The Yellows of Summer (8/9)

[Latimeria]

Squatch and I planned to hit La Jolla for his birthday trip.  The yellows are big and plentiful right now so what better time than to get out there!  Unfortunately, he came down with a bug the day before and called in sick so it would be a solo trip for me.

First off, I knew there wasn't any real bait at the receivers since the inlet was packed with boats trying to get mackerel.  Basically, plugging up the inlet and it is really annoying.
I run straight to where the fleet has been on them not expecting many boats, but there was still about 20 there already.  I would have figured most would have been offshore, but they appeared to be all over.  I get away from the fleet and was setting up some Rapalas to troll when I looked on the finder and saw one INCREDIBLE sonar mark!  I had no idea what it was and wasn't prepared, but I grabbed the first heavy jig I could get my hand on and pinned it on my heavy bass gear since my jig stick had a surface iron, and this fish was 100 feet down.
The jig was 160-gram Colt Sniper which is HUGE for this rod I'm using, but it all worked and I slung it out and drip 160 feet.
As I was tearing it in, I get slammed, but it didn't stick, so I let it drop and started cranking in fast again and it just stopped... and then started going the opposite direction!  Fish on!

I could tell this was a bigger model even with the bass rod...  5 minutes... losing line.  10 minutes... take line, give line...  15 minutes... I thought I had him and he dumped all of the line I gained.... 20 minutes.... I know he's tiring but so am I, now all death spirals.... 25 minutes and I finally get him to gaff.  Whew....  He hits the deck and the jig literally just pops out like it was barely stuck in him.  Thank goodness I didn't give him any slack the entire fight.

Big girl!  I was guessing in the 28–30-pound range.  (turned out to be 31 on the scale).  This one was much healthier than the old decrepit one I caught a few weeks ago but she still was sort of long and thin.  She was full of eggs and sardine chunks also.  Not sure if it was slurping chum or what but the sardines looked like it was swimming an hour before.

First thing I did was to text Steve the picture...  hehe

By now, it was the bent rod invitational, and I was surrounded by boats.  I crept out of there to get some space and started trolling for more yellows, but I did get a first cast fish so maybe the curse?

I saw fish on my side finder and quickly cast out the little iron and caught some bonito.  I then thought I had weeds on my Rapala, but when I reeled it in, there was also a bonito.  The grass started getting thick, so I made a move to new waters to get away from the cluster.  I work it hard for a few hours for nada and run on some distant spots of fish that all disappeared when I got there.

It was time to head back with the wind kicking up and now the cluster of boats at LJ was about 75+.  The terns were diving all over though and it looked super fishy!  Only issue was it was surrounded by boats that wouldn't even let a kayak into the circle, so I trolled the outer fringes.  BAM, on again!  This one also felt like a monster, but after 5 minutes of the fight (or him stripping line) he pulled the hook.  It almost felt like it was grabbed by something, but I didn't see any sea lion surface with it so I'm not sure what happened.  I texted Squatch to let him know he just lost his birthday Yellow...  Bummer...  lol

Anyways, I trolled for 10 more minutes and the wind and clock forced me off.  I was good though and it was great being out there and seeing some life.  Strike while the iron is hot!

Thanks for reading and until next time. 

[sasquatch]

Sorry to flake out. I was really looking forward to it. Kinda put a damper on my birthday plan. Still enjoyed the family dinner so not a total loss.
I knew when my phone dinged you had one. Congrats.