Tunaslam
06-30-2014, 10:35 AM
Fishing Sun.-06-29-14 with Lal on his boat the “Rubber Ducky”. We launched out of Davies, in Long Beach, and cleared the harbor by 5:15 am. We had planned to take a run to Catalina, however the seas were confused with at least a 2’ wind chop out of the south, not an ideal run on the Ducky. So we decided to hit the Long Beach Wall at the scene of our last crime on Wed.
There was a deep marine layer, in fact when running we incurred a slight mist to our faces, another reason not to run to Catalina today. The conditions along the wall were not promising, an uphill current away from the rocks. Water temps were 70.5, unreal for June?
Last Wednesday we caught 10 Barracuda and 60 mixed Bass, most released, so what were we going to set as a goal today to exceed that over the top experience? Well we facetiously said how about 75 fish of any kind, Laughing I said to Lal, time for one those 100 fish days that happen about once every other year? Well we knew that Barracuda was probably not going to be part of the equation, as the counts have been way down lately.
Ok, so the wall kicked out three Sand Bass and two Calico Bass in about 25 minutes. We thought we would come back when conditions might improve? So we ran up to PV for nothing, stopping on structure in a number of places. Some decent meter marks, yet no biters. Not the start we had hoped for and the wind was now capping! That was not today’s forecast. The uphill ride was a bit bumpy, yet the Ducky handles this well for the size of the boat.
Continuing on to Rocky Point where Lal had caught a 7 pound Calico Bass and several fives about ten days ago. He had also caught an 8 pound Lingcod and a 4 pound Copper on this big stone.
As we pulled around the corner of the closed MLPA area, the seas began to calm, although behind us it was still capping. Lal pulled up on the big stone and we began a rapid drift with an obviously strong current. Current is good and proved to be a day maker, all day!
High tide wasn’t until 10:30 am, so our opening expectations were not too high. The fish began to chew almost at once and on our first couple drifts, we metered tons of bait, even had some breaking off our bow. The predators appeared to be hovering below the clouds of bait. Both Lal and I got bit almost simultaneously. Mind hit my 4 inch Clear Red Flake plastic about 15 feet from the surface, while Lal got bit on the drop back. This was a good fish and the rod tip dipped almost to the water, as the healthy Calico Bass ran for its freedom! Fighting to the finish line the Cali finally succumbed to the pressure applied.
It was just under five pounds, a nice Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3516680x510_zpsc397d7d9.jpg
Lal’s fish was a Cabazon:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3518680x510_zps5ef32dfd.jpg
The Calico Bass were really on the chew, mostly 1 to 2 pounders with an occasional three to four pounder. Lal was hot, catching three to my two, yet I kept getting short bit, while most of Lal’s bites turned into solid hook ups.
The drift was rapid and the scope out was very severe, yet the fish were biting throughout the entire water column. Which meant if you didn’t get bit on the fall or the bottom, winding back to the boat generally produced a strike. Because we covered so much ground, Lal was constantly re-positioning the boat. When the big stone dried up we moved in close to the kelp and found more active Calico Bass on the chew. We some lulls, but kept finding more areas holding fish.
Some pictures:
Here is Lal with a 5 pound Sand Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3521680x510_zps307d3bf0.jpg
Here I am with another 4+ pound Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3520680x510_zps704eabdd.jpg
As we reached high tide the bite faded. Only a couple of fish caught in the last half hour, so we decided to head back south. However, we had achieved half of our goal of 75 fish, with 40 already caught and released!
Once again when we rounded the Point, with the wind blowing 8 to 10 knots, some capping and a steady 2-3 foot wind chop. However after about 4 miles the wind backed off and the seas began to grease up. Wow, how quickly things can change? We made some long drifts, and found clouds of fish on and off the structure. The Calico Bass fishing was simply off the charts. We had doubles going constantly and sometimes triples! We literally caught fish all along a ¼ mile to up to one mile stretch. Water temps had risen to 71.5
It looked like all the Bass were getting ready to spawn, with many Calico Bass having that distinct orange colored mouth and all were well fed and/or plump with eggs. Nice quality and all were released. We enjoyed a wide open bite for nearly two hours, with about 80% being Calico Bass.
Some more pictures:
Lal with a colorful Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3523680x510_zps403be204.jpg
More quality Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3519680x510_zps815f67b1.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3517680x510_zpse0fa6817.jpg
Lal with another big Sandy, which unfortunately died. We spent ten minutes trying to revive it? It became dinner with the 24 inch Halibut that Lal caught.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3524680x510_zps25d84ae1.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3525680x510_zps192e81d3.jpg
Another nice Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3526680x510_zps044eedf7.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3527680x510_zps59ff3218.jpg
We headed to the dock at 3:30 pm, having exceeded our goal with Calico Bass alone at 75+ with another 35 Sand Bass to complete the day of 100+! Another extraordinary day for the memory books on the Ducky! Kept the Halibut and the one Sand Bass that died, all other fish released
Thanks Lal, now what do we do for an encore? Oh yeah I’m booked on the Condor for a 2.5 day trip over the 4th of July, is it Thursday yet?
Hook up! Cory
There was a deep marine layer, in fact when running we incurred a slight mist to our faces, another reason not to run to Catalina today. The conditions along the wall were not promising, an uphill current away from the rocks. Water temps were 70.5, unreal for June?
Last Wednesday we caught 10 Barracuda and 60 mixed Bass, most released, so what were we going to set as a goal today to exceed that over the top experience? Well we facetiously said how about 75 fish of any kind, Laughing I said to Lal, time for one those 100 fish days that happen about once every other year? Well we knew that Barracuda was probably not going to be part of the equation, as the counts have been way down lately.
Ok, so the wall kicked out three Sand Bass and two Calico Bass in about 25 minutes. We thought we would come back when conditions might improve? So we ran up to PV for nothing, stopping on structure in a number of places. Some decent meter marks, yet no biters. Not the start we had hoped for and the wind was now capping! That was not today’s forecast. The uphill ride was a bit bumpy, yet the Ducky handles this well for the size of the boat.
Continuing on to Rocky Point where Lal had caught a 7 pound Calico Bass and several fives about ten days ago. He had also caught an 8 pound Lingcod and a 4 pound Copper on this big stone.
As we pulled around the corner of the closed MLPA area, the seas began to calm, although behind us it was still capping. Lal pulled up on the big stone and we began a rapid drift with an obviously strong current. Current is good and proved to be a day maker, all day!
High tide wasn’t until 10:30 am, so our opening expectations were not too high. The fish began to chew almost at once and on our first couple drifts, we metered tons of bait, even had some breaking off our bow. The predators appeared to be hovering below the clouds of bait. Both Lal and I got bit almost simultaneously. Mind hit my 4 inch Clear Red Flake plastic about 15 feet from the surface, while Lal got bit on the drop back. This was a good fish and the rod tip dipped almost to the water, as the healthy Calico Bass ran for its freedom! Fighting to the finish line the Cali finally succumbed to the pressure applied.
It was just under five pounds, a nice Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3516680x510_zpsc397d7d9.jpg
Lal’s fish was a Cabazon:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3518680x510_zps5ef32dfd.jpg
The Calico Bass were really on the chew, mostly 1 to 2 pounders with an occasional three to four pounder. Lal was hot, catching three to my two, yet I kept getting short bit, while most of Lal’s bites turned into solid hook ups.
The drift was rapid and the scope out was very severe, yet the fish were biting throughout the entire water column. Which meant if you didn’t get bit on the fall or the bottom, winding back to the boat generally produced a strike. Because we covered so much ground, Lal was constantly re-positioning the boat. When the big stone dried up we moved in close to the kelp and found more active Calico Bass on the chew. We some lulls, but kept finding more areas holding fish.
Some pictures:
Here is Lal with a 5 pound Sand Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3521680x510_zps307d3bf0.jpg
Here I am with another 4+ pound Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3520680x510_zps704eabdd.jpg
As we reached high tide the bite faded. Only a couple of fish caught in the last half hour, so we decided to head back south. However, we had achieved half of our goal of 75 fish, with 40 already caught and released!
Once again when we rounded the Point, with the wind blowing 8 to 10 knots, some capping and a steady 2-3 foot wind chop. However after about 4 miles the wind backed off and the seas began to grease up. Wow, how quickly things can change? We made some long drifts, and found clouds of fish on and off the structure. The Calico Bass fishing was simply off the charts. We had doubles going constantly and sometimes triples! We literally caught fish all along a ¼ mile to up to one mile stretch. Water temps had risen to 71.5
It looked like all the Bass were getting ready to spawn, with many Calico Bass having that distinct orange colored mouth and all were well fed and/or plump with eggs. Nice quality and all were released. We enjoyed a wide open bite for nearly two hours, with about 80% being Calico Bass.
Some more pictures:
Lal with a colorful Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3523680x510_zps403be204.jpg
More quality Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3519680x510_zps815f67b1.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3517680x510_zpse0fa6817.jpg
Lal with another big Sandy, which unfortunately died. We spent ten minutes trying to revive it? It became dinner with the 24 inch Halibut that Lal caught.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3524680x510_zps25d84ae1.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3525680x510_zps192e81d3.jpg
Another nice Calico Bass:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3526680x510_zps044eedf7.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Lal-Bass/100_3527680x510_zps59ff3218.jpg
We headed to the dock at 3:30 pm, having exceeded our goal with Calico Bass alone at 75+ with another 35 Sand Bass to complete the day of 100+! Another extraordinary day for the memory books on the Ducky! Kept the Halibut and the one Sand Bass that died, all other fish released
Thanks Lal, now what do we do for an encore? Oh yeah I’m booked on the Condor for a 2.5 day trip over the 4th of July, is it Thursday yet?
Hook up! Cory