Plan was to get Andrew out and catch some yellows since they are around. My bait pump has a crack in the plumbing somewhere near my electrical and I can't seem to find it without ripping it all out, so this trip was going to be an all artificial trip unless we made bait and bucketed water. One thing was for certain, there was very little bait around big enough to grab a sabiki. We saw tons of smelt which shyed away from us and tons of micro bait with monster mackerel in the mix that was way too big for bait.
Instead of burning time in the morning, we headed out and started deep yoyo jigging. It wasn't long before I hooked a beast! It actually brought me to my knees with a tightened drag! About 10 minutes into the fight and I fely him make a dive down again and... the jig hook came out... I got the jig up to see a hook was bent out! Holy crap! It was definately in the 30+ pound class range, but I was so bummed to farm it.
The fishing got tough from here, but we both did boat some mega-bones while trying for yellows!
He even jigged up a few rockfish which added to his species list.
Once again and BAM! I was on another huge yellow! This one didn't stick on as long though and I hooked him in 200' of water, so I guess I didn't get a good bite in his mouth from the line stretch... Crap... 0-2...
Our arms were ready to fall off from all of the Yo-Yoing, so I took him into the kelp to look for some bass or cuda. He was amazed how clear and beautiful the kelp was and totally enjoy doing some bass fish, but unfortunately we couldn't find a single bass. We started trying to make bait and found some Whopper macks! Andrew had fun on the light gear and cast master on these things.
We then headed back out to see a few party boats just slaying the yellows... only no one else was. It was apparent chumming them in was the way to go this morning. We still picked away at a bunch of mid-grade bones though which kept things fun.
It was getting late and the wind started to pick up. We were ready to call it quits on a generally disappointing day when the birds showed up. We shot over to see what the fuss was about and on my first cast, Bam! A familiar sight and a burden off my back!
Anyone down there!
Not huge, but double digits.
Then Andrew thought he hooked a yellow.
It sure was putting up a damn good fight!
Damn, Not a yellow, but the biggest Bonie of the day! What a brute!
Well after a bunch of nice bones, rockfish, monster macks and the lone yellow, we called it quits and headed back to the barn. We finished the trip with fresh seared yellowtail, lobster and some Ballast Point Ales. Even though we didn't go wide open out there, he'll remember this trip for a long time. The water was warm and blue and you could see down 20-30 feet which just amazed him. You hav e to go out 15 miles out east to get water like that! He was also tripping how deep everything is here and the "underwater trees".
Great times and we would have done much better with live bait, but it was somehow more satisfying doing it on all artificial.
Until next tide.
