Kayak Fishing at SCI

Jack and I met up with Tim at Dana Point Jet Ski and Kayak Center (now Pure Watersports) in Dana Point Thursday afternoon.  Tim was loading our kayaks on his truck so we put all our gear in the truck bed.  By 2 p.m. we were headed to San Diego to board the Islander for 2 1/2 days of kayak fishing at San Clemente Island.

A nice seafood dinner at Mitch's Seafood and it was time to board.  All our gear was loaded into carts and rolled down the ramps so the crew could load it on the Islander. We wheeled our kayaks down next to the boat for crew to load. Kayaks were stowed on racks over the bait tanks, paddles on top of the bait tanks, kayak bait tanks lined the base of the boat's bait tanks, rods along the side of the wheelhouse and the rest of our gear stowed on tackle racks.  A very efficient operation.

We departed around 7:30 p.m. and stopped at the bait receiver to pick up bait - a mix of mackerel and sardines.  I brought 3 bags of frozen squid from my Rail Time trip last week which I shared with Tim and Jack.

John Coniff, owner and Captain, told us the weather would be great but most the Island would be closed for military operations.  We would arrive at the island around 5:30 a.m. and we could fish Pyramid Cove until 10:30 a.m., reload the kayaks and vacate the cove by 11 a.m. when military operations would begin.  John said he would call his contact on the island to see where else we could fish.  We were all tired and hit the bunks by 9 p.m.

I barely slept at all the first night and finally got up at 3:30 a.m. Friday morning.  We were still traveling but the seas were fairly calm and low clouds obscured the stars.

Breakfast was at 5:30 and Chef Rick planned and prepared our meals for the trip.  Rick's menu for day one included banana pancakes, burritos and pork chops.  Day two started with huevos rancheros followed by bacon cheeseburgers and BBQ ribs.  All very good.

While everyone was eating breakfast around 5:30, the captain anchored the boat in Pyramid Cove. Crew began launching kayaks as soon as someone was ready.

 

I decided to let most the other 19 passengers load and launch so I could take my time setting  up my kayak since it had been several months since I used it.  As I expected, I needed help putting in my seat and attaching cables to my fish finder.  The crew dropped my kayak off the stern, I stood on the swim step and plopped myself right into the seat of my kayak.  I was handed my peddles, paddle and fishing rods and I was off.  We all had our marine radios so we could keep in contact with the big boat and skiff if we needed anything.

Fishing was slow at first then small calicos bit plus large schools of blue perch attacked our baits.  I caught a few whitefish as well but no seabass or yellowtail for me.  I was even able to fish the prime spot where we picked up seabass and yellowtail the previous week on the Rail Time.  Unfortunately, we were unable to fish that spot in the afternoon which is when they bit last week.  There were a handful of 8 to 10 lb. yellowtail caught and Tim caught a halibut and one of the yellowtail.

We were all back at the boat by 10:30, kayaks loaded and out of the cove by 11 a.m.  We traveled up the front side of the island quite a distance before we were able to launch the kayaks again.  Chef Rick served us lunch during our travel time.

We fished the front side of the island and fishing was poor until late afternoon when there was a short flurry of calicos biting.



The weather was wonderful - sunny, hot, and calm seas.  Plus throughout the day the skiff picked up our fish, tagged them and put them in the hold of the big boat.  At the same time the skiff picked up our fish, it delivered bait, water and cold beer.  Nothing greater than sitting in your kayak fishing and drinking a cold beer.

I called it a day around 5 p.m. and took a shower and plugged in all my electronics and batteries to recharge them for the next day.  I had put over 14 miles of peddling on my knees and had been afraid I wouldn't be able to do two days in a row but it wasn't a problem.  Everyone was back aboard by 7:45 - just in time for our 8 p.m. dinner.  As soon as dinner was over, we all hit the bunks.  None of us had trouble sleeping the second night.

Saturday morning found us anchored close to the island.  About 5 a.m., John moved the boat out and close to where we started fishing on Friday.  Big calicos were biting right away.  I was still fishing squid and hadn't even turned my bait tank on.  Mostly I used a dropper loop on 40# fluorocarbon or sliding sinker on 30#.  I hooked a couple big fish that went straight into the kelp but I lost them.  The only fish I pulled through the kelp happened to be a big sheepshead.

10:30 a.m. rolled around too soon and we were loading our kayaks back on the boat for a move.  This time John just moved us around the corner and fishing was much better.  Most the fish were big calicos but one big halibut was caught as well.  Tim and I fished rockfish for a short time then decided it was too much work fishing 300 feet deep.  I did catch a big chucklehead and copper rockfish.  Tim caught two reds and a couple other rockfish to go with his catch.

Late afternoon, I was trolling my dropper loop with a piece of squid dangling from the hook as I was moving up the island looking for hard bottom instead of eel grass and kelp when an 18 inch calico slammed me.  I stuck him on my game hook and continued on my way with the same piece of squid dangling and was slammed again with another 18 inch calico.  Normally I don't keep calico's, however, it became clear that there is no shortage of calicos at SCI.  I caught so many it was almost boring.  By day's end, I was out of squid and live bait so I fished a dead sardine and was slammed again by a big calico.

I ran out of all bait at 4:30 and decided to call it a day.  The rest the kayakers stayed out and straggled back to the boat between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. We had beer, wine and ribs and were feeling very fortunate to have had such a fun trip together.  Jackpot was settled, we took photos then crew filleted our fish.  The two halibuts took first and second JP and Tim won second jackpot.

The ride back to Point Loma was flat calm without a ripple all night long and we all slept like babies.  We entered the harbor at 6 a.m. Sunday, docked at 6:30 a.m. then unloaded, packed up the truck (5 kayaks plus gear and fish) and on the road home by 8:00 a.m.  A quick stop in Cardiff for breakfast at Swami's (Tim spent his winnings to treat us all to breakfast.  Thanks, Tim.)  We also stopped by his new Pure Watersports shop in Oceanside to drop off one of the kayaks.  It's right on coast highway with great visibility.  We were back in Dana around 10:00 a.m.   Our trip was over but not the memories.

Rail Time Tails

Thursday evening, June 16th, I met up with Jeff, Jim, Steve, Randy and Tom at the Fish Camp for a pre-trip dinner.  After our dinner, we drove barely a block to Peter's Landing and boarded the Rail Time for a fishing trip originally scheduled for two days that was scaled back to one day due to high winds and choppy seas.  Owner and Captain Gary Adams greeted us and introduced our crew as Anthony (new) and Andy.  Jacob was off.

We stopped at the receiver to pick up some live squid before heading out of the harbor.

The trip across the channel was bumpy but not too bad.  I woke up at 2:00 am with lights from the squid boats shining in my face.  We had just arrived at the west end of the Island.  Gary moved the boat around several times trying to get the squid to float so he could top off the tanks.  Several of us got up, finished setting up gear and tried a little dropper loop fishing for white seabass.  Encountering no action, I went back to sleep until dawn - around 5 to 5:30 am.

Gary suggested we set up a 30# outfit, with fluorocarbon, a half ounce sliding sinker and an Ahi Twist 5/0 hook, plus a 40# dropper loop outfit with a 6 ounce sinker.

We fished several spots until Gary moved us further off the island and the yellowtail began to bite.  I hooked a nice one early that the sea lion took after I fought it several minutes.  Eventually I caught a couple yellowtail but neither were as big as the first one.  We had very good action but had to weed through the sea lions to get half of what we hooked, if that much.  The action died off after an hour so we went looking again.

There was a south swell and big waves were crashing on shore preventing shallow water fishing close to the island. The winds were mild in the morning making for a pleasant fishing experience. 

Andy was our chef for the trip and made us bacon and egg sandwiches for breakfast and cheeseburgers for lunch.  Both were outstanding.

Gary eventually set us up on a spot about a mile off the island in 72 feet of water just outside a kelp line.  We started catching nice big calico bass and smaller yellowtail.  We also caught bonito, whitefish, and sheepshead.  I hooked a good fish that took me around the boat before the hook pulled.  We realized a few minutes later that it had been a white seabass on my line as Jeff and Tom started landing white seabass. 

Fishing was very good but we had many casualties - pulled hooks, parting line, tangles etc.  We began releasing all yellowtail as we had more than we all wanted or needed.  By the end of the day, we had 8 nice seabass, 5 calicos for Jeff's wife and 20 or 30 yellowtail.  (Jeff's wife had requested variety beyond seabass because Jeff already brought home several seabass he caught this season including a 63 and 50+ pounder.)

It was a great day of fishing with good friends.  Gary and his crew are very mellow and very good at their job.  On the way home, Andy and Anthony filleted all our fish and even bagged me some squid for my kayak mothership trip next week.  

Rail Time is a comfortable boat with a great crew.  I'm looking forward to my next trip on the Rail Time.  Thanks Jeff for inviting me to join your Charter.

Jeff's Collage from the trip!