3 Trips 2 Moo-moo, 1 Charter 05/22-23 w/pics
Still No Local Barracuda Showing
Hi there guys,
1) Tuesday’s Report
Went on another ½-day-trip on the Southern Cal, out of Pierpoint Landing to fish local waters i.e. PV shoreline both a little outside and inside in the kelp with 10 anglers. Yet again …..few moo-moo on weekdays on a regular basis. Lucky to have the SoCal. Collin was the skipper, while Ryan decked, and Myron did galley duties.
Note: Countdown 1: It will be only a little more than one week , now til early June when most landings will have entered their Summer schedules according to past years. Heck, your landing may have already started. A reminder!! The ¾-day boats usually start leaving at 6am and the ½-day boats leave at between 6am and 7am so make sure you inquire when you make a reservation!! Pierpoint is going into full Summer schedule Saturday June 2nd. See asides
Countdown 2: There a a number of old and new bait suppliers around ……. some just boats themselves others ………… having a barge/receiver. Should be a great Summer if all these boats/facilities are operable and supplying bait. Competition is good! Heh heh heh. In just about 14days …… as tentatively that’s the estimate made on April 6th, by someone with the San Pedro Bait Company, we should have a new bait-barge in town.
Target Fish:Bass, Rockfish, and Cuda
Short Report- Tuesday 05/22
10 guys caught 10 Scuplin, 42 Rockfish, and 1 Sand Bass. Average 5 fish a person. Also caught a short ling and a short WSB both of which were released unharmed. Fish tacos was about it ….still fishys just weren’t biting …….. much!! Again, we did ok for the day compared with the few ½-days that did go out. Check out 2 other ½-day boats fish counts!!
Two other ½-days Tuesday boats counts:
6 anglers- 1 Sand Bass 4 Whitefish 21 Rockfish 1 Sculpin
10 anglers- 42 Calico Bass, 4 Barracuda, and 9 Perch
(Please widen your view to fit monitor if word-wrap looks off)
05/22 Jackpot
Last Call ………………Winner!
Brown Rockfish Wins It
A Brown Rockfsh was the winner today. The near 2-lb fish was caught in less then 100 feet of water, using ….. Whole frozen Squid/ on a dropper rig fished at anchor. We had live Sardines again too …… but they were of no help!!
Long Report
LA Light Looks Fishy
The Days Fishing
Up the Line!
Grazing in the Pasture
PBers
PBer’s …………………...... ;.......... ;.......Second …………………...... ;.......... ;.. Third
Round-Up
3 Rounds
First Round
Round 1 Dropped the anchor before 11 am. First stop was to go in pretty close to the kelp line for some bass and other kelp residence. Fished in about 30 to 40 feet of water. Tried both live finbait and Squid with minimal results. Moved 11:20am
Setups were dropper loops, Carolina sliding-egg sinker, and good ol’ leadhead/whole Squid rigs. We used both cut Squid as well as whole.
Second Round
Round 2 Got to our new spot as we headed to a little deeper water at 130 feet. Fishing was easier although there was not much going on in the catching department! Made a number of moves, adjusting to this and that, but we could see that there wouldn’t any wide-open action in the bite so back down the line we went to try our luck off Point Fermin on both sand and structure.
We had hoped to hit some barries but no luck. Continued to use the BIG 3 types of rigs while I continued to use Plastics/No Squid strip or attractant. Current picked up a little. Moved 1:40pm
Third Round
Round 3 Again, we fished up closer to the beach and there was the usual sandy bottom but …….. also some structure. Felt like a rockpile of some sort as there were hangups on a regular basis ……. that’s the bottom …… not the anglers. Caught most of our fish in this area. We moved a number of times and caught a few fish at each stop. Current got stronger and the conditions worsened to where I was ready to go home. Gave it up a little past 3:00pm
Conditions: Please check out the graphics for the water conditions.
Skies were clear and sunny. Air temp stayed in the 50º~60ºs during the fishing day. Constant breeze made things feel cool then down-right cold for us old guys. Jackets felt good most of the day.
Gallery
Fish
Fish Tacos …………………...... ;.......... ;....Winner & Son ….........Di nes
Future Moo-moo ………………......&# 46;.........&# 46;..... Anchor Wear …………………...... ;...... Old School??
Diaper ……………………………... DFG Aboard ………........L azy Sealions!
Doubles
Let Them Know!
The photos above are just a sample of the fish and things of interest, at least to me, on this trip.Note: If you see a friend in the pictures, let them know they can copy the photo off the report.
Directions: Click the right button with the ‘cursor’ on the picture, then click on ‘save picture as’, next choose where they wish to copy the picture, and lastly click ‘save’. Later, they can edit and print the picture at their leisure with a simple photo-editing program.
Tweeking Plastics #29
Give me a couple of weeks.
Plastics
Skunked Again
My Buddy ……………………………...&# 46;.........&# 46;..... New Idea!
Tried Hard
Concentrated on 5 plastics colors from 3~6-inches and ¼~2 oz. Leadheads in red, yellow and green. No Squid for me. That’s cheating! Ha ha ha Green still hot color for leadheads …. especially for guys fishing leadhead/whole Squid combinations. No one else fished plastics….. Again ….. wonder why?
I’m getting pretty good atgetting swimbaits out of the kelp stringers…….. helps not to panic and let the angle of the line change to your advantage and pull slowly, allow slack, and pull again.
I just filed an “intent to patent� on the gadget I’m using to keep my swimbaits where I’m fishing!! Turns out it is really handy on a number of moo-moos that are built with similar rail configurations.
The Usual Colors
1st.... 2nd ..3rd ..4th ..5th ...6th
Tuesday Out There
Lunar …………………………………………&# 46;.......Wind Direction and Speed!
Tides …………………………………………&# 46;.........&# 46;.........&# 46;.........&# 46;...... Water Temps!
Tuesday’s Conditions
Fishing Grounds: Never got away from the nasty color of the red tide. Water clarity was 6 or 7 feet. Shallow or deeper ….. water temp stayed at 59 degrees.
Wild Creatures: Saw some Sealions. Cormorants, Pelicans, and Seagulls pretty much stayed away until it was time to clean fish.
Asides
Cuda Jigs!
Aside- Why
Barracuda Season= Iron ….. to many. Lots of anglers will be throwing iron for the Cuda .. er .. gar .. er ..slimesticks .. er .. stovepipes .. er .. barries .. er .. ah yes … Barracuda. Tossing iron on a moo-moo is something that one has to really pay attention to in any circumstance. To reduce potential problems (injuries) and make unhooking of a fish easier, safer, quicker (release), and yes even better for a fish you will need to (short-fish) or want to (one’s own limit) release ….. I suggest use of single barb hooks on your metal jigs or iron…… and replacement of trebles where applicable.
Another Aside Baiting Up. A number of bait operations are now swinging into action and will be working both the moo-moo and the PBer crowd locally and at Catalina. I remind fellow moo-moo anglers to be patient when your ride has to wait in line at the receiver or wait on a bait-boat to get to such-and-such agreed-upon location. The time one might initially consider ‘lost fishing time’ should be thought of as a necessary investment in a potentially more successful day of catching! To the newbie …… Get over it …….. the skipper is trying to hedge his bets for the patrons benefit!!
If you’re new to the PBer scene, be advised to get to the receiver asap …… preferably early ….. like ….. before the moo-moo stampede as ……… moo-moos will, at times, be given precedence over a PBer …….. no matter if the PBer got to the receiver first or not! This will commonly happen when the receiver is short on staff and the big boats are waiting! If you’ve got a VHF set, and know the receivers number give them a yell on route …. The big boys do!
Yet Another Aside
Twilight Time!
Landings- Presently On Summer Schedule
Although the boat/fish counts sometimes give you a hint, the best thing to do is to check with the landings by phone as …… their websites don’t always reflect the latest changes. Be aware that ages to qualify for discounts and applicable days of the week vary by landing! Fares change !!Disclaimer: Be sure to check the times, fares, and restrictions at the time you make your reservation.
Last Aside
Little House ………………………………… Trash Barrier!
Clean Marina
I passed this thing a zillion times but never connected it to a device used to keep the marina clean. After a big storm and conditions demand that all the trash be kept from entering Rainbow Harbor, someone jumps in that little house and uses it’s equipment to move and block intrusion of floating refuse to flood into the marina!!
Southern Cal
Nice Lettering (last touch)
Stern Numbers
Crew
Collin ……………....... .Deck-Ryan …………... Cook-Myron
End of the Day
Although it was a tough day …. That’s how it often is during the last few days until the Barracuda begin to show ……… the harbinger of the much-anticipated Sand Bass migration.
2) Wednesday’s Report
Catalina
[Font SIZE=2 COLOR="#94D6E7"]No [Font SIZE=3 COLOR="#63C6DE"]White Sea Bass [Font SIZE=4 COLOR="#31B5D6"]No [Font SIZE=5 COLOR="#00A5C6"]Yellowtail [Font SIZE=6 COLOR="#31B5D6"]Today
Went on a local ¾-day-moo-moo trip to the frontside, mid-island of Catalina. Wednesday 05/23.
Short Report- 05/23
Had between 15 and 20 anglers. Excluding Perch, the boat averaged around 4 fish per rod. The boat count included: a single Barracuda, three or four Sheephead, between 50 and 60 legal Calicos with about twice as many dinks (returned) and 50+ perch some of which were nice Opaleye! Just a few huge, fat Mackerel.
Boats other than the overnighters did ok with the Spitfire and the Sportking (both 3/4-day boats) managed 2~3 WSB apiece!
05/23 Jackpot
Last Call …………………....Winner!
Barracuda Wins
The 3 or 4-lb Barracuda (only one caught) was caught on the front side of Catalina. WTG on the jackpot Jim. On another subject, many thanks to deckie Bob …. who did his usual attentive job decking.
Fished Area!
Summary
Getting to Catalina about 10:30am, we preceded to fish the front side, mid-island. Not much change in the low-60 degree water and excellent water clarity. Current switched from down-hill-up-hill a couple of times with a little chop and wind at 5 to 15 mph much of the day. Swingtime at the end of the fishing day.
Many fished the bohunk Anchovies and some Sardines … live-lining while other fished the Squid …. either whole or strips. Lots of raked baits! I Caught fish on both plastic and one of the monster mackerel on a 1 1/2oz crippled minnow (hammered metal).
End of Another Day
Lots of anglers with different levels of experience fished a variety of methods. The boat tied up around 6:15.
3) 3rd Trip- Wednesday
18 White Sea Bass For 18 Lucky Anglers
The Crew
Skipper ……… Mike-Deck!
The Vessel
Tradition!
18 Croakers
The Tradition, running out of Pierpoint Landing, is a charter operation run by Jimmy Hon (owner/operator/skipper) whom some of you may know as having, at times, skippered just about every boat in the line there!! Besides the ones I don’t know … he often ran the Pierpoint and Premier, as well as fill in for the Southern Cal, and even Pierpoint’s present ¾-day boat!
First time for me to report on a trip that I didn’t take! Jimmy is an excellent skipper and talented angler and I just couldn’t let it go ……….. especially as ….. while waiting for another ride, I waved him bye-bye as he left at dark-30 yesterday morning! ha ha ha
Down and Dirty Report
Final Tally: 18 anglers caught 18 really nice-sized White Sea Bass, 1 Yellowtail, the usual 20 or 30 Calicos and a little this and that other species. No fish on iron or plastic with all caught on live squid. Dang ! …. I forgot to ask if they soaked the candy on dropper-loop rigs or were doing a little live-lining up close!!
Whatever …. Jimmy got his fishys on the backside of Santa Catalina Island. That’s about all I could pry out of him on location!! Don’t blame him!!
IMNSHO ….. It’s one thing to catch the ‘ghosts’ on a PB or 6-packs (not ragging on you guys mind you) where there’s an inherent advantage …. Advantage?! Stealth … no frickin’ generator(s) noise, smaller silhouette (both boat foot and topside), and ability to slip in closer to the beach, and or maneuver to pull a fish loose out of the kelp. Of course ….. some say …. when they bite they bite no matter what!
Anywho … the Tradition returned with some happy anglers around 5pm.
JapanRon
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