Its4Reels!-Parker23
Well-known member
Set sail on Saturday morning with high expectations for the WON Tourney. The team consisted of Roger Cortez, Uncle Jerry, Mike and yours truly. Plan was to get squid and pre-fish the front of the island before registering at Two Harbors. As we were heading to Davies Launch ramp via the 605 Fwy, somewhere between Washington Blvd and the 5 Fwy, I realized I forgot the $#@? digital camera. Doh!! No worries I have a camera phone (more on this later) and mike brought a disposable . After much preparation we were finally on the water around 7AM. Started a shout out for the squid. Nacho‘s was out. The DeDe Marie, who was at Catalina, was out. We finally got a hold of the Long Beach Carnage, who was out in front of Avalon, and he had just enough to take care of us for the 2 days we would be fishing. Ride over to Catalina was a little bumpy the first 6 or 7 miles than smoothed out nicely. We hit the Frog Rock area first for nada. Then we made a move to the Twin Rocks area. Did a drift through the cove and I was the first one to get the stripe off. I was fishing with my Penn 975LD with 20# test and long light rod and after a fun fight I pulled in an11.5 lb yellowtail. Yeah!:
Drifted back through the cove for nothing and it was time to head in and register. Moorings were going for $23-$26 for an overnight. Took the water taxi in and it was party time. Registration took a while but it was all good as we were drinking beer and shootin’ the breeze with all the fellow fisher people. Met some cool people during the Saturday and Sunday ceremonies. I actually won one of the raffles. If you seem my picture in WON wearing a Mustad fleece jacket that is 2 sizes to small don’t laugh too hard. My wife is now the proud owner of that jacket and it also came with $100 in Sports Chalet gift certificates which I’m keeping. The WON goody bags were a little thin and the shirt they gave out this year had a great Guy Harvey print but is long sleeved, which I don’t wear much of. Lunch was burgers, beef or chicken with all the toppings you could imagine. We were cut loose around 2PM and headed for the China Point area. I picked China as most everyone was heading for the east end. We were pretty much the only boat out there and we started catching some nice sheephead and a few calicos as well. Roger pulled in a nice 8 pounder and I also pulled in a couple of the nicer males. Here’s Roger with a nice goat:
We made a short move to reset the hook and Jerry got bit on a nice 12 lb halibut:
Rule #1: Enter the side jackpot, which we did not do for the halibut. That fish would have been the 2nd place halibut and was worth $1900. I was next to hookup something big. Bat ray
. We weren’t doing much catching after the move but all of sudden I get hit on the white jig. It didn’t stay on. Then Jerry gets bit and he’s on! Jerry’s been fishing for as long as I have (40 years) but he has never caught a legal sea bass. The fish took him into the kelp and we were all coaching him on how to get it out. It was pandemonium! Finally Jerry pulls him out and the fish is coming in quick I start to clear the area, Roger is ready with the gaff and we all see color. A nice fish, 30+ easy. None of us realized that Jerry was straight pumping this fish like it was still in the kelp and just as I was about to tell him to slow down and finesse the fish the hook pulls! We didn’t see Jerry’s first white sea bass swim away, we saw $$$$$ signs swimming away. Not much we could do now but keep fishing. We decided to make a move to the Vees area just before dark and we sat there the whole night with only a bat ray to show for our time. As the gray light turned morning light we made a move to Orange rocks and slid in close to the kelp where the previous week my wife Kay had caught her 2 halibut. Talked to Erol on the High Five and he had not seen much in the area the 2 days he was there. Time was running out so we decided to make our way west back to China Point. We should have kept going east as the winning fish, a 45 lber, was caught just in front of the pinnacle off Church Rock. Long story short, we hit China Pt., Iron Bound, West Cove and Starlight for nothing. While we were in the Starlight/Johnsons Rock area we saw a diver come out of the water inside a cove with a nice white sea bass. Also spoke to the divers boat buddy who said they were all over the front side, and had went off the day before. With just enough time to make the weigh in for Jerry’s halibut we all decided we would go back there after the afternoon festivities. Some nice giveaways in the afternoon included Avet reels, Seeker rods, Costa Del Mar glasses etc. After we were cut loose we headed for the previously mentioned Johnson’s Rock area. I dropped the hook into the cove where the diver was and backed the boat into about 17 feet of water, within casting distance to the drop off just off the beach. We still had some live stuff and plenty of fresh frozen squid and we caught numerous calicos that ranged from the tiny guys to maybe 2 lbs. Nothing big but it was a steady pick. I was throwing a lead head with squid on 25 lb test into about 10 feet of water when I got ripped. Nice fight and I was able to land my second WSB for this year, which happened to be in the same area as the first. It weighed 19lb on the digital scale:
Once we ran out of bait, a first, we cleaned the fish and headed for home. Nice ride back as we made to the Alamitos entrance in less than an hour. This was a fun trip with lots of fish caught and lots of laughs:
About the camera phone. Camera phone actually was taking videos so here is a link to 4 five second videos of our fish:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 0B3845A5F2
See you in Ensenada!
It's 4 Reels! - Parker 23
Drifted back through the cove for nothing and it was time to head in and register. Moorings were going for $23-$26 for an overnight. Took the water taxi in and it was party time. Registration took a while but it was all good as we were drinking beer and shootin’ the breeze with all the fellow fisher people. Met some cool people during the Saturday and Sunday ceremonies. I actually won one of the raffles. If you seem my picture in WON wearing a Mustad fleece jacket that is 2 sizes to small don’t laugh too hard. My wife is now the proud owner of that jacket and it also came with $100 in Sports Chalet gift certificates which I’m keeping. The WON goody bags were a little thin and the shirt they gave out this year had a great Guy Harvey print but is long sleeved, which I don’t wear much of. Lunch was burgers, beef or chicken with all the toppings you could imagine. We were cut loose around 2PM and headed for the China Point area. I picked China as most everyone was heading for the east end. We were pretty much the only boat out there and we started catching some nice sheephead and a few calicos as well. Roger pulled in a nice 8 pounder and I also pulled in a couple of the nicer males. Here’s Roger with a nice goat:
We made a short move to reset the hook and Jerry got bit on a nice 12 lb halibut:
Rule #1: Enter the side jackpot, which we did not do for the halibut. That fish would have been the 2nd place halibut and was worth $1900. I was next to hookup something big. Bat ray
. We weren’t doing much catching after the move but all of sudden I get hit on the white jig. It didn’t stay on. Then Jerry gets bit and he’s on! Jerry’s been fishing for as long as I have (40 years) but he has never caught a legal sea bass. The fish took him into the kelp and we were all coaching him on how to get it out. It was pandemonium! Finally Jerry pulls him out and the fish is coming in quick I start to clear the area, Roger is ready with the gaff and we all see color. A nice fish, 30+ easy. None of us realized that Jerry was straight pumping this fish like it was still in the kelp and just as I was about to tell him to slow down and finesse the fish the hook pulls! We didn’t see Jerry’s first white sea bass swim away, we saw $$$$$ signs swimming away. Not much we could do now but keep fishing. We decided to make a move to the Vees area just before dark and we sat there the whole night with only a bat ray to show for our time. As the gray light turned morning light we made a move to Orange rocks and slid in close to the kelp where the previous week my wife Kay had caught her 2 halibut. Talked to Erol on the High Five and he had not seen much in the area the 2 days he was there. Time was running out so we decided to make our way west back to China Point. We should have kept going east as the winning fish, a 45 lber, was caught just in front of the pinnacle off Church Rock. Long story short, we hit China Pt., Iron Bound, West Cove and Starlight for nothing. While we were in the Starlight/Johnsons Rock area we saw a diver come out of the water inside a cove with a nice white sea bass. Also spoke to the divers boat buddy who said they were all over the front side, and had went off the day before. With just enough time to make the weigh in for Jerry’s halibut we all decided we would go back there after the afternoon festivities. Some nice giveaways in the afternoon included Avet reels, Seeker rods, Costa Del Mar glasses etc. After we were cut loose we headed for the previously mentioned Johnson’s Rock area. I dropped the hook into the cove where the diver was and backed the boat into about 17 feet of water, within casting distance to the drop off just off the beach. We still had some live stuff and plenty of fresh frozen squid and we caught numerous calicos that ranged from the tiny guys to maybe 2 lbs. Nothing big but it was a steady pick. I was throwing a lead head with squid on 25 lb test into about 10 feet of water when I got ripped. Nice fight and I was able to land my second WSB for this year, which happened to be in the same area as the first. It weighed 19lb on the digital scale:
Once we ran out of bait, a first, we cleaned the fish and headed for home. Nice ride back as we made to the Alamitos entrance in less than an hour. This was a fun trip with lots of fish caught and lots of laughs:
About the camera phone. Camera phone actually was taking videos so here is a link to 4 five second videos of our fish:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 0B3845A5F2
See you in Ensenada!
It's 4 Reels! - Parker 23
