Islander Kayak Trip

Jim Carlisle picked me up around 12:30 p.m. Thursday.  We loaded up my gear and headed to Dana Point Kayak Center to take my kayak off the rack and ensure it got loaded on either Tim or someone elses truck for a ride to San Diego.  Mike Ponce's father took it on his truck.  Thank you. 

We got to Fisherman's Landing around 3 p.m. and headed to Mitch's for a beer.  When the rest of the kayak fishermen arrived, we all had dinner at Mitch's.  Around 6 p.m. we rolled our kayaks down to the Islander and the crew loaded them on the racks.  Then we loaded all our gear on the boat.  We departed for San Clemente Island around 9 p.m. on flat calm seas.

Friday morning we awoke at the Island and quickly outfitted our kayaks so the crew could just drop them in the ocean so we could crawl in from the swim step.  It wasn't long until we realized the fish were not in the biting mode and if that wasn't bad enough, the wind came up.  At noon, Captain John said we needed to empty our bait tanks and get back to the boat so they could load the kayaks back on the boat and take us to a safer area without wind.  The weather was better but not the fishing.  I had a couple short calicos and one 14 incher. 

After dinner the crew and some passengers made squid for the next day's fishing.  Jim and I had brought frozen squid which worked as well as anything.  I crashed early as I was exhausted having traveled 8 miles in my kayak.

Saturday dawned in calm seas and sunny skies.  The kayaks were mostly set up from the previous day making it easy to get back out fishing.  Still poor fishing except for those fishing for rock fish.  Jim and I preferred to fish for other species.  The morning still sucked but the afternoon was better.  We got into an area that had a bait ball and calicos and perch in them.  I pulled out calico bass, blue perch, a sheepshead and a couple white fish.  A sea lion grabbed one of my blue perch and took me for a ride for a few minutes.  That was fun.  It was also great getting beer and bait delivered right to our kayaks.

I called it a day at 7 p.m.  I had traveled 9 miles.  Not bad for having bad knees.

Most of the crew on the Islander were new since last year.  Jacob was cooking and this was just his second trip.  He did a great job too.  All the crew were fantastic and very helpful.  Dave, Ryan, Steve, and Cameron.  Thanks guys!

Jim and I released all our fish so no filet bill or fish to process at home. The trip back to dock was as smooth as it could be.  Not even a ripple on the water.  We got to dock at 6:30 and unloaded tackle first then the kayaks.  I was home by 9 a.m. 

Tribute at SCI

I was fortunate to get an invite from Ron Moy to fish his 1.5 Day Charter on the Tribute out of Seaforth Landing.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the landing and met up with several guys that I enjoy fishing with on the Merritt November Charter including Cliff, Chris, John and Josh.

Yuma Rick even came to the landing to greet us although he couldn't make the trip.

Tribute's owner/Captain, Mike Pritchard ran the trip with Daniel in the Galley and Big Dave playing deckhand rather than his normal position as Captain or second Captain.  We had another Captain on board, Steve, and 2 other deckhands.

I had hoped we would head to the tuna grounds but Mike decided we would fish San Clemente Island instead.  His decision was based on the sketchy catching on the bluefin grounds and because about half of the passengers were inexperienced.  Mike felt they would do better fishing for yellowtail and rockfish.  He was right.

We departed Thursday evening around 10 p.m. and had a fairly smooth ride to the island.  We purchased some live squid from a light boat at the island then went to Pyramid Cove to set up for morning fishing.

Typical set up for white seabass - small glow sliding sinker and ahi twist hook on 30# or dropper loop.  I fished the sliding sinker.  I was bit immediately by a yellowtail, however, after going around the boat once the line snapped.  The end of line looked like it had been sliced twice diagonally.  It was new fluorocarbon too.  That was my only yellowtail bite too. 

We hooked a few yellowtail and only one made it through the sealions.  A big black seabass was hooked on 25 pound line and brought to the boat in 45 minutes.  Pictures were taken then a release clip with 10 pounds of weight was clipped to the black's lip and sent to the bottom.  It took a little time but the fish made a kick and headed back to the bottom. 

Mike moved the boat a couple times and we picked up a couple more yellowtail then we headed to the back side of the island to fish rockfish.

I set up a two hook gagnion with plain hooks.  I hadn't brought any Kenji Flies because I didn't expect to be rockfishing.  I started with an 8 ounce sinker then had to move up to a 12 ounce one to counter the strong current and winds gusting to 20 knots.  I managed three nice reds, 1 lingcod, 1 sand dab and a few other rock fish that I gave away. It was slow fishing however the camaraderie made up for it.

We fished until dark then we moved back into Pyramid Cove for dinner.  Daniel served us a great tri-tip dinner then we hit the bunks.  We were awakened Saturday morning around 5 to come pay our tabs.  We were back at dock and on our way home by 6:30 a.m.

Mike and his crew were excellent and Ron did a great job as Chartermaster (thanks Ron).  I look forward to fishing with this group again.