But I might chicken out.  I'm still looking for work (This sucks) and I really don't want to be in a sling and recovering for 6 months.  Being older already is a problem looking for work but being crippled and old is worse.

I set my surgery date (mid-Feb) but I don't want to miss the hiring part of the year when everyone gets their funds approved for the year.  I might do the PRP shot and physical therapy until I get work and just postpone surgery until a later time.... 

What would you guys do?

I decided to get out for a bit since I wasn't sure if I was going to see my granddaughter or not in the afternoon.  Getting to the Lakes at 6:00 am was tough only because I had no idea where I was going to fish...  I had 4 spots in mind but having that many spots to choose from, makes it difficult to pick.

I decided to do what I did the other day.

Fishing was tough but I did get a little guy pretty quickly.  Probably the smallest one I caught this entire trout season.



I then get picked up 2 more times and felt a bite, but they didn't hook up.  I was using a small treble also so I couldn't figure it out.  The worm was also coming back looking good, but I totally felt the bite.  I noticed that the Red Ear bite has been picking up so possibly small ones?

Then I see a trout running the shoreline in front of me.  It would swim out of sight but always come back and I almost had him hit my spinner but I pulled it away by accident when he finally went to hit it.  Then some dude parks right next to me and parks himself right next to me totally blocking any chance of casting to that trout.  I like the quiet but he was all chatty so I just sat in my car to get some peace.

I saw him hook up with a nicer trout but almost broke his rod in the process.  Long story short, he never landed it.  I was about done and had to run home so I could get things done and wait for my granddaughter to arrive.  Our plan was to take her to Chucky-Cheese... but the kids decided they didn't want to come down, so we didn't get to see her.

That means one thing... Head back to the lakes!

The lakes were packed!  I headed to a different lake and noticed I almost used up all of the crawlers.  The few that remained were in great shape! 

 

I kept getting hits, but it was the same thing... Bite and let go over and over.  There were no Pond Chickens around, and the baits reeled in looking good so I don't know what was going on.

I was talking with Dave and got a real hit but it didn't stick!  I was ready to rip that tiny treble off!

Then with 30 minutes before closing... I saw a really good bite and it was ON!  I could tell it was a really big fish and suspected a big cat... but hoped for a big trout.

I tried to just take my time and get it to shore since he hit my 2# rod.  Man, I still can't believe I could catch these things on such little line and gear.  The 2# test to be fair is Berkley and probably realistically breaks at 4#.

Well Damn... In the net she went!



It looked pretty fresh over a really gnarly ones that stay in the lakes for years and my old neighbor asked for any catfish if I caught them, so I stashed her in the cooler.  The fillets were huge and I'm going to use the carcass for lobster bait.  The last lobster trip we got 2 legals on the catfish carcass.  LOL

Well, back home I went to hang with the wifey.

Thanks for reading and is anyone doing any fishing?

I'll make this one short since it's just another bug hunt.

Went to the SD bay for the first time in a long time!  There's a lot of hazards moving in and out of that inlet!



We're used to seeing 12-50 bugs in every net and having to weed out the one or two legals.  The SD Bay is different.  Mostly blanks with a couple of keepers.



SO MANY WRIGGLING ROUND RAYS!!!!



A lot of Sheeps Crab along with a good amount of Rock Crab were also in the nets.

We picked away at the lobster.  Not many but the ones that were there were big!



The f@cking dogs were unbearable!



We should have made one more set drop, but we decided to pull and call it, only 3 short of double limits.





The livewell was looking good!



Funny.  We usually have 200-350 bugs on the white board a night with maybe double limits... but in the SD bay, we only had 21 lobster for the night with 11 legals.  What a difference 7 miles of separation are....



Thanks for reading!

My shoulder is starting to really hurt and getting the boat out would be tough.  I'm still looking for work, but need to get my fix in somehow.... enter Santee Lakes.

$10 and a half a mile away fit my current budget.

The Plan... 

-Fish in the morning
-Run home to job hunt and meet with career coach
-Grab lunch
-Job hunt more
-Fish in the afternoon

I get to the Lakes at opening.  Somehow there were people already fishing where I wanted to be, so I made a move  to another decent spot.  It wasn't long before the "bombs away" went off! 

A Beautiful "Steelhead"!  Biggest of the season for me so far.



Just then, my second rod gets bit and I run over to only lose it since I was fumbling with my other fish.  Well, that was it.  They passed by and I had my 2 opportunities.  I also had another one swimming along the shoreline trying to escape the cormorants, but he wouldn't go for my spinner.  He was too freaked out from the birds trying to eat him.

I saw one other guy catch a decent trout on the other side of the lake, but that was it.  Time to go home and get something accomplished.


PM Session

I move to my old go to spot since the lake is PACKED by this point!  Confidence was low here since this lake only had 2 stockings the last 3 months.  I was in my truck when I saw the strike indicator shoot straight up!  That only means catfish, but I was trying to wish it to be a big trout!

Nope, Big Cat instead!   Still super fun on the ultralight gear.



I only have about 30 minutes left before they close when I get another big bendo!  This one came up to the surface so I envisioned a big trout!  Nope, but a big fat Cat!  I could barely get my hands under its belly!



As I was trying to get the hook out and a picture so I could release him, I hear splashing!  I look up to see a trout splashing around on my other rod!  I drop the cat and run to fight the trout!  I get it in half way and the hook pulls.  I should have used a treble according to Dave....

I get the pics of the big cat and release it.  Now I only have 10 minutes before I'm pushed out.  I decided not to use the strike indicators but just watch the rods instead.  As the Rangers came by on their final pass, I reel up to leave and notice my line was slack in the water!  I reeled up almost all of my line before getting to the hook right at my feet!  Friggin had one on the entire time and lost it because I didn't notice my strike indicator!  Ugh!  Damn trout!

Well, no worries.  I'll try again soon.  In the meantime, I'm taking the morning off fishing so I can update my resume and call the surgeon to work on my shoulder.  I might try again this afternoon....

I wanted to nourish the garden but also keep some of the crab and lobster shells for the museum.  I figured I would peel off the shell whole and just plant the bottom half and let the worms eat the guts below.  The hot wire hopefully would prevent the critters from getting in.



So far so good... I'll keep you posted....

With my most recent lobster trip under my belt, I have a lot more lobster.  This means the wife would have to deal with an all lobster and crab dinner.

The hard part was getting all the leg and body meat out of the crab and lobster for the "side dishes".

I was sure to eat lunch before doing this so I wouldn't eat everything as I was plucking the meat out.



I was working on lobster bisque and used the shells to make a great bisque!  I even threw in some chuncks of lobster meat to bring it over the top!



I then made a "white Lobster Mac-n-cheese" as the side.... I actually used half and half lobster to crab meat for this and it was unbelievable! 



The wife didn't want extra dishes, so I decided to try something.  I took the meat swords for kabobs and threaded them up the lobster tails. 



I didn't want the lobster tails to curl when the cook and this was the perfect solution!



The damn lobster tails were huge all coming off 2.5-3 pound lobsters!  Damn, it smelled great on the grill!



Well, I actually was stuffed.  I'm not sure I've ever been stuffed with crab and lobster before, but it sure hit the spot!  I actually had a garden salad also, but there was no room for greens.  LOL



Now I just have to put the actual lobster post up.  LOL

And he brought a fossil donation!

Chris stopped by to see the shed.  He just got back from a petrified wood dig and donated a couple of pieces.



He had a few fantastic pieces he showed me before tucking them away back in his truck since I almost didn't want to let them go.  LOL



He left with some Cali Crabs and Trilobites and it was a nice visit. 

The wind is starting to kick up now so I need to make sure those museum windows are closed!  I don't need a mess to clean up!

I have a bunch to do, but the wife wants me out of the house in the morning so she can get some work done.  I guess I must bug her being home all the time and my shoulder is not allowing me to take the boat out.

I get to the lakes when they open and not a sole there yet... well one person apparently and they were fishing right where I planned on fishing.  I had to figure out what the hell I was going to do now, so I went to the lake that hasn't been stocked in a month. At least there's no one fishing in that puddle right?

I get there with no one remotely around.  I was ready to move because there wasn't a sign of life until I saw 3 big trout surface in the center of the lake!  Not Carp, but definitely trout!

I then get bit just before I was about to make a move and lose it.  I have to recast now.

Next cast and I'm on!  Nice trout and I get him in the net and immediately cast out the spare rod to make sure I have a rod soaking at all times in case there was a few of them.

Soon as I get the hook out and was going to take a picture, my rod goes off again!  Another trout!  So I get to have a quick double picture!



I then retie my rigs and recast.  No one around and that was awesome!

Then I get picked up again, but lose it.  After a quick bait change and recast, this time it's on and feels like a good one!  I'm pretty sure it's a big trout since it surfaced and was fighting hard!  Just as I grabbed my net I saw it was a nice Channel Cat... and heard a couple of trucks roll by and put it in reverse... Oh no...

Yep, they set up right next to me...  Bent rod invitational....

I talk with Dave and get bit but it drops it pretty quick.  The bites weren't aggressive so you had to be on your game.

So far, all of the strike indicators that dropped were trout and the one that went to the guide was a Cat.  I was ready to leave for the morning when I see the indicator drop again, meaning it should have been a trout.  This one fought really hard and never came to the surface so it had me convinced it was a cat and not a trout!  Then I see it... a trout.  The Strike Indicator doesn't lie!

Ended the morning with 3 trout, a cat, and 3 missed bites.  Not too shabby of a morning and 5 guys on both sides of me by the time I left.  I didn't get my limit, so that means I may have to go back to finish it out.  LOL

I ran down to the puddles in the morning and went to a lake that hasn't been stocked in a while.  It didn't take long before my strike indicator started bouncing!  Pretty much the cookie cutter stocker for these parts at about 2-2.25#.  Problem was soon as I was netting it a guy in a truck started driving by and parked right away setting up right next to me with his kid.



The father and son were really impatient and after 30 minutes of not getting a nibble, they took off.  Soon after a lady dropped off her old dad right next to me and he set up his snoopy rods close by while telling me how I need to fish.  He had that terrible cast with two hands that went into a one hand "hold the bottom of the rod" at the end.  It was tough to watch.  He was so loud when he talked, I realized I wasn't going to get any P&Q so I packed up and moved to another lake while he said "Quitting already, huh? Quitters".  I didn't have the heart to tell him it was all because I didn't have the patience to stay there another moment.

Funny thing was the next lake I was at and the Ranger pulled over to check my permit.  I mean I had it, but I wasn't on even a lake that was stocked for the last month plus.  I'm assuming the Rangers had a bet I was not buying my permit and was ready to get me.  The Ranger actually looked relieved to see it was from today.

I decided to call it quits and get home.  At this point it was "The Walking Dead-Santee edition" with all of the retirees and birders walking in herds around the lakes.  I'll be back later though..

I went home and went on the job hunt.  Not sh!t out there and it's getting really depressing.

I headed back to the Lakes with 2 hours until closing and went back to where I got the trout in the morning.

Two missed bites as I had to run to my rod, and running isn't what my body does anymore so of course they dropped the bait soon as I grabbed the rod.

As I was casting out, I saw a light colored fish coming straight up from the murky water.  I realized it was a dead catfish and I think I saw the moment where the gasses reached the buoyancy point!  I drug it over to shore and it was pretty nasty!



It was pretty nasty smelling, so I cast out and went back to the truck.  The Ranger was driving around letting people know to start packing up when I saw my strike indicator head straight to the guide!  That only means catfish!
It was a great fight compared to the trout and wow!  Another Blue!  I've been catching a bunch of them these last few months!





That was it.... I headed home with my first two fish of 2026.  Not exactly monsters, but not bad either.

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

I was going to scrap the last trip of 2025 because the weather window was pretty tight.  I couldn't get out Monday or Tuesday and Wednesday was supposed to be flat in the morning but small craft warning by the late afternoon.  I know how that weather predictions goes on the morning you're supposed to head out.

The morning was rainy and storm clouds were on the horizon.



On the way out I had to do a slalom through all of the tumbleweeds in the bay.



Well, I'm glad I went.  The seas were only about a foot with no wind.  I was cruising on the open ocean at 39 mph and got to my spot pretty quick!  There were a few other boats out there past the 50 fathom line.

The spot was loaded... but with decent sized reds.  I caught my two in no time.



Thankfully I caught other stuff in between.



I had to reel up really slow and the reds would look great at the surface.  I probably descended 8 or 9 without any issue.



I haven't seen a Greenstripe in a while



Then I get SLAMMED!  I actually had a body cam that I turned on and fought it around the boat for 20+ minutes!  It was just heavy and soon as I started getting it close under the boat, it would shoot back down to the bottom in one hard long run.  Because it was slowly going around the boat and felt super heavy, I'm pretty sure it was a 7-gill.  As I finally had it about 50 feet under the boat, the line broke.  Ugh.

It came up with nicks in it, but didn't feel sanded like shark skin.  I'm still certain it had to be a Seven...



Then the water became alive!  3-4 pound bonito came up and started crashing hard but would sink out too quick for me to get to them.  I also kept seeing crazy splashing and was pretty sure they were sharks thrashing fish at the surface.  I also had some rockfish ripped off on the way up and knew it had to be sharks... until I saw a mako come up with my red and rip it to shreds!

Next red and he's on!  I slowly reeled it in and was about to tail grab it since it wasn't hooked but just wouldn't let go of the rockfish!  I grabbed the tail and it didn't like that and bolted.  I then noticed about 6 or 7 sharks circling my boat!  I just cast the iron out with a piece of squid on it and hooked up right away!



I tried using the lip gripper on him but message to everyone out there... A lip gripper doesn't work on lipless grinner.  LOL

I tail grabbed him to make sure I got my lure back and it almost flew out of my hands trying to take a picture!  One good shot and over the rail it went!



I was trying to get everything straight and looked out to see all these baby makos around!  I'm not exactly sure if it was the bonito or bait or chewed up rockfish that brought them in!  I cast a bare iron out and slowly reeled it in and other one grabbed it!  It was a little smaller and much easier to handle.

I had my phone set up to try and keep dry so I couldn't take any cool shots up at the bow.  It was raining pretty good at this point.



I threw him back and the sharks were still all over!  I cast out the iron again, but should have retied in retrospect...  Another mako on! 

I get him next to the boat and as I was grabbing his tail, he shook and busted the line!  There goes my custom lure!  Oh well.

I tied on a different lure but didn't want to lose that so I would cast and rip it in.  If a shark came close to grabbing it, I would yank the lure away from him and consider it a catch since I definitely would have kept catching them.  Then I had one beat me to the lure and I lost it... Ugh... I decided to stop at that point and limit my lost lures.

The bonito were gone and I just called it the morning since the winds started picking up... from the East which was really weird! 

Deepwater Rockfish limit!  Well, one was a whitefish...



I have to say, with that whipping rain in my face on the way back, it stung really bad!  I almost felt like I needed a face shield!

Anyway a successful way to end 2025.  Too bad I lost 3 jigs and would have loved to see what that big mystery fish was.

Anyone else get out?  I'd love to see your posts!

It's been a while since I've been down to the puddles fishing, so I thought I'd give it a go.  They usually stock little stuff between the big stockings so I had no urge to get down there but there are still big Lightning Trout to catch from the last plant!

They just stocked lake 2 and you could tell from all of the people fishing that one.  Lake 3 had the next most recent plant, but there still was a few people on that one.  I decided to try the next lake and see what it had to offer.



I didn't get a single bite on the bait rods, but saw a boil within casting difference.  I didn't know if it was a trout, bass or Red Ear, so I cast my spoon out there and got bumped!  Two casts later and I was on!

Not huge, but a legit 2.25# trout!



I watched a kid catch a bass and some guys down the shoreline from me lose a trout but otherwise it was quiet and nothing going on.  I think the Pelicans and Cormies got most of these fish.

I was ready to leave when I saw another boil and re-deployed the micro spoon!  It slammed it on the first cast but gave me a shock when I netted it!  It looks like it might have been grabbed by an osprey.



I went home to grab some lunch but would be back since I paid for a permit and I was literally right around the corner.

I tried another lake to get a feel what was going on.  It was really slow until about 30 minutes before closing.

I got picked up and the strike indicator was in the water, but no one was home.  I put a new inflated crawler on and recast to get bit almost immediately!  Definitely a typical stocker that was under 2#.



But this one had a weird foggy colored head.



I think these guys are the weird ones that don't get all of the genes for whatever strain they are shotting for.

I then have another hit.  I get him all the way to the net and breaks the 2# test right at the shoreline and I consider it a Sportsmen's release.

Now the Rangers are saying last call and pack up so I slowly start reeling in my one rod that's still out there.  Well, I felt the trout hunt it down and slam it!  Last minute stocker!



This one also had an off-colored head.  Apparently, this last stocking was all of Santa's misfits!



Well, I say it was a limit with the C&R broken line, but I had 4 fish for the smoker... or actually one for the hoop net.  lol

I was planning on going back this morning, but decided to sleep in instead.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

I kicked off the first day of winter with a little "professional networking"—and what better way to connect than by hopping on the water and stacking up some fish? I met up with Quy, who owns a validation company. We've known each other for about 12 years, and he launched his business five years ago. He's always wanted to fish with me, and the timing finally lined up. Plus, I was curious if there might be a chance to work together down the road.
Quy's still pretty green when it comes to fishing—he's only been on a boat a couple of times—so I made sure he took his Dramamine. He showed up about 15 minutes late, but you could tell he was fired up. When I saw the white sneakers, I handed him my spare boots. Had to get him boat-ready.



The plan was simple: load up on bonito, then run to the "Red Grounds" to finish the job. After an hour of trolling through nothing but grass and kelp—and a blank meter—we bailed and headed straight for Red Rocks. Word on the radio was that the fleet down in Point Loma was wide-open on bonito.

I was hoping the rockfish would make up for the slow start. As we got close, another boat was drifting on my usual spot, so I slid over to a different waypoint. I set Quy up with the line-counter reel and grabbed the little spinner for myself.

First drop—bam. Solid red.



Quy's first fish wasn't huge, but he was fired up.



A little later, he got quiet and said he wasn't feeling great—maybe something he ate. I told him, "Over the rail or into the pail!" He ended up chumming, but after that he rallied and was good for the rest of the day.
The bite picked up, and it wasn't just reds. We were getting some quality "other" cod, plus a few dinks that Quy seemed to specialize in.



I handed him the little rod since he kept finding the smaller ones.



He stuck a nice barber pole—his first. Honestly, almost everything was a first for him.



I picked up a solid whitefish during the flurry.



And then my own barber pole.



Quy added a few whitefish to the count.



We hit our limits on coppers.



Then Quy hooked into something with a little more weight.



Turned out to be a nice red.



We caught more barber poles than I've seen in a long time—and some really nice ones.



Quy showing off his two-fish limit.



We kept at it until we were nearly limited out on groundfish. Then I hooked something heavy. At first, I thought it might be a shark, which made Quy a little nervous. But there were no tail slaps, and it fought all the way up from 360 feet. Turned out to be a chunky lingcod with a serious belly. Took three tries with the lip gripper to land it.



With a couple spots left, we picked up one more big barber pole before heading in.



Final tally:
•    4 Vermillions
•    2 Coppers
•    6 Barber Poles
•    4 Whitefish
•    4 Green Spotted
•    1 Ling
•    ...plus a few shorts released, for 17 groundfish total.

On the way in, we looked for bonito but only found birds. Still, the trip was a win for Quy—he got to see a gray whale, a pod of dolphins, and a couple of Mola Mola.

We cruised in at 40 mph with the wind at our backs and stopped in the bay for a few more photos.



Fat-bellied ling:



All in all, Quy went home with a pile of fresh fish. We talked a bit about work opportunities, but I hope he remembers the trip first—and maybe something will come of it down the line.

I'm lagging.  I've been working hard to find employment in my sector and all of the open positions are outside SD county or another part of the country.  I did some "networking" with an owner of a small validation company yesterday by taking him out fishing and he caught a ton!  Unfortunately, it didn't end with a job offer.

Oh well, the post is coming up soon. The deepwater "trout-rod" struck again!

I don't get to hang out, let alone fish, with my best bud often but we finally found some time to hit the water.  It's been quite a few years since he last got out in the boat and I told him we would definitely get some big bonito, big reds, and potentially a yellow.

We launched at 7:00 and I said we'd be back by 2:00 since he had to work that night for the museum.

There was a little NW bump, but we got to the grounds that I found the bonito last week.  The only issue is the bonito were not showing themselves or the bait.  Basically, there were wolf packs of bonito swimming around and you had to troll and get blind struck. We used small gear trolling so it made for some fun fishing when we hooked up!  Todd had a blast fighting good sized bones!



We lost a few due to the dumb lure I was trolling, but we ended up with our limit.  Well, we got 10 and a few were over the 24" so we could have kept a few more but decided to just look for rockfish.



As we left and started running a big whale breached by us, but it was the weirdest looking thing!  I came up a few more times and we tried getting a picture, but it was not having it.  It had a weird triangular dorsal and was DEFINITELY NOT a Gray or Humpback...  Then we saw a big bulbous head!  Holy crap!  A Sperm Whale!  We tried chasing it around to get a picture but it sunk out and we never saw it again.  Absolutely unreal encounter!

We took the long run now at this point to get to the denizen grounds instead of chasing a whale.

I told him we would get our limit of reds quick, and he was unsure of "How Quick" it would be.  He was fishing at my money rocks afterall!  First 4 drops were reds, albeit not huge ones.  We descended the two small ones and the new descending device worked like a champ.





I moved a couple of times trying to get away from the reds and trying to find some periphery fish and we found the,  Salmon Grouper... Bank Perch... Barber Poles.....



Todd was having a blast fishing with the little gear in 350' of water.  Spotlock is the only thing that makes it possible.





We did manage a few other reds but descended them right away since we were waiting for the BIG one!  Todd thought all of them were huge, but I said we need a few 5 pound plus model to fill that last 2 spots.  I was gambling on bigger models rather than keeping two smaller ones.  Well, the big one's started to bite!





Then I hit bottom and felt a SLAMMING HIT!  I could barely budge it and it fought me every second on the fight up.  I had Todd pull the gaff since I was sure it was a big Lincod or possibly a deepwater sheephead.  At worst, we still had a live vermillion in the tank and we already released 5 by now.

We both went wide eyed and jaw dropped when it came to the surface!  A monster Red!

I was thinking 7-8 pounds for sure!  For Todd, that was the biggest Red he's ever seen anywhere!



We were getting close to needing to go, but Todd wanted a monster red himself!  He kept getting little bites and I get slammed again!  I gave him the rod and said "It's all you boss!"

It was big and heavy and fought the entire way up.  Todd kept saying it felt different, but my mind was set it was a big red or maybe a Lingcod.



But WTF?!?!  I never knew you could catch them this deep!



This is the third trip in a row I got a shark at this spot in the deep water on a jig... on the Penn 2500 spinner!
First one was a 7-gill... second was a Mako... and now a Leopard!  in 350 feet or more!

I didn't take as many pictures that I expected to, but we spent a lot of time catching up and pictures somehow became secondary.  We got back in time for him to rush home to get to work.  We took guesses on how big the Vermillion was, but were both in agreement between 7 and 8 pounds.

I was certain this was my biggest local Vermillion and put it on the scale.  My biggest were definitely from the Channel Islands, but I've never weighed them.  I definitely had some 8 pounds or over, but we just didn't have a scale.  So, this one is the biggest I've ever weighed for certain...

I got him on the scale and WOW!  I have to be honest, I was a little bummed it was only 6.99 pounds.  LOL



Well, that was it.  I had plenty of fish to clean for the Vacuum Sealer and for the Lobster cages.  More trips to be had later this week!

Thanks for reading!

I'm absolutely over all of these overpriced descending devices that barely work, so I decided to make my own.

O had a small pail from Lowes that finally busted, so I took the handle off and straightened the wire.

I made some bends and added swivels and slightly sharpened the tip.



I brought it out yesterday and I can say without a doubt, the best descending device I've used.  Fish stayed on during the descent, and everyone came off at the desired depth.

I should market these.  lol

I keep mix and matching my brine recipes for the trout and salmon and found a good one.  Unfortunately, I never write it down so always forget the amounts I added.

One thing is for certain, the trout and salmon are better when brined for 24 hours over just short brines or just marinading.



Another thing I'm working on is getting it off the smoker at the perfect time.  I realized the color and char was the key to identifying when it's done and not by time or temp.



A little Honey Mustard dressing on a fresh salad and some smoked goodness make for a healthy dinner!

With Homa and I no longer working together, I definitely don't get my fill of Persian foods.  Homa would make some incredible BBQ dishes and something I've never really tried cooking before.

My family is not down with much middle eastern food, but she does like Gyros.  I figured I would buy some ground lamb and make some Kofta Kebabs.

I didn't have all of the appropriate spices, but many of them and tried to mimic what I learned from Homa.

I didn't use a charcoal grill... but it works in a pinch.



While it didn't meet up with Homa's standards, the family loved it.  I think if I had some Naan bread, it might have made it better, but the pita worked.  I also needed some ground sumac which would have really made it better, but ceste' la vie.

Our neighbors are getting their roof repaired this week and that is going to seriously impact me getting the boat in or out of the driveway.  Good thing is they don't start until Tuesday, so that left Monday open to hit the water and see what's going on.

Morning was quite brisk, but Beautiful!



There was a little bit of wind and it made it feel 10 degrees colder when I was underway.



I saw nothing out there.  Some birds flying around, but no bait and no signs of feeding fish.  I saw a guy trolling and then stop which made me think the bonito were around.  I made some casts with the sniper, but I was just blind casting.  The side finder, bottom scan and sonar all were blank.

I started trolling a Rapala on some smaller gear and just like that BOOM! These were the bonito I was hoping for!



I hooked into 2 more with one being pretty big but lost them both.  That big one I hooked might have been a mako in hindsight since it was NOTICABLY much-much bigger than the big bone I just caught.

The moon looked cool against the blue sky.



I decided to hook and reel in a bonito halfway into casting distance with my sniper and leave the trolled one out there while I fished.  I was hoping it brough the wolf pack with it and it did!  Sniper fish!



Then of course I get to reel in the trolled fish.  LOL



I lost a few here and there but picked up some legit bonito!



No little guys, but no giant brutes either.  All of the bonito were like 6-10 pounders only based on a guess.  It was weird that I had zero marks on my sonar including side finder.



With my bonito limit had, I ran out to investigate some spots I located on the charts.  One mission was to find these table-top hump numbers that I had on my old unit which I lost when that sonar unit took a dump.  Well, damn, I found them!  The only issue was I couldn't find any big fish on them, only smaller guys.

Starry (Half of the size of the ones from last week)



Barber Pole



Blue Rockfish (I haven't caught one of these in a LONG LONG time)



I decided to move deep and drop around 1000-1200 feet looking for something different....

NADA

Moved to 4 or 5 new spots that looked promising and only caught Bank Perch and San Dabs...

I passed a floating tree in the water....  No way I'm pulling that out of the water.



I decided to run to my deep water rock piles that haven't produced any good reds in a while and see if the tides might have changed things.  I get to my waypoint marked "Big Reds" and deploy the little spinning rod.  What the hell, right?  The day was already a success so let's see what happens...

Well, the reds were back!



It was straight reds and after descending 2, put the little rod out one last time before calling it quits. 



I get a thump on the jig and I can feel it's pretty heavy, but it's not really fighting well.  I thought it was a Lingcod... then maybe thought it was a halibut due to the lack of fight but heavy weight.

I get it to the surface and I see this 4' black fish that then turns alive and rips out 100 yards of line!  I had to turn off spotlock and chase it, but my head was spinning on what I just saw.  I was not thinking Escolar or Black cod, but I have no basis on that except the fish was 4' and black.

Then I get it near the boat and for back to back weeks, end on a deepwater grinner!  WTF?!?!



I decided that I wasn't going to keep this one so I went down with the longnose pliers to retrieve my jig...



He wasn't having it and friggin busted my line as I grabbed the jig.  Oh well, that hook is a carbon steel one and will rust out in no time but it was a sacrifice to the fish gods.

Well, I headed home with some limits and had another beautiful day on the water.  My shoulder is an absolute mess right now, but I can live with it.

Thanks for reading and get some reports up on the forum, damnit!  LOL

Go ahead and vote!  I set it up for a maximum of 6 votes, so chose some or all!  We all need new fishing tackle!

I wanted a Shimano Tranx 500 for the longest time for most of "Big Lure" fishing.  I love level-wind lure fishing "lefty" so I can work a lure rather than just reel and let the lure try to do the work.  Only problem is I don't want to shell out $550+ for a baitcaster.

Daiwa came out with their own 500 for over a big bill less and I was ready to pull the trigger before my group was phased out of employment.  I've been very frugal with money since but have been thinking about the reel all the time and how nice it would pair up with my custom wrapped Rainshadow rod.

Well, I pulled the trigger and when it arrived, told my wife it was just another Christmas present, and I got the shopping done and out of the way early.  I didn't reveal that I bought "myself" a present.  lol

I spooled it up with 80# braid and can't wait to get out and use it!  The 500 holds 200 yards of 80# braid which should be sufficient for most fish except maybe a triple digit BFT.  lol