Rpt-Sat-01-19-13 Dana Point Bass'n!

[Tunaslam]

I went fishing for the first time Sat. 1-19-13, with Brett on his 19’ CC Pacifica, with his friend Jason. We launched out of Dana Point at 7:30 am, our beginning destination being the structure and stones that have been holding a fair amount of Sand and Calico Bass.

The weather was pleasant with a slight 8 knot breeze that quickly disintegrated into grease conditions. With 52 degree water, with no current and lousy tides, the expectations could not be too thrilling. All of us being diehard fishermen, we gave it our best effort.

Brett set us up on a variety of hard bottom areas and decent sized stones. We picked at a Bass here and there, a few Sand Bass, some Rockfish and Sculpin, then a Calico Bass or two. Jason was the hot ticket on Lizard Fish; I found the Mackerel loved the plastics tipped with squid strips. Both Brett and I think Jason caught another Lizard fish and on the way in got hammered by a huge Halibut, which unfortunately came unbuttoned after some violent head shakes, stripping drag, and a huge bend in the rod, darn, could of made our day.

Brett fished a number of areas and we made several Halibut drifts over sandy bottoms and mixed hard bottom. I managed to catch this stray Sand Bass on a Halibut drift:





Jason with a good sized Sculpin:



Jason also caught the biggest Calico Bass:



Brett put in the time and effort; the fish just didn’t want to play for the most part. The weather and company was fun; the whale watching was great, as were the porpoise shows and other seas life.

I enjoyed Brett’s fish stories from New York where he lived before coming to California three years ago. Catching 400 pound Bluefin Tuna, 150 pound Yellowfin and Big Eye Tuna, Swordfish and lots of Striped Bass sounded like a blast. Wish I could of shared some of those rails with him?

I am hopeful we will share a rail together again soon, and put some serious blood on the boat together! Nice meeting you Jason, next time you’ll slay that big Butt!

Thanks a bunch for the invite Brett, still had a good time, despite the slow fishing. We’ll slam them next time.
Hook up! Cory

[DockRat]

Some nice weather out on that lake yesterday.
Too bad he lost the Halibut sounds big ?
52 degree water, brrrrrr.
Thnx for the report.
DR