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View Full Version : Rpt-Sat-07-06-13 B&B insantity, plus Costa Rica!



Tunaslam
07-07-2013, 02:16 PM
I went fishing Sat. 7-06-13, with Lal on his 18’ boat the “Rubber Ducky”. We launched out of Huntington Harbor in Huntington Beach at 5:00 am, our beginning destination being the Coastal areas down the beach.

It is not often that the weather and the fishing come together in a single day of spectacular fishing. We enjoyed a day to remember, and we can only dream of a repeat sometime in the future. Lal and I have been privileged to share a few other 100+ fish days, yet they remain few and far between. Although everyday fishing on the Ducky, generally results into a fun day on the water!

In grease calm seas, we made our way south, stopping at ***** slap rock for our first exciting experience of the day. This huge pinnacle rarely yields any quantity of fish, however, it is known for the big boys hanging out, where Lal and I have both gotten ripped and broken off in a heartbeat. I dropped down a 4” Halloween plastic, with a ¾ oz. lead head. I hit bottom and took a couple cranks on the reel, wham, I get hammered, and the fish takes drag on my 15 pound test outfit. Big head shakes, and I work hard to get the big Bass to the surface and out of the rocks. I proceed to land a five pound Sand Bass, and what a nice way to start off the day.

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0013680x510_zps6cd68458.jpg

I drop back down and get bit hard again, more violent head shakes, and some screaming drag. This time I reel up a 4.5 pound Sand Bass, wow that was fun!

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0015680x510_zps7f1f8f5b.jpg

A few more drifts for nothing, led us to move on to better opportunities. On the next structure spot, both Lal and I get bit and we each caught a 1.5 to 2 pound Calico Bass. We scratched a fish here and there and continued on to the Newport Pipe and other structure areas. We ended the morning with 20 mixed Bass, almost 50-50 Calico and Sand Bass.

Lal with a nice Sand Bass:

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0017680x510_zps88b65c2a.jpg

Myself with another decent Sand Bass:

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0020680x510_zps7fa01636.jpg

Lal moved us north to search for possible Barracuda opportunities. Water temps at the pipe reached a high of 70.1 degrees. As we traveled north, the water temperatures dropped. Upon reaching the Horseshoe kelp area they were down to 65.9 degrees. We drifted over several structure spots for nothing. The sport boats seemed to be interested in deep water Sculpin fishing, as there were no signs of Barracuda anywhere. We returned south to find a few boats with some good bird action around.

We stopped on some good meter marks, and began a drift. Our first couple of casts resulted in Barracuda bites. We both caught and released several Barracuda and kept one. We also caught a few more Calico and Sand Bass mixed in with the Barracuda. The bite shut down and we moved on to few more stones in the area. Lal made a call to Richie, “Taxfree” and asked them how their day was going. They had caught some Lingcod, Reds and Bass, mostly Calico Bass. They joined us and Richie was kind enough to offer up some of his freshly prepared Barracuda Ceviche. Yum, yum, that hit the spot. Thanks Richie!

The time was 12:45pm and Lal said we would make one last stop on a structure spot not far away, before calling it a day.

After a short run of about one mile, off in the distance we noticed a lot of bird activity, diving and darting into the water. As we approached the bird school, there were obvious boils under the birds. It was instant bites on our plastics. The Barracuda were swarming everywhere. Better yet, if a Barracuda missed your lure, a Sand or Calico Bass climbed on. We spent the next three hours in catch and release mode, on a wide open bite of Barracuda and/or a Bass. Of course we had to make a minor move now and then to stay up with the schools of feeding fish.

Here I am with a big Barracuda:

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0023680x510_zps1e195b88.jpg

More Bass for both myself and Lal:

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0021680x510_zps41df3390.jpg

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0020680x510_zps7fa01636.jpg

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0018680x510_zpsa38008d8.jpg

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0022680x510_zpsa3632da5.jpg

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/000_0027680x510_zps1132b261.jpg
We called Steve, “Tuner” into the frenzy, and he promptly started catching fish. We hailed Richie repeatedly, and Lal called him on the phone to no avail. Turned out he had turned down his radio and turned off his phone. What a Bummer for him and his crew. He did finally check his phone messages and joined us several hours into the game. It was amazing that only one other private boater worked the school of birds and fish, while many drove right by us? We were also surprised no Sport Boats looked at this area. There were at least 200 to 300 birds, quite a sight.

At 3:30pm, the time to call it day arrived for the second time. With both of us suffering sore arms, and having gone through lots of plastics and lead heads, we surrendered leaving them biting, although at a much slower pace.

The final count was 20 Calico Bass, 40+ Sand Bass and 40+ Barracuda, a 100+ fish day, too cool. We kept only a few bleeding Sand Bass and 8 Barracuda. All other fish were released to fight another day.

Thanks Lal, another incredible adventure on the Ducky, it just does not get much better?

Hook up! Cory

Here is my Costa Rica adventure, please allow 10 to 15 minutes to read as it is loaded with over 100 pictures:

http://www.allcoast.com/discussion/ViewTopic.cfm?forum_ID=430&page=1&startrow=1&topic_ID=115232

Had to use Allcoast as I had over 100 pictures, this forum has a limit of 100?

Cory

Sonnyyy
07-07-2013, 02:20 PM
Man, you guys are always rocking it! Keep it up and good eats!

midgettosser1
07-15-2013, 01:58 PM
Great CR pics. That place will always be one of my favorite vacations ever. Never made it to Manuel Antonio myself, but I plan to some day. Glad you got to see a sloth too. That was one thing we were hoping to see, but never managed to find one. Still saw lots of great wildlife.... including the Croc man tour that you guys did.
Sorry to hear about the fishing. When we went I spent a good chunk of change on an offshore and halfday inshore trip and hardly tapped the amazing fishing that CR has to offer. Oh well. Maybe next time.