And we're back!!!

Started by Porthos, June 26, 2016, 07:33:37 PM

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Porthos

Here is the short version (I'll let Alan do his usual, unabridged "Moby Dick" verson):

Fished Cedros (kinda dead), Benitos (much, much better), and San Martin (good, though not as good as Benitos).

300+ YT, a mess of reds, some lingcod, a few calicos (1 released), a bat ray (released), a "pregnant" (guessing based on enlarged belly--not ultrasound) leopard shark.

Though my Daiwa 600H and Daiwa VIP6455XXH with 100lb braid + 100lb topshot would have been overkill, it turns out that the "just-in-case" kicked in--the boat somehow only had FOUR trollers onboard, leaving one open spot. Deckhand Jimmy went down the racks and found my setup that I happily agreed to loan. (So mental note: disregard all future posts by SoCalAngler.)



It ended up hooking up (along with another troller) on the next to last troll rotation but the fish got sawed off in the mayhem.

Was "last-man-standing" for the first night fishing session and got a calico (released):



At Benitos, my Daiwa 30H (30lbs), 300H (40lbs), and Penn 27 (40lbs w/ 12.5lbs drag...this one was for you, Sal! ) all hooked up to YT with three lost to a seal, a sawed off, and a popped knot at the hook. All of my RP/John Collins splices held up. Here is my one of the two fatties ("Big" Ed Hood had the other one) on the boat that even Capt Brian took note of and called out later:



(Thanks to Tim Dang for the photo!!!)

All my fish were taken on bait with long soaks for some odd reason. Spent half my fishing time casting Laser Minnows and Kastmasters and yoyo-ing MINT GREEN SARDINE and Scrambled Egg heavy Candy Bars for nada.  

On the last stop at San Martin, I took my Okuma SD55L (that I had originally brought along more to untwist the braid behind the boat on the outbound ride rather than fish), put it on the Okuma CT-T-601MH, and setup up a dropper loop rig. Every drop to the 200'-300' bottom hooked up to a rockfish of some kind. I quit after seven and handed the rig over to David Tang who pulled up another two before Capt Brian called it trip and pulled anchor for the ride back to the barn.

Though counts were lower than the 2015 trip, it would had been an almost "great trip" had I NOT forgotten my boots at home (D'OH !!!!!) and had to spend another $100 at H&M for a new pair of XtraTufs right before leaving dock.




Ron Jones

That is a beutiful fish. Glad to hear you all had enough fun to keep this going, can't wait to get out there again with you all.
Ron
Ronald Jones
To those who have gone to sea and returned and to those who have gone to sea and will never return
"

Alto Mare

Welcome back gentlemen!
Wai, that is a nice fish, can't wait to see a few more. The 27 can hold its own, very nice... love it!
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.

Shark Hunter

Life is Good!

MarkT

My only photo...

When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

David Hall

Sounding like everyone had a good time and brought home plenty of fish.

Alto Mare

Mark, if someone else was holding that YT, it would have looked longer ;D.
Might be the only photo, but it is a good one.

Sal
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.

MarkT

#7
I'm 6'4" so I have that effect on fish!

What worked and what didn't:
I got 7 YT throwing surface iron... Lexa 400 on a Phenix psw909xhj. I set the magnet casting control to 7 and could throw the mint and white JRI 4 surface iron effortlessly. I got two on 40#, one on a flat fall and one on yoyo iron. The rest came on two different 30# bait rigs (the one in the picture is an Accurate DX400 on a Phenix psw809h) fishing butt hooked Sardines on a 2/0 ringed hook. I forgot, I also caught two small YT on 25# that I tossed back at San Benitos. Yoyo fishing was really good last year but only a few came on yoyo this year. I didn't see anything come on the laser minnows this year but I might've missed them. Bait worked great this year but the surface iron did too for those of us who did it. The surface iron had worked well for the YT on both my earlier trips this year so I came prepared this trip! When we were rockfishing at San Martin I used a 224gm flat sided butterfly jig on a Calcutta 300TE. It got to the bottom fast and got hit within seconds each time.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!