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Thread: Fun Family charter on the Helena (Calico Bass)

  1. #1

    Default Fun Family charter on the Helena (Calico Bass)

    I haven't been on one of these kind of trips in years. It was a family and friends charter fishing for Calico Bass out of Dana Wharf. (with a lot of newbies) The older I get it's getting harder and harder to kill any fish that didn't deserve it! lol (Calico Bass don't deserve it) So this was an C&R trip for me. So no Jackpot (it did look like taking candy away from baby's) and no fish cleaning unless it was an #20 Yellowtail! Besides I want to be invited back on another trip and taking the Jackpot money away from a Raider fan is not good way to get invited back! lol.

    Our first stop was a kelp bed right off of Dolly Parton, I mean the power plant off of San Onofre. lol Today Calico Bass fishing means you catch 7-10 shorts for every legal Bass, but since I wasn't keeping them any way it was all good. I sized down my tackle to make it real fun. I used my freshwater Curado reel and #12 test line and a very flexible rod. Fun Fun Fun! It was a bit on almost every cast, so the action was non stop! I would occasionally get a keeper Bass, but it didn't matter since they were all going back anyway. I noticed a Sand Bass or two were being caught on the bottom. So after landing about 10 Calico Bass I rigged up a dropper loop trying for some Sand Bass. They were there too, which to me was quite amazing! Calico's in the stern in the Kelp Beds and Sand Bass in the middle of the boat on the bottom. I ended up catching 6 Sand Bass and a bunch of pencil Barracuda.

    We tried 2 more spots and had about the same action on the Calico Bass, but no more Sand Bass. We had for bait 4 inch sardines which were perfect for this kind of fishing. We did have a couple of scoops of very large Sardines if any exotics shod up. I did see 1 #15 Yellowtail follow up a live sardine in the last spot. At the end of the day the Captain said, "use up the big baits" the bigger Bass will bite them. So I grabbed my #20 stick and threw on one of the jumbo Sardines. Sure enough I got bit right as we were leaving on a bigger Calico Bass. Up until that point one of the more vocal passengers kept telling my buddy Lugie, "it's you or me for the Jackpot!" That stinking Calico wrapped me up in the Kelp real good! But this wasn't my first Rodeo! I flipped the reel out of gear letting the Calico Bass think he's Free!! Sure enough he swam out of the Kelp and I landed him. He was the biggest fish of the day!! I paraded him around the boat just to make sure every got a chance to see him before I threw him back!!! I heard Wow he threw that fish back from a few people. Hey, I'm trying to make sure I get invited back!! lol

    They weren't all shorts even though most of them were. 3 people tagged a limit, I might have had one I don't really know. But it's a nice boat and a very friendly crew! Good times for everyone!!!
    Last edited by etucker1959; 07-13-2018 at 12:39 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Redlands
    Posts
    190

    Default

    Sounds like a great time! Thanks for the report.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Whittier
    Posts
    2,455

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    Sounds like a good trip with taught lines all day,can’t beat that! I dig your buddies name “Lugie”or is it supposed to be Luigi? Lol

    Cya Tuna Vic

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Menifee
    Posts
    283

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    Was it a half day or 3/4, great report
    Last edited by sodapop; 07-14-2018 at 11:53 AM.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by ichthus View Post
    Sounds like a great time! Thanks for the report.
    Thanks for reading and responding.

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by sodapop View Post
    Was it a half day or 3/4
    It was an 3/4 day trip. During the week the "Price is right!" We had no more then 20 people on the boat and it wasn't crowded at all. When I asked for the price per angler, I had to ask twice because it sounded too cheap. $60 per person for an 3/4 day limited load to me is a very good price. (plus they were a lot nicer crew then you would get on an open party trip) Here's the best part I didn't even mention in my report. We swung on the outside a bit while we were cruising South to the Kelp beds. We were trolling for tuna and looking for paddy's that were holding Yellowtail and Dorado on the way. (we didn't connect) But it's just a matter of time before they will be scoring on those game fish. The water is blue and 72 degrees with a lot of bait in it. We did see hundreds of common dolphin on our trip South, with some baby's dolphins just born. They were the size of a football. (too cute)
    Last edited by etucker1959; 07-14-2018 at 11:57 AM.

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TUNAVIC View Post
    Sounds like a good trip with taught lines all day,can’t beat that! I dig your buddies name “Lugie”or is it supposed to be Luigi? Lol

    Cya Tuna Vic
    You're right! However, he's Hispanic with an Italian name. There is a story there I won't get into. lol

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Menifee
    Posts
    283

    Default

    Yes I bought 10 half day trips for 10 a piece, and
    Also got 4 3/4 day trips for 25

  9. #9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by sodapop View Post
    Yes I bought 10 half day trips for 10 a piece, and
    Also got 4 3/4 day trips for 25
    That's a deal!

  10. #10

    Default

    Great report Etucker.

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