etucker1959
09-30-2015, 09:10 PM
I think I've probably fished more this year on the sport fishing boats then I can remember in years past. So in doing so, I definitely have my favorite boats and skippers. There is 3 captains I've nicknamed the 3 Musketeers. Mitch on the Southern Cal, David on the Indian and John (Couch) on the Spitfire. They are all young and affable and very good friends with each other. The funny part is, "I've been able to fish with all of them as passengers on each other boats." I highly recommend fishing with any of them any chance you get. (I don't think you will be disappointed in the customer service department on any of their boats) I also think Andy on the Enterprise is fantastic, but he does get a questionable crowd sometimes that rides on his boat. I had the pleasure to fish with John on the Spitfire on Tuesday Sept 29 and David on the Indian Friday Sept 25.
Lets start with David on the Indian.
The Yellowtail counts at Catalina Island have been steady for quite some time. The two boats that have really put the hurt on them are the Sport King and the Pursuit. The down side to those 2 boats are big crowds and no bunks. The Indian usually gets a manageable crowd and a nice bunk to rest in all the way to Catalina. Fish counts be damned, "I'm here to have fun!!!" So the Indian to me is the only way to Fly. The galley seating is really nice too and Avy the galley girl not only serves up tasty food, she is also a sweetheart of a human being. No cranky cook on this boat!!!!!! David always does his best to get the best bait possible for his clients. On this trip he and his friends spent hours the night before snagging Mackerel to make sure we would have some when we needed it. In the mean time, there was all the frozen squid and chunk Mackerel you could shake a stick at. The plan was to start on the Grande size Yellowtail with the live Mackerel and then hit the small schoolie size ones with the squid. Then go back late in the afternoon for some more big Yellowtail. Good plan, how did it work out??????
We started on the big Yellowtail with the Mackerel and I swear I don't have any luck with them. (the reason why I don't is, "I don't have an edge") Let me explain that, in fishing with the Sardines I have the perfect rig. I have the right line and Floro leader and the right hook and I can pick a good bait. So I can usually double the boat count when we are fishing Sardines. With the Mackerel everyone is the same, heavy line and big hooks. I nose hook the Mackerel so they stay alive longer. I know the guy's butt hooking their baits get bit better but they burn the bait a lot faster that way. (so you might say I'm a team player) lol So in the first spot we hooked maybe 12 big Yellowtail and landed 7. I didn't get bit, at least I didn't think I did!!!! When then moved to Whale Rock where the schoolie Yellowtail and Bass live. To say it was wide open was an under statement. Every bait got bit by something!!!! I lucked in to a good method to get the larger schoolie Yellowtail to bite my offerings. I would flyline a whole squid with no weight at all. I ended up catching 4 Yellowtail and 3 nice Calico Bass by doing that method. That was a whole lot of fun and I released all my fish. No problem in doing that on this boat!!! My 3 biggest Yellowtail were 6-7 pounders almost keepers but not quite big enough. When then went back looking for the big Yellowtail and for the first time in a week they didn't bite in the afternoon. Oh well you can't win them all!!!! That bunk was really nice on the long boat ride home. It's nice to feel well rested when the boat hits the harbor. I thanked David and all the crew for a really nice time. No great shakes on the big Yellowtail just a whole lot of fun!!!!
On to the Spitfire!!!!
The Spitfire is owned and operated by Jeremy who is a quality human being. (He could be Andy's Brother, they even look a lot like each other) lol But John runs the boat on Sun, Tues and Friday and is on the deck 2 other days. They have axle cooking and the deck boss names escape me but he is a real kool guy. This trip is a fun one because you don't have to go that far to get into the fish. We were lucky today the bait boat made Sardines for us, so no Mackerel snagging was needed. They now have 3 options to where they can go fish the Yellowtail and we have the time to do 2 of them. The first option is the short banks only 6 miles away, they bit real good there over the weekend for all the boats. The problem was that crazy moon on Sunday jacked all the fish up there so they didn't bite there on Monday. Fortunately they have 2 other options to fish the Yellowtail if they don't want to cooperate at the short banks and they took full advantage of that Monday afternoon. So the plan was to start at the short banks and monitor what was happening at Rocky point. The short bank Yellowtail are all on the bottom, so it's either yo yo Iron or dropper loop fishing. I choose to use the yo yo Iron method, unfortunately I chose wrong. (thank god this wasn't an Indian Jones movie) if you choose wrong in those movies you die!!!!! lol All the fish we caught at the short banks came on the dropper loop method. (there is a lot of Yellowtail there they just didn't bite for us today) Now it was decision time, we could head to Rocky point where they hooked a whole bunch of Yellowtail yesterday. Or go to the BKR off of the Bou. (as in Malibu) 2 and a half men joke. Couch opted for the safer bet of the BKR (Big Kelp Reef) which is located about a 1 or 2 miles off of the old Paradise Cove pier if you know where that is????
I was hoping we might go there because I brought with me a secret weapon!!!!!! A fully rigged Marlin lure fished on my 6/0 reel, I was hoping to catch a big shark or even a Marlin on it since they hooked a couple of them there last week!!!! I didn't hook anything on it, but it sure made the 16 mile boat ride a whole lot more fun!!!!! I kept thinking come on and let the monster of the deep bite it!!!!!! lol Once we got to the BKR this was my kind of fishing!!!!!! Remember I've got that super secret Sardine rig and it didn't disappoint me today. I caught several nice big fat Calico Bass and a nice Barracuda and a Bonito I thought was a small Yellowtail. You might have also guessed it, I also caught a nice Slug Yellowtail on my famous Secret Sardine rig. It awful nice when the whole crew knows your name as I'm wrestling with that monster to get it aboard!!!!! (which I did) Needless to say I had a great time on this trip too!!!!! The Yellowtail are starting to bite again in the Horseshoe Kelp, so I guess I'll being seeing Andy or Mitch next week. Thanks again for ready my story's!!!
Lets start with David on the Indian.
The Yellowtail counts at Catalina Island have been steady for quite some time. The two boats that have really put the hurt on them are the Sport King and the Pursuit. The down side to those 2 boats are big crowds and no bunks. The Indian usually gets a manageable crowd and a nice bunk to rest in all the way to Catalina. Fish counts be damned, "I'm here to have fun!!!" So the Indian to me is the only way to Fly. The galley seating is really nice too and Avy the galley girl not only serves up tasty food, she is also a sweetheart of a human being. No cranky cook on this boat!!!!!! David always does his best to get the best bait possible for his clients. On this trip he and his friends spent hours the night before snagging Mackerel to make sure we would have some when we needed it. In the mean time, there was all the frozen squid and chunk Mackerel you could shake a stick at. The plan was to start on the Grande size Yellowtail with the live Mackerel and then hit the small schoolie size ones with the squid. Then go back late in the afternoon for some more big Yellowtail. Good plan, how did it work out??????
We started on the big Yellowtail with the Mackerel and I swear I don't have any luck with them. (the reason why I don't is, "I don't have an edge") Let me explain that, in fishing with the Sardines I have the perfect rig. I have the right line and Floro leader and the right hook and I can pick a good bait. So I can usually double the boat count when we are fishing Sardines. With the Mackerel everyone is the same, heavy line and big hooks. I nose hook the Mackerel so they stay alive longer. I know the guy's butt hooking their baits get bit better but they burn the bait a lot faster that way. (so you might say I'm a team player) lol So in the first spot we hooked maybe 12 big Yellowtail and landed 7. I didn't get bit, at least I didn't think I did!!!! When then moved to Whale Rock where the schoolie Yellowtail and Bass live. To say it was wide open was an under statement. Every bait got bit by something!!!! I lucked in to a good method to get the larger schoolie Yellowtail to bite my offerings. I would flyline a whole squid with no weight at all. I ended up catching 4 Yellowtail and 3 nice Calico Bass by doing that method. That was a whole lot of fun and I released all my fish. No problem in doing that on this boat!!! My 3 biggest Yellowtail were 6-7 pounders almost keepers but not quite big enough. When then went back looking for the big Yellowtail and for the first time in a week they didn't bite in the afternoon. Oh well you can't win them all!!!! That bunk was really nice on the long boat ride home. It's nice to feel well rested when the boat hits the harbor. I thanked David and all the crew for a really nice time. No great shakes on the big Yellowtail just a whole lot of fun!!!!
On to the Spitfire!!!!
The Spitfire is owned and operated by Jeremy who is a quality human being. (He could be Andy's Brother, they even look a lot like each other) lol But John runs the boat on Sun, Tues and Friday and is on the deck 2 other days. They have axle cooking and the deck boss names escape me but he is a real kool guy. This trip is a fun one because you don't have to go that far to get into the fish. We were lucky today the bait boat made Sardines for us, so no Mackerel snagging was needed. They now have 3 options to where they can go fish the Yellowtail and we have the time to do 2 of them. The first option is the short banks only 6 miles away, they bit real good there over the weekend for all the boats. The problem was that crazy moon on Sunday jacked all the fish up there so they didn't bite there on Monday. Fortunately they have 2 other options to fish the Yellowtail if they don't want to cooperate at the short banks and they took full advantage of that Monday afternoon. So the plan was to start at the short banks and monitor what was happening at Rocky point. The short bank Yellowtail are all on the bottom, so it's either yo yo Iron or dropper loop fishing. I choose to use the yo yo Iron method, unfortunately I chose wrong. (thank god this wasn't an Indian Jones movie) if you choose wrong in those movies you die!!!!! lol All the fish we caught at the short banks came on the dropper loop method. (there is a lot of Yellowtail there they just didn't bite for us today) Now it was decision time, we could head to Rocky point where they hooked a whole bunch of Yellowtail yesterday. Or go to the BKR off of the Bou. (as in Malibu) 2 and a half men joke. Couch opted for the safer bet of the BKR (Big Kelp Reef) which is located about a 1 or 2 miles off of the old Paradise Cove pier if you know where that is????
I was hoping we might go there because I brought with me a secret weapon!!!!!! A fully rigged Marlin lure fished on my 6/0 reel, I was hoping to catch a big shark or even a Marlin on it since they hooked a couple of them there last week!!!! I didn't hook anything on it, but it sure made the 16 mile boat ride a whole lot more fun!!!!! I kept thinking come on and let the monster of the deep bite it!!!!!! lol Once we got to the BKR this was my kind of fishing!!!!!! Remember I've got that super secret Sardine rig and it didn't disappoint me today. I caught several nice big fat Calico Bass and a nice Barracuda and a Bonito I thought was a small Yellowtail. You might have also guessed it, I also caught a nice Slug Yellowtail on my famous Secret Sardine rig. It awful nice when the whole crew knows your name as I'm wrestling with that monster to get it aboard!!!!! (which I did) Needless to say I had a great time on this trip too!!!!! The Yellowtail are starting to bite again in the Horseshoe Kelp, so I guess I'll being seeing Andy or Mitch next week. Thanks again for ready my story's!!!