Rpt-Mon.-05-30-16 1.5 day SCI Tails, Bass and Critters.
First time fishing with Craig and Morris on their recently purchased and refurbished 26’ diesel powered Skipjack, the “Jugular”. Several years ago I fished with them on their 24’ Skipjack “Boomer”, which they still own, and many moons ago I fished on Craig’s 24 Sea Ray “Sea Dancer”. I faintly remember some very good days White Seabass fishing at Catalina on the Dancer.
Craig has not been fishing much over the last few years and is hoping to spend more time on the water with their new boat. So Craig invited me to join them on a fishing adventure to San Clemente Island, leaving Sunday afternoon, 05-29-16 so that we could get to the island early and setup on the squid area to make bait. The boat is well equipped with squid catching lights, Crowder’s and nets.
I picked Craig up at his house in Westminster at 12:30 pm. We then headed over to Huntington Harbor where Morris slips the boat in front of his waterfront Condo, sweet! A dream I hope to achieve in retirement!
Spent a few hours prepping the boat for sea worthiness, loading all the gear, and off to the East End of the Island and on to Pyramid Cove. For insurance we stopped at Nachos and purchased a generous scoop of the candy bait! Still $60 a scoop. No worries or pressure now if we can’t make bait and get the squid to float.
Typical of the area just outside the harbor, we faced a 2 foot wind chop, with 15 to 20 knot winds, and consequently the ride over was a bit bumpy. Still the powerful 230 horsepower diesel allowed us to maintain 18 to 20 knot speeds without banging us up too badly and we arrived to the east end in 3 hours. At mid channel the winds backed off to 15 and the seas changed to a more favorable direction, allowing us to ride in the trough, much more pleasant of a ride.
The air temps were delightful, and I utilized Morris’s deck chair to enjoy the ride, as Craig took a quick snapshot of me being a happy camper.
Morris at the helm and locked loaded:
We arrived in Pyramid Cove at 6:45 pm, and observed the mighty fleet or festival of light boats anchored in the cove, along with 7 big seiners and a variety of private boaters. Ole boy it was going to be a busy night for all.
We stopped on some good meter marks in about 125 feet of water, appearing to be both squid and their nests. We were sandwiched in between several light boats, however, with a comfortable distance between us, as we dropped the anchor.
Morris almost immediately fired up the kitchen and prepared dinner consisting of Hamburger, diced onions, salsa, served with sides of creamed corn and kidney beans. As he did so, I sipped on a cold brew, Blue Moon.
It got dark real quick and everywhere you looked the lights were up and running. We set out our lights and only found a few scattered skittish squid running through the lights and no float appeared emanate? We didn’t see any of the light boats with obvious floats either, although the seiners moved in to scoop up the masses of squid staying deep. Craig jigged up a few squid, however, given we had plenty of ammunition it was time to hit the sack. Our lights were turned off and soon we were all passed out. Craig had wished he had brought ear plugs, as the noise around us was disparaging, although I had no trouble sleeping through it all. The bunk was comfortable.
Monday morning, 05-30-16.
I woke up just before grey light at 5:00am, I baited up several outfits and I poured myself some coffee out of the thermos I had brought aboard. Morris was up a few minutes later and so was Craig. I then began fishing with a sliding sinker outfit with 50 pound test line and a 2oz sliding sinker. My rod holder was a 40 pound dropper loop setup. There were now a number of sport boats in the area, having join the party in the wee hours.
A stick boat came within 50 feet of us and dropped anchor, I thought to myself a bit close and then they proceeded to get immediately hooked up on twin Tails. We watched them gaff about a 15 pounder and one looking over 20 pounds. Several other boats around us also had hookups. We patiently waited about 20 minutes for nary a bite. Craig felt that all those hooked up were in slightly deeper water and it may be our problem, there was a quick drop off in depths nearby.
We pulled anchor and reset in 140 feet, just behind the stick boat, and watched as they landed another nice Yellowtail. For the next hour we saw virtually nothing happen. It was like the fish got up, did a quick run through and moved on? We watched the Pacific Quest, Ultra, Fortune, Oceanside 95, and the Thunderbird all make moves, both east and west. Since the Thunderbird has been the hot ticket all year, we elected to head their direction, west.
We had a few issues with the batteries, and while Craig and Morris determined a solution I drove the boat toward China Point. We metered some good stuff near a kelp bed and made a few drifts for nothing but a few short bites. We kept the engine running to re-charge the depleted batteries. We continued down the backside. Looked like the Thunderbird was heading to Lost Point. We made a few more drifts in 130’ water over hard bottom, with numerous stones. A few small bites and a released short Calico Bass.
Continued down the line and as we approached the Thunderbird they were pulling anchor and heading further west. We looked around and didn’t see anything promising. I suggested we stop near Seal Cove, where I knew of some good Sheephead and Whitefish spots. Sure enough, as I switched to a lighter outfit with two whitefish hooks and a four oz. sinker, I was bit immediately. And pulled in a just legal Calico Bass, released, one of some 50 released during the day.
On my next drop I caught a small female Sheephead, also released. Then I caught a bigger Sheephead and a few nice Whitefish. Craig was also whacking the Sheephead and Calico Bass on a lead head and squid, as well as a green/yellow jig with a live squid pinned on it.
A big Whitefish:
Craig was catching some nice Goats on the iron no less:
My biggest Goat of the day:
Morris remained at the helm as we drifted near some boiler rocks, and kept us out of danger. It was fun fishing for about an hour, when we decided we might be missing out on a good Yellowtail bite and should go find them. About two miles away the Thunderbird was anchored up and we slid in beside them keeping a distance of several hundred yards and dropped anchor. There was lots of whooping and hollering and we watched repeatedly as fish were gaffed and witnessed boils just out of our range.
We had anchored in hard bottom with some good marks close to the bottom. On our first couple drops Craig and I landed some nice Reds. Morris threw a surface jig for a while and also Yo yoed an iron. Both Craig and I used small sliding sinker outfits to soak squid, hoping for a bite. We did catch some very nice Calico Bass. Our dropper loops also got bit periodically and we caught more Reds and assorted other bottom fish, but no Tails.
Craig with Reds:
Me too:
Not a bad start to the day:
After several hours watching the Thunderbird catch numerous Tails, we elected to do some slow trolling of live squid to no avail. We anchored up on the other side of them closer to the kelp beds. The Calico Bass went on a serious chew, and we released numerous quality fish to five+ pounds, many in full spawning colors:
For whatever reason the Thunderbird pulled the hook and left. They were not yet headed home as they first went east and then returned west, I guess looking for more productive areas holding fish?
Anyhow we moved into their honey hole and on my first cast with my 25 pound outfit I was hammered:
Wow a big fish, heading out to sea fortunately, I think I’m bent? :
Wow this Tail was headed to the high country, must have peeled off 150 yards of line on its initial run. Oh boy, trouble, it found some structure and I thought I was history? No it felt like kelp and I worked the fish out slowly. Darn smart fish kept finding more kelp stringers to hang out in, but I continued to play the big Tail with care and gained on him. Got it to deep color, but it wasn’t done yet, and took another run. Worked him back up, and almost into gaffing range and wanted no part of the boat and down he went again. They say patience is a virtue, whew I’m working up a healthy sweat! Finally I guided him within range of the gaff and Craig sinks it in, a beast.
Estimated 27+ pounder:
Craig also gets bit and holds on for dear life as the fish swims to freedom, rocking him! Then Morris is bit and releases a 4 pounder. The Calico Bass interfere with our primary target and chew everything in the water, however, the Tails hang around and every now and then suck down a fresh live squid. Craig hooks another nice fish and fights it to the boat, then gets tangled in my line, as we work out the tangle it dives under the boat and wraps the out drive, bye bye! Bummer Craig.
I put on a fresh squid and barely hit the water when my line starts screaming off the reel, fresh one! Another big Tail and heads out to sea instead of into the kelp the other direction, strange, but I am happy for its choice. Again a long run of over 100 hundred yards, then it pulls a kamikaze and returns to the boat. I reel like hell and finally catch up to it. Thanks that saved me some hard pulling, so it settled down into a nice deep circle. As I bring it to color, it quickly raises to the surface and the head comes out of the water as I adjust to the pull. Didn’t like that one bit and dove deep. Back to color and as soon as it gets anywhere close to the boat, dive, dive! The third time was the charm and Craig sinks the gaff into another nice Tail in the 24 pound range.
My two beasts:
Morris is hammered and fines himself in a good battle. The big Tail moves from stern to stern and then down and back again. A great fight and up comes a solid 20 pound Tail.
Here is where picture taking can get misleading, Morris fish in the foreground looks larger than my two that are certainly bigger?
Craig washing down the swim step:
Our fish hold looking good, ice keeps sensational:
We fished for another hour or so and it was after 3pm, with a long ride ahead of us and plenty of fish to clean and a bloody boat too! Went around the west end and on toward the east end of Catalina.
As we rounded the east end of Catalina the winds started howling and the swells kicked in. It was a rough ride home to the harbor. We arrived at 6:30 pm and began cleaning fish. That done, we got to the slip and finished up on the boat. Dropped Craig off and arrived in Diamond Bar pleasantly exhausted at 9:45 pm.
My wife showing me what I missed for dinner:
At least there were some leftovers.
Thanks so much for the invite Craig and Morris, had a blast, the new boat is the bomb, can’t wait for another adventure together.
Hook up! Cory
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Originally Posted by TUNAVIC
