Did a quick local run with Steve but had to be back at the ramp by noon the latest. I had a bunch of people coming over for the McGregor/Mayweather fight and had a lot to do before they showed up.
I heard of a big biomass locally, but knew it would be a parking lot out there, so only hoped for some bonito so I could get some shark bait.
The sea conditions were great. Light winds and small seas were prevalent, so the ride to the grounds was nice and easy. We got out at first light so it was fairly empty, but the mob quickly started to form. We looked for mackerel, but nothing around. We decided we were going to live or die by artificial lure. Good thing there were fish everywhere!
By 7:30 a.m. Steve and I limited with Bonito. All perfect size shark bait bonito! They hit about everything, but the megabait was the biggest producer.
We finally got tired of catching them after throwing back another dozen or two. On one of my last casts in the parking lot, I finally got the megabait through the bonito and actually sunk to the bottom. As I was jigging, I got a real hit!!! I knew right away it was a yellow. Not big, but the normal sized yellow that I’ve caught this year.
We got out of the crowd and started looking for something else. We got more of the same, but also picked up 14 rockfish on top of a bunch more bonito. I had a legit bonito on all the way to the boat. It was a double digit bonito and one of the biggest that I have caught, but due to circumstances, I lost it boatside. Oh well, time to try for another.
In the meantime, the bonito were snapping the entire time.
We decided to troll some rapalas to see if we could get any larger grade models. We trolled away from the crowd and it paid off! Steve hooked up first with a nice yeller!
We continued trolling when the clicker started screaming! Holy crap that scared the sh!t out of me! It was a beast and thankfully I had 80# braid with 60# topshot. It felt good getting the right fish on the right gear. Being in 65’ of water I kept thinking that I would lose it in the kelp being that shallow!
As we were trolling home, Steve and I get knocked down. He lost his, but mine stayed on the hook. I thought it was a bigger bonito, but turned out to be another yellowtail! I didn’t take a picture of this one, but it was only 6 or 7 pounds.
In any case, we caught 15 rockfish, 4 yellows, and 3-4 dozen bonito easy in 5 hours of fishing. The best part was I was home by 12:15 and had plenty of time to clean the boat and fish before company showed up!
Good times and lots of lost fish also.
Until next tide!
