Did a fifteen-hour tour with Lal (Tailman) in his blow up boat on 9-20. We launched from Davies at 0500, grabbed a scoop of bait and headed for the west end of cat. We were greeted with white caps and pretty nasty conditions about half way over, so we altered course to the island proper to get the benefit of being in the lee. About 5 miles out, we found a stationary whale just kicking back. We circled him slowly, taking in the grandeur of the beast
We must have woken him up, cause he did the hump back thing and next thing you know there’s a tail in the air and he’s gone. Way cool.
We made it to the island and headed for the west end. When we rounded the corner, we were greeted with washing machine conditions pukey point would have been proud of. Yuck. We anchored up near eagle rock in 90’ of water and started soaking bait. We got a bone here and there (boy were they picky), but no love on the yellowtail. We did have a 6-pak boat position himself about 30’ from us. Not quite sure why he anchored so close to us as there was a lot of ocean out there.
We bagged the Yellowtail attempt there as we were getting tangled with the new neighbors, so we headed east, down the backside. Tried a drift or two for Yellowtail, but no love so we started bassing along the island.
Lal was hot. I was not.
Lal scored this beauty right off the bat
Then, just a few minutes later, he got a larger model in skinny, seabass-green water.
Lal kept catching bass while I looked on like a dumb monkey. We worked the churned-up green water in close to the rocks with Lal catching a calico here and there.
Then the coolest thing happened.
We were maybe 30 feet out when the water erupted between us and the shore. Gobs of baitfish were trying to get the hell out of Dodge, with maybe a thousand of them in the air at any given time. You could hardly see the water—just the silver sides of the baitfish in the air. Oh and the noise--it sounded like a waterfall.
A quick look down, and you could see yellowtail slashing their way through the edge of the bait ball. What a sight! I threw a swimbait into the pandemonium and was up instantly. Oh oh, I brought a knife to a gunfight. I was on a nice Yellowtail with a bass setup—a Calcutta TE300/812XFA with 15# line. I was on him for maybe a minute--enough time to hold the reel up to show Lal how the line was peeling off of it. That line flying off the reel reminded me of the initial run of a Yellow Fin Tuna. I thought I had a chance to land that rascal as (oddly) he was headed out to sea. It turned out though that before he headed for SB Island, he made a detour around a kelp stringer, magnifying the drag. The line parted and that was that.
What an experience! Loosing that fish under those circumstances was waaaaaay better than catching your basic bait fish. Add one more story to the “ the one that got away” list.
We tried another drift at eagle rock for Yellowtail but nothing was happening, so we went around to the front side. We hit a few spots including Italian gardens for no love on anything other than an occasional bone.
I couldn’t believe how clear the water was. Vis must have been 30-40’—as clear as I’ve ever seen it. That may have been our problem too. It was sight fishing like you were at Tahoe. You could see the bones follow the bait/lures, but it was really hard to get them to bite.
Around 1400 we decided to bag the island adventure and head for PV. We stopped on a few paddies the first few miles out as the water was 70+ degrees. Nobody was home. After a rather lumpy crossing we made it to PV. Now, it was my turn to catch fish. I was up on the first cast and nailed this guy.
Just a couple casts later, another, then another. I was redeemed. The last fish over three pounds was this guy.
Since the fishing was good, we decided to see what the sunset bite was like. We had a flurry just before sunset then things cooled off. The Day Fire made for a bright red sunset.
We finally quit fishing around 1900 or so and headed for the barn. We were on the trailer right at 2000 hours—a fifteen-hour jaunt. Reminded me of the old Trailer Trash, and the fishing marathons we used to do on it.
Totals: 34 Bass to 4.5#, 80/20 calico/sandy, 12 bones, 1 johnny bass and a sculpin. Lal got bitch slapped by what was probably a big bass and I got hosed by a yellowtail in an experience I won't soon forget. Wow, what a trip! Water temps were 64 in the harbor, rising to 69 at the island and 70 on the backside. It got up to 71 degrees on the way back. Hot bait for the bass was my hand-poured 5" swimbait in clear with red and silver hologram flakes on candy red leadheads.
Once again, we didn’t sink the boat or get arrested or towed, so I declare it to have been a great day. Thanks for the invite Lal.
Oh: We went 113 miles on 18.9 gallons of petrol. Neener neener!
Kurt
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