Rpt-Sat-05-11-13 SCI Reds and Lings.

[Tunaslam]

I went fishing with Dave Robinson, on his 28’ Farallon “Hooked”, with friends Bob, Will and Bill. We left Dave’s slip in Newport Harbor at 5:00 am Saturday morning. Our destination was San Clemente Island, past the East End, Pyramid Point, and China Point.

The seas were very calm, as forecasted; the skies were overcast, with a clear visibility. We cruised to the Island at 23 knots. The Porpoise were out in force, many pods. We passed Kelp Paddy after Kelp Paddy, oh if it was only tuna season, with water temps at 64+ degrees. Dream on. We hit Pyramid Point at 7:45 am and as we were entering Pyramid Cove the seas were calm. As we approached China Point, the swells were building. There was little wind; however the big swells forced us to slow down to fewer than 15 knots. Off to the left was the T-Bird, and on the right, past China Point, was an anchored Independence?

We saw no signs of birds working, to indicate any presence of Yellowtail. Darn? We continued on along the backside to an area that usually holds big Reds.

Dave set us up on a waypoint that worked favorably on his last trip to the Island on Friday, 0503-13. We all dropped down, some of us fishing Jigs, and others fishing the Lucanus Lures. I was using my usual 8oz. Jax Jig with a Shrimp Fly tied 18 inches above the lure. I hit bottom, reeled in my slack, yo yoed a few times and wound up. I was bit on the wind up, with a good head shake, and some feisty moves on the way up. A nice Red:



Between the five of us we caught three Reds, and a few keeper Green Spots, and a bunch of small Bocaccio, which were released. Dave re-positioned us. We had similar results to our first drift, without the Reds, some decent sized Green Spots, more Bocaccio and no Reds. Dave knew of plenty more Red Hang outs, and proceeded to set us up on them. It took us a while before the real action began, and by mid-morning the Reds wanted to chew

I came up with a double:



Will caught a nice Red:



Reds all over the deck:



Most of the gang with Reds:



As usual the Bocaccio were thick as flies, with everyone catching a few and trying to release those that looked possibl, with some success. Here I am with another double and Will with another nice Red:



On Dave’s last trip they caught three Lingcod to 18 pounds. We had yet to catch a Lingcod today until Will got bit and the fish took drag, again and again, although he was fishing a light tackle rig. Up comes the first Ling of the day:




Then I got hammered on the Jax Jig and up came this Lingcod, as Bill shows off one of the many Green Spots caught:



I added one more double on the Reds for the day:



Will with another nice Red:



The wind remained grease calm until 2pm. Even then it only got up to about ten knots. We finished the day in the shallows trying for Whitefish and Sheephead, with a Calico Bass adding to the fun. I caught a barely legal Calico Bass, some Sheephead and a few Whitefish as did the rest of the gang. Here is Bob with a nice Johnny Bass:



The wind came up, the current started ripping, and it was time to call it a day at 3:00pm, so we headed home. We finished the day with 25 Reds, Two Lingcod, six kept Bocaccio, some bigger Green Spots and enough miscellaneous Rockfish to fill out our limits.

Thanks Dave, for another fantastic adventure. Hook up! Cory

[connordoyle]

Awesome post! Makes my days in the surf look rather boring.