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The fourth weekend in a row, me and guide/buddy/Maestro SPDan hit the water. This time, for the first time, we re-visited a place previously fished.
What. A. Day.
Dan likes marathon outings... IN the water by 5, hit the exit point around 12:30 or 1:00 PM. Today was to be a 'short' trip, as he wanted to be out by 11:00.... so we decided to revisit a place instead of him giving me the Grande Tour of some new and exotic place.
It was cold. It was windy. It was misty and wet. The morning was unfolding slowly, with very few strikes and even less fish. My first three fish were two small Yellow Fin Croakers and a Mackerel. It was pretty eye-rolling.
Then it. was. on.
I got the hot stick and rattled off about 25 in the next couple of hours. Mostly Sand Bass. These fish were noticeably larger than last week - rattled off 8 legals, with an 18", a 16.5", a couple between 15 and 15.5" and a few 14 inchers... very respectable. And all fighters. I was stoked.
We emerged from structure pretty unscathed this week... as opposed to last week when we returned to open water with strained knots, frayed lined, frayed baits, frayed nerves. Part of this is because both Dan and I upgraded the gear this week....
I moved to 30 Braid and 12 Flouro, and was fishing almost exclusively 3/8th ounce HUBs. On my 'heavy rod', I tied on a 5/8th ounce.... basically dropping an anvil when compared to the 1/4 ounce we usually fish. But the strategy was sound:
* Fewer breakoffs (as in maybe a couple)
* Fewer lost baits (like, 3 or 4 the whole day..... as opposed to the tackle shop I lost last week)
* More fish in the tube
Back to the emerging.... so last week when we got back into open water, Dan stuck a lunker Halibut - fought it for a good bit and it snapped him off...
(see also: strained knots, frayed lined, frayed baits, frayed frayness....)
Today, he returned to the SAME SPOT - but armed with a bigger gun and he stuck and even bigger fish.
The Battle
I was pinning on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] when this happened.... He had one rod stuck in the kelp, and fishzilla on the other rod. I landed and released my fish, wound up my lines and kicked over to him like a mercury outboard. I told him to hand me the stuck rod so he could put a proper fight on.
When I arrived, one of my HUB's at the end of one of my rods poked him in the collar as I sidled up for the rod hand-off.... of course it grabbed his jacket. So now he's on fishzilla, he's handed off the stuck rod to me, but one of my rods is pinned to his jacket pulling on my rod holder. Cue the Benny Hill theme....
I reached out, cut my line and kicked away from him, he frees my collar-embedded HUB and returns 100% to fight the fish.
I kick over and free his stuck HUB from the stubborn kelp paddy about the time he turned fishzilla and called to me "its a big 'but....." (perhaps he was a bit more colorful with the mid-fight language...
) I grabbed my cam and started recording video of the fight and grabbing stills. I must have taken 6 minutes of combined video and about 40 stills. It wasn't a short fight - this thing was stubborn and would poke his head out, and drop back - poke out, slide away. With Dan's 30 Braid and 15 Izor this fish was going no place.
He at last got the thing in. Unreal fish. The same place as he busted off last week - returning with heavier gear and nailing it. To say I'm impressed would be to engage in reckless understatement. Learn. Make a plan. Work your plan. Fish-on! Awesome. Nicely done, buddy.
On the kick back in, I padded the numbers a bit more, grabbed two more species and finished the day with 40 fish. Including a 19.5" Halibut.
The Gear Section
* Upgraded leaders all around to 12#
* Added another spinning rod - a light one with 10# Braid and 10# leader to cast the light 1/4 oz baits along the walls and docks. This is the finesse rig, and it pulled in the 19.5" Halibut at the end of the day
* Added two Bait Casting rod holders to the rig (was storing baitcasters in spinning rod holders....) what a difference. They're fast to get the rod out of the holder, more secure when in the holder and my worries of having sleeper rod pulled overboard again are now gone.
What I learned
* I love fishing light gear - but it can be tough. LA Harbor is a rough place, and it eats light gear. Going to heavier leaders let me land more fish in less time. I won't fish 12# leaders in, say, shallow Huntington or Los Alamitos. But it made a huge difference here.
* Hook Up baits rule. That is all.
* Bat Rays are funny. my first cast on the way in, along the breakwall with a 1/4 oz HUB on the light finesse rig.... it hit the water at the base of the wall.... landed on the back of a Bat Ray and in about a nanosecond it was plop-zip-SNAP.... I apparently made a face, because Dan was laughing and laughing....
Notes for next trip
* Reconfig rod holders and Fish Finder. I like taking at least 3 rods out... and today I took 4. I will likely bring that quiver next time, too: 2 spin (light finesse, medium finesse) and 2 Baitcasters (medium and the meat stick bruiser rig).... I have the choreography of 3 rods down to a finely polished dance. 4 rods and I'm a Klutz.
* I need to bring a net. I almost grabbed one of my nets today... I should have. Add that to the tube gear
* Install Pee Valve TOMORROW....
* Tighten up the rod holders. I keep them mostly tight on the Cast Mate system so I can lean them in and out.... well today I had a rod pulled completely down to the water. I need to tighten these up.
* Toss a screwdriver into the kit (see above) for on-water repairs
Once again, super grateful for Dan and his ongoing mentoring. Lets do this again next week.
Pics and video to follow.
- Ken
What. A. Day.
Dan likes marathon outings... IN the water by 5, hit the exit point around 12:30 or 1:00 PM. Today was to be a 'short' trip, as he wanted to be out by 11:00.... so we decided to revisit a place instead of him giving me the Grande Tour of some new and exotic place.
It was cold. It was windy. It was misty and wet. The morning was unfolding slowly, with very few strikes and even less fish. My first three fish were two small Yellow Fin Croakers and a Mackerel. It was pretty eye-rolling.
Then it. was. on.
I got the hot stick and rattled off about 25 in the next couple of hours. Mostly Sand Bass. These fish were noticeably larger than last week - rattled off 8 legals, with an 18", a 16.5", a couple between 15 and 15.5" and a few 14 inchers... very respectable. And all fighters. I was stoked.
We emerged from structure pretty unscathed this week... as opposed to last week when we returned to open water with strained knots, frayed lined, frayed baits, frayed nerves. Part of this is because both Dan and I upgraded the gear this week....
I moved to 30 Braid and 12 Flouro, and was fishing almost exclusively 3/8th ounce HUBs. On my 'heavy rod', I tied on a 5/8th ounce.... basically dropping an anvil when compared to the 1/4 ounce we usually fish. But the strategy was sound:
* Fewer breakoffs (as in maybe a couple)
* Fewer lost baits (like, 3 or 4 the whole day..... as opposed to the tackle shop I lost last week)
* More fish in the tube
Back to the emerging.... so last week when we got back into open water, Dan stuck a lunker Halibut - fought it for a good bit and it snapped him off...
(see also: strained knots, frayed lined, frayed baits, frayed frayness....)Today, he returned to the SAME SPOT - but armed with a bigger gun and he stuck and even bigger fish.
The Battle
I was pinning on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] when this happened.... He had one rod stuck in the kelp, and fishzilla on the other rod. I landed and released my fish, wound up my lines and kicked over to him like a mercury outboard. I told him to hand me the stuck rod so he could put a proper fight on.
When I arrived, one of my HUB's at the end of one of my rods poked him in the collar as I sidled up for the rod hand-off.... of course it grabbed his jacket. So now he's on fishzilla, he's handed off the stuck rod to me, but one of my rods is pinned to his jacket pulling on my rod holder. Cue the Benny Hill theme....
I reached out, cut my line and kicked away from him, he frees my collar-embedded HUB and returns 100% to fight the fish.
I kick over and free his stuck HUB from the stubborn kelp paddy about the time he turned fishzilla and called to me "its a big 'but....." (perhaps he was a bit more colorful with the mid-fight language...
) I grabbed my cam and started recording video of the fight and grabbing stills. I must have taken 6 minutes of combined video and about 40 stills. It wasn't a short fight - this thing was stubborn and would poke his head out, and drop back - poke out, slide away. With Dan's 30 Braid and 15 Izor this fish was going no place.He at last got the thing in. Unreal fish. The same place as he busted off last week - returning with heavier gear and nailing it. To say I'm impressed would be to engage in reckless understatement. Learn. Make a plan. Work your plan. Fish-on! Awesome. Nicely done, buddy.
On the kick back in, I padded the numbers a bit more, grabbed two more species and finished the day with 40 fish. Including a 19.5" Halibut.
The Gear Section
* Upgraded leaders all around to 12#
* Added another spinning rod - a light one with 10# Braid and 10# leader to cast the light 1/4 oz baits along the walls and docks. This is the finesse rig, and it pulled in the 19.5" Halibut at the end of the day
* Added two Bait Casting rod holders to the rig (was storing baitcasters in spinning rod holders....) what a difference. They're fast to get the rod out of the holder, more secure when in the holder and my worries of having sleeper rod pulled overboard again are now gone.
What I learned
* I love fishing light gear - but it can be tough. LA Harbor is a rough place, and it eats light gear. Going to heavier leaders let me land more fish in less time. I won't fish 12# leaders in, say, shallow Huntington or Los Alamitos. But it made a huge difference here.
* Hook Up baits rule. That is all.
* Bat Rays are funny. my first cast on the way in, along the breakwall with a 1/4 oz HUB on the light finesse rig.... it hit the water at the base of the wall.... landed on the back of a Bat Ray and in about a nanosecond it was plop-zip-SNAP.... I apparently made a face, because Dan was laughing and laughing....
Notes for next trip
* Reconfig rod holders and Fish Finder. I like taking at least 3 rods out... and today I took 4. I will likely bring that quiver next time, too: 2 spin (light finesse, medium finesse) and 2 Baitcasters (medium and the meat stick bruiser rig).... I have the choreography of 3 rods down to a finely polished dance. 4 rods and I'm a Klutz.
* I need to bring a net. I almost grabbed one of my nets today... I should have. Add that to the tube gear
* Install Pee Valve TOMORROW....
* Tighten up the rod holders. I keep them mostly tight on the Cast Mate system so I can lean them in and out.... well today I had a rod pulled completely down to the water. I need to tighten these up.
* Toss a screwdriver into the kit (see above) for on-water repairs
Once again, super grateful for Dan and his ongoing mentoring. Lets do this again next week.
Pics and video to follow.
- Ken
