Every Sunday morning for the past 6 or 7 years we meet a group of friends at 8:30am at Lake Wohlford Cafe or a few other choice places for Breakfast. This past Sunday most of the Clan was going to be out of town and one just had his Knee replaced so Janie and I decided to head North to the Toy Store   It didn't take her long to set the tone for the day


Lunch was sounding good so we chilled for an hour and had a nice meal. The usual

 
First things first.....grab a cart and get busy





Even the Yotes were glad to see her back at it 


Checkout was quick this trip, thank God ! 1 bag and a few Gift Cards, time to hit the road


I grabbed a few Trout goodies and a Bass Jig, along with some wood chunks a Cargo Divider and a Rod Sock. I'm good till next Sunday when I return to replace what I donate to the Owens River


Bad Pig will explain in another post about another topic

I think Windy was off quite a bit cause it looked good to go but everyone said it was not good

At least you found a few to play

I really need to get The Cyclops wet, things just keep spoiling that plan

Off to Bishop/Mammoth on the 11th for 5 days to chase Trout 

Bass Pro on the return trip, Janie will miss out this outing

I saw your weekly BPS adventure.  Did you get Janie her pontoon yet?

Quote from: jrodda on June 06, 2025, 05:58:57 PMAwesome trip! Really made it on the last day. Congrats on the PB halibut, that's a friggand nice one.

Makes me ponder an overnighter on the New Hustler up there, for old time's sake.

They're crushing the WSB and halibut up there.  I can't believe how well they're doing!  Get your butt out there!  lol

I had plans to fish on Friday, but had to get a few things done at work so I decided on Saturday instead.  I saw the NW winds, but 10 knots or less so I figured I could get to where I wanted to go and head back with the wind at my back.

I had no need for rockfish, so this was going to be one of the big local 3 trip:  WSB, Hali, and YT.
I haven't gotten the boat out in more than a month, so I needed to get the fluids moving inside it.

Well, I get to the ramp to heavy drizzle and strong NW wind.  It was blowing a steady 10-15 mph the entire morning.  I Was prepping my boat to drop in when someone says "Hi Tom" from the parking lot.  Low and behold, it's the halibut whisperer himself, Randy.  He's been targeting/catching halibut for about 60 years here commercially and has the "Butt Thumb" on these big things.  I watched him catch a 47# halibut right next to me a few years ago and was just in awe from a butt so close to home.

I launched and glad I brought my rain gear...  Well, the ocean was way worse than I thought and realized I had to change my plans and fish really locally.



I get as far as I could get and decided to try and look for bait.  I managed to catch about a dozen spanish macks, a half dozen greenies, and a half dozen perfect sized smelt.

The bait was getting crushed, but I could tell it wasn't what I was looking for.  I didn't want to run through all of my bait, so I left a dead one on the bottom and filet the other dead one to put on a lead head.

First fish and it was a little vermillion!  My last red was 8# and now I get one that's less than 8 oz.  lol



I picked up 4 all about the same size and they went back to grow up.

I was bummed to see a few sport boats sitting on these little rock piles since they would wipe them out easily and just kinda bummed me out.

I also picked up about 9 Brown Rockfish. 



These things were greedy and would even go for my spanish macks.



I move closer to the inlet since I was getting beat up out there and saw Randy doing his thing.  He pretty much only fishes the bounce ball, unless live squid are around.  After talking to him, he missed two bites but got didn't get a flatty in the morning.  I had a few raked baits that were definitely halibut and finally got one, albeit a small 18" model.  Even this one was like the red... from 37# to less than 3.7#.  lol



I must have been around a bass tournament also because all these bass boats were all around me trying for bass.  I needed to use my live bait so I dropped the trolling motor and spot locked an old favorite pile.  It was pretty fun catching bass again.



I caught a dozen with 9 being definite legal bass.





This was annoying the bass guys since I didn't see them catch a single fish, but at least they kept their distance, unless the other f@cking weekend warriors that would shoot right between us at 30 knots instead of giving us any berth. When I say I'm a 20%er, it only means I hate 80% of people including fishermen. 

With that short rant over, I knew I had a good trip from all of my blood I was leaving on the deck.  I swear these calico sharpened their teeth or something.  That or maybe my thumb got soft from not bass fishing.  lol



Well, that was the Saturday Report.  I'll be heading to San Miguel in a couple of weeks unless I get on a Federal Case so fingers crossed.  San Miguel sounds like an incredible fishery... from WSB to giant rockfish to cow BFT all in a single day. 

Cheers and until next tide!

Wow, you guys got some quality fish, well done !

Where did all the leaves come from ?

Not being able to steer the boat because the Kill Bag was too full is a good problem to have, great trip !!!

Awesome trip! Really made it on the last day. Congrats on the PB halibut, that's a friggand nice one.

Makes me ponder an overnighter on the New Hustler up there, for old time's sake.

We were up just before gray light and hopes were high.  Most of the fleet was away from us but the one guy that was next to us last night was gone.  We weren't sure what happened to him but would later find out why he probably left.

We pinned on some big squid and had 7 rods set up around the boat.  It was a slow start but finally I saw my rod tip do a little dance.  It never bent straight over but I wound down on it and voila!  Fish on!

I took my time since I didn't want to lose my first real fish of the trip!  Not big but not Bad either!  Flatty!



The3 bite continued to be slow so we whipped up some breakfast bowls.  Everything tastes better on the water.



We finished our breakfast and started to get a little more active with checking baits and casting new stuff.



Scott gets the next bite and the rod doubles over!  Another flatty on the deck!



A slow pick, but we were hoping the tide change would help things out a bit.

Next bite was Scott again and this one totally was different.  It shot straight up to the anchor and around the boat.  Definitely a Sea Bass!

A few minutes later and we boated an 18#er!



Not the 40-50 pounder we were hoping for, but Sea Bass all the same!



The tide changed and once again Scott was on!  Another nice halibut!



Then it was Matt's turn.  Matt didn't care too much about posing with the fish, but it was a tick one!



Now I'm getting a complex since I couldn't get in on the fun.  I know it was getting close to pulling the anchor and heading in so it was now or never.  Then I saw a bite on my virgin rod/reel.  By the time I reached for the rod it was pinned in the rod holder!  I could feel it was a really big flatty!  I definitely worked him slow since he didn't know he was hooked.  We heard of about 10 halibut from 40-50 pounds caught the last few days so I didn't want to wake him if he was a giant.

Well, he wasn't a giant, but new PB! (not by much)



36+# hali hit the deck!

I immediately drop down again since the bell was ready to sound and saw another bite!  Wow, I was feeling good at this point!

Another legit flatty!



We tried for about 30 more minutes and called it.  Unfortunately, our cow tuna bag was plugged with so many fish on the swim platform that we had to take all of the fish out so we could bring the bag into the boat.  The bag was so full it was pressing against the motors and he wouldn't have been able to turn.  LOL

Money Shot.



As he moved forward to pull the anchor we noticed line wrapped around the chain.  As they were pulling it out, I noticed it wrapped around the motor!  Those f@ckers next to us tangled in our chain and decided to leave last night.  What a pain in the ass!



We finally got it out without any issues to the prop or lower unit.  There was about a whole spool of braid after we pulled it all in. 



I actually had to cut it as we were hand lining it in but there was something at the other end and it wasn't a fish.

At least we got something out of this mess.



The ride back was smoother than they've ever seen it.  I didn't know any better, but we were running 34 knots the entire way back!



It was actually cool to see the island.  I definitely didn't see it on the way out!  I loved all of the caves.



We get back and pack up the truck.  It was going to be a long ride home with the 101 at a standstill, but thankfully Waze knew a back road that saved us about an hour of traffic.  I hated driving back in that mess.

We kept everything on ice and I met Scott at the Boat Club the next morning to start cutting.  We covered the 4'x8' table and still had over a dozen fish in the bag!  We were a machine cutting and bagging.



I got home and got some work done before spending the next few hours vacuum sealing everything.

Well that's a wrap!  My first trip to the Channel Islands didn't disappoint!  I think we're going back in 3 weeks unless I get picked for a Federal Trial.  Friggin Federal Jury duty is not like the Sate jury duty.  They don't except any excuses and will come for you if you blow it off.

Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed the posts!

Quote from: sasquatch on June 05, 2025, 09:08:54 AM

Quote from: Latimeria on June 05, 2025, 07:58:15 AMI brought my bass gear for those rockfish, but we didn't have "Spot lock", so it was impossible to use here.  haha

But did you bring ear plugs for the others?

I did! Lol