etucker1959
09-04-2014, 05:25 PM
I had the day off today and wanted to do a little ocean fishing. BUT WHERE??????? With so many bites going on right now it's definitely a target rich environment. A client of mine invited me on the Freedom today and he would pick up all expenses. The problem is we just went the week before and did reasonable well. I should say, "I fished my arse off catching 25 lbs tuna's on 3 inch anchovies." (But that's another story) I was debating going on the 5-5 tuna trip out of Dana Wharf or test my skills on some local yellowtail. I didn't think it was much of a test of my manhood (I mean my fishing skills to catch a 4 lbs yellowtail) So Dana Wharf was going to get my vote. But to be sure, I called down to the Seaforth office and asked how big were the yellowtail they were catching on the Half day boat. Much to my surprise he said over half of them were 20 lbs or bigger and they were losing a ton of them in the Kelp. Wow that's a real test with very little invested other then a 1.5 hour drive each way. One of my favorite expressions is, "if the Mountain won't come to Mohammad, Mohammad must go to the mountain." (By the way Mohammad was a real person) lol I'll take a little drive in my truck to avoid a 7 hour boat ride each way any day of the week.
On to the fishing, I've fished Yellowtails before on their Half day boats with excellent results. It's a nice big boat with a lot of tourists. The tourist are great down there, they spread out nicely and listen to the crew. (In other words they don't get in your way or cause you any grief when you hook up to a nice fish) We had 41 people on the boat with about 10 of them being real good sticks. You can tell their good sticks by their tackle. (Braided line with a short top shot) If you never fished there before, "IT"S ALL GOOD"!!!!! No numbers to worry about, so you get to fish which ever way the current is running. (No one is fighting you for the stern either) The bait dock is only a hundred yards away. (Have you ever been on a Long Beach boat and had to go an hour out of your way just to get bait) Not here!!!!! They had the receiver full of nice sardines for us and off we went. The other interesting part is, you are usual fishing within 20 minutes of leaving the harbor and it's a small harbor. Right on que we were anchored up within 15 minutes of leaving the harbor right off of University point.
It didn't take maybe 10 minutes and we hooked and landed our first yellow of the day. It was a pig!!!!!!! 25 lbs easy. I'm thinking I made the right decision. Now the trick was to get a sardine through the dogs. (Sea lions) As the boat started hooking and landing the Yellows nothing looked under 20 lbs. Now I finally got a sardine to swim away from the boat and it went deep. I'm thinking this is good but the sardine swam back to the boat but deep. Then I get a thump!!!!! I'm bit but he's not screaming away with the bait. I'm feeding him line and then he starts to swim away a little faster, I then stick the reel in gear and hammer the fish. He's hooked solid and screaming toward the bow and under the boat. (That's not a good thing) I feel him rubbing against the boat half way up. The captain is right next to me and say's he's rubbing against his transducer. He then pulls a trick I've never seen done before. He yells to his deckhand to get a 4 ounce torpedo weight and slides it down my line. He then grabs the rod and takes it up to the bow and say's it clear. Bitchen!!!!!!!! I then fight the fish and it comes right up to the surface out about 25 yards like a Dorado. I get a good look at him in the clear water and it's a nice one 25 lbs easy. I then have the advantage of being able to short stroke this fish because I hooked him on one of my heavier poles. A nice gaff job by the captain and I'm on the board. I know I'm getting a little too windy, so I'll shorten this up.
After a couple hours of sitting on the anchor we also caught some Bonita and Barracuda and some nice size Sand Bass and one BIG BLACK SEA BASS that was safely released. So the captain started looking around and guess what he found????? Some breezers of yellowtails, but these weren't the great big ones. I got one of the bigger models, around a 12 lbs fish and another one about 8 lbs. I don't know what the exact numbers of Yellows we had on the boat but it was at least 40!!!!!! With a dozen of them were those great big pigs!!! My final fish count was 3 Yellowtail, 2 Bonita and 1 legal Sand Bass. Not bad for just a Half day boat!!!!!!!
On to the fishing, I've fished Yellowtails before on their Half day boats with excellent results. It's a nice big boat with a lot of tourists. The tourist are great down there, they spread out nicely and listen to the crew. (In other words they don't get in your way or cause you any grief when you hook up to a nice fish) We had 41 people on the boat with about 10 of them being real good sticks. You can tell their good sticks by their tackle. (Braided line with a short top shot) If you never fished there before, "IT"S ALL GOOD"!!!!! No numbers to worry about, so you get to fish which ever way the current is running. (No one is fighting you for the stern either) The bait dock is only a hundred yards away. (Have you ever been on a Long Beach boat and had to go an hour out of your way just to get bait) Not here!!!!! They had the receiver full of nice sardines for us and off we went. The other interesting part is, you are usual fishing within 20 minutes of leaving the harbor and it's a small harbor. Right on que we were anchored up within 15 minutes of leaving the harbor right off of University point.
It didn't take maybe 10 minutes and we hooked and landed our first yellow of the day. It was a pig!!!!!!! 25 lbs easy. I'm thinking I made the right decision. Now the trick was to get a sardine through the dogs. (Sea lions) As the boat started hooking and landing the Yellows nothing looked under 20 lbs. Now I finally got a sardine to swim away from the boat and it went deep. I'm thinking this is good but the sardine swam back to the boat but deep. Then I get a thump!!!!! I'm bit but he's not screaming away with the bait. I'm feeding him line and then he starts to swim away a little faster, I then stick the reel in gear and hammer the fish. He's hooked solid and screaming toward the bow and under the boat. (That's not a good thing) I feel him rubbing against the boat half way up. The captain is right next to me and say's he's rubbing against his transducer. He then pulls a trick I've never seen done before. He yells to his deckhand to get a 4 ounce torpedo weight and slides it down my line. He then grabs the rod and takes it up to the bow and say's it clear. Bitchen!!!!!!!! I then fight the fish and it comes right up to the surface out about 25 yards like a Dorado. I get a good look at him in the clear water and it's a nice one 25 lbs easy. I then have the advantage of being able to short stroke this fish because I hooked him on one of my heavier poles. A nice gaff job by the captain and I'm on the board. I know I'm getting a little too windy, so I'll shorten this up.
After a couple hours of sitting on the anchor we also caught some Bonita and Barracuda and some nice size Sand Bass and one BIG BLACK SEA BASS that was safely released. So the captain started looking around and guess what he found????? Some breezers of yellowtails, but these weren't the great big ones. I got one of the bigger models, around a 12 lbs fish and another one about 8 lbs. I don't know what the exact numbers of Yellows we had on the boat but it was at least 40!!!!!! With a dozen of them were those great big pigs!!! My final fish count was 3 Yellowtail, 2 Bonita and 1 legal Sand Bass. Not bad for just a Half day boat!!!!!!!