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.

Took Jared out this time. Picked him up aroun 0545 and we were at the ramp by 0610. Got the boat in the water and planned on installing bunk slides, along with carpet on one of the side bunks I couldn't uninstall with the boat on the trailer. Turned out the bunks are different widths (5" and 4") so my 5" slides weren't going to work. Why there is one 4" plank and 3 5" planks on the trailer is beyond me. I got the carpet on the side bunk and we hopped in the boat.

Hop in the boat. Engine turns over and it dies. Of course! I figured there was probably some air in the fuel line after I replaced it with a new one, so I was patient and kept trying. Kept stalling after a couple seconds. So I decide to make a video to send to Chris, who is a whiz. I start the video and...starts perfectly. Of course! Honestly the video trick never fails. Outboards always wanna show off on camera. I'm like 5/5 on this now.

So we get going. Really a coin flip of whether I wanna follow the coast south, north, or go out to the 14. I start driving out and then we find birds. Cast on 'em, nothing. I see some more on the horizon so we drive some more. They scatter into the ether, but the area has some life, and some scattered kelp, so I put out the trollers. Nature decided the 14 was the play.

We're going about 7-9mph not seeing much. Shimano Ledge Runner 160 (diver) and a 13" skirt in tow. Then we come up on what looks like the Freelance working something, then it leaves it. Maybe a paddy. I head in the general direction but lose sight of the original spot. End up finding a real nice barn door paddy. Look down and it's an aquarium of dinky yellowtail. Drop the 40g snipers hoping to get the skunk off and maybe find something bigger below. Nothing bigger, but snagged one of the yellows as they swarmed the jig.



We kept it moving in hopes of real gamefish.

Got all the way to the 14 and there were a dozen other boats working, maybe a couple deep dropping for rockfish, like true gentlemen. Wind from all directions was forecasted throughout the day so I left the deep drop stuff at home. Would have been perfect for it, though. Not a lick of wind.



Finally decide to bail after a few hours with nothing real to show, so I reel in the trollers and kick it up on plane. We get a couple miles and then I throw it toward WOT, and after a couple minutes, the outboard stalls. Oi! Don't like that 15 miles out. Then it's kind of like it was at the ramp. Stalling out after a few seconds. Then we get it going okay, but it stalls at most RPMs, 4500, 4000, 3500, 3000....we finally get it to be trouble free at 2400rpms, which is 6mph. Makes it a long way back! But we did it. A lot of dead water for a while, but I ended up putting out the trollers again. No trouble the rest of the way in.

Got to the ramp around 1340. Would have easily been in at noon otherwise. I've been one-and-done getting the boat run up on the trailer the first 3 trips. This one I was an absolute helmet. Got it lined up a little wrong, reversed at the last second, and could not line up and just drifted everywhere. Thank god it wasn't busy. I was trying to laugh it off and calling out to Jared, "it's gonna happen! We'll get there!" just trying to show a bit of self awareness to anyone watching. Got it on eventually...

So, I will bring the boat by mechanic buddy Chris and see what he may find. Probably something in the fuel delivery. I might also change both oil/lube this week to reset the clock on that, since I don't know when it was last done. Low oil pressure did me similarly with a 6hp Mercury once, limped in 20 miles that time.

This hull is my dream boat, but boy do I have my work cut out for me. I will put all of the projects big and small right here. Right now I'm tackling a bunch of the small stuff.

One of the first things was getting some rod holders in so I could troll for pelagics. Got it done last week. Used a 2" hole saw bit to get through the gunnel and made sure to f@ck up the gel coat along the way just so people know for sure I was there.



Put a G10 fiberglass plate on the bottom that my buddy Chris helped cut with his circular saw. It already felt pretty solid with just washers but that made it great.



There are a zillion holes in this thing to the point where I think the old owner was just doing it for weight reduction. I can't even fathom what they were trying to do here.



Also random sh!t that never got removed, like this. There are 3 wires that were cut short on the backside so it seems like a toggle switch but it's seized and doesn't move. The flat heads are corroded to hell so it will be awful to remove and then I'll just have a hole in the gunnel, so I might leave it. Or I could remove it and put a cool sticker over it...



The cleats are a bit corroded but they will hold for a while. Medium term project.

I still need to wrap my head around the electrical work on the boat, which is not my forte. I also need to capitalize on this space a bit more as it's one of only 4 hatches. Just need to find the less flammable things to put in there.



I like the rail but it could use some more reinforcement. Also pictured here are two of too many fenders on the boat (6). I am replacing all 6 of this style with 2 EVA foam ones which are smaller, more modern looking, and can double as a seat cushion. The black 4 prong thing on the rail in the middle is a downrigge ball holder which the previous owner said he never used because it was too far forward. Why it was ever put near the bow is beyond me.



Console is interesting but needs work. FF is old. It works, but doesn't give me a temp reading as far as I can tell. It was also on the fritz this weekend, though did work on day 2. I replaced the broken compass for my own slightly less broken compass for now. Maybe make room the FF level for my phone so I can have my phone up with Navionics. the steering wheel is a bit low so I'm going to try a suicide knob first, but might put a spacer under the wheel.



I find these chairs not very god looking, but it is surprisingly comfortable. It sits a bit low, though. I would like to eventually build a box for storage under the seat. Chris was saying I should build the box a bit long going astern so my mate can sit behind me and monitor the rods. Not a bad idea, though the dimensions are a bit tight.



I removed a bunch of grommet fasteners for tarps today that were phillips heads, though some are pretty seized and I'm gonna have to go back through with Corrosion X or something. I'm going to fill those and some other holes wit h bondo short strand fiberglass putty once I watch a video on how to do that.



Then there are these. Idk wtf I'm gonna do about them yet.



The hatches never got their hinges fully assembled because previous owners realized the hatch runs right into the gunnel as you open it. The latch holes are 1" and 3/4" which don't really fit the universal 2" latches and are gonna be awkward to keep drilling out with a 2" bit for those. But, I need to do something about them, because these corners are the only wet part of the boat.



Need to put carpet on the side bunks still, and more likely hard plastic type stuff on the floor bunks.



I do like this boat though, one picture of admiring instead of bitching. Op! Just kidding. Those little corners to hold a cooler need to come off. That bow floor either needs to be reinforced with coosa or removed and totally redone, but I won't be standing up there myself.



I wanna put horizontal rod/gaff storage on at least one side of the hull. I was originally thinking something like a putty adhesive and a DIY plastic hook hold system, but Chris said I should really fiberglass it in.



Trying to sell the Honda 8hp kicker outboard that came with it so I cleaned the carb. PITA but it runs good now and ready for a new owner.



After fishing it, the fuel line had a crack, so I have a fresh fuel line now to install tomorrow. I think there's a male connector installed into the boat right here so I can just take the primer bulb kit and cut it shorter on the one end.



Chris installed these rod holders onto the rail overnight while it was at his house. Very generous and a great touch.



The nonskid currently on the DIY side floors was made for shoes, not barefoot. I will redo that eventually. But I didn't slip.

Took Jake out Sunday morning. After the previous day, it was a bit difficult getting up at 0430 again, but I powered through and picked him up at his house, and we were at the ramp at 0640.

We had some delays. First, a bathroom break of course. Then I forgot my sunglasses in the car. Then as we were pulling away, we realized that potential fuel line issue was quite real. We were 30' from the dock realizing we had some mcgyvering to do. So Jake incessantly pumped the bulb while I got us back to being tied up. Jake looked and found a pinhole, so I said to put a dab of super glue on and let me find some tape in my car. I thought I only had packing tape but then found the duct tape that the boat seller let me have for the road. I brought that back and we patched it up, then realized it was a whole crack and not just a pin hole. Patched it up and it was good as new! Maybe a trip to West Marine is in order this week...I don't love the zip ties on some of these fuel lines.



Got that done then tried to start the motor. Nothing! Must have drained the battery leaving the keys in, radio running, etc. So back to the car for the battery self-starter. Hooked that up and...nothing. Then Jake realized the boat was still in gear from when the engine last died. That'll do it. Helmet mistake from me and some delays, and we finally were out of the harbor at 0741.

It was a good bit flatter out of the harbor this time. Still some chop but nothing crazy. We were given some coordinates to head to by a guy at the dock, which was nice of him. Plugged those in, and headed almost perfectly south. Then about 3 miles out of the harbor, I see a dozen gulls following and diving on something with just a hint of enthusiasm. I decided to slow down for it, though I generally consider gulls to be helmet fisherman. We eased into the area and we each threw a colt sniper out. I was on my Sustain 5000, and almost as soon as I started reeling after letting it sink out for 10 seconds, I was hooked up. Felt like a medium bonito, then ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ okay not a medium bonito. Felt like it had some weight to it but catchable. Took off for almost 100 yards before finally tiring out and I started gaining ground. At deep color, I was almost certain I was seeing a familiar brilliant blue/purple hue. It did long circles under the boat until finally I confirmed it was a nice Skipjack! Right at gaff range it took off on another 50 yard run. Got it to the boat, same thing. Finally checked my drag and realized I could put another couple pounds of pressure on him, although I was willing to finesse it to get a tuna in the boat sooner than later. Finally, Jake sticks it perfectly in the heart and it's in the boat. Pheww!!!!! High fives. He finally confided it was his first gaff job, but it worked for me. Until realizing it was squirting blood across the boat every few seconds. You can even see it in the pic.



Huge mistake was forgetting the bucket and soft brush in the car. Hard brush and water could only do so much.



Onwards to our coordinates. We arrived 30 minutes later and there were a few boats scattered, but we never saw our acquaintance with the coords, and there were no signs of life. We started trolling a halco and the Yozuri Vibe at 12-15mph zig zagging back toward the 267.

Never saw anything. Saw one boat stopped and casting, which they abandoned quickly. We headed back in with the trollers still out, with my knowing that the 9 gallon tank got us back on fumes yesterday.

Jake wanted to break the skunk, so we stopped on some structure right outside the harbor. Casted the snipers some more and I got a decent turd.



I got one more turd, and Jake was able to get a tiny bonito and a couple mackerel. The fuel line started acting up again so we headed in before we could get into trouble. Better driving at the ramp this time near the dock...

I went to take a whizz and get some ice at Dana Wharf and the cashier said he went out Wednesday and found YFT under bullet tuna in the middle of nowhere, no signs of life, dragging cedar plug daisy chains at 10mph. Good bit of information for next weekend.

I had to drive to HB to Jake's house to clean the boat, then back to Irvine to drop it off at work. Blood wasn't coming out of the console's surface so add it to the list of things to do this week to the boat.

Not the numbers that Tom has been putting up, but a HUGE relief to not go the season without a pelagic on board. Good start! Enjoying a little poké tonight...

My buddy Chris has been helping me a ton with the new boat. He's fixed up boats with his dad growing up and rebuilt two boats from scratch in recent years, so he is my chief advisor with upcoming boat projects. He let me know on Thursday that he was free to fish this weekend. On Friday, he helped me to finish installing the rod holders on the stern, and Saturday morning, pre-dawn before we left for Dana, he helped to get the kicker outboard off of the stern, which became complicated when the clamp was seized, the winding handles broke off, and still the outboard was bolted to the stern.

We got to the ramp around 0700. Later than planned, but happy to have those projects behind us. He was gonna give me pointers every step of the way and that started with launch procedure. I was guided during the sea trial, but hearing any extra bits of info and having a 6 pack captain on hand would help things along immensely.

The boat seems to want to stick onto the trailer, at least with the grade of the Dana launch ramp, so some kind of slicker hard plastic on the bunks will be a project in the near future.

She floats in saltwater!



The plan was to head to the 267 and then down toward Oceanside. Lots of exciting reports from the general area, so we hoped for the best. A messy, mixed, short swell in the 3-4' range greeted us head on for the first 5-10 miles, but the boat had no issues blasting through around 18-20mph while not slamming and keeping us dry.



We put out a daisy chain and a MadScad 190, soon to be switched out with a Yozuri High Speed Vibe. Almost as soon as I switched to the Vibe, Chris saw and heard a short bite. I did not notice it, but that gave us some energy.

There were at least 20 boats over the 267. Better than the Horseshoe right now, which has looked like a Bills tailgate party the past couple months. We didn't see dolphins or kelp. We zig zagged through boats around 12-15mph looking for anything at all. The dilapidated fish finder on the boat was on the fritz, so I had no FF and had to run all my GPS and speed through the Navionics app on my phone.

We SW toward Oside then toward the Domes. The wind died and it was a slick calm for all of an hour. With no more bites or signs of life, we kept trolling right on past the coastal ledge and into shallower water, hoping for a bonito bite on our way to get some slime on deck with some bass or bonito on structure.

We pulled into about 40' of water and started casting colt snipers. Second cast and I was bit. Happy to get the first fish on my boat!



I picked off another then we moved a little shallower, then up to San Mateo Point. In 30' of water, I was able to pick off a couple short turd rollers. Then I heard a big splash behind me. I turned and saw about 15' of white water. It was on Chris's side of the boat and I asked him, was that a whale?? He said "no dude!!!! That was a 7-8' white shark that just went full aerial and landed broadside!!! Craziest thing I've ever seen in my life!!!" He said it got at least a full 3' of air before landing and he could even see red scars on its face. Wild! I know Tom's seen it a few times, and I'm glad that when I have a confirmed white shark near me, I'm not in the old Mosquito.

The wind was picking up so we headed in. At the harbor, Chris wanted a few casts on the bait barge. So I entertained it and we made about 15 casts. I got me a cooter in the boat!



At the ramp, I was a bit of a helmet and put the bow corner into the dock and there was a stranger catch it a little bit while Chris reiterated how to reverse and pull into the dock. As we were prepping to put it on the trailer, the engine died out twice for lack of fuel. We were able to prime the bulb and power the boat up the trailer, and home we went. Learned a lot and didn't get skunked. Chris did get skunked, but he couldn't stop thinking about that white shark and how amazing that was, so I think he was happy with the experience and boat as well.

On to 9/20....

Went to AAA on 9/4 without the boat in tow, hoping I wouldn't be asked for the trailer inspection as my friend had told me he side-stepped successfully.

I was not able to side step the trailer inspection. I got the branch supervisor. At least I know my paperwork is properly in order. Paid up on the registration but still needed the trailer to be inspected, which I could delay til a later date.

So today I went to a different location closer to work. Took the boat for the trailer's inspection. Not too long of a wait. They inspect it and can't find the VIN. So they say it's either under the boat or it was a sticker that fell off long ago. If it fell off, then I should go to CHP to have them create a new VIN.

So I called CHP in the parking lot, and they told me to go to the DMV first because AAA doesn't know what they're talking about. Well, I assumed CHP doesn't know what it's talking about because it's...CHP.

I double checked inside AAA to see what they thought of CHP's remark, they said just go in person and they will see the paperwork. So I did as it was 10 minutes down the road, and if I was successful then I only needed to trailer the boat once for this.

I get there and the same guy over the phone is there to answer my questions. He is nice, and shows me the document I'm missing. He says that I need the VIN inspection at the DMV, and then I need to make an appointment after that to go to the closest CHP office to my residence, not this one.

So what I'm hearing is that I am not finishing the registration on the trailer for a while. I will avoid late fees because I paid already, but what a f@cking runaround.

I was at the San Juan Capistrano CHP office. I was so close to Dana Harbor I could taste it, but I didn't have rods.

So now I have it in my head that I'm launching Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday out of Dana. 3-4 trips for registration will require 3-4 trips of fishing before registration. Only fair.

Annual work trip, 5 + me. Wind forecast looked like sh!t (15-20mph) all week for going to Clemente on Saturday which is the usual play. Hopped aboard around 0500, got a scoop of some sh!tty looking sardines, and I asked Capt. Mike what the game plan was at the harbor mouth. He said Clemente was a go, I asked about the wind and he said he didn't even look at the forecast. If the island protects us, that's all good with me.

We got about 10 miles out, Mike looked back at the bait, and it was rolling pretty quick. He called the other boat in the operation and asked how they were doing on bait, and they said it looked bad, but Mike thought there might be a bait tank pump issue on top of the already unhealthy sardines. So we called an audible and went to Catalina instead, figuring we could probably still put up similar numbers at the island and/or offshore and still have a shot at restocking on bait in Avalon if it comes down to it.

Caught the sunrise. Only time we would see the sun for the day, which was a very nice change of pace.



We got to our first stop around 0630. Anchored up and the bite was slow to warm up. Picked off a couple bonito after 5-10 minutes. Bones don't get photo love on these trips, only sloppy wordplay as they come over the rail. Thankfully everyone knows I'm the bonito guy and I come home with big bags of fillets of them every time.

Peter is still new to fishing in general but learning quick. He had a lot of room for improvement in fighting technique when reeling in a bonito, so Mike grabbed the rod, showed him the mechanics of fish fighting while giving him sh!t, telling Peter he will lose a yellow every single time if he does that sh!t again.

And what do you know, 5 minutes later Peter hooks a yellow. A nice one. Took him around the boat twice. Gaffed on the stern. Only one of the trip! A little over 20lbs, I'd say.



A nearby boat had put several yellows on deck and there were still lots of marks. We worked the spot for a couple hours, mostly just scratching at bonito. Finally we went over to Avalon to re-up on bait.

Saw this guy pulling his dory horizontally, I'm sure that's great on gas...



Got a little variety in the bait, including this salema and a couple big threadin herring.



Pulled up to our next spot and the bait was definitely better. I instantly hooked up to a 5lb bonito. Bass were now showing up, mostly over 2lbs.



Jared got his PB, measured 22" and difficult not to call it 6lbs+.



No yellows at this spot though.

Mike was humming and hawing. He really didn't like how the bait had rolled earlier and even this fresh scoop wasn't faring too well so he chalked it up as a mechanical failure. He asked us if we wanted to call the day a bit early and in return he would take us out again in a month with a better bait tank pump. We obliged! So we gave the fishing just a bit more effort and started heading back around 1100, with yellowfin still in mind on the way back.

About halfway back, we rolled up on a couple boats and dolphins. The dolphins were acting goofy so we put out a few trollers and did a few laps around. Radio chatter claimed that one boat got a fish on the troll out of this pod to start, and nothing has happened since.

We did spy a few on the finder, but they did not come up for us.



Back at the dock around 1300. Not a bad trip, maybe a bit lackluster on yellows apart from Peter's fish. Looking forward to another soon. Hopefully with a bit of time for the fish to settle after adverse weather and the bait tank figured out, we will put the wood to the YT and YFT. Napped away most of the afternoon, time to prep the bonito...

Long read.......


I've been getting into a bit of a groove in the last year with better budgeting and saving money. The float tube has been getting me out for no real gas money. I'm getting pretty decent at finance and balancing my savings with a brokerage.

Then I did my compulsory Craigslist scan last Sunday.

"livingston boat" -> within 600 miles of Winnemucca, NV

Normal tiny cats...

Op, what's that?

Uh oh.

Livingston 155 in Seattle for $7500.

I told myself that if I saw one under a certain price, I had to get it...

I immediately texted Tom and Koga the link.

"This is going to throw a wrench in my financial planning."

"Get it!!!! Hahaha."

I messaged the seller with a few questions, told him I would happily come from Southern California as long as he was transparent, then I went to bed. I was tubing with Omar in the morning.


Around 0900, I was one fish up on Omar. We were almost at our halfway mark for the session. I told him about the listing, too.

Then I got a call from a Seattle area code.

"Hey Jeremy, you had some questions about the boat? I figured we could just talk about it over the phone."

I let him know I was float tube fishing and he said he would take a call when I was done. He had the west coast experienced waterman accent, so I immediately had confidence that the boat was in good working order, even though we hadn't touched on much at all.

I called him back after my trip and we had a 20 minute phone conversation. He was detailed about everything from the boat to the trailer. He said he had a nephew in San Diego who used to be a party boat captain, and he liked the idea of maybe coming down and fishing with me on his old boat one day. He gave me First Right of Refusal over the phone at the asking price, but let me know he had 3 other parties of interest. He would keep me updated.

Now my head was humming. If this deal was going to go through, I was going to need to wire money around my bank accounts, sell some equities, and put in for time off. I texted him asking for an update on the deal around noon, and he got back to me at 1400. He said another bid came in for 8000, but he won't keep the bidding war going. If I match the bid and put down a deposit, it's mine. I said, "Deal."

We talked on the phone for another 20 minutes that afternoon and I had more confidence in him. I sent him the deposit and got my affairs in order.


I left work at 1430 on Thursday. I just needed to go to the bank and the grocery store, which happened to be the same place. Got myself cookies, pepsi, turkey sandwich stuffs, and chips.

The bank teller was friendly, but had some of the 'tism. I handed over my debit card and license and requested $7000 cash. He started away on his computer. It seemed like he was killing time while going through the procedures, asking me if I was buying a car. Nope, a boat from Seattle! Where does your last name comes from? My dad says Italian but Ancestry.com says I'm impossibly English going back to the 15th century! How long does it take to grow out your beard? About 6 weeks, you like?? Then he went and talked to his manager for a few minutes. Please...!

He came back and said the account looks suspicious because it's $100 increments in the account for years and then $7000 in there. I already told him my primary bank doesn't have in person branches so I had to utilize the only in-person bank I had. He finally gave me the money. I was very, very patient and nice, but I lost 20 minutes on that.

Back on the road at 1530, straight up the 5 all the way. LA traffic never let up for 3 hours.

I was into the San Joaquin Valley in time for a nice sunset.



My plan was to get north of Sacramento to a rest stop for a few hours of sleep in the car, but I was ready to knock out at 2130, and found an open rest area 150 miles south of Sac.

I awoke at 0300, surprisingly well rested from sleeping on an air pad in the back of my Highlander. I was anxious to catch up to projected itinerary so I pushed north after brushing my teeth.

Past Sacramento at 0530.

I power napped at a rest stop another 100 miles north of Sacramento, then back on the road.





In Oregon by 1030.



The 5 bends through over 100 miles of mountains from Redding through Oregon. It got me anxious about driving up and down all the grades with a trailer. Have I mentioned yet I've never driven a trailer? I was about to drive one 1150 miles home.

I got to a nice boring straight in Oregon when Larry, the seller, called and wanted to know my whereabouts. I said I was passing Eugene at 1430 and planned to stay in a Bass Pro Shops parking lot in my car in Tacoma. He said, wow! You're killing it on the time up! He hung up, then called 10 minutes later to invite me to stay the night at his house, as he and his wife were retired empty nesters. I accepted the offer.

The worst traffic of Day 2 was Portland.





I arrived at Larry's house at 20:15. He was fiddling in his garage and came out to greet me. The boat was uncovered in the drive way. I shook his hand and poked around with the boat. His wife came out and greeted me. Very nice people. They were sad to let go of the boat, but they got a bigger one for time with the grandkids.



We went inside and chatted for a bit before I showered up and went to bed.

We woke up at 0600. We had breakfast, but the first rain in 6 weeks was delaying our sea trial. We finally started on hooking up the trailer at about 0830.



My coworker let me borrow a ball hitch for my car. The 3.5" drop was perfect when reversed. Larry helped turn the ball around, then noticed the ball threads were 3/4" in a 1" slot. You gotta replace that before you get on the road or it could shear. He installed the ball hitch for me then I backed up the car to the boat and got it fitted on. He got in his truck and started leading me out of the neighborhood to the launch area nearby at Lake Washington.

His neighborhood had several steep hills, large speed bumps, and roundabouts at the neighborhood's exit. As I hit my 2nd speed bump, listening to the trailer creak, something went wrong and I heard a crash and felt a big bump. I felt the safety chain working and I came to a halt. Larry kept going up the hill, oblivious to the scene behind him. I called him to come back.

Larry had somehow failed to actually put the ball hitch's pin through the hitch's hole...all the safety materials worked, from the chains to the slide plate, and everything was unharmed. But holy hell, what a way to start my trailer life...



We chocked the trailer with some wood on the side of the road and got it all back together, the right way...

We continued down to the launch. I noticed my tires slip here and there in the rain. Lovely.

We got to the ramp in one piece, after trial and error...I was able to temporarily enjoy a beautiful sight amongst my sea of anxieties.



Larry showed me the launch procedure, unstrapping and plugging up, and coached me to backing the boat into the water.

We hopped in and rode out.

It purrs!



Within minutes, I spied a bald eagle. A good sign, I think.

Cruise seemed to be around 24mph and it topped out at 31mph. He says it will top out at 43mph, perhaps solo. I do believe it.

Bellevue...



We did about an hour ride. We went into some 1' chop and it was nothing for the hull. Incredibly dry. I'm not used to the trim tab feature so I will have to practice that a little more for it to be second nature. Putting it back on the trailer was no problem.

We headed back to his house, he signed away the boat to me, and handed off some more goodies, like a fiberglass kit, some electronics bits, and some duct tape and paper towels for the road. Such a nice couple! I couldn't thank them enough for their hospitality. I told them I felt like their nephew. The wife was trying to send me off with more pepsi and chips like my mom would.

It was noon now. I had hoped that sleeping over would have put me on the road much sooner, but that rain killed that advantage. I went to Harbor Freight and grabbed a new ball for the hitch, a ball wrench, and a hitch rattle stopper. I didn't have a crescent wrench to make the rattle stopper work for the ride, unfortunately, but I was done with all of that at 1300. Onwards into Seattle traffic for the next couple hours.

I was 100 miles down the road when I noticed one of the Bearing Buddy's rubber caps were missing on my 2nd inspection. The hubs still felt normal temperature, so I duct taped it sealed and headed to an O'Reilly's 10 minutes out of the way, then back on the road.



I got 9 grueling hours in before I stopped at Seven Feathers rest area in Oregon for some sleep after a long day of white knuckling through urban traffic and dark mountain highway.

I "slept in" until 0500, comfortably spooning with one of my new downriggers. The cold woke me up. Yes, it's still cold in some places. It was probably 50º and I was in shorts and sandals. I brushed my teeth and continued on through the mountains in the dark at a steady 55mph.

Morning light broke over Mt. Shasta quite nicely. I wish I could have stopped for better photos at times, but I had places to be.



Through Sacramento at 1155. At the bottom of the Tejon Pass at 1700. Stopped for Starbucks. Never have I ever seen such spelling.



And up.



A short traffic jam at the bottom of the grade and then back up to normal speed. Then my engine light came on. Now??? My car was operating smoothly, maybe I just creep home and check it later. No, make smart decisions Jeremy! I pulled over at Smokey Bear Rd exit, the road to Lake Pyramid. The OBD reader said P1135, Manufacturer Code...some kind of heat sensor. I remembered that I may not have slipped the oil dip stick all the way into place at my last inspection, so I put that back and reset the engine codes.

The rest of the grade was fine. Then came the LA/OC traffic on the 5. Not slow, no. Fast. I pleaded, begged for a slow lane. The road would take from me every time. Right two lanes to the 118; to the 134; to the 2; the 110; the 605; the 710; the 22; the 57; the 55; people flew all around me. My extra wide trailer craving more than the 6" on each side to spare that I had. I finally was off the freeway without incident at 2130, and dropped the trailer off at work. Nobody there on a Sunday night. A deep sense of relief, and a sip from my cold Starbucks mocha that I was too stressed to ever pick up.



With the trailer off, my Highlander zoomed like a greyhound off its leash. I got home by 2200 and texted the many people keeping tabs that everyone and everything survived.


Concolor is the latin name for the North American Puma/Mountain Lion. Alongside its feline reference, I like the spanish phrase "with color" for this boat, as the boat will be built and fished with lots of creativity and personality.

So much to do now. I took the 140 mile round trip to my parent's house yesterday for my boating stuff and some offshore gear. I need to finish the registration and get over to AAA tomorrow. Mail back the trailer plate to Larry. Install some flush rod holders with backing plates in the gunnel. Wax it. Replace the older fish finder and compass with my own. Upgrade the 9 gallon fuel tank to a 12 gallon. Sell the kicker. Clean up the rusty rear roller on the trailer.

And still more medium/long term projects. Eventually, I will redo the whole topside. Raised/uniform floor with below deck storage. New higher console with a bait tank on the front. Storage cube under the helm seat. Big casting deck up front with still more storage.

But it's fishable now, so we're gonna f@ck up the fish during this crazy El Niño.

Thank you for reading!

Been a hot minute since I've been to Alamitos. Newport has sucked for me lately so in hindsight I'm a bit surprised I didn't come back around sooner. Omar joined me this time.

Launched at about 0600, first light. Normally I can get a few before the sun rises but I did not get bit for an hour. Finally knocked off the skunk with an unusually light colored spotty.



Started on a slow pick from there between us, going back and forth with the lead. Water movement was not as obvious as other more productive times.



A couple pee pee poo poo bass between us as well. Ended up with 5 each, off the water before 1100. Nice morning, hot. Omar hadn't been out in over a month in the tube so he was reveling in it.

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!

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

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!

My sister suddenly has the bug for fishing, so she turned visiting me into a fishing session. She said fishing has suddenly interested her after a party boat ride on the Coroloma, relating to the captain as a 4th generation fisherman (at least) and seeing what she could make of it. Of course, she wants to be competitive with her brother as well.

So after teaching her all of the worst knots I know, we launched at 0800 in Newport. Omar came through with a spare tube and fins for her.

And I supply the hats.



So slow! We fished for about 4 hours and I beat the skunk with a nice spotty with just 30 minutes to go.



She was talkin' crazy about getting her own float tube by the end.



Only time will tell how much she gets into it, but happy to see her take an interest! An excellent time with my sister overall.

Felt kinda lazy through the weekend (I bought edibles on Thursday so there goes my month). Then Omar told me when I got into work that he fished twice through the weekend and did well. So I said, well, the tide can't be beat and the weather is nice, so I'll go this afternoon.

I do tend to crash Monday afternoons but I stayed strong and headed straight to Newport after work.

Calcutta 100B that I've been fishing was feeling the last few sessions so I switched to a low profile Tranx 150. Launch around 1600. By 1605 my hand was aching from the rod's trigger grip in relation to the reel. I landed, went to my car for the Calcuta, opened the side plate, and the spool was stubbornly hanging onto it. There's the problem. Pulled the spool out and ran my fingers around all of it to dust off any salt and put it back in. Butter. It will do for now! I professionally recommend popping the spool out after the session for it to dry and not fuse, but personally I am quite lazy.

Not a sniff on the dropshot to start. Switched to a 5" fluke and got one short bite. Normally I can get 1 or 2 near the launch spot but I was getting frozen out. Keep trekking. More short bites on several different baits but nothing to stick.

Tried a new set of docks for me and after 30 minutes, I got bit on the fall with a fluke near a piling.

The Harbinger of No Good Bites. I really enjoy the pattern on this particular fish.



More short bites on a long-ish trek back to the landing spot. Landed at 1930 without a skunk. Nice weather, just a little windier than expected.

I don't know if it's coincidence, but there seems to be something about catching dink sand bass in the harbor that tells me that I am not onto the bite pattern. It's normally a lure thing, where it's the only fish I will catch on that particular lure for an hour or two. Sounds kind of stupid but it's quickly becoming a theory bordering on superstition that I have. Conversely, a spotty or halibut to hand often indicates I should be catching a couple more if I keep it up.

My next report should be taking my sister float tubing this weekend. Excited!

She is suddenly taking a measurable interest in fishing at ~25 years old. Maybe I'll get her to start writing us float tube reports for Channel Islands Harbor if I play my cards right.

31st Birthday is today so I booked a night with my lady at the Catamaran Hotel on the northwest shore of Mission Bay. One night in a hotel makes for some awkward time slots to fish, as I learned, but I wanted to see the bay from a different angle with Alicia instead of duck in and back out around the east side like I normally do.

Got into town around 1230. We wanted to try this Italian street food place that's on the strand so we went straight there. Its associated parking lot is very large, but not large enough for the Sunday beach crowd. After 20 minutes of figure 8s through the parking lot, I was ready to drive into the ocean, so we bailed and checked in early at the hotel up the street, if just to get parking.

Leaving home a little later, having to bail on the original food plan, and going through the process of checking in early, ate up a lot of the time I wanted to fish in the early afternoon. I originally wanted to tube, but the wind was obviously not going to comply during the time window. We got lunch at the Flamingo-somethingruther brunch place across the street and still enjoyed an all-too-large italian sandwich.

Alicia wanted to try casting a line for maybe the second time, so I obliged and brought a couple pieces of squid. I showed her the basics and she made a little progress. We hadn't gotten any bites before we were notified that our room was ready 15 minutes into fishing, so we had to scoot from there.

Amazing view of the bay! Thought I would have to pay some kind of premium for the ocean view so it was a nice surprise.



I wanted an early-ish dinner to try for corvina after sunset with ample time, so we went down to the hotel restaurant at 1800. Let them know it was my birthday and we were seated to a 1/3 capacity restaurant. 20 minutes later we still hadn't seen a waiter so much as ask us for a drink order. I went over to the hostess to let them know and they went into the kitchen and straightened things out. We got a bit of a deal on our food, which was nice of them, but I ended up losing about an hour of fishing time to the whole ordeal.

Ended up throwing an LCFM 110 along the shoreline looking for corvina or whatever was hungry from about 2030 to 2200. Not a sniff! But, I did see SeaWorld's drone display across the bay which was very cool. I wish I could be down there for the whole 4th of July display.


Woke up at 0430. Maybe 4 hours of mediocre sleep but I was locked in on the mission.



I hurried over to launch at Ski Beach Park to fish Fiesta Bay. On the water at 0500. Kinda cold, east wind blowing, which I fought to get out. A few bumps early on until I finally connected with the quintessential California Rolling Turder.



Shortly after, I finally got something other than a pee pee poo poo bass to eat an underspin.



Lot of short bites until I found a hole that started getting me more committal fish.



~20" halibut came to play.



I was up to 5 with a couple farmed fish. The other day I told myself 6 would be a nice number for this session. The spot was still biting but I kept farming one after another, despite the wide gap hook, tight lines, and fast reeling.

I lost at least 4 more fish. By 0900 the wind had come up quite a bit from the west now, it became apparent that I was going to have to now fight pretty hard all the way back to my launch spot. Very poor planning on my part to not launch from the east and let the wind do all the work all morning.

I trolled an underspin at .5mph as I hammered through chop for an hour, getting soaked, and farmed another on the way in, right next to the boat for good measure.

I had a good time despite a few challenges! Glad the fish cooperated at least a little bit and I was able to fish a decent amount of new water and shoreline. Looking forward to getting back down there again. And thanks Tom for steering me in the right direction!

The fish or Omar? Porque no los todos?

0530 launch at Alamitos, started with a spinnerbait and had 5 before poor Omar could get his tube wet.





The bite had already slowed by the time the sun was over the tree line and Omar had gotten over to me. I kept getting short bites but tougher pick.

Ended up with 10 to his 4. Out-fished him even without the head start. Quality was decent with most spotties 12" clones with one to 13". 6 spotties and 4 turds.




I suppose I have to admit he had me licked last Tuesday. He got off work before I did and had 6 before I was on the water. He ended up with 3 more to my 2 during that session, which included the first flounder I've caught in over a month.

Parked around 0530. I was 15 minutes late because I had to turn around for the neoprene socks.

Second cast I got clobbered on the spinnerbait. Third cast I got the skunk off with my first spotty out of Alamitos.



Nice morning.



Got another spotty in the channel and then a pee pee turd.



Then Omar showed up! Nice of him to join this time. Took getting to the marinas before we both started hooking some more. I got a solid 13". The current was clearly ripping right under the ends of the marinas and the smelt fry were all around.



Then his first fish of the day is his PB at 16"!



Then I get a 15", my PB.



Then we both hooked ~15"ers moments later.



Slowed a bit but we kept a steady pick til the top of the tide, then there was an hour or more of nearly no bites. We turned back from the top of our loop and I got a couple sandies to pump my numbers up and over 10 for the first time on the tube.



Last fish for me was another solid spotty, putting me at 12 to Omar's 5 for the day.



Got off the water around 1230. Nice to finally get my Alamitos curse off, and it provided better quality and quantity than Newport has produced so far for me. Looking forward to the next one.

Launched 0530 in Newport. Was supposed to meet Omar but he slept through his alarm. Boooooooooooo

Got on the board quick with the dropshot.



Broke off another on a pillar, then got a similar size in short succession.

Got quiet for about an hour then pulled a micro spotty.

Decided to cross the channel to an area I had yet to fish. Spent an hour over there not getting any bites.

Fished the middle of the channel over a presumed drop-off. Got a sand bass on board and the brunch cruise boat that I used to work on, biggest ship in the harbor, was getting ready for the morning brunch. The captain saw it in my hand and honked at me in approval, waking up everyone in the harbor. I do appreciate the attention.



Caught another shortly after. Looks like the ones I find around heavier structure, but not much structure in the channel.



Got off the water before 10, 5 to hand. Better than 4.


Also tried Huntington harbor on Friday and got a few bites but wore the skunk. Saw a big sea turtle which was cool.

Went out Friday afternoon and got 4 more, just with different lures than the day before. Used dropshot some more and they liked that. Broke off 2 fish on pilings immediately with 8#. Wanted limper line for 3" flukes but I guess I gotta take what bites I can get on 15#, which was a few still.





All my underspin keeps catching are dinky turds, 3/3 now on the last 3 trips.



From about 50 yards across the channel, a ~30' express boat was idling by with half a dozen older women and maybe a guy or two. One of the ladies called out, "Catch anything?" I just gave a thumbs up. Then, "Are you single?" I smiled and gave a little aw-shucks hand wave. Now I can't help but think that the Dave Scadden Slash is making me look more attractive on the water.


Reorganized my 3600 trays some more today and added a tray. I'd like to try some small flat falls, rattle traps, new swimbait colors, and spinnerbaits. Dropping a couple oversized or otherwise useless plastics. I bought a Plano 3700 Weekender Bag which holds 3 3700 trays but I don't see how I'm going to secure it to the tube so it might just do boat bag duties. I do love my organizing...