BAKO BOYS AND DOUBLEOCEAN..... 5 personal bests... Heck of a Summer
Don't think FNN knows but MikesOcean got a brand new sled. 20 ft Key West with a 150 4 stroke on the back. A real dream come true.. We are all real happy for the guy. I mean we are in the mist of an epic El Nino and the guy goes all in and makes sure he is not going to miss this years historic bite. YOLO right?
MO got this boat 1 week ago and has been looking for 2 mos.. He finally found it in San Diego and from then on it was "we can't wait to fish together on it"
Plans were made, dates set, the 4 of us that are still tight and loyal to eachother decided Friday was the day to slay! Scott and I left Bakersfield at 3 am. Picked up AA at 4 am. Met MO in San Pedro at 5 am sharp! We hit the water and headed to Catalina. Mikes Boat handled 4 like a champ. We cruised over to Avalon and hit a few patties for zilch.
I've got to give it to our capt. He knew exactly where to go, we picked up some squid from the Long beach Carnage and quickly went to the west side of the island. We arrived to the fleet to see 3 guys on bendo. As TB and AA fiddled with the anchor, I snaked to the back and pinned on a squid. Just as those guys set the anchor I felt TAP TAP and slack... reeled in the slack and HOOOOOOOOOK UP.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!! DRag PEela!!!!!....
Now keep in mind that while I have fished the salt a bunch, all of it has been in norcal. There are no Jello's up here. Consider it a bucket list thing but I wanted to land JUST 1!.. BACK TO THE FIGHT!!!!! I get it in 3/4 of the way pretty easy, then it peels drag... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZ... OH NO? bigger than I thought? Just then I hear TB yell.... I busted off on a big one on the hook set.. two yellowtail bites in 4 mins... I was somehow able to survive the tension on my rod and the drags on my Diawa Sealine didn't melt and was able to get my fish to color.... I yelled at those Jerk O's to grab the gaff... MO comes to the rail and laughs.. He tells me to sling it. I told him to stick it, I wasn't about to loose my fish because some JO with years of experience suggests I risk all my 38 years of dreaming to TUNA sling a yellowtail.
MO can hear the excitement in my voice and knew how bad I had a yellowtail on my list of angling career check offs....So he stabs with the gaff and aboard comes the fatest, longest, and healthiest 5 lb rat yellowtail ever landed
I know you hardcor yellowtail guys look down on me for killing such a small YELLOW, but I got to apologize. I've been dreaming of yellowtail since I was a kid watching Inside Sportfishing with Dan Hernandez. Indulge me please?
Wasn't too long and MO hooks up!! DUDE has the nerves of a VET... I'm watching the line as he free spools the bite and I'm like set the hook! He waits and drives the Torium 16 into gear and HOOOOOOOOOk UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ............ ... Drag Peeela!
He works the fish uneventfully {unlike my rookie butt} and pretty soon its to color. Since I had a Yellow on board I reel in and grab while TB and AA fish on... We get it onboard and ends up being the big Yellow of the trip.
Now we've been on anchor for 30 mins and had 3 bites.. GREAAT CAPT'! Then Trailblazer and MO both get bit... weird bites.... TB says he thinks his is a halibut as the fish runs sideways, I'm watching his rod tip as he reels in slacks and drives the hook.. HOOOOOOK UP!!!!! no ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! though, fish comes to the boat pretty easy. Again I grab the gaff as we see color and sure enough its a halibut.. Nice one too! Looks 15 to us. TB gets it to the surface uneventful like also and I gaff and get it onboard. AWESOME Fish and if you ask me I would rather have caught it than any yellow.
Now the fun begins.....
I'm trying to get a good pic onboard with a fresh caught fish, blood all over because we know how HALI"s go bezerk... {MO doesn't have a club on the new boat yet}...... Blood moisture on my phone and its not working,, I ask TB time and time again to pose with the fish. PHONE not working..... I ask him to gill it and show the whiteside, he lays it down and as his hands run over the halibuts head to flip it over it lunges and totally bites his hands on purpose, You all know the teeth on halibut..... He is now screaming for us to get it off him and he uses his other hand to try to pry its jaws open.
What does the Halibut do next? BITES HIS OTHER HAND!!!!!! that SOB now has both of TB's hands in his mouth with a total of 5 fingers. 3 on one hand and 2 the other. The entire fleet is turning their heads as to the ruckus going on the boat. TB screaming, "get him off me, get him off me"....... Somehow TB was able to get his hands free. {Only because the Halibut let go :Cool:}...... We find the entire bow covered in blood from both TB and the Halibut...
What a trooper TB is, kept on fishing and not whine came from his mouth...
Here is one hand this morning
We laughed and laughed all day!
After 15 mins or so the bleeding stopped and now the focus was on AA hooking up. I can't lie and say there wasn't a tension on the boat to get him bit, we all would have given him our rods if we got bit, but just as things were looking slow AA attention was had. We all noticed he had focused intently on his reel. He kept quiet and then whispered, I'm getting run on...... He then flips it into gear and HOOOOOK UP!!!!!!!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!. AA works the Yellowtail left, AA works the yellowtail right. Not long after the fish is color. Scott gaffs the fish and now 3 personal bests have been accomplished. Mine and AA yellows and TB's Halibut. I have a video of AA fish but I'm ashamed of the language on it and wont post it. I'm sorry but its not for FNN.
We go an hour or so with no bites and watch the fleet break one by one for other waters. Our crew decide it was time for a move, then three or four. We were all satisfied with a fish a piece and really who couldn't ask for more than that. A success in anyones book. We decide to hit the 150 for a monster tail or two. We hit patty after patty hoping one would hold some fish, but everyone was hit already by the boats that headed to Catalina in the AM. We did get on a boil on a patty that ended up being bonito that TB and I caught. Two more personal bests
We get to the 150 and who in the world do we see?
Ron, aka fishinone.... he had a nice Barracuda and informed us the 150 had been quiet all day. He was nice enough to take this pic of Mikes boat for us. Here we are with our fish
Look at that nice rig MO got.... He had named it the THERAPIST, but in my twisted mind I kept reading it on texts as THE RAPIST.... I shared my observations with TB and AA that I loved MO's choice and pointed out THE RAPIST spin and from this point on we refer to the boat as THE RAPIST. Though as far as women and children go it is the THERAPIST.
Sorry RON, Brian and I had tried to Hail you all day but we had forgot to raise the radio antenna until we saw you on the 150. Even at that we weren't sold on the radio working right. Mike has a pic of your slim stick and sure he will post it. GOod seeing you out there.
Now its 1 pm and we are concerned of the weather. Winds starts to howl, seas begin to chop. So we head back to San Pedro. Doesn't take long and we are all wet from spray. Mikes boat will go up to 35 mph and all we could do was 13 mph without slamming the boat hard on the chop. I had brought some Tyvek suits for emergency rain gear for MO's boat. Boy did we need it! We joked because we looked like we were making meth out on the high seas.
That's my homeboys right there... through thick and thin... No egos allowed!
Short vid of ride back
https://youtu.be/WQP-qBYRLso
So we get back to port, fuel up, wash the boat, clean the fish, take a few pics and absorbed the day we shared together. Great times.......
Here are some pics we took on land, some serious, some funny.
my rat I made MO gaff,....... but seeing some of the "DD's" being reported of late I think this would easily make today's deflated DD qualifications
TB and his Halibut
TB and MO cleaned the boat as AA and I cleaned the fish. Hence this pick of me with the fish
And whats a BAKO BOY report without a tailgate shot?
You salt guys are hardcor, I mean this is a lot of work! Somewhere in the morning my shorts ripped and as the day progressed they tore more, eventually looking totally dishelved. Mix in some blood from the halibut flopping and TB finger spraying, this perfectly describes our day
I want to thank Trailblazer and Double AA for being great fishing buddies and a special thank you to MikesOCean for the drive to land my first yellowtail and last months yellowtail for my son.
Thanks fellas, I'm proud to know you guys.
Happy Independence day Americans
