Topics

1

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Loma Hoo!

« on: October 26, 2015, 02:19:54 PM »

Well, seeing all these wahoo reports have been killing me!    I've been snipped off by them last year and with all the local reports I wanted to try to get one in our local waters before this crazy season ends.  After seeing Mr. Thomas (Tombo808) get one, I gave him a text if he needed a guy for Monday. He said they wouldn't be going Monday but Sunday was a go and one of their guys bailed on them so...  I met him at the docks at 5:00 AM Sunday morning. (thank you PAPA!!!  Also a HUGE thanks to Mr. Thomas for giving me the chance to go!)   As we got to the 28' Boston Whaler, we met Mr. Rodney and Mr. Bob at the slip.  We skipped bait as we'd going wahoo or bust and if Everingham Bros even had bait, it'd be 2-4" chovie.  We hauled @zz in that boat down to the south 9 making a left near to border and troll up the line where Mr. Thomas got his hoo Friday.  The whole fleet was out trolling the 9 and here we were trolling inside the 3 mile line  .  Conditions were prime with an Overcast greylight and amazing sunrise (of course we were all antsy and only Mr. Thomas took a pic).  On our first pass we saw many paddies and some bird life.  Back in the spread we had out a the Mean Green Joe marlin jig that caught Friday's hoo, a Purple and black Marlin jig, Purple&Black marauder, orange marauder, and a orange&red marlin jig.  As we came almost in front of Point Loma we crashing into a small paddy destroying it.  The marauder and another rod picked up some kelp so Mr. Thomas and I wound them in as Mr. Rodney was eating his gourmet yogurt in the cabin and Mr. Bob kept us going looking ahead to not hit anything. Suddenly the Lucky Mean Green Joe starts to scream! We all think dang bull kelp as the 10 year old mono has the rubbing sound of a yellow Kelping you.  Them as we stop it keeps going! Faster and Faster! Buzzing off line back to the border! Mr. Thomas asks, "Nicky is that a fish?" as I was standing next to the rod when it happened so I took 10 Hard winds on it and as I put my hands of the blank the bull kelp violently shook.  I didn't want to take the rod as I didn't want to lose whatever powerful fish ate the foot long jig, but Mr. Thomas insisted I did.  As I wound like a maniac on the fish Mr. Rodney casually walks out of the cabin and says "are we hooked up?" Mr. Thomas-"ummm I think so"  "holy crap why didn't you guys tell me we were on!!!" HAHA!  As I wound the heavy fish in I just prayed on every next heavy headshake it wouldn't pop off.  Eventually it drew close and we saw some tail kicks in the dark prop wash behind the boat.  We still couldn't see the fish in the dark,  greylight water.  Then we saw a teeny flash. Mr. Rodney says was that a Bonito? LOL Then The color comes and the long, skinny, barred flash came.  We all watched in awe as this magnificent fish thrashed in our home waters.  Finally I get it to gaff and it keeps swimming just outside gaff distance.  I step back and tell Mr. Thomas "MEATSHOT IT!!!" haha and on comes the weird mackerel 2.5 miles outside of Point Loma on our GPS.  WAAAHOOOOOOO!  (Sorry if it's a bit pic heavy)





Oh my.







Yewwww!












SO stoked with this fish!  Just seeing one in our local waters is just insane!

Afterwards we all wondered later why we didn't box the area but the boat that saw us came in trolled and within minutes after us caught a wahoo in the same zone. We trolled and trolled for another slam on the marauder which sent it flying (a;so in the same zone) but that was it for the day. 



The wahoo that hit this may have not taken a ton of paint off but on both sides looked like if someone took a screwdiver and beat the lure.  The teeth marks were DEEP!!!

We called it a day a bit early to clean the boat, get Mr. Rodney home early for his work function, and anyways our morning window was over. We traveled 88 miles trolled 4 laps up and down and worked the whole 9 mile bank.





Got to cleaning at home and my 1/4 of the Wahoo was 2 of these chunks! That's a 9" blade and 15" knife in overall length.



I can't thank Mr. Thomas enough for giving me the opportunity to fish offshore with him this year and my dad for driving me at weird times as well as drive him nuts!

Thanks for reading!

Nicky

2

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Aztec Overnighter 8/27-8/28/15

« on: August 29, 2015, 10:24:40 PM »

Woooooo what a trip!  I didn't think I'd be doing anymore offshore fishing until October but when SOMEONE poked at my Papa and with the anticipation of offshore time for him he gave in.        Yes I know High school just started but my Fridays aren't too crazy.  Believe me I wasn't going to go for the better benefit and I thought I wasn't going until after all the spots sold out 2 weeks earlier...    My Papa however played a joke on me until a few days prior to the trip he goes, "why aren't you packed?" "Whuuuuuat?" "You're packing my gear right?" "I can let me know what you need" "Come on really!!! I booked your ticket!"      "you're such a dummy"      I love my dad. OK to the trip


       Got everything squared away picked up some stuff at Seaforth 2 hours early, then met up and chit-cahtted with the crew.  The open party "charter master" Mr. Reid (islandboy), Mr. Tyler (T16Mog), Mr. Ed (Relentless), my awesome Papa, and me.  We left the dock on time and off to the bait barge to pick up some awesome 4-7" dines.  They shot straight down to the bottom of the tank, giant slimer, and lost very few scales.  The crew of the Aztec did a great job taking only 5 baits at a time to not beat them up.


KOOK SQUAD (head leader on the camera    )




     After that Captain Greg gave us the scoop.  We'd be going after the mid size fish around 25-40lbs not little fish or BIG fish.  The fish had been finicky chewing 15-25lb line and #2 hooks on butt-hooked dines.  We headed straight west as we left so I expected to wake up at the 302 or 182 and be working north up the line to CBad and San Onofre... Weellllllll. WRONG! When I woke up at 5:00 sharp I was on deck with a few others.  Captain Greg was pulling anchor and had some good tuna under the boat.  My dad and I threw jigs but like Captain Greg said this stuff hasn't been going in the dark or greylight.  At Greylight I made out land. HECK is that Point Loma??? Behind me is that the Coronados??? Wait that can't be North Island it's huge!  Holy Crap! We're inbetween SCI and Catalina!!! Later confirmed by the deckies.  Well after an hour that school sure didn't want to play so we motored west to SCI.  7 minutes later there's a dipping tern.  "Guys I'm not sure if this is wake or fish because it'a so flat I'm sweeping very high and these fish aren't deep at all. AHHh I think its wake lets keep going.  OMG throw some bait! That was fish!"  One guy hooks up as we slide but Captain Greg says ok I gotta go! He keeps bumping the boat forward and says, "guys I gotta go for the steak not the potato! Throw a scoop!" Instant boils everywhere and the whole boat is bent! I land a better, close to 30lb class fish, Mr. Reid 2, Mr. Tyler 2, Mr. Ed a head, and my dad a pulled hook after 3 hours on this fish.





Mr. Ed's big YFT head. Shouldv'e been and easy 35 but the tax man decided to play.





The only pic I have of Mr. Reid. A good grade of tuna.





My fish.

       The whole time it was steadier than a plunker bite but somehow a curse struck my dad and after a lost fish he couldn't hook up.  Seeing steady boils far out I chucked a popper at that fish.  AHHHHH POPPPERRRR! I landed a 20lb fish on the popper and had one completely do a rainbow jump over it. SICK!



Popper fish!


      After 2.5 hours it was time to move. Not 10 minutes later we found smaller grade fish only to pull a handful out as the smaller fish had been very finicky.  We then motored and found bird school after bird school, foamer after foamer, puddlers after puddlers.  We passed up 20 or so schools unitl we found a biting one.  Here sooooo many guys hooked up landing some mixed 10-30lb YFT and FAT 8 lb skippies.  Mr. Tyler pulled out 3 fish on this stop, Mr. Ed I think 1, Mr. Reid 1 and another brute 28lb YFT.  Meanwhile I couldn't get bit to save my life and the same with my Papa. I finally stuck a 20lb YFT but was really frustrated watching freeswimmers chase a bait then veer off.  UHHH frustrating.

       Here's the light bulb flicking part.  As I watched everyone hookup I noticed they were fishing mono to fluro.  The guy who got 13.5 (hammerheaded) told me he was fishing straight mono.  WTH I had 20lb fluro but then I thought about the braid.  I've caught all my fish with the same 10ft fluro to braid in the past but why now?  So I quickly wound on a short 20yd piece of mono inbetween the fluro and braid for me and my papa...

        The next and last stop was Insane! 20-35lb fish boiling and coming over the rail.  I dropped a bait on the starboard side and he swim right into the boils then went 1000MPH.  FREASHONE!!!! As I settled in I look up and see my Papa bent on a fish too! Phew I hope gets one and doesn't get skunked.  I land my 25lb YFT and my Papa alike. YES!!! The mono did the trick!





Glory shot!


       I got a bait right back into the chumline and I see them start to boil.  Here we go FREASHONEEE! Again I look up and my Papa is bent!  Yeah!  Well now we have 3 hammerheads around the boat swimming into and picking up flylined baits.  At one point I had to duck my line under him so he wouldn't ram into my hooked fish!  :shock:  This fish felt good too 100yds into my spool straight down and taking 50 feet after I gained that amount. Well he just went SOLID not a hammerhead but into bulldogging mode.  Huge thumping and I could horse that 30lb fish earlier in the day, but 30 min into the fight I still just couldn't turn his head or even take a 1/2 crank.  One guy doesnt follow his line and his fish takes 9 wraps around mine... UHHHH shoot then another guy's fish goes inbetween ours. Foowee.  We we go into freespool except the last guy to get into the tangle eventhough Captain Greg told him to and he said he was... Well the enevitable happens and he burns my fish right off. DANG IT! Oh well that was the fish offshore fish I've broken off all season so it was just my turn.  On the bright side my Papa landed his fish, Mr. Tyler 2, Mr. Reid 2, and I'm pretty sure Mr. Ed 1.  Fun fishing until we ran out of bait and had to head home simultaneously.  Fun fishing! On the way back We drove straight through 11 foamers and a ton of prime kelps and some BIG ones too.  With a 6 hour ride I helped the deckies bag fish for most of the time and pull them out of the well.




Great grade of fish




Can't....lift uhh.. any higher!




Much better

I wish I could've gotten some pics of Mr. Ed, Mr. Reid, and my Papa but they went into hibernation...       I don't blame them it was 65 and airconditioned instead of 90 degrees.  I dunno why I worked in the heat.




Happy campers!


I think I ended up with 4 (dang should've seen that mono switch earlier and gotten those bites!), my Papa 2 (phew I'm glad he got some), Mr. Ed 2, Mr. Reid 6, and Mr. Tyler 7 and a nice skippy.  The whole boat ended up with 131 and probably 8 FAT skippies.  Amazing how much life was out easily 10 miles of fish from foamers, puddlers, porpoise, birdschools, hammerheads, crazy stuff.  I'd be stoked even just seeing that popper blowup!

We got back ontime to meet Kazi and the Pac Voy crew as Mr. Ron and Ms. Shari headed out on a 2 dayer  .  We got the hook up with Mario down at Sportman's Seafood all we had to do was ship the fish down 800yds... Well with our 22 fish and then 9 more from some joinees, a 6'4" Mr. Tyler and tiny me pushed and steered close to half a ton of fish down on a dock cart... Got our fish to the processer, said our goodbyes, and off to a hot shower we were. 





We had to push this... What a bad Problem 

I would definitely go back out on the Aztec again with Captain Greg and crew.  They were extremely helpful, energetic, and everything they did was for the better of the customers and catching fish.  Not to mention a very Spacious, well air conditioned, and fast cruising boat.

My Papa now has the itch and already wants redemption for not getting bit/landing fish earlier! Great times again with everyone and this a very special one with my Papa.  Love you!!!




Thanks for reading!

Nicky

3

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Offshore Friday 8/7/15

« on: August 11, 2015, 11:15:35 AM »

Here you go Mr. Thomas!!!  :lol: I can't thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to enjoy offshore fishing with you guys!

So Friday I headed out with Skipper Craig, Mr. Mark, and Mr. Andy.  With boat problems, Mr. Thomas headed out on another boat.  We started our day in the water at 4:00am and a healthy scoop of 5"-8" dines ( 15pieces of scraggly stuff from one tank and great cured stuff from another tank).  With manageable weather, we headed north offshore.  Pretty bumpy crashing down hard on swell, but hey I like it as you don't get used to it and not seasick! Along the way I get up on top and spot a small paddy. Not scraggly but trashcan lid type, nada.  A couple minutes of running later we see hard working terns, a small meter mark, we chunk, still nada.  So we get up to Oside and we see boats stopped.  We respectfully slide and chunk for nothing.  Turns out everyone was on a nice paddy and all we only see a small dodo landed.  Ok so the water from Point Loma-Oside is aboslutely prime but void of life... We decide to just head back and try to find a meter mark and chunk on it.  Along the way back we see a huge fin 3ft out of the water at 500yds away. Grabbed the binoculars and its brown, shaped like a big hammerhead, pretty cool!  Even with a Red Bull Mr. Mark and I are falling asleep up top in the swell.  Drearily, Mr. Mark sees a fin, PORPOISE! We troll around them for nada.  Eventually we see 6 boats stopped way off a paddy, 200+yds away drifting, all the passengers were not really motivated fishing more less all sitting.  Up top, I start to see fish boiling on bait into the paddy.  Respectfully we slide on it and start to chunk.  Thinking they were Yellowtail, I threw a Tady 45 and some dodos followed it! We start seeing freejumpers eating our chum and we launch out flyline baits. BAM triple hookup on NICE dodos!  Jumping 3-4ft out of the water, they barf, flinging 4-5 baitfish!
 



26lb hen


The other boats somehow just sprang to life and all run back on top of the paddy!  Meanwhile, we had a bite a bit faster than a plunker bite with dodos following the chunk!  The whole 2 hours we were there 2 dodos were hooked by other boats. One by an awesome 5-6 year old kid who whooped it on a large coffee grinder! Awesome stuff!



31lb bull

Well they went skittish after that.  They were all good ones 18-33lbs ish with one little 11lber.  We landed 14 of them; Mr. Andy with 6, me 4, Mr. Mark 3, and Mr. Craig 1.  Funny thing was the last fish ate three baits! All three guys were "tangled" but ended up roping in a smaller hen.  :lol:

With full killbags, we head in to fillet fish. Along the way with irons tied on, we found some working birds in the kelp.  We stop and find some cuda and rat yellowtail around 3-4lbs.  Mr. Andy lands a nice easily 32-34" cuda and I release a small 20"er.  We never stuck one of the following rats so we headed in with lots of filleting and vacuum sealing to do.  :lol:



We ended up with 14 dodos and a big cuda.




Thank you again for the invite Mr. Thomas!

Thanks for reading!

Nicky

4

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Chubasco II 3/4 day 8/5/15

« on: August 06, 2015, 05:52:38 PM »

Well with school starting in two weeks my dad told me get your offshore fishing in now before you can't get out at all...    So I hopped on the Chubasco II at the last minute. Got checked in, everything squared away, and off we were to the bait barge.  Same bait as its been the last few weeks, the usual lively, yet uncured 8-14" sardines! You'd be lucky to find a 6-8" dine in the tank. Captain Chad said we'd be going into to Mexico offshore and the fish have been pretty finicky eating 25lb or lighter.  Well the 1.5 hour ride wasn't too pleasant for many, 1/3 of the load (29 people) got sick including me barfing 3x... :x also the swell&wind was really up making for waves splashing up to the captains window.  Finally we get into the grounds and immediately find a trash can lid sized paddy. We troll around it and HOOKUP!  Land a 6-7lb dodo and another on bait. (the guy who gets the biggest dine in the tank, last bait out on a coffee grinder, and straight 65lb braid!?!? what the heck!) That'd be the same story all around, find these trash can lid sized paddys with nothing on them.  I was starting to get worried I was going to get skunked but we quickly spot a massive school of porpoise.  We troll by it for nothing until the captain gets perfectly in front of it and says "WTH!!! how are we not bit! Kevin throw two scoops of bait on it!"  Well we long soaked for nada then as we wind'em up I think I get hit but it comes off.  Then two guys are instabit!  We all scramble for fresh bait as 35-40lb YFT just start absolutely killing bait 10 feet off the stern.  I'm instabit and then the whole boat even the rental rodders were bent on tuna! Or was it???  Our "tuna" start giving montrous head shakes as they get to color. HOLY CrAP! These are 15-25lb yellows!  Didn't matter what you threw it was true WFO fishing.  After putting 3 on bait, I saw some yellows boiling on then bow.  Quickly grabbed the surface iron rod and fired to them.  Again instant 10 fish following the jig and boils! Boils! Ahahhhhhhaha! Fresh one! That would be the same for the next hour, 3-10 followers chasing the jig, something ridiculously close to 30-35 boils, and many hookups. I ended up landing 6 on the jig (I threw a mint&white Tady 45 but it didn't really matter you could throw a non kicking jig and get bit) .  Fishing was so nuts eventually I just grabbed a gaff in one hand rod in the other and started gaffing my own fish.  Deckies even gave us two guys on the bow a gaff to self gaff them after they saw we could do it! Fun times! Even poked the eyeballs out of a YT with the gaff single handed! Well eventually after a 1.5 hour stop the school moved on.  I believe 3 of us had over limits (somehow I got the most with 9), no YFT were landed (or maybe none even hooked), and I don't even know how many people&rental rodders got limits.  We gave our excess fish to the crew (luckily 4 guys). The rest of the day was more of the same, one more dodo landed, 2 skipjack on the troll, and many freeswimmers just too small to be interested in the huge bait. We ended up with 124 yellowtail, 5 mahi, and 2 skipjack for 29 anglers.  Headed in tired and stoked!


The money shot (why did I pick up the smaller fish and why do they never look as big???)





But in reality I was struggling   





"Take a dump on those fish!"   





Thanks for reading!

Nicky

5

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Wednesday Tuna Hunt

« on: July 16, 2015, 04:54:49 PM »

I got the invite to fish with Mr. Thomas (Tombo808) and Skipper Craig yesterday.  We left Mr. Craig's house at 3:15 ( thank you for driving me Papa!!! )  and were at the bait tank at 4:45-5ish.  The bait wasn't cured and were horse dines and a few macks mixed in but was still very lively.  We made a short run out to the 6 mile bank with 30 or so other boats.  Stopping a little outside we get what we think was a single strand of kelp at first but then we quickly realize the diving Halco was throbbing then POP! Came unbuttoned.  As we were about to reset we see a boomerang start to rise and more meter marks of tuna so we let out slow trolled dines 100yds behind the boat.  Not more than 5 minutes later my reel starts to scream!  This fish took 50yds of line then came right at me so we thought it was probably an angry football.  Boy were we wrong... As the BFT sees the boat he runs back 50yds straight down, great... After another 20minutes or so of this, Mr. Thomas stuck the gaff into a quality fish. 





Sorry if it's pic heavy but I'm Stoked with this fish!




ahhh this fish is pretty heavy and kicks hard!







Man this fish was girthy! Something close to a 3ft girth!

Well the day was just starting and within the first 45minutes we had a quality BFT estimated at around 50-55lbs!

As we picked up and started a quick deck spray down Mr. Thomas's dine gets smashed! After a much shorter fight with a 6'6" rod rather than an 8' meat stick, Mr. Craig goes for the gaff, grazes the fish, sends it going berserk, POP! The 45-50lb class BFT swims away in front of our faces... Ouch I know that was a tough one to take for Mr. Thomas as that would've been his PB BFT.  To make a long story short we fished all the way up to the CBad powerplant for nothing else just meter marks and a good chance at BFT and YFT mixed boils in the fleet until a sportboat captain (I won't say who)  drives his 23' Parker inbetween all 8 of us boats and OVER ALL THE BOILS instead of going around where he had all the room in the world... Then add insult to injury they drove back on top of the spot were all the boils were and all 5 divers jumped in... Well some true jerks on the radio and fishing grounds today but we ended up with a quality BFT we split 4 ways and some great pieces of this...




I'M STOKED!!!

Thank you for reading

Nicky

6

Lure & Rig Crafting Board / Airbrushing Lures

« on: June 18, 2015, 02:25:13 PM »

Well I've been lazy about posting stuff lately so I figured I'd post a little something different.  Since getting an awesome airbrush kit for Christmas (thank you Papa!) I've been painting lures with the inspiration and help of the man himself JKim.   Sorry it's a bit pic heavy and not the best pics but here are some creations.  (All lures painted are old and abused or lightly used)





Spook in Mackerel (caught a mini vina)



Spook in sexy smelt (also has caught a vina)



Another view



LC knock-off in Threadfin shad







Deep crank for a friend in SBB



Lucky Craft Flashminnow 95 in an imitation of bentos sexy katakuchi



Sammy clone in chovie



Megabass dogX in orange belly shad


Well not on JKim's level but I'm happy with it!

Thanks for looking!

Nicky

7

Freshwater Boat Fishing Reports / Barrett Bassin' 5/18/15

« on: May 19, 2015, 08:55:18 PM »

WOW!  That was a stellar/enlightening day!   My dad, Mr. John (JKim), and I headed out to Barrett for our first trip of 2015.  I'm sure you've heard this before but OH MY how LOOOW the lake is! At 5% capacity there is still a quite a bit of lake but definitely squeezing anglers close together.  Ms. Laurie checked us in at a prompt 4:15 and we were off! No more waiting in line for permits!  With the post storm front & cold front upon us we knew we were in for a tough day.  Quickly our hopes were up as I caught one right off the bat on a square bill crank but instead we grinded for 3 hours or so for 1 fish on a deep crank for me and a healthy bass on a mini jig for my dad. We were puzzled as there were still shad everywhere!



(Photo creds to Mr. JKim)

 The only action we saw on the lake was 4 anglers at the dock with what seemed a consistent 3-4 bass a piece so after they left at 8:30-9:00ish we blazed over  Using the same Wacky rigged senkos that we fished the dock with success in past seasons we all quickly hooked up and stayed hooked up almost until noon.   The Dock was absolutely buzzing with shad!  Weightless flukes and Senkos by far out fished everything even catching the large Barrett bluegill! Although we didn't target them, there was a father and young son KILLING the bluegill on mini jigs.  The grade of fish wasn't bad either with the average fish at 1.5-2lbs with several in the 3-4lb range.










After the bite really slowed at the dock, we decided to do a loop around the lake to see what was left.  Well we saw a boulder that was sticking out from last season which was actually a nice looking rock pile so we got in position and anchored up.  We made a couple casts with a deep crank and lost one so we were going to pull anchor but found my dad asleep...  Giving him a little needed rest I tied on a dropshot in theory they were still chasing shad but only off the shore a little suspended.  Well we unfortunately interrupted him with a nice 3lber... 

 







After that we had a 360 range of casting and we were consistently getting bit casting to the shore and working it out, working the Dshot from the mouth of the cove and back, to the rockpile, the whole 360 degrees! D-shotted, Hammer hooked 4" Roboworms with a 1.5' leader worked best for us in anything with a deep purple, green pumpkin, chocolate blue vein, etc.  After a good 25-30 fish we went back to our original plan.  We anchored in the only 150yd long Hauser Arm  to find shad and catch the only T-rig fish of the day  & jerkbait fish (nothing for me).



  We motored to expect nothing in Pine and found about a 50yd long cove  ...



 It was SUPER shallow but we did manage to snag one of the many puddling threadfin shad.  A nice example for the next lure paint job.    Nearing late afternoon and reminiscing old evening bites we headed back to the D-shot cove.  We anchored up and WHAM! RE-bite! Again we caught fish 360 around us and FATTIES too! Especially on the "fantasy rockpile" .  Like earlier the bluegill were in full force as well as bass setting me back 3 packs of Roboworms and between my dad and I easily 2 packs of senkos  . 









We Milked this spot with the same D-shotted 4" Roboworms and Senkos for a good 20+ fish.  As the bite died we headed back for another shot at the dock.  Fishing and loading up gear I landed the last 3 bass a nice 3lber and a schoolie.
OK I know it sounds like a repeated phrase but on my last flip my line ticked and sped up just a little. Giving it a good firm hookset it went completely solid and monstrous headshakes. A brief while later my dad lipped the kicker of the day...

 



(photo/landing props to my dad!)

The scale was in the car so using the finger lengths, fist, and IGFA bass calculator, this Phatty would be give or take around 5.12lbs!

We packed up with a total of 78 bass and 30+ bluegill.  Another awesome day at Barrett with my dad and Mr. JKim! I can't wait for the 6th!

Thanks for reading!

Nicky

8

Freshwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / A Post?!?! Miramar Tubin' 4/7/15

« on: April 08, 2015, 02:35:55 PM »

Spring break rocks!  My dad dropped me off at Miramar around 7:00ish and I fished until 2:30ish (thank you Papa!).  I made a few casts at the boat docks with the Big Bait for nothing so I kicked across to the opposite shoreline starting on Clairemont Point.  I threw the big baits around for a bit unsucessfully as there were big trout jumping, most around 5-7lbs (yep big ones!).  Then I transitioned to the tules staying about 20-30ft off the shore looking for bedders/cruisers on either side of the tube.  The wind/occasional cloud cover made it tough to sight fish but very easy to sneek up on fish as within a few minutes the bedders/cruisers started to pop up.  I found in the two coves I fished (Bernardo Bay & Poway Arm) the fish kept themselves on the left sides of the tules protected by the wind and in the backs of the coves.  They hit a variety of baits from dropshotted 4.5" Margarita Mutilator Roboworms, 3"- 4.5" beavers, and mini jigs.  Not many fish were on beds though there were many beds that were just plain abandoned signaling the end of the spawn but cruisers were easy to aggrevate into eating.  I did have one bass about 5lbs follow the big bait not to eat     and a hard bite that didn't stick but left it's mark... I ended with 6 bass from  1/2lb to 2lbs.  Not big but any bass at Miramar is a feat to catch!
















 





Hmmmmm.... 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_t-vDl5AQQ

a little release video


Hope this helps!

Nicky

9

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Pacific Voyager 3/24/15

« on: March 27, 2015, 08:53:04 PM »

WOW!!! I can't believe I just swung this trip!  I've been wanting to catch a 20 plus pound yellowtail for a while now after being rocked one too many times so I hopped on this Pac Voy trip solo.   It was a perfect storm as my Papa let me go because I had finished all my school work and my mother was sick but somehow peeped out a "go."    Thank you Mom and Papa! Okay to the report.

We made it down to Seaforth around 4:45 AM and waited around a bit until they opened up the sign in station.  I picked a couple jigs and walked out the door to see the expected loooong line people after the previous trip's awesome counts :shock:.  Well 40 people is better than 58 on the San Diego right?




The morning was brisk and a slight bit windy but manageable.  Anyways after a 3+ hour ride down to past the Islands we immediately heard the sonar go crazy.  The small area we shared with the Malihini and 2 private boats was absolutely PACKED with Yellowtail.  The first few slides were unsuccessful with only a few rockfish coming over the rail along with 1 or 2 yellowtail on bait.  I opted to stay with irons as the bait was practically dead.  The sardines would swim 30 feet then just die, even small to jumbo macks swam a mere 40-50 feet at most.  Then on the bite turned on, the yellows started boiling around us.  It wasn't long until all that was heard was "FREEEASH ONE!" "BITERRRR" "GET SOMMMME!" :lol: Many were hooked on bait and 3/4 sliding egg sinker rigs but Surface iron was a producer as well.  While many boated their yellows, on every cast I watched two or three followers boil on my iron for the next half an hour and not stick a single one :x. I tried everything! Eventually later after the Malihini stormed the area and the yellows were pushed down deep.  On the next few slides I finally boated a average 12-14lb yellow, a 15lb ish, and a bruiser 25lb yellow along with 2 big cudas.  They all hit the yoyo'ed Salas 6x jr. in python but any scrambled egg/blue and white color was working. 





skunk off





good times




my PB at 25lbs




and the haul


It was a great day meeting some cool people and catching some fish too.   The final counts were 106 yellowtail, 2 rockfish, 1 bonito, and 6 barracudas.  Thank you Mom and Papa for letting me go! :lol:
Thank you for reading!

Nicky


oh yeah mission accomplished :lol:

10

Tackle Talk / RE-barb hooks

« on: March 03, 2015, 08:47:29 PM »

Recently I've been thinking of a way to save $$$ on plastics.  I got tired of having them slide down after awhile and rigging them 8 ways then biting off the head the another and rigging another 8 ways so I spent some time pondering.  I recently found a cheaper alternative to the Gamakatsu/Roboworm RE-barb hooks so I thought I'd share it. 


Materials


1. lighter
2. heat shrink tubing (I had the best success with 3/32" tubing but this will vary based on hook shank width I used a 1 and 1/0 hook for this)
3. thin scissors
4. small bowl of water
5. a hardening adhesive (5min epoxy/super glue)
6. HOOKS!  :lol: (I used an owner wide gap worm hook)








1. First take a piece of heat shrink tubing then put it next to the front bend of the worm hook.  I'll cut the piece of tubing double the length of the portion on the hook from the eye to where the hook curves down.






2. Next this seems confusing but is a lot easier than it seems.  Cut the barrel of the tube in half about half of the length of the tube.  The picture should explain it better.







3. Next slide the halved portion of the tube on the hook first. 






4. Slide the tube all the way to where the bend of the worm hooks starts near the eyelet.


5. Now grabbing the halved portion, pull it gently up the shank.






6. Now advance the tube slightly closer to the eyelet.  It should look something like this.







7. Next take your lighter and carefully shrink the tubing around the shank of the hook, being careful to heat the halved portion as little as possible. Once done dip the shrunken tubing in the bowl of water.





8. Now with your tubing shrunk around the shank, it is time to make the spike of the hook.  First "heat" the halved portion.  Next simply dip your index finger and thumb in the bowl of water.  Then quickly squeeze the halved portion together as symmetrically as possible, holding your fingers together for a few seconds.  The halved portion should lightly melt together and look like this.  After squeezing, dip the tubing in the bowl of water to harden.







9. Now trim the joined portion into a spike, tiny lumps are okay as they will be covered by adhesive.  The spike may vary to your preference, determined by your hook choice, the lure's width, etc.







10.  Finally coat the tubing's edges and most importantly the spike with a hardening adhesive to keep a strong hold and critically harden the spike to lodge it in the bait.







Once you get the hang of it it's really to turn out a lot of hooks.  Surprisingly, as I fished these hooks, they didn't rip through the plastic.  They actually held a really strong grip and were very durable.





Maybe even for bait stealers on a big 6/0 hook...








Hope this saves some time and money! -Nicky

11

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Big Bay- 11/8/14

« on: November 08, 2014, 12:12:04 PM »

Today my dad and I fished the Big Bay for anything that pulled.  Apon arrival the bait was THICK but almost nothing except birds were feasting on them.  Nothing on the jerkbaits, topwater, etc.  so we switched to the go-to 1/4 leadhead with an MC-swimbait in "brown grunion" although it is more of a green-smelty pattern.  We were able to get a few bass to play with almost of all them being nicer grade in the 12"+ range (for me at least my dad only caught dinks :lol: :wink:). 








Choked!



Right at the base of the rocks, my swimbait came to a dead stop.  There were initial heavy headshakes and then a short burst run.  Seeing the tail swirl and color gave it away...








Finally after 7 years of fishing the bays and surf my first legal hali!  It may have only been 23"-24" but sure felt good to get that one off my back.  After that we worked our way back to the car picking up one more bass.


Thanks for reading! Nicky