Fishing Sat. with Jeff Warren on his boat "Tenacious" a 25' Skipjack, with friend Gabe Delbuono, we left Jeff's slip in Mission Bay at 2:30am, picked up a scoop of large dines, and headed toward the Finger Bank some 42 NM down the Mexican Coast. We arrived shortly after 5am and spent some time looking around for structure holding fish. Hailed Bill on his boat Salty Dawg who was heading to the same destination, and advised him he was buying the beer, since we arrived first.
The first couple drops were real slow, as I managed a Red, a couple of Bank Perch & a Boccacio (Salmon Grouper) in four drops. It was even slower for Gabe and Jeff. Conditions were decent, with a good drift, and not much current. We metered tons of fish, but for some reason, they had lockjaw. High tide was at 9:20 and I was hoping things would improve around 8am or later. Our best bite came between 8:30 and 9am, but it was certainly less than spectacular, unlike my last trip to the bank. Here is my best drop of the day, 2 Big Red Vermillion and a Grumpy Grouper.
Jeff caught his first Cow Cod ever, albeit a baby Cow.
Here I am with the biggest Red Vermillion of the day.
We fished the Finger until 10am, having scratched out 23 assorted rock cod, with surprisingly only 6 Salmon Grouper, which are normally thick on this bank. When the last two drifts produced zero fish, on good meter marks, we decided to find some willing biters elsewhere. We headed to Salsapuedes, where Gabe and I had found some sensational Lingcod fishing in years past, mush better two years ago, than last year though. The 9.5 mile run was downhill, and we caught some good waves along the way. The wind and swell were definitely picking up speed and height.
We arrived Salsapuedes shortly before 11am and metered around, this place was a desert island, absolutely nothing home, except two short lings. At noon we said phooey on this scenario, and headed north into Descanso Bay. Between 1pm and 2:30pm, we found a very good mix of Calico and Sand Bass on the chew, on the plastics. We filled out our limit of 30 fish with the sandies, and a few bleeding Calicos.
Here is Gabe with a big bad grumpy sand bass.
Gabe with his dandy sandy & a big Red he caught at the Finger Bank.
Here I am with a quality Calico Bass.
And here is our catch of the day.
The bass bite was a nice way to end up the trip. We headed north at 2:30pm into a nasty headwind and up swell, making the ride home somewhat bumpy and slow. Stopped to clean fish and in the slip by 5:30 pm.
Thanks, for the invite Jeff, another good day of fishing on the Tenacious, glad you were able to join us Gabe, always a pleasure to fish with you.
Hook up! Cory
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