Some of you know that I recently welcomed a girl child to the fold, so, the wife has me on lockdown. With twin 5yr olds already wreaking havoc, a newborn pretty much gaurantees I could never leave the house to do some fishing
But having a baby girl is pretty awesome
After nearly 2 months of wishing and turning down offers from guys with boats, she finally let me go fishing!! The marine forecast wasn't great, but Binh and my old co-worker Karla were down to give it a go! Some may remember Karla from a previous post of mine where we fished the bay and I introduced some recently laid off co-workers to bat ray fishing. Needless to say, Karla is hooked!
Our morning was chilly, but beautiful.
The Malihini is usually my go to boat, but the San Diego out of Seaforth got 2 wahoo the day before, so, I know it would be loaded for a Saturday. That made it a lot easier to choose which boat to go on. My plan was to never touch bait and get everything on the surface iron. The bay was grease calm as we headed to the bait barge. We loaded up on some sweet 4-6" sardines with a smattering of anchovy. It was the nicest looking bait I've seen all year! Karla was stoked to see the sea lions. There was even a cute scene with a little one laying on top of a grown up. Reminded me of my little one laying on me while I watch my Cowboys stink it up 5 weeks straight
Don't worry, I reminded her how overpopulated they were and how much trouble they cause us anglers on a daily basis. She got to see that first hand on our first stop...
Lots of sea lion poop.
Tagged and monitored
She also got to see how much of a nuisance the pelicans were as they would literally fall into the crowder net while the crew scooped bait.
A few macks were caught at the bait barge by those fishing small plastics for those who make their own bait. We motor out of the harbor and almost immediately the wind picks up. White caps all the way to the islands. It would end up gusting off and on the rest of the day. I think I took off and put my sweatshirt back on almost a dozen times while we were out there. We did troll for wahoo too, but no takers.
Saw lots of GIANT kelp paddies out there. Some as big as full size trucks.
Our first stop was the rock pile. A few boats were already there, private and sportie. The morning started slow, no yellows, but an occassional bonito would come over the rail. I put away the jig stick and grabbed my bait rod and headed to the bottom. Got 2 nice sized sculpin right off the bat. Saw several decent rockfish come over the rail. I almost thought it was going to turn into a rockfish trip with the conditions that we had. Then some bait was tossed out and some boils popped up. Switched back to the iron and I hooked the first yellow just a few feet from the boat! Karla got to see the whole thing, including the sea lion that was just a few feet away
A couple of minutes later, I land my fish... well... some of it anyways...
I. HATE. SEA. LIONS.A few others managed to land some, but it was still a very slow pick on them. We make a move. This would pretty much play out through most of the day until it got warmer. We motored around the rockpile for a couple of hours picking away at yellows and some big a$$ bonito, then finally head back towards the islands and close out our day hitting up the north island for an insane black skipjack bite and the south island, with the south island being the most fruitful for yellows.
Speaking of black skipjack...
Not the best picture, but the bite was insane on the surface iron, so, I had no time for photography skills. I had followers running into the boat chasing my iron, it was crazy!! These little guys kicked a$$! I landed a handful and kept one. I did have to put the rod down just for a bit, to reel up Karla's rod and put it away. I grabbed my 8.6" Graphite USA trigger stick and a Daiwa Luna 300 loaded with 15# and flylined a sardine then handed her the rod. Proceeded to watch her get pinned to the rail... so awesome!! She did figure real quick what to do. Proper hand placement on the rod, a little bend in her back and she even followed her fish left and right. I was proud!
We had a great blitz on those for about 10minutes and then it was over. We headed over to the south island after some intel from the other sporties out there. We closed out the day there having a sh!t load of fun on yellows raning from 5-20lbs and toad bonies! Bihn would be the first to sack a yellow out of the three of us after putting away the jig stick and going light. Not sure why he put away the jig stick, maybe he'll chime in...
I went 2 for 7 on the yellows
I have to remember to not try to bounce "green" yellows. Karla was 2 for 2 all by herself. I didn't even know she landed them! Baited, casted, and landed all be herself on her first boat trip and only her second time fishing ever. Damn, I'm a good teacher!!
On our last stop, they dumped the tanks and all hell broke loose! I got my 2 yellows her and a butt load of big bonito. Karla also got her 2 yellows her. Here's my final haul:
Karla's numbers were similar, but she got calicos where I got the sculpin. I can't remeber how Binh did, but he sure was tuckered out...
The quality wasn't really there, but the numbers were for those who wanted to keep what they caught. Bonies were everywhere and the black skipjacks were in force for a short time. So cool to still get an exotic in November! My luck wan't great for the yellows, but I got to fight several and land 2. I'm not fond of yellows for eating unless it's the collars and belly. I love the fight, but prefer eating rockfish. It was a great day, with some good people on board. No egos and attitudes AND, the captain stayed almost an extra hour... SWEET! Oh yeah, someone caught a big a$$ sheephead!
I think Bihn has some pictures he could share as well. Until next time!
