3 Day trip on the First String 7/23-26

[Fishy247]

Sorry for the late report, been really rather busy since my return!

I'm not sure of where to start on this report, because I started prepping for it several weeks ahead of time. I kinda felt like I was prepping for a 10-day, rather than a 3-day...lol. Either way, here we go.

Loaded up the gear into my Prius the night before, after work. It's pretty amazing how much stuff I can fit in there. My 172qt Costco special, 13 rods, tackle and reel bags, 2 duffels, and my day pack. Just to be clear, I was loading for 2...hahaha. We made halfway decent time getting down to SD from Santa Cruz, arriving about 6:15 or so. Got checked in, found a parking spot, and got our gear loaded into a cart. We ended up with only 14 passengers! The First String, for those that don't know, is a 93' boat. LOTS of room to fish! With such a light load, the skipper gave his intro and "what we'll be doing" speech on the dock instead of on deck. Our plan was to go south and paddy-hop for yellows and dorado for the first day and a half, then head up to the Desperation reef area to try for some of the monster Bluefin that had been biting. We managed to score a stateroom all to ourselves and hit the rack once we were loaded with bait and rods set up.

Got up before daybreak on day 1(stupid work schedule has me programmed!) and finished getting ready. We started looking for kelps as soon as it was light enough. It didn't take long before we found our first one and I was reminded of why I LOVE this type of fishing....The rat yellows were thicker than horse snot on that thing! We could have very easily gotten full 3 day limits for the boat, including crew off the first kelp! I think we put on 50-60 fish before pulling off to find another. We bounced from kelp to kelp all day, with some being dry, but most holding at least some fish. We mostly caught yellows for the first 2/3's of the day. After we had put a good dent in our daily limits, we started getting picky about what we kept, as there are some mighty big(for paddy's) yellows mixed in. I was having a heck of a time landing the larger fish though. I think the exhaustion from my daily grind at work and prep for this trip must have impaired my abilities! I'll have to account for that next time! Oh well, I still managed to land a couple of quality yellows by the end of the day. My Significant Other followed what has become a pattern over our past few fishing trips. She got a couple of nice yellows that first day too. Hers were a little bit bigger than mine...lol. Same thing with the dorado we caught! (I'll post some pics when I get a chance) She got herself a VERY nice bull dorado! (Her first) Very proud of her 
By the end of the first day, we had 2 day limits of yellowtail and 1 day limits of dorado, with quite a few quality fish mixed in. Very good fishing!


Day 2 was more of the same, except we were being very picky about what we kept. My SO wasn't fishing nearly as hard as she had on the first day. We spent half the day hitting kelps and working our way back to the north. As we climbed in altitude, the kelps got emptier. We di see some pretty amazing stuff during that first half, however. It's pretty cool, I think, to pull up on a kelp and have 12-15 3'-4' dorado charge your bait as soon as it hits the water! We easily finished up our 3 day limits on the yellows and added another day's limit of dorado.  We did need to keep trekking north, though, if we were going to be in position to target those big Bluefin!

We arrived at San Clemente Island, off the southwest shore, in an area called Desperation Reef at about midnight. (It got its name from the old days when boats would fish there if fishing was tough at the island, so that people would have fish to take home) The fish had been biting the past couple of days between the hours of 3AM to 9AM. We motored around looking for fish and found some that seemed to be holding in an area. Everyone was pretty much fishing glow in the dark flatfalls. I was fishing a Tiburon 16 2 speed with 80# spectra and 80# fluoro topshot, with a 130# fluoro shock leader. Thanks to John Vadney for the loaner! The fish came through at one point, and we started hooking up. I happened to be one of the lucky ones! It was the weirdest bite though. It felt like I was in a tangle or had some lines on mine, as I could feel something rubbing. It must have been the fish's jaws! Whatever it was, I came tight to it and it started taking me up to the bow. He decided that he didn't like that direction, so he shot off under the boat. The skipper happened to be right there as I was trying to work my fish up around the bow, and told me that I was hung up on the sonar. We needed to work it back around to the stern! D'OH! He got on my line with the push pole(basically a gaff with 2 tines pointing straight and spread out like a giant "Y") and we worked my line all the way back and cleared the running gear. (YAY!) The fish took me to the port corner and headed straight out. I barely had time to get set for the straight out fight when he turned around and charged the boat! I started grinding like mad to catch up to him, but I felt the hooks come right out of his mouth....
I reeled in and there wasn't a single scrape on my leader or anything. He just plain came unbuttoned. Disappointing, but it felt good to pull on it. We hooked 4 fish out that flurry and only got 1. The one that we got taped out to about 140#. It had also spit the hook, but the angler had replaced the 2 7/0 stock assist hooks with a single LARGE VMC inline hook that snagged him in the tail! We got 2 other behemoths that day that weighed in at 160# and 194#. The skipper got the 194 and gave out huge chunks of loins to anyone that wanted to wait around for it. 

All in all, a very awesome trip. As a boat, we had some insane fishing. The First String is a pretty comfy fishing platform with a HUGE galley that has lots of seating. One thing I'd recommend bringing is some folding chairs. When you're trolling around, looking for kelps, the only outside seating is up on the top deck.

Awesome fishing and it's only getting better right now! If you can get out there soon, DO IT!!!

Thanks for reading,
Mike

[Benni3]

  Now that sounds like fishing,,,, good job mike

[Fishy247]

It was pretty gnarly, I must admit. Oh, and by the way, it's probably a good thing that I didn't get my BFT....as it was, When I loaded our filleted catch in the car, it FILLED my 172qt Costco special AND a cooler bag I brought "just in case"....lol. I'm not sure that the front tires on my Prius were touching pavement on the ride back to my mom's place in the Valley...

Ahh.....Cadillac problems!

[Fishy247]

Here's some pics....
1) gorgeous sunrise on day 2
2) my first dorado in a decade
3) my honey's very first dorado
4) her big yellowtail

[Fishy247]

1) our nice yellows from day 1
2) our dorado from day 1
3) her other nice yellow (day1)
4) my nice yellow (day1)

[Fishy247]

1) 3 days' limits of yellowtail for 14+crew(it looks about the same from the other side of the bait tank!)
2) 194# Bluefin getting processed
3) same bluefin

[Bill B]

Great report brother....quality fish and even better with the SO...Bill

[Shark Hunter]

Great Report and pics Fishy.
Thanks for taking us along.

[Bryan Young]

what a trip.  thanks for taking us along.

[theswimmer]

You as I are a lucky man to have a partner as you do.
Great report!

[Tiddlerbasher]

Great stuff