A Couple of Firsts (8/23)

[Latimeria]

Damn, I started the post, but I forgot I have a Dr Appt for my shoulder MRI, so I will finish it later.

Fishing was really slow but there was no skunk for the Curmudgeon.





I'll finish the post later today.

[Latimeria]

I'll actually finish this later.  Just know we stayed away from the crowd and worked the area hard.  What we thought was a 40-50 pound yellow grabbing the rapala turned out to be a 50# BSB!!!!  I was in shock, but my buddy was super stoked as it was his biggest game fish in California!  He's caught 30# flatheads out here and lots of 20-30 pound fish, but weirdly enough, never broken the 50# mark since he doesn't Bat Ray fish.  LOL

I have the pictures, but will leave them out of the AI spotlight.

Long story short and we caught a big BSB, a few halibut and a bass on the 7" deep diving Rapalas.  Totally never would have expected that, but I'll take the strange day over the usual any time!

[Tim524]

Nice way to mix it up

What's with the fish, did the bite die off in LJ ??

Heading out in a few days but my luck hasn't been good. I'll explain in another post 

[jrodda]

Interesting trip! Must be a nice break from the donkey yellows wearing out your shoulders.

[Latimeria]

Yeah, I can't really post the photos as they would definitely be attacked online.  As for the yellows, I'm sure they are still there but where is the question.  The bait is the toughest thing.  All of my fish have been on the artificials which is quite amazing in its own right, but I would have tripled my Yellow count with real live bait.

Tim, you may be out there when they start to snap again, so don't go by recent reports.  Day by day bites are totally the norm this year.  I'd definitely try to troll some big Rapalas if you can't find any good bait.  5 mph about 50 yards behind the boat will give you a good shot.  If you meter bait then fish that area since there is not much bait out there.  The gamefish will be close by.