Rpt-Sun-12-15-13 Another fun day at San Clemente Island!
With Rockcod season facing a closure in January and February, it was time to go fishing Sunday-12-15-13 with Dave Robinson, on his 28’ Farallon “Hooked”, with friends Danny, Kevin and Jim. We left Dave’s slip in Newport Harbor at 4:45 am. Our plan was to try and make some live squid off Corona Del Mar, as we metered them good on Wednesday and the commercial boats have been catching them for several weeks. A no go for us, as we metered virtually nothing and had a few scattered squid come up under the lights?
So a little late in our game plan, we headed toward San Clemente Island, to the East end, and on to the backside. The seas were again extremely calm, making for a nice ride to the Island. It is always nice to start the day off with a cool sunrise:
We cruised to the Island at 25 knots arriving to the East end at 8:15 am and when passing Pyramid Head we faced no swells and little wind. Heading up the backside Dave found some good hard bottom with a bunch of fish marks, and so we began our first drift.
I began using my usual 8oz. Burnt Orange Jax Jig with a Shrimp Fly tied 18 inches above the lure. Everyone else was using Lucanus Lures, except Kevin who also used a Jax Jig. It was a very slow start, as few fish were caught. We caught some Bocaccio, and small Santa Maria’s. The next few drifts were more of the same. Looks like we are going to have to work for our fish on this trip?
We made a move and how quickly things can change. Dave has an uncanny ability to find the right spots. Almost everyone came up with Reds, then added some Coppers and more Santa Marias, all nice quality fish.
Here is Kevin with a nice Copper and a Red:
Captain Dave with a Gargantuan Red:
Danny with a nice Red and Jim hooked up in the back ground:
Dave continued to find some good spots working our way along the backside of the island. We caught a steady stream of Reds, Coppers and Santa Marias, with a few Bocaccio and other critters mixed in.
Here is Danny with a 3 spot Rockfish:
I came up with a nice double, a Santa Maria and a decent sized Red:
We caught some real nice Copper Rockfish, here is one of mine:
Here I am with another Copper and Danny with a Red:
We caught 33 Reds with Coppers and Santa Marias making up our limits kept. We released Chilies, not too many Bocaccios and some Bank Perch. After reaching limits by noon Dave ran into the shallows where we picked away at some Whitefish, a few short Lingcod and other bottom critters which were released.
At 1:45 pm it was time to call it a day. The ride home was reasonably calm, with a little breeze and swell some 5 miles off the island, returning to 1 foot seas most of te rest of the way. We cleaned fish a few miles outside the harbor and we docked at 5pm. Just for grins we metered the area outside the harbor for squid and sure enough they were back, darn? Some Christmas lights were on in the harbor, yet it was still a bit early and with too much daylight. As we pulled into Dave’s slip the sunset was spectacular:
Thanks Dave, for another great day of fishing on the big pond.
Hook up! Cory
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Originally Posted by DockRat
