Shock & Awe... S.W.A.T. Drops The Hammer in the South. Saturday 5/14/11
Had my plans all laid out for the Team on a Saturday assault in the local area, that is until I get a phone call from Robert (Murrieta Angler). This was our conversation...
Robert - "Arthur, are you fishing tomorrow...?"
Arthur - "Yeah, I'm hitting *********** at greylight..."
Robert - "No you're not, you're coming down here..."
Arthur - "Huh...???"
Robert - "I can't fish with you tomorrow, got plans with the wife, but trust me, you're going to want to come down here..."
Robert went on to describe an eye popping mission he had yesterday with a couple of special guests he took to the Southern surf zone. I'm sure the report will be up soon...
I love hearing things like... "The Flatties were flying out of the air..." and "We got multiple legals..." never fails to get my attention.
Wherever you find a heavy concentration of the enemy... you can be sure that S.W.A.T. will be in close proximity.
Around 9:00pm Friday night, I shot out a PM blast to the Crew that we were going to change the A.O. and whoever can join me can meet me at the drop zone at greylight. I invited a special guest on this mission. Sid Page (Sidified) has been a long time fellow Striper Slayer and just an all around nice guy. I thought that he would make an excellent addition to the S.W.A.T. Crew and wanted to give him a chance to show me what he was made of. After seeing him in action today, all I can say is, "Sid, welcome to the S.W.A.T. Brotherhood."John (Klocked) sent me a text confirmation that he will be meeting us at the drop zone bright & early.
The three of us have never fished this particular beach before. I had no idea what the lay out was, what type of terrain and structures, it is best to fish at low or high tide... All I had was the GPS coordinates which I typed into the navigation system of my car and off I went on a leap of "Faith." I was relying on Robert's intel, and the intel proved to be dead on solid. Good looking out Robert, that's what it's all about... the Brotherhood's got each other's back, always.
Mission data:
Date: Saturday, May 14th, 2011
Location: Classified - Code Name "Bad Karma"
Duration: 6:00am - 11:00am
Techniques: Throwing hard baits - Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 110SP (MJ Herring, Aurora Mackerel patterns) / Ito Vision 110 (Akahara Iwashi pattern) / Ito Vision Flap Slap 3/8 (Akahara Iwashi pattern).
Conditions: Moderate to heavy overcast with slight drizzle. Moderate on-shore wind, 2-3 ft swells, water clarity good, very little salad, water temperate in the low sixties. No baitfish presence. Fishing the incoming and partial back end receeding tide.
Fish count: Released unless otherwise indicated (K.I.A.)
Sidified = (4) Perch (1) Short Halibut (2) Legal Halibut 25" K.I.A., 28" PB
Klocked = (3) Perch (1) Short Halibut (2) Legal Halibut 23" K.I.A., 23"
Wingnut = (5) Perch (1) Yellow Fin Croaker (1) Legal White Sea Bass 29" / (2) Legal Halibut 24", 30" K.I.A.
The mission was a complete success. Six legal Flatties and a legal White Sea Bass in a 5 hour session is phenomenal.
My personal observations of a few things that may have contributed to the positive results.
1. Solid Intel.
2. Shift in barometric pressure from an incoming storm front.
3. Ideal surf/water condition.
4. Projected Grunion run in a few days.
5. I'm just so damn lucky... lol
Sid, you more than held your own today my friend.What I saw was grace under pressure. You remained calm and collected under heavy enemy fire. The thing that I admire most is how patient you were in working the sand. You were both methodical and thorough in your approach and worked every nook & cranny of the beach. Example; That last legal that you got was after John and I already worked that shallow trench. We blew right by it with a quick series of casts. You on the other hand, spent a good amount of time fan casting to every part of that trench and were rewarded with the 25" Hali to take home after releasing your PB. Welcome to the Brotherhood.
John, I'm glad that you were able to join us today. I've never seen you smile so much, ever! We had such a good time didn't we...? Running up and down the shoreline, laughing and giving high fives. You are indeed a O.D.S.T. Warrior (Ocean Drop Shock Trooper).
I won't post that ONE picture of you... I will hold it as future blackmail material.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody.
Arthur (Wingnut)
"If you're not willing to risk it all to get something that you want, then you don't want it bad enough."
I got to the battlefield pre-greylight and surveyed the area for a few minutes waiting for Sid & John to arrive. After gearing up and a quick briefing on the sand, we unleashed absolute fury on the enemy...
Sid reporting for active duty. First jump mission with S.W.A.T.
First catch of the day...
John was the first to nail a Flat one.
I put one on the board next.
Sid gets into the action with his personal best 28" Halibut. Released In keeping with the S.W.A.T.Code.
Then this guy decides to engage me... after a furious fire fight, guess who won...?
Ito Vision 110 Akahara Iwashi Sardine.
I'll squeeze a pic of this guy in here, not exactly sure when I caught it.
The next sequence of events was totally cool and hilarious at the same time. As I was working a deep trough side by side with John, I saw a legal Hali follow my lure, takes a swipe at it and miss right before I lifted the lure out of the water.
I turn to John and told him what had just happened. I said, "Watch John, I'm going to get this sucker..." I made at least 20 casts in the area trying to entice the Hali to come back and hit the lure again without success. Disappointed, I stepped aside a few yards and John stepped in and made a cast. What happened next...? You guessed it, the Flattie shot up and nail his LC. John and Sid couldn't stop laughing as I stood there shaking my head.
The Hali coughed up a 4 inch Perch. Unbelievable, the Perch barely fit in its mouth.These Flatties are absolutely voracious when they're on the chew.
Hmmmmmm, interesting... I thought to myself. I tied on a Ito Vision Flap Slap 3/8 plug that resembles a Perch and put it in action.
I was working this lure for about 10 minutes when it was greeted with a brutal strike, and I mean brutal. I had my rod tip at a 45 degrees angle, when the fish hit, the rod tip dipped violently into the water and just as fast popped right back up.
I jumped back and yelled, "OMG, I just got slammed! I can't believe that fish didn't stick!" I quickly flipped the lure back to the exact spot in the surf. John and Sid watched as I only took a few cranks on the reel handle when the fish came back and hammered the lure again... this time, MAJOR bendo!
What a fight on my #10 spinning set-up. The fish shot out of the intermediate trough that it had been in and headed straight out. A good ten minutes later I was able to work it slowly back through the sets and beached the beauty.
My first 30" Hali of the season.
Towards the end of the session, Sid get a hook up casting sideways into a trench... nice.
Some local kids getting a kick out of Sid's fish.
Sid, taking the bounty home to the wife.
Bonus pics.
Dig the reversed barbs on these Ito lures.
Death Dealers.
John, with a stolen ornament from Poseidon's Christmas Tree.
This place has got some insane looking troughs.
You would walk along in knee deep water, step off a ledge and be up to your neck. John & Sid saw me go in a couple of times.
A local angler Justin, nice to meet you bro, hope to see you here on FNN. Thanks for the local intel.
Justin was fighing a massive Shovelnose and it snapped his rod in half and broke him off.
Another local fishing for Corbina. Keipo, I hope I got your name right. Keep up the nice work out there buddy.
Recuperating at T.G.I.F.
Parting shots.
How's this for dinner... Roasted chestnuts, homemade onion rings, flame grilled Korean beef, fresh Halibut tacos and mango lemonade. Cheesecake ice cream for dessert.
I'm a lucky man.
My support staff at S.W.A.T. Central Command.
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Originally Posted by Nessie Hunter
