Victory 10/30 Trip w/pics

[tsurikichi]

Hey guys,
Lots of Different Species of Bottom Huggers

Rode Berth 55’s, old Queen’s Wharf, now Long Beach Sportfishing’s ¾-day local moo-moo Victory yesterday … Monday. Longtime skipper Mike Blue ran the boat with Cliff decking and working the galley with some helping hands. Fished Horseshoe Kelp/Rigs. Only 25 anglers today! The Victory was only one of three ¾-day boats from MDR down to, but not including, SD that got out yesterday !!

Target Fish: Lings, Sculpin, Other Rockfish

Short Report- Monday 10/30:

25 anglers caught 2 Lingcod, 64 Sculpin, 35 Sheephead, 15 Whitefish, 1 Cabezon, 1 Rock Sole, 1 Sanddab, 1 Halfmoon, and 25 Rockfish (Rockfish:Reds (Vermillion Rockfish), Starrys, Chuckleheads (Copper Rockfish), and ……… Treefish)

Monday 10/30 Jackpot

Last Call ........................... Winner!


Ling Takes the Jackpot

Jackpot contenders on SWRF trips this time of year are usually either Lingcod, Bocaccio (Salmon Grouper), or big Sheephead. Taking my fishing-club buddy Jim, on his first ride on the Victory, was the charm (talent notwithstanding) in taking the jackpot with a nice Lingcod that may have gone 8~9 pounds. Next biggest fish was either his SECOND (and only other green, toothy critter boated) Lingcod (legal bag limit is 2) or another anglers’ very nice Sheephead. Both fish taken on lively Sardines.

Needless to say, with me puttering around with my plastics, I don’t get in the jackpot against guys like this very often!! Cliff did the weigh-in honors before starting to clean fish.

Long Report:

To the Receiver

Out the Gate ................................ Loading Dines!


Medium Sized Dines

Heading out from Berth 55, and getting the detailed safety speech, that few listen to unless they are newbies ……. who listen intently, the trip to the bait barge at Cabrillio was pretty fast and made for a quick shot out of the Los Alamitos entrance. Sardines looked to be 5 to 6 inches and in pretty good condition. I suspect there were some mini-macs in the tank too as some were being used as hook-bait but I didn’t honestly look. Besides finbait, we had the usual frozen squid. Some guys brought the Shrimp for Sheephead. There was also another bait on board too but I didn’t use or check it out.

Heading Out

Same ol’ Light!


To the Rigs!!

Yesterday was the first day of Long Beach Sportfishing’s Winter schedule. The Victory now leaves at 7am daily. We left the dock just a tad after 7am (stragglers), were baited up, and out the door in a little more than 30 minutes.

After tanking up on finbait, we headed out past the Los Alamitos Light. We made a bee-line straight-out for the rigs and the platform named after Archie Bunker’s wife ….. only joking.

Out of the breakwater, we encountered 3.5~4 foot downhill (S ~SSW) swells coming at 5~6 seconds with the wind 8~10 knots. The water was holding steady at 65 degrees for the last 24 hours, and to the end of the trip for that matter, so I wasn’t looking for much surface action on the way. On the very last leg of our return trip, the Bonito popped up and were ripping bait pretty good so ….. like …. What do I know!?

The morning’s visibility was decent today, we could see the hazy outline of both Catalina and most of the coastline from Palo Verde to Newport. Approached our target rig around 8:15 or 8:30am.

The Days Fishing

Fishing Area!
The rig we fished sits close to a 120/150 foot break although, if memory serves, I believe Mike said the depth we would fish would be just a little deeper.



Fishing the ‘Shoe’

The Rigs .................................................. .Sculpin Hideout!


Today’s Fishing Area!

Today’s plan was to hit the Rigs and adjoining waters for the usual SWRF (Shallow Water Rockfish) species. Generally, on a local SWRF trip, I brace myself for fishing at depths of 120~250 foot depths commonly fishing by the moo-moo’s. Granted, some sportfishing boats head for the 300 foot depths! Anybody remember whipping past these things for the exotics this Summer?

Round 1

Got to the spot around a quarter past 8. I haven’t fished SWRF around the rigs for a while so it was something that took me a while to get back up to speed. Translation: I lost a few leadhead/swimbaits combos on the structure … cables …. before I got the hang ….. get it ….. hang of things and started catching more fish! For newer anglers…. this is just part of the price one pays to become a more experienced/skilled/successful angler at the rigs.

The boat’s approach to fishing the rig was to pull out and up current and set up a drift so it would be (in the zone) as close in and on the structure as was safe for the longest period of time. Much …. much easier said than done! Sportsfans …..this is no easy task and must me downright nerve-wracking to the skipper ….. whatever their experience level. Bravo to Mike for the extra, over-the-top effort.

Mike gave us 10~12 drifts, using the engine to slow and fine-tune the boat’s angle and attitude to the rig and increase the time in the zone. We, the anglers, kept pretty busy bringing in those prickly Scorpion Fish a.k.a. Sculpin and a few other assorted species. Fish caught on every drift while keeping bait or lure as close to the structure as possible without a hang-up. Most hang-up were fatal. Tangles were surpassingly few! My buddy had his 5 fish Sculpin limit on the 5th drift!

Around 10:30, with a diminishing number of fish caught per drift, and not much more one could ask of the effort expended, we decided to go try our luck on hopefully greener pastures. The next target would be Sheephead, Whitefish, and Lingcod in a little shallower water.

Conditions: The skipper did a fantastic job with the still 5~6 knot wind, strong current, and 2 foot swells.

Round 2

We made a 20-minute run to our next area. The water was just a little bit shallower and hard bottomed. We would do a couple of drifts and when nothing outstanding hit move to another spot. Anchored to fish 2 or 3 times with a slow but steady pick on a variety of the usual suspects.

As before most of the guys were using 2-hook ganions on dropper loops with 8-ounce torpedo sinkers. Squid was the bait of choice unless you were going after Lings ….. who demanded a Sardine or if you could get one ….. a Sanddab! While catching

Sheephead all day long, they seemed to not home-in on the shrimp as they have done in the last few weeks! I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of Barracuda or Bonito but nothing was showing on top. Buddy caught his first ling.

Conditions: The wind and water was starting to lay down, although the current was still strong.

Round 3

We made our last move to a new area further inside the ‘Shoe’. Hit a couple of spots before we dropped the hook for the last time of the day. Had a great mix of fish for the boat here with my buddy’s second Lingcod, a bunch of Sheephead, some nice Sand Bass, and the usual Rockfish.

Fishing continued but catching went from slow and steady to scratchy to finally accepting that a late afternoon bite was not going to materialize for us this day.

Conditions: The wind went to a slight breeze, the water flattened further, and the current was still making things tough for anyone who didn’t want to have to use 8 ounces of lead to fish.

Gallery:

The Fish

Starry ............... ..Sculpin ................ Treefish .................Sand Bass ........................... Lings


Honing Skills!

We again had lots of time actually fishing. It’s interesting to be required to fish so many different ways in such varied scenarios for the many species available to us locally here in Southern California.

Lingcod!



Other Subjects:

Commorant or Nessie .........................I Want My MTV ...............................My Corner!


Crushed Can


Plastics!

On Plastics!


Plastics …. Mixed Results!

I again took up the challenge of fishing plastics throughout the day whatever the target fish. I didn’t quite make it all day as I finally broke down and fished my in-line dropper loop rig for Whitefish for the last 20 minutes of the trip.

Great News! I caught a new species on plastic today. Not one but two fish which makes it more than a fluke ……. well actually …… they were Treefish. Big, fat, adult Treefish. Todays species caught on plastics included Sculpin, a Chucklehead, two Treefish, a Starry, and maybe a Brown Rockfish. I was really disappointed I didn’t pick up a Lingcod or at least a Cabezon with all the time used. All my fish were caught on leadheads of various weights and a 6-inch dark-green w/silver metal flake Jerk-It. Leadheads ranged from 1 ounce to 4 ounces with the sliding-egg sinker from ¾ to 3 ounces respectively.

I fished and caught all my fish on either a Texas or Carolina rigged leadhead/swimbait. A picture of these setups were in last Wednesday’s report for those interested ….. pretty basic stuff. The only thing I did differently on the Texas rig was to use a little heavier leadhead and a lighter weight sliding-egg sinker.

Tweeking Plastics #5

Getting Rattled


Fishy Sounds!
Taking another idea from the bass-pros bag of tricks, some of my swimbaits now have sound. It ain’t surround-sound but it’ll do! I’ve always been intrigued as to what degree the rattles that anglers put in their baits attract fish. The final straw was seeing an electronic device, being presently marketed, that has recorded sounds of various baitfish and it is claimed that it attracts and makes fish bite better. Bill Dance says it works!

I’m not so sure about how effective the rattles, placed in a plastic bait, are for the noisy environment that would be normally encountered when fishing on a moo-moo. Specifically, the first 10~20 feet would be especially noisy with so many anglers, chum-bait, birds, and the boat itself! Therefore, it seems more advisable to install the worm rattle in the leadhead as it should not muffle the sound as plastic would. Still … for comparison purposes, both are being given a try.

At first glance, it would seem that the rattles would be more effective in deeper, and in this anglers’ thinking, quieter water. Pluses would seem to include, reduced boat sounds, diminished surface distractions, and enhanced mimicking of a baitfish or shrimp. Besides predators would be more tuned in to targeting prey with sound than visually in depths where there is only low-light or total darkness! Although I have seen some worm rattles that are made of plastic, the ones chosen for this project (Excalibur) are fashioned from a glass tube which encases two metal bb’s.

As swimbaits are fished by being retrieved, on-the-fall, slow-trolled, or even bottom-bouncing, the attitude of the rattle can be established and holes made to maximize the sound for a given fishing method or …….. just to get an all-around effect. Hint: I positioned mine so that the rattle would not be damaged if the leadhead struck or ticked the bottom.

Here’s the Drill:

Step 1- Secure a leadhead for drilling. (1-ounce leadhead will become a ¾ ounce model.)
Step 2- Choose a drill bit that is one 1/16th of an inch diameter larger than the diameter of the rattle.
Step 3- Select the point and angle of the drill-hole and mark.
Step 4- Drill the hole to a depth almost that of the length of the rattle. [font size=2](remember …drilling changes weight and balance)[/font]
Step 5- Fine-tune the hole so that the rattle easily fits.
Step 6- Use the Marine formula of GOOP (light blue color tube) to secure the rattle. Goop is slightly flexible even years after the required initial curing time of 3~4 days.

testing:

On the Slide and Mid-depth

When testing the modification, while the boat was making it’s anchoring circle, I got bit consistently. Kind of a lazy mans on-the-slide technique. In mid-depth, the first thing done was to search the water column for a consistent bite. After the depth had been established, a switch-over to the leadhead/plastic combo that didn’t have the rattle was done. As hits seemed considerably less, switching back over to the bait with a rattle made a positive difference.

Nearly Bottom-bouncing

Although rock-solid results were iffy, at best, on the above test, the effectiveness of the rattle was dramatic when working the bottom. Hits, with the rattle, in the 5~10 feet above the bottom increased greatly. It seems that the fact that an anglers usually ticks the bottom with the leadhead made little difference in the number of hits. At best, the rattle will produce sound while not having the risk of losing a leadhead that one had spent time modifying.

Monday’s Conditions:

Fishing Grounds: The air-temperature was cool in the morning and I didn’t take my jacket off till afternoon. Fished under the morning haze then it turned clear with sunny skies the rest of the day. Had an uphill swell that held all day. Water clarity stayed at 20 foot visibility with water temperature at 65 degrees!! Had good size swells and wind in the morning which gradually flattened out until the usual afternoon chop developed.

Wild Creatures: We had the usual Sealion or two. The Seagulls and Pelicans are a permanent fixture and actually provide a little entertainment when things are slow. Cormorants were pretty active although we didn’t give them much of a reason to dive.

Aside: Winter Schedules! If you haven’t been out in a while, you might check on departure times when you make your reservation. Often landing’s ½-day boat’s go out but once on weekdays with am and pm runs only on the weekends. You can be sure most boats at a landing will have different departure times from others …… Winter or Summer schedules.

Another aside: Respect for a boat. C’mon guys !! The picture of the smashed can on the deck in the gallery is a reminder to me. Consider someone disrespectful of the boat if they take an empty or otherwise soda or beer can and stomp it flat on the deck! If you’ve ever had to work days to get a deck ready for resurfacing, you’d be the last guy to pull that one. Maybe I’m too old-school but I think NOT! In the ‘Go Figure’ department … the guy that stomped it left it under-foot as long as he fished the spot!

Yet another aside: I have another addition to my ‘If you see …….. they might be a newbie’ series. If you see a small, light 7 foot rod and small contour baitcasting reel with a 3/4oz saltwater leadhead reeled up tightly against the rods tip-top’s ceramic guide insert and leaned up against the rail for an hour and a half trip to the fishing grounds …… you might be a newbie.
The Victory

It’s True Blue .......................Bow Wow !!


Old Reliable!

The Victory is an excellent riding, spacious, and well-maintained, long-time member of the Southern California public, open-party sportfishing fleet. At 75-feet with a 24-foot beam, she sports a large galley, sundeck up top, extra wide walkways ….. starboard and port, and a huge bow fishing area! This year she celebrates her 20th birthday!

Today’s Crew

Mike Blue! .......................Cliff !


Just a few good words!

With the Victory out so consistently, be it with skippers Mike or George, it’s obvious from those that ride her, she puts anglers on fish…. day in and day out. For my money, it’s a good sign when you see a captain, two feet on the deck, elbow to elbow with the deckhand doing whatever needs to be done. Missed a long-time buddy Ron, master of the galley, who was just out for the day.

Back to the Docks



End of the Day

Today turned out to be yet another beautiful day to be on the water, two feet at the rail, and pulling on fish with a bunch of happy campers! Had a great skipper/crew, fellow anglers, and the usual good variety of fishys. I was off the boat and on my way home by 5:15pm.

tsurikichi

[F15hK1ll3r]

Great report.

[Cast Gold]

Nice report. My buddy and I were on that trip too, targeting the goats. Went through some old and new shrimp for easy limits of good sized keepers. The kid in the green shirt was with his dad who left his rod on the rail with line in the water. When he walked over to help his son, the rod went straight over and is now part of an artificial reef. But at least they went home with some nice fish. Good trip.

[EricM]

Good report as usual....

I have tried using sound when fishing too. I threw freshwater bass jigs which had rattles, and surprisingly, didnt catch more fish then a jig with no sound. Largemouth bass and Calico bass react differently to baits. Largemouth like wounded action baits, and Calico's like lively quick baits. Of course there are times when these fish react to different actions also.

BTW, i tuned up the swimbait with the stinger hook and got it to work great! Action doesnt seem to be THAT affected by the extra hook...Too bad ya didnt get many on the plastic out there...Fishing plastics is rarely as good as live bait, but a hell of a lot funner!

[tsurikichi]

Hi Cast Gold,

You shoulda said something and I'd have posted your catch. Always great to meet someone from the boards. I didn't catch the rod going over but I think I heard someone say something about it. I think it was at the rigs!

Give me a yell next time. I've always got a camera in hand.

tsurikichi

[tsurikichi]

Hi EricM,

Always glad to hear from ya buddy. Glad the fine-tuning worked on the stinger. It's a good way to use a plastic to the very last and it's totally shredded!

Ya ... if I fished to eat, I'd weigh a 100 pounds less. If I worried about catching fish, I'd have long been put away from a nervous breakdown!

Await your next report,

tsurikichi

[EricM]

Originally Posted by tsurikichi

Hi EricM,


Ya ... if I fished to eat, I'd weigh a 100 pounds less. If I worried about catching fish, I'd have long been put away from a nervous breakdown!

Await your next report,

tsurikichi

Yeah the stinger seems like a good idea...Where do you use it? I dont t=imagine it to be any good in kelp beds....Along the sandy bottoms?

When you fish plastics, you do it for fun. It takes talent. I fish for fun, fun doesnt always gaurantee 30 pound yellowtail, but more of the thrill of a hard days work to get a 4 pound calico tugging on the end of your line....

Planning on getting out Sunday... Gotta try 3 new swimbait ideas. Your glow stick idea, the rattle idea (worth another try), and a new weedless idea of my own innovation.

BTW for a rattle on a swimbait, i got an idea. Instead of drilling into the leadhead to insert it, why not clear an opening in the belly of the swimbait? I have both rigged up to try.

For the belly rig, you simply make an incision in the belly, slide your rattle in, and then melt shut with a lighter or hot nail (for detail).

Peace my plastic throwin pal

[tsurikichi]

Hi again EricM,

Sounds good .... await details on results and how-to's. I noticed the bass guys have these rattles that actually clip on their jigs' hook shank but they are huge!!

I chose the smallest of three sizes of those rattles just so I wouldn't have to remove so much lead/weight from the leadhead. My ideas was that the lead would carry the sound and more importantly the vibration the rattle generates greater than if it was in a soft plastic body.

Let's see how it goes... I hope there's no difference in the results! Being called worm rattles, I suspect that they were put in plastic worms originally. Don't know for sure.

Thanks as always for the input!

tsurikichi

[John Bos]

My son caught a bigger ling than that .by the way those lings dont look 22" you guys suck

[EricM]

Originally Posted by John Bos

My son caught a bigger ling than that .by the way those lings dont look 22" you guys suck

Dude your a dickhead....Shut up! :Stab_emot

Ron, i have tried both methods of inserting the rattle, and personally, if one of those two was to work better, i think that it would be the rattle in the swimbait body. The body is moving, therefore rattling the rattle more. The lead head would rattle if you jerk it or it bumps something, it wouldn't be constantly rattled.

BTW, do you know where i can get some of those Glow Stick thingies?

[Cast Gold]

Originally Posted by John Bos

My son caught a bigger ling than that .by the way those lings dont look 22" you guys suck

Nice 3rd post. Thanks for contributing to the board. Always informative. Keep it up!

[tsurikichi]

Hi Jonn Bos,

Excellent, constructive, well thought out post! Nice sense of humor !!

Glad your boy caught his Lingasaurus as they put up a great fight.

Oh ya, size minimum for Lingcod is 24 inches ...... ya ..... the didn't look 22 inches .... they were over 24 inches!!!!! Again .... great sense of humor!

tsurikichi