Thread: 07.23-25.10 Amigo 2 Day - Couple of Yellows

Friday Evening I headed straight to Newport Landing after work. Got there around 5:30 and was the second person to arrive for the charter. By 8:30 everyone on the charter had shown up, the drinking, and loud stories had began; all the signs of a good weekend of fishing.

Mike Thompson was our captain for this charter. He was also our captain for last year's July Charter and we slayed the WSB and Yellows. Mike said we would take a gamble at the banks on the first day then drop back to SCI for the second day.

I quickly rig up a couple of setups and hit my bunk, but I would randomly wake up every hour or so hearing the drunken banter of the others on board. By about midnight-1AM everyone was sleeping soundly in their bunks.

Woke up around the greylight hour and checked what was going on, on the deck. A few people were moving about but I didn't see too many lines in the water. I decided to hold back from my usual routine and wait till the captain says something over the PA. Captain makes a quick move and says we have arrived at Tanner Bank. Captain recommends a dropper loop or flylining a lively sardine.

The guys fishing the dropper loops were picking up some rockfish and a couple of sculpin. I think one or two sheeps might have come over the rail as well. Fishing was pretty slow, so the captain decided to make another move.

I wasn't really paying attention and pretty much zoned out until I heard the captain say that we have arrived at Cortes Bank. Same advice was given for fishing here, dropper loops and flylines. Same fish were coming over the rail at this spot as well. Less than 20 minutes went by and the captain wasn't happy with what was popping up on the fish finder. After seeing another sheep or two come over the rail, I decided maybe I should rig up a dropper as well.

We made another short move to a shallow spot with a red buoy and tons of kelp around. I don't recall the name of this spot but we fished this spot for another 20 minutes. I kind of half assed a dropper and tried my luck on the bottom; but was too lazy to run up to the bow to pull out the shrimp I had brought. Needless to say, I didn't catch anything at this spot either. No sculpin, no sheeps, no rockfish. Captain didn't want to waste much time here either and announced we would be making a move to a deeper spot to fill the sacks with some white fish.

As soon as white fish were mentioned, I was pretty turned off and I went to lay in my bunk. Honestly, I'm all Whitefish and Rockfished out for this year. Once the engines slowed and we positioned over the white fish spot, I contemplated about going out on deck but I laid in my bunk for another twenty minutes or so not wanting to fish for whitefish. After hearing enough action on deck, I decided to roll out of my bunk. I grabbed my half assed dropper loop and tied another half assed dropper loop on it and sank it down to the bottom with some squid strips. First dropped gave me double white fish. The next drop I got tangled up with another angler who figured 4 ounces of lead was good enough to get to the bottom with our current. . . Drop three and four yielded more tangles and I was getting pretty frustrated.
As I was working on the tangles, I see Hak in the corner with a massive bendo. Hak is struggling trying to recover line. I keep checking his rod tip and I see some headshakes. Ohhhhh crap, there are lings here!!!! I get excited but then I remember I'm still tangled up. I finally get free out of my tangle and Hak brings up a nice lingasaur to color. Deckhand Tyler quickly gaffs the ling and Hak says that the second Lingasaur in this bag. I feel like kicking myself for not getting out of my bunk right away. . .





A couple more drops and I pick up a few more whitefish and a salmon grouper. Chartermaster Marc pulls out a nice goat right next to me. Does this encourage me to run up to my cooler and grab my shrimp? Nope, because I'm a dumbass. Captain says we'll only be on this spot for another 15 minutes or so, so fill them sacks as fast as you can. I manage more tangles than fish at this spot. My mood is pretty foul right now and to make matters worse my sack is pretty light. . .

Captain pulls anchor and says we're gonna try trolling a bit. Foul mood, etc etc etc, sends me back to my bunk. I told myself I would roll out of my bunk as soon as I heard action on the deck. TUrns out we would be trolling for about three hours with no love. Captain says he doesn't want to gamble away the rest of our time and says he's going to trek on over to San Clemente Island.

By the time the engines slow, we are on the backside of SCI. Captain anchors up on a deeper spot where we caught WSB and YT last year. Dropper loops and flylines go out, but the only love we get are from seals.

Captain made a quick move to some near by kelp. Bass were boiling at the bow, but quickly hid when I came around with a plastic. I don't think any fish were landed at this spot either.

Captain made another quick move to a really nice kelp bed. I was tossing plastics right into a hole of kelp on the stern, I got a couple of strikes but couldn't set the hook on them. I suck at fishing the plastics. . . I switch it up and try flylining some sardines on some 20# flouro. As I am soaking a bait, RJ gets a mean bendo while fishing a dropper loop. Whatever he has on the bottom, its coming up slow. He's pumping and grinding away, then we see headshakes. Hak, Deckhand Tyler, and I all yell him, "Stop pumping!!! Just grind him in, thats a butt!" RJ doesn't question us at all and follows our orders like a trooper. Less than a minute later, Tyler gaffs the butt and its safely on deck. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RJ!! YOU GOT YOUR FIRST LEGAL BUTT!!! (For those of you who follow my reports, I still don't have a legal Halibut. . . /grumbles)

The butt measured out to 31 inches.




After fishing this spot for another thirty minutes, sunlight was burning away and the captain tried one other spot for a dusk bite. Nothing was produced at this spot.

I brought some beef tenderloins on board for Ichiro to grill up for us. He did a simple garlic salt and pepper rub and grilled those fillets to perfection. Served with a side of corn, baked potato, and a dinner salad. I quickly food coma'd after dinner.

In the middle of the night, the crew was able to make a few scoops of squid. Again, I woke up to the greylight and found some anglers up on deck already. I asked if there had been any early morning action and they said just bat rays were being caught. I sank a 40# dropper to the bottom in hopes of getting something to pull drag, even if it was a ray. Turns out I wouldn't catch anything at this spot. But three people did go bendo while my line was down there. Two rays came up to color after about a five minute fight. Captain came down to the deck to find out why the last bendo was taking so long to come up. Turn out the angler was getting beat up by the mystery fish, so he would only get a couple of cranks in then the mystery fish would turn its head down and start sinking. Captain told him to man up and start cranking away. Gave the angler a bit of encouragement saying it could be a Black Sea Bass!! I guess that did the trick because that angler started grinding away. Two laps around the boat and sure enough, a mammoth Black Sea Bass came up to color. The crew did a great job removing the hook in record time. Hak barely had a chance to snap a photo before it was released and swam back down.


Crew estimated it to be a 200 pounder.


After the BSB was released the captain quickly moved to where we boated a bunch of Yellows and WSB last year. I had a 7/0 dropper loop setup in hopes of a repeat of last year. Thirty minutes at this spot yielded a whole lot of nothing for the boat.

Captain made a few stops along the same kelp beds we hit the afternoon before. A few bass and sheeps were boated. I finally decided to rig up my dropper loop and a size 1 bait holder for the shrimp I had brought on board. It seems like the sheeps loved the random squid strips more than they loved my shrimp.

Captain gave up on the back side of the island and decided to join the rest of the fleet on the front side. I think we saw the Truline, Sea Horse, and Toronado on the front side? My memory is a little hazy. Deckhands told us to flyline sardines, the yellows school by every now and then.

Water is clear clear clear! I could probably see down about 20-25 feet. Throughout the trip, Hak and I have been fooling around with some of the other anglers talking about COMBAT FISHING. AKA, poaching spots on the rail, casting over others, spreading out at the rail so no one can fish next to you, etc etc etc. So, Angler Derrick comes on deck armed with his bass rod, he strikes up a quick conversation and snatches a lively sardine that I was eyeing. I was kind of like WTF? Did you just snatch my bait? He just smiled at me replied, "Combat fishing right?" I was thinking, I can't argue with that. . . A couple of minutes later, Derrick goes BENDO! SON OF A BITCH!!!! Right from the go, we know its the right kind, and its kicking his ass on that bass rod. Derrick probably gets ran around the boat 2.5 or 3 times before his yellow comes to color and meets its end on the sharp side of a gaff. First yellow in on the boat and morale is way up!! Everyone is pitching lively baits into the water.

Initially, I go for my 25# flouro setup and after pitching half a dozen sardines out with no love. I go down to 20#. Hak digs a splitshot out of my bag and goes to town with his 20# flouro setup. Hak is butt hooking with the splitshot, a couple of minutes later he goes bendo.

I'm fishing the stern, my bait looks like its in the right area for a strike. I'm seeing a few boils in the same area. Then my bait freezes and refuses to swim, I put a few butt tugs and it and it still refuses to swim. Meanwhile, Hak goes BENDO mid rail. He follows his fish up the rail and disappears around the bow. I put another tug or two on my bait and he wakes up. My bait hits the kelp line and BOIL RIGHT ON TOP OF MY BAIT. My bait gets hit and I swing. I feel some nice solid weight on my swing and start cranking in; but I'm hung up and I'm not gaining any line. I fool myself into thinking I got me a yellow, a couple of seconds later, calico comes out of the kelp. I sigh and bounce him on deck. After bagging my fish, Hak comes back down the rail and his yellow is gaffed and decked.



The bite dies off and the captain decides to move further up the coast. We drop anchor, swing around, and the lines go out again. Same thing as before, Hak is using 20# flouro with a split shot and I'm doing the same now. I'm fishing the stern and Hak is Mid rail casting towards the coast. I pitch a bait out and the bastard swims back toward the boat. The angler next to me casts out a couple feet further than I pitched and a couple of seconds later he says his bait just made a quick little run. I tell him to get ready to put his reel in gear. He replies, "Why? my baits have been like that all weekend, they just make quick little runs." I told him, "You've probably been getting picked up this whole time." I check his spool and hes loosing line pretty quickly on this "quick little run." I tell him to set his reel in gear and lift his rod tip up. He hesitantly follows my instructions and his rod goes BENDO! I dunno if I should feel happy that he is hooked up or disgusted that he is hooked up and I'm not. . . sigh. He disappears up the rail and I pitch out about three more baits that refuse to swim. Then Hak goes bendo again!!! Hak makes pretty short work of this one and has two in the bag.


F U HAK!

This spot dries up and the captain heads back down the coast towards the backside of the island again. We anchored reallllly close to the kelp/coastline. Close enough that I lost Hak's plastic on the coast. . . I was getting pretty angry at the yellowtail bite so I went down to 15# flouro. Kelp didn't agree with me and broke off my 15# after about four casts.

As we were sitting on this spot, another boat popped up and it was hauling pots. Turns out they were fishing for sheeps. We saw them pull out the pot and they had about 15 short sheeps in the box. I don't think they had a single legal in the pot. But that was enough encouragement for me to drop some shrimp to the bottom. Turns out the blue perch loved my shrimp because they kept stripping it off my hook. . . After about 10 minutes of getting stripped, I threw away my pride and rigged up for some perch slayage. Luckily, the captain "saved" my pride and announced the last move of the day before my perch setup even hit the water.

The captain headed back up the coast one last time and said we would be spending our last 30 minutes with the rest of the fleet trying to scratch out some yellows. Hak is still running his same setup and I'm using 20# flouro as well. My third bait yeilds me another calico. And one of my later baits that was soaked for a long long long time got raked pretty hard. Looks like a bonito jacked it up pretty bad. I go through another streak of crappy baits that refuse to swim. Meanwhile, Hak goes bendo on number 3. SON OF A BITCH! Hak works this yellow on the stern and the captain sticks the yellow for him. Hak has a hat trick on Yellows. . . and I have two Calicos in the bag. I desperately send out bait after bait after bait and finally the captain fires up the engines and says, "That's all Folks."



[insert group yellowtail pictures]

Till next time, Tight lines!
-ISuckAtFishingDium

Excellent read as always......................thanks for the awesome report.