Both look awesome but I'm really craving those cakes.

Another solid trip! Hope Cheez took some of that meat back to AZ, all they have to eat out there is rattlesnake and jack rabbit. Nice clean fillets off that whitefish too.

Definitely get the salmon subspecies, along with those spotties down in the Sea Of Cortez...I don't give myself the satisfaction of counting them and I removed squids as well at some point.

Still time for some more new species to come and surprise you this year. And into the holidays with deep dropping.

Could be worse! Congrats on the frigate mackerel.

Ended up sleeping in Sunday, being sore from the previous day, but I regret not going out again. Seeing some funky stuff like frigate mackerel and black skipjack pop up the last couple of days...

Quote from: Latimeria on October 19, 2026, 07:03:09 AM

Quote from: jrodda on October 17, 2026, 08:06:47 PMThe lobsters were probably trying a "strength in numbers" tactic, weighing down the nets in hopes that your shoulder would fall out of its socket before they could be caught.

I didn't consider that, but definitely not out of the realm of possibilities.  hahaha

BTW, the Concolor is a perfect hooping boat.  Might be good to try it out come the new year when you get things dialed in.

I just can't begin to imagine where I will put the hoops. Probably would excel with the job though.

Those are some crazy numbers. The lobsters were probably trying a "strength in numbers" tactic, weighing down the nets in hopes that your shoulder would fall out of its socket before they could be caught. Glad you got your limit out of all that.

Our last Bongos trip in September had bait tank issues, so Captain Mike gave us another trip. We ended up hopping on the boat today with a substitute Captain Rob and a deckhand whose name I missed (solid deckhand). On the boat at 0500 and loaded up with both sardines and anchovies at the bait barge.



We took our time out before sunrise, going about 10kts toward the 14. I said to the others we were probably taking our time so we could be at the 14 around sunrise and have visibility while in The Zone, and Captain Rob looked over and nodded. The sun finally rose near 0700 and we picked up the pace on Lake Pacific.



Around 0730, ahead of us, I thought I saw a lone dolphin jump kind of high a couple times. Then the deckhand came down from the tower and said it was a marlin, and put out the trollers. We gave it a few minutes but it didn't come around. Then we saw our first paddy of the day. Had marks, but no biters. Slid off of that and almost immediately into a sleeper marlin. Didn't bite a fly lined sardine.

Poked a couple more paddies and saw a couple more sleepers between the 277 and the Mackerel Bank before we booked it toward the 209.

An hour goes by and us riders were finding places to nap, then we finally got off plane and started trolling. Still not much to do, so we kept napping.

Then, around 1400, we stopped on a paddy. Captain said there were definitely good marks. I threw a 40g jig, noted a couple nerf football yellowfin coming up, then I got slammed by one. I was on first, then immediate hookups by 3 other guys within seconds. Still surprisingly difficult to turn their little heads! First yellowfin of the year for me.



Got another in short order, then the next burned the line off going under the boat. Ended up going something like 5 for 10 with a small yellowtail mixed in. 30 for the boat.



Alejandro got this yellowtail with a...third prong in the fork growing out?



That stop finished up at 1500 and we were on our way back. Slept a bit more.

Those tuna may have been micro, but one fillet was still enough for our carpaccio side dish tonight.



Might launch tomorrow if I don't wake up too sore. Kinda wanna deep drop the 14 for rockfish with an eye out for pelagics.

Took off most of the accessories but one of the downrigger mounts was really on there good, with screws and probably 5200 sealant under the plate. The locking nuts were under the gunnel in an incredibly tight and awkward spot, but I was able to finagle them off and get the top plate off. Then this plate was sealed on there real good.



Worked the edges with a knife and finally popped it off.



Kept trimming the the sealant carefully off with the knife, and hit it with acetone a couple times to further break it down. Finally got it to a reasonable point then sanded it.



My next move is to finally start with the Bondo short strand fiberglass filler and patch up as many screw holes as I can. Probably a crime that I haven't gotten to that sooner.

It is also coming to my attention how many spider cracks in the gelcoat there are, so I've watched videos on how to fix that up. I will need to get a cordless rotary tool and dremmel out about 9 miles of spider cracks this winter. I wanna put rod holders where these downrigger mounts were, so I might practice the dremmeling next week on these spots.

I've got another Bongos trip on Saturday which will probably suck my energy dry, but Sunday does look good for a launch if I can rebound well enough.

Exciting day! That spearfish/sailfish is definitely a prime El Niño target. At least you didn't get skunked.


Not so fun on the ride home. Those short tall swells were exactly what I was trying to avoid out there. Got caught in that with the Mosquito once and I am good on it! Wasn't quite that as I was racing back, but it was still really messy and nerve wracking in a hull that I'm still not fully familiar with.

At least in the OC water, things tend to set up really differently from year to year. Cat channel is where everything is at one year, and it is only a lifeless stepping stone the next year. So I'm glad that there are fish in the channel this year, but like you said, very tough to find. Very few paddies around. Birds are generally not on them or anywhere. But with the cattle boats getting on them consistently, I'm sure there is some method to the madness. Maybe just be 15' up in a pilothouse. I have drafted plans for a 20' periscope...

Granted, I'm still getting dialed in with this boat. I am practically blind with the old fish finder. I think I'm finally going to switch out the old FF in the boat for mine from 2022. Doesn't have Navionics but should be way easier to read the down-scan while trolling.

I had invited Omar over a week ago, but the combo of me not knowing when I would get the fuel line issue resolved and him getting invited to hoop on Friday night led me to a trip without a partner. I also tried inviting mechanic Chris as he helped me sort out a couple things after work including replacing the fuel filter and pump, but he had a gig in the morning.

I had brought the boat to Chris in HB where it would stay overnight, so I was split on whether to take the easy morning routine and launch out of HB, or keep trying the water off Dana Point. In the end, I figured after the car's gas was put into perspective, both would burn the same gas since I would wanna ride 15 miles past the HB Flat to find blue water, so I went with Dana.

Nice sunrise. It got even better but I had to focus on not f@cking up my first solo launch.



And of course I can never seem to just put in the water and go. Maybe one day. This time, I installed al the bunk slides on all the bunks. Took about 30 minutes. There are a couple minor issues that I won't get into, so I will monitor them. In the mean time, I should have a way easier time getting the boat on and off the trailer.



Knocked that out, hopped in the boat, left the harbor. Half a mile out, engine stalls while on plane. f@ck! I was sure we had solved it. Pretty much clueless, I took a video of it failing and sent it to Chris. Asked AI on the water what it could be, and why when I pump the bulb it would stay flat. It said there must be something upstream of the bulb. Then it occurred to me. When I installed the new fuel line/bulb, I did not pay attention to which direction it was going. Looked, yup! You're a f@cking idiot Jeremy! I texted Chris to let him know as much and I got to work flipping it. And when I was done, clean start. Hopped up on plane and ran a bit down the beach, problem gone.

After proving to myself that I may have been an idiot once, but I am a better man now, I decided to immediately head straight offshore in search of pelagics. Took a heading SW but not particularly toward the 267 or 14. Put out a Ledge Runner 160 and a tropical jet head and trolled at 7-9mph into swell. The wind was supposed to come up around 1400, but I knew it could come earlier, and I wanted a following sea home.

I imagine Tom was directly under the distinctive far cloud in this pic at 0900. Ominous clouds on the horizon telling me to time my trip carefully.



Trolled alongside another boat for a bit before he decided to turn around at 0930. Huh. Kept going. Eventually ran up on half a dozen boats, a couple with birds all over them. Looked like they were stopped and probably fishing bait. Then I noticed a flipped boat. I believe I saw it on social media earlier this week and it's been floating upside down in the bight for a few weeks now. No urgency in the area, that's for sure. The wind eeked up just a bit more as I found these boats and started zig zagging through them. Then a slow steady ZZZZZZZZZ. I turned around and saw the rod pump a bit, then slowed and I watched the Ledge Runner fly out of the water. Bite or did it violently blow out? Reeled up, and it was definitely bit in the middle of the body. Put it back out and tried to make a turn on the same spot. It was getting windier now and as soon as I thought I made the pass, I reeled up and skedaddled. The dark wall of clouds were still several miles away and I wanted to beat them home.

I could see the white caps popping up by the hundreds and the water tightly rippling now. The air felt still as I was moving at 17-20mph, not a great sign. Then I ran up on a paddy. Really Jeremy, in this? One drop. It was given to me! Stopped the boat and immediately felt how bad the conditions were getting behind me. Gave it a 15 second drop with a colt sniper then wound up and kept racing home.

This was a pretty comprehensive test for the boat. The swell was pretty mixed, with a longer faster period SW swell that's been shaking up the coast, followed by W and SW short wind chop. I was slamming a good bit but staying only very lightly misted. I was worried about stuffing the bow, but it just never happened. Kept the throttle to 4000rpms and only made slight adjustments to my direction, and held on tight til I passed the jetty.



Pulled the boat up onto the trailer with the bunk slides. While powering the boat onto the trailer, it seemed to get stuck short somewhere for a few seconds, and just as I stepped around to inspect, the boat gently moved up the rest of the way onto the trailer.

Anyway, a lot of words to say I didn't catch anything. Big relief with the fuel line and the trailer bunks, though. Next launch shouldn't have any delays like all of them have up to now. Hopefully the pelagics stick around for a while longer, and I think they will.

Quote from: sasquatch on October 09, 2026, 07:24:01 PMLobster. You're getting surgery soon anyway. Who cares about the shoulder.
There's gonna be wahoo from now on with climate changes. The lobster will move north with the cooler water.
I'd volunteer to pull hoops and save your shoulder but I e only got one back versus your two shoulders.

Everything moving north is a pretty reasonable possibility. Lobsters start down in Mag Bay so we have a little time before they leave SD. Hope the wahoo do come through more often, though.

Going to change the fuel filter and pump tonight with Chris, hoping to get out Saturday morning but it's a wait and see.

I will be happy to follow wherever your inspirations lead you Tom!

Nice! I have pondered those a number of times, although they have been out of my price range. Looking forward to see some shots with it.