Skunked!!!

I can call it paying my dues, not adapting to the conditions or slow fishing but they all mean the same thing – I was skunked. The Los Angeles Rod and Reel Club 1.5 day charter on the Pacific Dawn returned Monday morning (8-25) with 16 passengers and 18 fish for the trip none of which were mine.

We fished WSW 60 miles from Point Loma along with the long range and overnight fleet. The previous two days had good fishing for 12 to 25 lb. albacore, 25 lb. yellowfin tuna and small dorado and yellowtail. That all changed. We picked up a dozen 5 to 7 lb. albacore (appropriately dubbed Albaguppies). Most of these were troll fish caught on small feathers. About 4 fish were caught on bait using 20 lb. line and a sinker. We had a couple albacore that could be called real fish that weighed in over 20 lbs. John Ballotti was the hot stick with an albacore and two yellowfin tuna. Jim Carlisle caught one albaguppy and Tom Carlisle caught two.

Fishing Area.

Mad Dog looking for fish.

Trolling and trolling and trolling - 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

I chose to troll with a Little Speedy looking for the bigger fish and didn’t switch to the smaller feathers. That’s called “not adapting.” We were one of the high boats with 18 fish whereas the Pacific Queen only had 3 fish for 40 anglers. That’s called “slow fishing.” I could say that I was paying my dues for the good fishing I’ve had this year but that’s just an excuse. I got skunked because that is fishing. I didn’t adapt, I was fishing poorly, and my timing and luck was off. It is also why I prefer to go on trips of at least 5 days. It gives the Captain time to find the biting fish and me time to adapt.

I didn’t go home without catching anything though – I caught a case of the Hives. By the time I got medication from the doctor Monday morning, it had spread all over my body including my head. The itching was horrible. Unfortunately the medication wasn’t aggressive enough to stop the allergic reaction and by the time I got to the ER Monday evening my upper lip had swollen to 10 times its’ normal size. An IV of Prednisone, Benadryl, Famotadine and saline solution halted the spread and swelling. The worst part is that we cannot determine the cause!

Normally I travel with Benadryl and an inhaler but not on overnight trips. That will change now. I also purchased Medjet Assist insurance. It provides flights from anywhere in the world back to my home hospital in a medical emergency. It only costs $350 per year for my husband and me. Check it out. http://www.medjetassist.com/ It’s reasonable if you ever need it.

Braid 4-Day on the Searcher 8/12 to 8/16

I don’t know how Art manages to make this a great trip year after year but he does. This year Owner/Captain Art Taylor ordered up four days of flat calm weather, put us on some biting tuna and delivered us to an all night bite on 30 to 40 pound yellowtail with a special appearance from Whitey.

We departed at noon last Tuesday on the annual Braid sponsored 4-Day trip on the Searcher with 27 passengers on-board. Passengers were pleased with the Slammer Jigs and T-shirts Dennis Braid sent for every passenger. Captain Taylor was at the helm assisted by loyal and capable crew members Kevin, Aaron, Kenny, Joe, Dustin and Galley Chef Chuck. It was a pleasure to have lunch served while the crew loaded bait. As we left the receivers with a nice load of cured sardines, Captain Art checked with the other boats in the code group. The fleet was fishing close to home so Art decided we would be fishing before sundown as the fish were only thirty miles from Point Loma. Most the boats had between 50 and 100 fish on board for the day. Art recommended we rig up our gear with 25 lb. line and 2/0 hooks.

We raced out to the tackle area on deck and worked quickly to get all our gear ready for the anticipated bite. If you haven’t been on the Searcher this year, you will be surprised at all the tackle space that’s available since the area was remodeled. There was plenty of room for all the tackle boxes. Around 6:30 the trolling jigs went out. Unfortunately for us, the fish had gone down by then. It’s been a morning bite so Captain Taylor said we would drift for the night and try to catch the morning bite.

We awoke to the sound of the engines starting as Art moved the boat to a position over a school of bluefin. The first bite was just at daybreak. Not a big fish but it was a bluefin. The school drifted with us for a couple hours as we picked away at fish that weighed 12 to 15 lbs. with an occasional larger yellowfin hitting the deck. After the bite slowed, I grabbed the little bass rod spooled with 12 lb. test that I had borrowed from John at the landing and threw out a sardine. Naturally it wasn’t one of the little bluefin that bit. It was a 23.8 lb. yellowfin that I had fun fighting using my thumbs for drags as the little reel just wasn’t made for tuna.

We pulled 25 bluefin and 9 yellowfin out of the school before they quit biting. We trolled around for another couple hours and picked up 3 baby albacore before Art said we were headed to Guadalupe Island – a 180 mile move. Art said to keep the trolling jigs out as we were still fishing - only now we were fishing kelps. The water was a deep blue and 71 degrees – perfect. Late in the day we found a large area of porpoise that produced another 5 yellowfin tuna. Just before sundown a nice kelp gave up 21 yellowtail and 7 dorado.

We arrived at the North end of the island at 9:30 the next morning. A quick check of the area then Captain Taylor put the anchor down close to pilot rock. The yellowtail boiled up and started biting right away. Flylining a sardine on 40 lb. was the ticket. These fish were all 25 to 40 lbs. with most over 30 lbs. The bite slowed after a couple hours so we looked around further north towards the windward side. We picked up a few slugs before moving back the Pilot Rock for the night. I decided to try my small Avet 2-speed reel spooled with 30 lb. line. It worked great and I landed a 33 lb. yellowtail on it. We caught a few big calico bass when the boat swung a little closer to the island kelp beds.

I handed off a couple fish to passengers that hadn't caught a fish yet - one to a young kid and the other to a gentleman from Alaska.

By sundown we had 90 of these big yellowtail and one 30 lb. yellowfin tuna for the day. Just after dinner, the crew caught and slabbed out some scad mackerel. Art said it was time to switch to the dropper loop with 16 ounces of weight. Everyone dropped a slab down and the fish began to bite. With 20 to 25 lines close together, massive tangles were inevitable. These home guard yellowtail were smart and managed to wrap themselves in multiple lines. The crew spent hours cutting lines and gear off the hooked fish requiring much rerigging to get a bait back in the water. Thirty more of these big fish were landed along with a 200 lb. black seabass (released) before the boat ran out of sinkers and everyone went to bed. Kevin told me that the white shark had made an appearance as well. Twenty-year old Janelle Ross (fishing with her parents and twin sister) caught and released the black seabass.

I had chosen to hit the bunk early so I got up early and found the deck empty. I still had sinkers in my tackle box. With the boat (and crewmember) to myself, I dropped a bait down on a 60 lb. dropper loop rig. As soon as my weight hit the bottom, I was bit. I managed 5 fish before most the other passengers awoke.

We switched to flylining baits at daybreak and that’s when whitey showed up looking for breakfast. As a yellowtail reached the surface close to the starboard gate, Whitey came out of the water parallel to the rail, dorsal fins high, mouth open and gulped down the yellowtail whole leaving us all stunned as he disappeared leaving a wake of churning water. With the crystal clear water, we were able to see him hanging below the boat waiting for us to bring in a fish for him to pick off. We all fed Whitey this morning, some of us more than others. I fed him 5 fish before we left for home around 9:30 a.m. In all, we caught 161 of these beautiful home guard yellows. Jackpot winners were Gary Holpuch of Golden Shores, AZ won first place for a 40.8-pound yellowtail, Greg Locke of San Diego tied with Ron Servis of Escondido for second place. Both men had 40-pound yellowtail.

My thanks to Art and his crew for another fun trip. I also want to thank Dennis Braid for sending me as his representative on this sponsored trip. Dennis was on the East Coast filming a show during which he caught a 629 lb. bluefin tuna.

Dennis Braid's 629 lb. Bluefin Tuna

976-KayakJan August 1st

We headed out at 5:30 a.m. Friday morning in order to get our bait before the sportboat rush at 6:00 a.m. There were four of us this day including Tim, John, and Eon. Tim and I bought a kayak scoop of bait at the cost of $10 which is a 100% increase since June. The sardines looked good but they hadn’t been cured so they didn’t last long on the hook.

The skies were overcast and the air was a warm 68 degrees as we left the harbor on flat calm seas. The water was 72 degrees with a strong 2 knot current pushing south. We headed out to the headlands. The current was so strong that the kelp at the headlands showed up on the fish finder looking like a false bottom just 12 feet below the surface. The lack of kelp on the surface was quite a change since my last kayak trip a month ago. It would have been nice to tie off to a kelp stringer since the current kept dragging us back towards the harbor requiring significant peddle power to keep getting back to the fishing grounds.

The Headlands

Eon was fishing a Zoom and catching fish with every cast. Tim and I were using sardines and catching kelp. John fished plastics but didn’t have much luck with them. My first fish was a 14 inch calico bass (released) caught on a 5 inch Rapala. Tim caught a couple of 21 inch white seabass (on sardines) – just 7 inches shy of being legal. Eon kept catching calicos, barracuda, sandbass and mackerel. He had the hot lure. Tim switched over to a Zoom and caught more fish than using the sardines. I finally switched to the Berkley Gulp Jerk Shad and caught a big sandbass followed by short calicos, mackerel and barracuda. Artificials proved to be the ticket again.

Tim Boyer on his Kayak

There was a lot more boat traffic around the headlands since the water warmed up. One boater trolled his lines right over me and did so with malice of forethought. One wonders what such a person is thinking. We headed back in around 1:30 p.m. after being on the water for 7 hours. My fish finder said we had traveled 12 miles!

Ringing Hooks - I ran out of my smaller ringed hooks so it was time to get out the welding equipment again. I put the butt rings (size 3) on two boxes of Mustad 92677 hooks; 50 hooks in size 1/0 and 50 hooks in size 2/0. I put flux on the rings and hung them on the new rack that Kub Ito made for me. It was perfect for holding the rings still while welding them (actually silver soldering). I pulled out my Mapp Gas and Oxygen tanks and hooked up my Little Torch and tried to light it. The oxygen wouldn’t flow even when I changed tanks. I gave up and tried the new little Butane torch that Jim Carlisle bought for me. It was perfect and easier to use than the Mapp Gas and cleaner burning too.

Ring holding rack made by Kub Ito

Anyone thinking that it costs too much to buy hooks already ringed should consider the cost and time to ring your own. The costs include buying the hooks, the butt rings (http://www.roscoinc.com/butt_rings.html), silver solder (56%), flux, and the welding equipment and fuel tanks. Add in the time involved (7 hours for 100 hooks) and buying hooks already ringed is a good deal. However, if you are retired as I am, it’s fun.