Dano and Laguna Put The SMACK On Local SALT!

First word I can think of is WOW! Dano67 and I talked about going fishing on my boat on Thursday and with work not cooperating for either of us, we decided to see if we can slip on out to do a local salt trip on Tuesday afternoon. Got the green light from Dano and hitched my baby, packed some tackle and met up with Dano at the launch! On the water at about 3pm ish'. The conditions were pretty good. Winds were about 7 knots. Current was light. Went to our first spot to fish structure in about 35'. Dano and I picked at the spot pretty good for 2 short bass. One Calico and one Sandy. I can see the fish on the meter but they didn't want to go. I know this spot for a later in the day more towards sunset to start producing. Plus the current was down hill and not strong at this time of day. We picked up the trolling motor and ran towards another reef 4.2 miles out. Man sure is nice to be on the water! The air temp was nice as Dano and I both in short sleeves, motoring 30 knots to the next spot. Metered around and found a few fish on the reef but I didn't see the conditions I wanted to drop the lines. I asked Dano what he wanted to do as we could motor towards Huntington Beach and fish structure in that area or we could motor towards Palos Verdes and fish the checkers in the "weeds" Kelp. We decided to go to PV as the main focus is to fish the bass from north to south later in the afternoon. After a 12 mile trek, we arrive at the mecca of Calicos in my book. Found the conditions to be pretty good, with a decent current and the kelp stringers laying down. Just what I like to fish the checkers in the lettuce. The thing that was not working for us was the winds. The afternoon winds really picked up making it difficult to pick apart the area and where the Calico's would be hanging out. Dano see's a TON of bait fish including nice cracker sized Mackerals chasing his swim bait to the boat each time. Not a good sign. Wind was really working us, and I really wanted for Dano and I to start sticking fish without a ton of work. I made a call to move to my next spot. A rise from 75' to 40' to 15' area. We get there and drop the troll motor and in a few casts, we start sticking fish. We stayed in this area and must have caught 15 to 20 mixed bag bass in about 1.5 hours. All about 12 to 14 inches. Dano and I were having a BLAST!! At this time it prime time to move to our spot for the night where we will be concentrating. Time is about 6:30pm. Short boat trip about 5 minutes and we take a look at the outer area called the Breakwall. Conditions were good for the outer side but I wanted to catch quantity fish. Outer required some heavier gear and the fish are BRUTS and not as many. So we move to the inner area. Set up a nice troll motor assisted drift and immediately it was hook up! This is where I will let the photos tell the story. Dano adapted SUPER FAST to the style of fishing and I have to say, Dano is one freaking good STICK! He had some tackle issues as this type of fishing is all new to him. Boy did he PUT THE SMACK DOWN on! Let the Dano clinic Begin! Dano sticks FAT Calico's left and right! Man I am excited to fish with this guy! So long story short, here's the count. Dano and I caught so many fish fish, and QUALITY fish to boot, we stopped counting. We did not leave the water until 1AM!

Count: OVER 70 Bass Caught! Most in the 12 to 15" size with about 12 to 15 bass pushing the 4LB range. Maybe bigger! 4 Gopher Rockfish with one REAL FAT Gopher Rock!
Baits: Big Hammers on 1/2oz Heads in various colors 4" and 5"
Smiths Handpoured Baits in the football Jig ( I will let Dano say what he used.)
Madbasser custom jigs

I have to ad, I LOVE fishing with Dano! This guy is so much fun and his excitement sure rubs off on me! One of the nicest guys I have the pleasure of knowing! I will let Dano fill in the rest of the details and tell his story of the night! All I know is I have to go to BPS to get a few things! Boat is out front and I have to get ready to head on out to a commercial production meeting now. Hope you guys enjoyed the report and now on to the photos! There is one short non edited video as the night was just too off the hook to even stop and get a bite to eat! However, I have to ad, cold roast beef sandwich from Togo's and a Diet Coke sure did hit the spot! On a side note, I am ordering a BUNCH of Smiths Handpoured Baits Football Jigs with the skirts. I have a new way I want to fish them and I am going to name it the Dano Special!

Sorry we missed ya Madbasser! Dano and I talked about ya all night and how you would have LOVED and we would have loved to have you with us! We would have been way over 100 in fish count! Next time Mad!

Good times, great friends, and my thumb is RAW! BTW: Dano LIPPED THEM BASS! WOO HOO!! We caught and released so many bass both our wrists and arms were sore!

We Really did Stop taking photos! LOL!

LC






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Looks like a killer trip!!

That looks soooooooooooooooo fun!!!!!!!!!
Love the "doubles" pics. Must have been awsome to have double hooked up!!
Glad the baits worked out for u guys. I have a pile of those football heads at the house.

I wish I coulda' been there hahahaha. Next time guys fo' sho'.

Madbasser wrote:That looks soooooooooooooooo fun!!!!!!!!!
Love the "doubles" pics. Must have been awsome to have double hooked up!!
Glad the baits worked out for u guys. I have a pile of those football heads at the house.

I wish I coulda' been there hahahaha. Next time guys fo' sho'.

Mad,

The ones with the skirts and weedless guards were awesome. Do you have any more that I can buy from you. I dont think I lost one bait on the kelp when rigged as the Dano Special

Cool trip you guys [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
I be there one day
good picture and video [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Damn boys that is the way it is done, nice work with the jetty jig. Looks like you guys had a great time out there keep up the good work.

yo could call it the "5-O"
HOOK EM" DANO!

looks like you guys had great fun!
bunch of nice fish!

Way to go guys, looks like you had a great time!

Thanks everyone! I forgot to mention, the photos with Dano and I both with fish, they were double hook ups! We had several doubles going! Super fun! Dano has photos and a video in his camera too. I think he is still recovering from getting home at 3am!

Awesome job guys those are some nice fish! Looked like you guys got a couple Sculpin in that mix of fish. Would have been nice to just have gone as the camera man!

I will get the pics up soon. My finger is almost better!

Vagabond wrote:Awesome job guys those are some nice fish! Looked like you guys got a couple Sculpin in that mix of fish. Would have been nice to just have gone as the camera man!

Heck no! Throw you on the boat and come fish with us sometime! We have fun just being on the water! Those fish you see are Gopher Rockfish.

Dano67 wrote:I will get the pics up soon. My finger is almost better!

Oh is that why you have not said anything LOL!! Your finger is fine! My thumb is doing great but you know what finger hurts like crap??? The right index finger that I shoved down the throat of that fat calico to get your hammer back! LOL!

Yeah I wasnt going to bring that up At least the Hammer was able to continue on. I was bowling last night and i couldnt figure out why my wrist hurt. Must have been fish strain!!

Here is my batch of Pics.

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Sweet pics Dano! Where are the pics of you!!???

Dano67 wrote:
Mad,

The ones with the skirts and weedless guards were awesome. Do you have any more that I can buy from you. I don't think I lost one bait on the kelp when rigged as the Dano Special

I see that u rigged one with and up-side down swimbait. Is that Dano' Special' ?

Do u get better action on it that way? If it catches fish that's all that matters. Something new.

Wow! Awesome trip for you guys!

lagunaCOCONUT wrote:Sweet pics Dano! Where are the pics of you!!???

Think they were blocked at the office. I will post pics and a report when I get home tonight.

Madbasser wrote:

Dano67 wrote:
Mad,

The ones with the skirts and weedless guards were awesome. Do you have any more that I can buy from you. I don't think I lost one bait on the kelp when rigged as the Dano Special

I see that u rigged one with and up-side down swimbait. Is that Dano' Special' ?

Do u get better action on it that way? If it catches fish that's all that matters. Something new.

I'll tell you what Mad, the swimbaits get beat up sooooo bad, either you constantly change your bait every 2 to 3 fish or do what I have been doing. I rig my swimbait any way I can that will keep it on the jig head! I mean I had them rigged sideways, upside down, out the other side, cut short, you name it, I did it! As long as there was action from that tail, it didn't matter how you rigged them! As for Dano's Special, they are going to kick butt!

I think I'm going to have to rig some up for the SD trip. Could be a special ticket for those mad fat spotty's or I could do the usual and still catch the fatties

Can We Go YET?

have you guys tried any other trailers?
say a swimming "senko" type worm?
or a craw type?

Dano67 wrote:I think I'm going to have to rig some up for the SD trip. Could be a special ticket for those mad fat spotty's or I could do the usual and still catch the fatties

Can We Go YET?

I am rigging a few for sure for the SD Trip!

Are weeeee there yetttttt???

smith's handpoured baits wrote:have you guys tried any other trailers?
say a swimming "senko" type worm?
or a craw type?

Not in the salt yet for me with Senko trailers. I have fished your basic Pig and Jigs with craw type trailers. Even used the old school Uncle Josh pork trailers before. Honestly, on some days, the current is just not on your side and you loose so many jigs in the rocks. I tend to stay away from the more costly jigs. Some nights, in 10 minutes you are retying 8 times.

hi i'm a new member. I see u guy's are going to SD. Do you know if any one is tubing NPH saterday? i'm not quit sure how to use the site. i dont know how to post to the wall for every one to see and answer the post could you tell me how to do that? thank you.