S.W.A.T. Youngins Launch a Major Offensive

[dlmoo312]

4/19/13

With the conditions looking a little rough, Ken(skunked4life), Thien(bloox8), and I decided to hit the LB area and then do some harbor fishing in Newport for some spotties. I was feeling optimistic and looking forward to putting some more points on the board. We arrive at the first AO at 5:30am and see Ken all ready to go in his new waders Down at the beach we make our first casts and Thien immediately hooks up and it's a halibut. Things are looking good! He gets it on the beach and it looks like it's going to be legal, but when we measure it, it ends up being 1/4" short... SO CLOSE! Oh well, we let him go and keep on fishing. After working the stretch of beach for a couple hours we end up with Ken managing to hook up to another short. This beach was starting to load up with fisherman, and it was time to move on to the harbor.

We get to Newport, and Ken says he can only fish for about an hour before he needs to go. We get started, casting small swimbaits along the docks, boats, and other various structure. After an hour of nothing, Ken says he has to go, and me and Thien continue on without him. We weren't having much luck, and right after Thien gets a good hit and miss, the harbor patrol comes in and kicks us out of our spot We decide to fish a couple more spots and head back to the car. On our way back I was able to beat the skunk with a dink spottie

We went to go grab some food before heading home, and we see the commander's text update from his morning session. A 27"wsb and a couple other nice fish... We were both pretty tired and going on no sleep, but that text was all the motivation we needed to decide to stop by that spot on our way up for the evening bite. We still had some time to kill so I decided to take Thien to a local fishing hole my friend had showed me. Last week I caught my PB largemouth there on a 6" huddleston, and I wanted to see if we could get into some more bass before we head up. We ended up with one small bass, but I did have another follower and it was huge

It was around 3:30pm now, and we started the hike down to the AO where Arthur had just caught his wsb in the morning. Right when we get there, we see nice semi-calm water with some sneaker waves and clear water. We fished hard, working the entire stretch of beach and rocks. We even almost got stranded on some rocks when the tide started to rise fast, but until 7:00pm we had only managed one sand bass We decided to start heading back, but when we reached the last stretch of beach, we saw that it was very calm and super fishy... As we started fan casting I got a nice hit and set the lc hard. It didn't put up too much of a fight, but when I got it on the shore it was a nice legal halibut at 28" We tooks some pics, sent him on his way, and continued to fish. This fish had us pumped up and right away, Thien's hooked up. It's a short so he tossed it back, and a few more casts and he's hooked up again! We get it on the beach and i'm sure its legal. We taped it out and just like the LB fish, it's barely short by 1/8"... (closed mouth to tip of tail). Thien can' believe it, but we let it go and continue on. I tell him that he's going to get his legal before we leave, and what do you know.. he hooks up again! As he brings it up on the sand, i'm thinking it looks legal, but I don't say anything in case I jinx it It ended up being legal at 23" We fished on, but that was to be our last fish. We felt great ending the day on a high note and knowing we put some points on the board. We could have potentially gotten 40 points if those shorts were stretched out a little, but our Rookie teammates took care of that the next day


Fish Count:
Thien: (3) short halibut; (1) legal 23" halibut(KIA) Ken: (1) short halibut Me: (1) spotted bay bass; (1) sand bass; (1) legal 28" halibut (released)


Small spottie on a crankbait I found on the ground


sandy off the rocks


28" legal


the "wingnut special" strikes again




the release..



barely short...



even closer...



legal!





swarm of flies they were congregated thick sitting on the rocks until disturbed...



PB lmb from last week


The "wingnut special." 2 broken hooks after the legal hali... I kept using this lure and got a couple of missed strikes.. should've switched it out


Thien's lucky charm, the candy sardine. He's been having no luck since he lost his original so he replaced it and look what happened


Time to rally the troops and go for the win Lets go Team Youngins!!



-Daniel

[blackwater]

Damn Arthur, stop passing on the intel to the Youngsters until AFTER the contest.
Not only that, you're giving them weapons of mass destruction with those LC's.
Stop playing double agent bro, the Old Fogy Stogies don't want to share our Commander this month.
With that said, great job going on the offensive team Rookies. Very impressive making up all those points in just one weekend.
Well done, it's now a new contest.

[PTN]

Sweet report Daniel. You guys put in some time and miles! Congrats on the catches to you and Thien. I didn't even hear about the barely shorts you guys caught. They really must be stacked up there.. Thanks for inspiring Danny and I to go out there . Way to get us back in the running.

Keep at it Ken, I have a feeling there's a big one in store for you soon..

Thien, tell Daniel to stop stealing your big fish . You had a potential 3 or 4 legal butt day. So close..

Thanks for the pictures and great read. Time to fish harder before the end of the month comes!! Rally the troops!

-Peter

[skunked4life]

Crazy boys...

When I got the text that you were going to poach ARthur's spot, I was extremely close to meeting up with you. BUt alas, I am God's servant first, father and husband second, and a fisherman last. Congrats on all of your beautiful fish!

Daniel-extra congrats to you for beating your NPH skunk! Feels great doesn't it? I dunno how Robert does it, but now you know first hand that there are spotties to be caught. Nice FW bass too! You gotta take me there real soon! Lastly, did you catch that Sandie on the SLEDGEHAMMER???

Thien- You did it brother! How many shorts before you pulled in the legal??? Amazing little run for an amazing little brother! BTW-I told you that the Fogy's would give you smack about that first one being short. Since Daniel is out of the picture for a few days, let's meet up and ninja attack the old farts this weekend! Arthur's been getting out there at like 3:30 in the morning or some crazy time like that. Better get up early.

[Wingnut]

Attention: This is an Emergency S.W.A.T. Directive!
Wingnut wants all his LC's back until after the competition!

You guys didn't even need to get there until around 7:00pm Daniel. Remember the text I sent you saying that I think it's going to be late evening bite there... right before dark?
Those alleyways between the kelp lines are where they're all stacked up. Make a precision cast and hang on.
I was trying to wade closer on the right side of the kelp line to make my cast deeper into the gauntlet when I tore up my shin and waders. No guts, no glory as they say...
Great job reacting quickly and capitalizing on the intel.

Daniel, stop stealing Thien's "Induction" fish!

Thien, I told you to fish solo until you get inducted, lol

Lieutenant Bones got himself a 21" Calico from the surf this morning... 5 more points!

As of today, Tuesday 5/21/13
Team Veterans - 90 Points
Team Rookies - 80 Points

[murrieta angler]

Nice fish guys, nice fish...
Some beautiful legal flatties, a spotty, a sandy and a LMB...I'M IMPRESSED!!
Keep it up Thien, you'll get that 26" flatty, sooner than later.
I'd invite you to fish with me, but you'll probably make me lose a legal flatty... JUST KIDDING DANIEL
Seriously, if I had time to drive up there, I would have fished that area also.
You guys put up some major points the past few days, I'll have to do something about that...

Take Care Guys,
Robert
<><

[bachiboy]

Geez, slow down! Damned kids! Us "old guys" are having a hard enough time staying ahead of the game without having to get texts about your fish while we're stuck at home with the families. Seriously, great job out there...and Daniel, what a nice guy. You actually let Thien catch a legal this time? Don't worry Thien, you'll have the last laugh when this is all said and done. Probably sooner than you think! Good luck out there...it's gonna be close!

Don

[Jesus805]

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the halibut die if the tail is red like that?

[PTN]

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the halibut die if the tail is red like that?

That's not tail rot... That's the fish in spawning mode.. it's "bedding". The tail fin is in perfect condition besides the fact that it is red.

[iLLest]

Daniel,

Now those are some beautiful catches right there. You've been on a complete tear lately, keep it up bro.
Hey, landing that spotie on a found lure is awesome, Ive actually found a LC at Pea Soup one time too, probably one of ours anyways, we ended up losing 10 one outing, lol! Keep it up, your keeping us youngins in the hunt.