtail potential, but the washing machine conditions eliminated that opportunity. A couple miles uphill and the pounding was not tolerable. Too bad, because making bait right outside the harbor was instantaneous. Sweet small green Mackerels were on the prowl, and we had 20 in the bait tank within minutes.
Bill put us on some hard bottom spots in fairly shallow water, under 150 feet. The fish were immediately on the chew. Our first drift produced Lingcod, Chocolate Rockfish, Bocaccio, Reds, Starries, Johnny Bass and a Tree Fish. The second drift was similar to the first, just awesome. Other than one decent sized Red that Bill caught and a few good size Bocaccio, as well as Lingcod from 22 to 25 inches, all released, Bill moved us out to deeper water.
As per usual in this area, the deep water displayed few marks, but great hard bottom structure. We both dropped down and were both hammered as we hit bottom. Well I never hit bottom, my duel Lucanus knockoff setup, just stopped, and when I reeled in my slack, my rod doubled down, and the harsh head shakes indicated some serious fish were hooked? I could not hold the rod in my arm, had to place it in my belly and pump it up Tuna style. Finally a nice Red blur appeared deep and up comes two big Reds!
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2528680x510_zps244f97f9.jpg
This was one big Red:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2526680x510_zps5d0922ef.jpg
Unfortunately Bill’s fish was a nice Bocaccio, and that was all we caught on this spot, plenty of Bocaccio. Looking for more Reds, we made some moves and only caught Bocaccio in the deep water. Having reached limits on these guys, Bill moved us back into shallower water. The Lingcod fishing was off the charts, no matter the depth, 150, 130, 110, under 100. I fished mostly plastics and they ate the paint off the plastic! Bill fished with a Chrome Crocodile lure and got bit equally often!
One of the many Bocaccios we caught and most were bigger than this guy:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2524680x510_zpscf3d4562.jpg
A few of the bigger Lingcod we caught:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2529680x510_zpsdf83e62a.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2530680x510_zps7dc05398.jpg
As we drifted into depths closer to the kelp beds, the Calico Bass made a showing. Both Bill and I had good hits on the plastics, and Bill also caught a few on his Crocodile lure.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2535680x510_zpsd9020abc.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2532680x510_zpsa32832b5.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2534680x510_zpsabee7732.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2531680x510_zps7d13960d.jpg
No matter where we went the Lingcod went ballistic. On a rare occasion we caught something different, other than their best competitor, Bocaccio? Here is a very colorful Cabazon I caught on the plastic:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2533680x510_zps47b1f8b3.jpg
It was an incredible day of fishing Descanzo Bay. The sun came out early, the jackets and sweat shirts were removed, Mother wind never got over 10 knots, and at 2pm when we called it a day, it was under ten.
It was a 100+ fish day! We caught over 50 Lingcod, keeping only three, over 30 Bocaccio, keeping our ten fish limit, a dozen Reds, keeping five, a dozen Johnny Bass, a half dozen Calico Bass, releasing all, and many assorted other Rockfish, all released but the Cabazon and a Tree Fish.
Bill and I both had sore arms and tired bodies. Wow!
We cleaned the fish near the harbor and returned to Bill’s place after 3pm. Chilled out for an hour and started the long trek home to Diamond Bar, 150 miles away. Fortunately the wait at Otay Mesa was only 8 minutes to cross the border. I pulled into my driveway at 7:25 pm, extremely pleased.
Bill thanks again, the fishing was extraordinary for the bottom critters, bummer on not having a shot at the Tails. Can’t wait until our next adventure!
Hook up!
Cory
We watched some Baseball, San Diego Padres and the Dodgers, as well as some Basketball before calling it a night, with a wake call set for 5:00 am. Up and at them bright and early, we were quickly off to Las Salinas where Bill slips his boat. We arrived in Las Salinas, at 5:45 am. Despite low winds and a not so low a tide, the exit through the harbor was treacherous at best. Creeping slowly toward the entrance/exit of the harbor, the waves were breaking big, similar to a beach, yikes! We had both put on our life jackets and surely we came close to needing them. At 150 feet before the entrance we had a wave break on us unexpectedly, and the boat rose up through the crest and slammed us down hard! Bill’s skill of running a boat came in handy as we scooted through the next set without further problems. Timing through the harbor is everything; however, the sea has many unknown twists, which we faced head on today!
It appears we will have to limit our trips to days with very small swells and extremely light winds with medium tides? If they don’t dredge that harbor entrance soon, more serious accidents are going to occur for sure!
Our hope was to make a run to Todos Santos to check out the Yellowtail potential, but the washing machine conditions eliminated that opportunity. A couple miles uphill and the pounding was not tolerable. Too bad, because making bait right outside the harbor was instantaneous. Sweet small green Mackerels were on the prowl, and we had 20 in the bait tank within minutes.
Bill put us on some hard bottom spots in fairly shallow water, under 150 feet. The fish were immediately on the chew. Our first drift produced Lingcod, Chocolate Rockfish, Bocaccio, Reds, Starries, Johnny Bass and a Tree Fish. The second drift was similar to the first, just awesome. Other than one decent sized Red that Bill caught and a few good size Bocaccio, as well as Lingcod from 22 to 25 inches, all released, Bill moved us out to deeper water.
As per usual in this area, the deep water displayed few marks, but great hard bottom structure. We both dropped down and were both hammered as we hit bottom. Well I never hit bottom, my duel Lucanus knockoff setup, just stopped, and when I reeled in my slack, my rod doubled down, and the harsh head shakes indicated some serious fish were hooked? I could not hold the rod in my arm, had to place it in my belly and pump it up Tuna style. Finally a nice Red blur appeared deep and up comes two big Reds!
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2528680x510_zps244f97f9.jpg
This was one big Red:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2526680x510_zps5d0922ef.jpg
Unfortunately Bill’s fish was a nice Bocaccio, and that was all we caught on this spot, plenty of Bocaccio. Looking for more Reds, we made some moves and only caught Bocaccio in the deep water. Having reached limits on these guys, Bill moved us back into shallower water. The Lingcod fishing was off the charts, no matter the depth, 150, 130, 110, under 100. I fished mostly plastics and they ate the paint off the plastic! Bill fished with a Chrome Crocodile lure and got bit equally often!
One of the many Bocaccios we caught and most were bigger than this guy:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2524680x510_zpscf3d4562.jpg
A few of the bigger Lingcod we caught:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2529680x510_zpsdf83e62a.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2530680x510_zps7dc05398.jpg
As we drifted into depths closer to the kelp beds, the Calico Bass made a showing. Both Bill and I had good hits on the plastics, and Bill also caught a few on his Crocodile lure.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2535680x510_zpsd9020abc.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2532680x510_zpsa32832b5.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2534680x510_zpsabee7732.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2531680x510_zps7d13960d.jpg
No matter where we went the Lingcod went ballistic. On a rare occasion we caught something different, other than their best competitor, Bocaccio? Here is a very colorful Cabazon I caught on the plastic:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_2533680x510_zps47b1f8b3.jpg
It was an incredible day of fishing Descanzo Bay. The sun came out early, the jackets and sweat shirts were removed, Mother wind never got over 10 knots, and at 2pm when we called it a day, it was under ten.
It was a 100+ fish day! We caught over 50 Lingcod, keeping only three, over 30 Bocaccio, keeping our ten fish limit, a dozen Reds, keeping five, a dozen Johnny Bass, a half dozen Calico Bass, releasing all, and many assorted other Rockfish, all released but the Cabazon and a Tree Fish.
Bill and I both had sore arms and tired bodies. Wow!
We cleaned the fish near the harbor and returned to Bill’s place after 3pm. Chilled out for an hour and started the long trek home to Diamond Bar, 150 miles away. Fortunately the wait at Otay Mesa was only 8 minutes to cross the border. I pulled into my driveway at 7:25 pm, extremely pleased.
Bill thanks again, the fishing was extraordinary for the bottom critters, bummer on not having a shot at the Tails. Can’t wait until our next adventure!
Hook up!
Cory