Quote from: sasquatch on Today at 02:19:03 PMSeeing a condor in the wild is so cool. I'd have gone off the road watching it but I'd have died happy.

x2. Honestly the one moment my @ss wasn't clenched driving on the cliff.

Forgot to mention. Seconds after seeing the Park Closed sign, a California Condor started flying next to our car not 30' from us, just off the cliff. It followed our car for a good 15 seconds. First time I've ever seen one. That was my favorite part of that drive!

95% travel blog but I surf fished just enough to put it here.

Alicia had a little break from nursing school and wanted to see Big Sur. I've never been, but since she has also never even been north of Thousand Oaks, I was more than happy to show her a bunch of spots along the way that I've been to with my family over the years.

We got on the road around 0830 on Sunday. Excellent traffic. The novelty of the trip began for her around Camarillo along the freeway, which was looking very nice lately, and had some new residential developments. Stopped for gas in Ventura. 12 gallons at $5.70/gallon. Beautiful day up the Ventura and Santa Barbara coast, but the Channel Islands were shrouded in fog so she couldn't get a view of those.

She knew we were going to Solvang, but I had a surprise stop just short of town. She looked out the window and shrieked "Ostriches!!??" Yup!!!!!! Ostrichland! Worth 10 minutes to stop by and feed the big goofy (and aggressive) birds.





On to Solvang...



Cruised right on through til we were just short of the campground in Cambria.





Had a wee bit of time before check-in so we went up the road to the Elephant Seal look-out. Koga's the big one napping with his face in the wash.



Checked into the campground, set up shop with the new 12 person tent. I'm very happy with it.





On Google Maps, the beach looked to be a couple minutes walk from the campsite. Turned out to be quite a journey through the campground, under the highway, along a creek, through cobblestone, and finally out into another world. Closer to a 15 minute walk.



Camp host said there were lingcod being pulled off the big white rock, but I didn't bring quite the right gear for that.

It was a bit weedy, big juicy evening tides and medium morning high tides.

I got 4 in an hour before Alicia wanted off of the beach she considered akin to "the Elephant Graveyard from Lion King."



Big tasty geode of a boulder on the beach.



Back to camp. Got a single burner propane stove for this trip and I'm stoked on it.



Weiner prn for Koga.



I also got a new air pad which held up incredibly well. I probably woke up a billion times through the night, but that means I was able to fall asleep a billion times. Some of the best sleep I've had while camping.

In the morning I went out for another surf fishing session and was greeted with salad every cast. 1 bite/1 hookup which shook off at my feet, nothing special.

Ducks were gorging on sandcrabs.



Got back to camp for breakfast with a fat skunk to hand. Ended up making friends with a blue jay or 3.



This was Big Sur Day. 60 mile drive up PCH, mostly cliffside. My fear of heights gets me a bit on this chunk of road and I never wanted to drive it again after doing the whole stretch starting from Monterey in 2020. But, Big Sur is smack dab in the middle so I did what I had to do.

We got to the first gates and there was a big Park Closed sign! Wtf! Tons of people just pulled over and taking pics of the coast. I didn't have cell reception or internet to check for details or directions, so I just kept driving north assuming that we could visit Monterey if nothing else. We got to the second opening another 15 miles north and found a ranger. She said there was a wildfire 5 minutes away, and since we were coming from San Simeon, we should indeed route for Monterey because they were closing PCH behind us any minute. Oi! This turned the day's miles from 120 miles to well over 200 miles.

This was not what we budgeted our time for. We continued pushing north and got into Carmel around 1300. Filled up with 12 gallons of gas at $5.70/gallon. Stopped at Starbucks for consistent wifi, picked a lunch spot on the Monterey Peninsula, and went for it.

It was nice to pop into an empty restaurant and be served on our own after that big travel headache. I would have to drive twice as far as I'd originally bargained for, but at least I would get a big plate of Chicken Alfredo in me.



Alicia's Chioppino.



The waiter was very warm and nice. May well have owned the restaurant. Lighthouse Bistro. Half Italian and half Indian/curry menu.

We walked Cannery row for all of 20 minutes as that's what we had time for.



Thankfully, the longer drive came with some pretty heavenly views.



It also meant that I lost an evening of fishing. I've caught a perch before, though.



The wildfire had caused some campgrounds to evacuate, making ours subject to some opportunists trying to sneak onto some sites. The spot next to us was being contested in the dark when we came back. Thankfully we had no trouble ourselves.

Tuesday morning was Hearst Castle. I took a billion pictures for future reference, for when I'm a gillionnaire who wants to pawn art from all the great civilizations from around the world. Just a couple highlights. Alicia's idea to go, but it was much more interesting than I thought it would be.







Then on down the coast to Morro Bay for lunch.



Saw the sea otters.



Some playful rodents.



Stopped in Pismo for snacks and gas. Another 12 gallons at $5.70/gallon. Continued down to Thousand Oaks for dinner with my parents, then home in HB by 20:30.

Alicia is a bit disappointed about missing Big Sur, but I was not at all attached to that part of our itinerary. Outside of the fatigue from the extra driving, I was quite pleased with the whole trip. Great weather everywhere we went, new camping gear was flawless, showed Alicia what makes me so worldly, and caught a few fish. Pardon the lack of fishing, hope you enjoyed!

Nice one on the iron!

Happy birthday Steve!

Quote from: Latimeria on August 10, 2026, 01:01:55 PM

Quote from: jrodda on August 07, 2026, 07:15:38 PMI've known about the banana trick for years and never ever remembered to bring a banana (at the same time as a knife anyway). Only jealous you got on 'em first. Super cool. Going out tomorrow to a pretty mullet heavy area and I am itching to try this.

Did you try it?  I keep wondering if they were breathing in my bait or actually eating it.

I did and I didn't get sniffed. Density of mullet activity was one jumping in casting range about every minute. Wondering if maybe you were just in a thicker school?

I've known about the banana trick for years and never ever remembered to bring a banana (at the same time as a knife anyway). Only jealous you got on 'em first. Super cool. Going out tomorrow to a pretty mullet heavy area and I am itching to try this.

As I pulled up to my house after work Monday, my brakes were making a horrendous metallic crunching. Looked and there was damage on the rear left rotor. I did them 18 months/20k miles ago so what's up?

Took the day off Tuesday to meet up with mechanic, replaced pads and rotors. Thankfully autozone honored the warranty so only paid labor. Weird heat spots and one of each side's brake pads were ground completely down while the other was totally healthy.

Drove to work today (Wednesday) and when I got off the freeway I heard clunking. WTF! Caliper lost a bolt! Mechanic is mobile and came out to fix it. First he was like "no way that's my fault! Gonna have to charge if I come out" then sent him a video of pushing the caliper around and he said "I'll be right there..."


No charge. He was in my work parking lot at 0645 and out by 0730. Apologetic but he's certainly fallen on my list of preferred mechanics.


Been some real bullsh!t. I still think I should replace the rear calipers if they're dragging like that. Or something. Something needs to be done but I'm gonna put it off for a wee bit.

Happy hump day!

I was curious about that one. Hope it works out well!

Sounds relaxing! Cold ciders and views and some fish!

Quote from: Tim524 on August 03, 2026, 08:41:16 PMAnd the drive home wasn't exhausting either

You know, I gotta admit I was thinking "doesn't Tom wanna adventure a little further from home?" And as soon as I saw this comment I got a wave of vicarious euphoria knowing that there is no "travel day" home from this.

Thanks for the report, interesting read.

I hear of local wahoo, tons of marlin toward the butterfly, nice yellows and even some dodos on the horseshoe right off Long Beach, and football bigeye mixed in with football yellowfin that are sneaking into state waters.

Just gotta distract the seiners with some key jingling so we can get in a few good rounds with the incoming YFT!

I did the beer battering, Alicia did the colorful stuff. Excelente!

Awesome (and very unique) fish Tom! Congrats on a PB yellow. I wonder how long it lived with that scoliosis, if it was an old age condition or it managed its whole life with it. 20 minute fight tells me it never slowed it down.

Speaking of The Odyssey, that livvie is my siren's song. Just gotta resist a bit longer...

Quote from: Latimeria on July 27, 2026, 06:49:44 AMThat was pretty funny with the "Stock Photos" of the loungers.  hahahaha

Great trip!  That's some damn fine yellowtail fishing you guys got into!  Congrats to Jared also.

BTW... just out of curiosity, why did you bring the trout rod? Did you use it, or just wanted to give it a salt bath?

Bravo once again!

4000 spinning reel with a 1/2-2oz 8' rod would make bass or smaller yellowtail more fun, and small baits like anchovies more castable. The captain saw it first thing in the morning, grabbed it and put on a sardine and had a firecracker on it in minutes. I tried for about half the day with it but I didn't get any yellows on it.

This was my annual co-worker trip on Blackfish Charters. This time, conditions and opportunities constituted us to San Clemente Island for a shot at yellowtail, with a chance at paddy pelagics on the way there and back.

Boarded at 0430. Off the dock and baited up before 0500.

The convertible style boat has left me wanting a little more for ventilation on the way out, so this time I bought an inflatable lounger to plop upon the c*ckpit to relax and perhaps nap on the way out.

Here I am inflating the lounger.



Here I am relaxing in the c*ckpit.





It was 3-5' in the San Pedro channel with white caps. While the swell was comfortably to our starboard, it would occasionally cause the bait tanks to splash and get me on the leg a bit. I repositioned and got a touch of mist, but otherwise I was actually quite comfortable. Once we passed Catalina, though, it picked up to 4-6' with a couple 7-8'ers to slow the captain's pace on the throttle. I ended up finding myself mercilessly misted and endlessly enema'd by the bait tanks. Very unfortunate design, that lounger. I approve of the lounger for future use, but I gave up on it at this point.

My poor little spinning reel (and every other reel on the boat) got waterfall'd on by the oncoming water.



Thankfully, the lee of the island cut down the swell significantly to a 2' chop, and eventually cut out the wind as well for a bit. We arrived at our first spot on the island around 0730 and it was instant. We ended up with 19 yellows at 5-10lbs for 6 anglers before the captain told us "lines out" to get the sea lions to leave for the cattle boats down the line.



We took a breather for 10 minutes then it was game on again. 30 yellows alongside bonito and bass before it slowed down and we started making our way up the island for a different grade.





We had a slow pick at half a dozen spots. I managed to lose another firecracker at the boat on an SPJ, which was a nice confidence boost going forward on that. Other than that, not too exciting.



Then we got to our last stop and we began long soaking some of our last sardines. Things picked up, with guys getting big bites. We ended up going 6 for 10 on 15-20lb yellows, alongside more bonito and bass. I wasn't able to get in on these big fish, but Jared did well in getting 2 of them, both being PB class fish for him around 20lbs.




On our way back, we stopped on a paddy that the captain saw mahi under. I woke up from my nap to pitch a sardine out there, and my bait started zooming immediately. I engaged my reel and wound tight to find it was just my bait being manic. No action on that paddy. We got into the dock around 1730, with bags and bags of yellowtail to be distributed.









I always insist on the boat keeping at least the first 5 bonito just for me, and nobody else is ever interested in keeping them. They continue to be maybe a top 3 food fish for me!

Glad you at least saw some big dodos, that's gotta get the juices going.