Tunaslam
06-16-2014, 04:14 PM
I went fishing for the first time in over 3 months, (knee Surgery) leaving Sunday morning 6-15-14 a with John on his dynamite 25’Parker, the “Horndog”. We launched out of Cabrillo’s in San Pedro at 6:00 am, our beginning destination being Izor’s Reef. There was an extreme -2 foot tide making the boat launch an experience, as we avoided running the wheels off the ramp. Took some effort to back her down when she would not float at the furthest point we could back up.
The seas were a bit bumpy and there was about an 8 knot breeze. We arrived at Izor’s at 6:45am, with one other yacht just arriving. We started at the lower inside edge and worked our way around the reef and up to the furthest end. We metered tons of bait and some predators. Our drift was very rapid and we didn’t stay on any stone for any longer than seconds. After two hours we had one 2 pound Sand Bass and a couple of small rockfish to show for our efforts. A few lost and a couple of contributions to reef building with the plastics.
At 8:30 we saw the Freelance coming from Newport Beach, obviously heading for the Shoe? We looked at each other and I said “it’s dead here” why not go and see if the Barracuda were biting on the Shoe? A quick run uphill in the swells, and off in the distance we could see the fleet. About five sports boats and 8 to 10 private boaters. We looked for birds diving, saw some and picked out a spot with some distance from the pack in order to throw iron.
We didn’t see a fish caught anywhere within the fleet, and most of them kept moving from spot to spot. It appeared the fish were moving offshore and we could see numerous bird schools diving on bait between us and Catalina. We made a move of about a ¼ mile and the meter lit up with a huge bait ball and what looked to be some Barracuda under them? I tossed out a single hook light Tady Lure in Anchovy Colors. About 20 feet from the boat I get bit and I quickly land a 30” Barracuda! My first caught fish in three months.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_3502680x301_zps6b3124fd.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_3501680x510_zpsf36ba06e.jpg
About five minutes later I landed a second one, cookie cutter size! John got short bit a few times, as did I and that was it. At 10:30 am the fleet ran outside to fish Rockfish and Sculpin. The seas had greased up, and we still were drifting at a decent pace .08 knots. We looked and looked for more bait marks and/or diving birds. Found some bait at 40 to 50 feet, but no predators. The birds had left the area?
We fished the wall for another ½ hour, lost a few plastics and a few fish, and called it a day and were off the water by noon. My knee held up, with only a bit of throbbing. Hopefully I’m back! Sure felt good and the day turned out to be sunny and pleasant with a couple of Cuda for the Barbie! Gad fresh fish, I wonder what that will be like? Ha! Ha!
Thanks so much for the invite John, can’t wait for our next adventure together.
Hook up! Cory
The seas were a bit bumpy and there was about an 8 knot breeze. We arrived at Izor’s at 6:45am, with one other yacht just arriving. We started at the lower inside edge and worked our way around the reef and up to the furthest end. We metered tons of bait and some predators. Our drift was very rapid and we didn’t stay on any stone for any longer than seconds. After two hours we had one 2 pound Sand Bass and a couple of small rockfish to show for our efforts. A few lost and a couple of contributions to reef building with the plastics.
At 8:30 we saw the Freelance coming from Newport Beach, obviously heading for the Shoe? We looked at each other and I said “it’s dead here” why not go and see if the Barracuda were biting on the Shoe? A quick run uphill in the swells, and off in the distance we could see the fleet. About five sports boats and 8 to 10 private boaters. We looked for birds diving, saw some and picked out a spot with some distance from the pack in order to throw iron.
We didn’t see a fish caught anywhere within the fleet, and most of them kept moving from spot to spot. It appeared the fish were moving offshore and we could see numerous bird schools diving on bait between us and Catalina. We made a move of about a ¼ mile and the meter lit up with a huge bait ball and what looked to be some Barracuda under them? I tossed out a single hook light Tady Lure in Anchovy Colors. About 20 feet from the boat I get bit and I quickly land a 30” Barracuda! My first caught fish in three months.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_3502680x301_zps6b3124fd.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/100_3501680x510_zpsf36ba06e.jpg
About five minutes later I landed a second one, cookie cutter size! John got short bit a few times, as did I and that was it. At 10:30 am the fleet ran outside to fish Rockfish and Sculpin. The seas had greased up, and we still were drifting at a decent pace .08 knots. We looked and looked for more bait marks and/or diving birds. Found some bait at 40 to 50 feet, but no predators. The birds had left the area?
We fished the wall for another ½ hour, lost a few plastics and a few fish, and called it a day and were off the water by noon. My knee held up, with only a bit of throbbing. Hopefully I’m back! Sure felt good and the day turned out to be sunny and pleasant with a couple of Cuda for the Barbie! Gad fresh fish, I wonder what that will be like? Ha! Ha!
Thanks so much for the invite John, can’t wait for our next adventure together.
Hook up! Cory