Fishin with Orca on the Irene Sea

**nunyabizness1** · Nov-19-2007, 11:45 PM

Don invited me to join him for a day on the "Irene Sea" so I gladly accepted and we set out of Dana Landing Saturday morning at 7:45 am. Our plans were to head north towards Torrey Pines to see what we could find.

We stopped just outside the opening of the mouth area to cast a sabiki line for bait and I was able to pull in two nice-sized macks. We tried for more but no luck so we decided to move on. We saw lots of marks on the fishfinder and it was killing me to pass them up but we had a goal ahead and off we went heading north in search of more bait. Once we reached La Jolla, we stopped just outside the buoys near the point to try for more bait. There were bait boils everywhere and we had no problem. We decided to head towards Torrey Pines and bounce some rigs for Halibut. We traveled from Torrey Pines and bounced south towards the pier. We also had a line in trolling for whatever else we could catch. We got bit by a mack!!!!

Sherm would be happy to know that 2 of his furbag friends welcomed us and swam a circle around us nosing around but finally left. If the furbags didn't pose enough threat, we had the birds appear and one took off with my bait flying around and dragging the line off into the air. We tugged on the line and he dropped the mack which was still alive! Speaking of food, Don decided to drag out the grill and grilled up some cheeseburgers which tasted pretty darn good after being on the water. They were tasty! I have pics of the Burger King at work below.

We decided to head to one of Don's favorite spots that he and Kevan had previously fished for some rock fish and try our luck there. We found the spot, (ask him where it was) and the water was 200+ feet deep. We kept drifting from the spot but kept heading back to try again. We both had several bites and I had a few firsts on this trip! I caught my first Cuda, Boccacio and Sculpin. We moved around and caught these fish in different spots but it was very cool to catch 3 firsts for me. Don was wonderful with teaching me what to use for the different types of fish and he helped setup my rigs appropriately. We had success with bringing fish to the boat and seemed to attract some pretty tiny fish too. It was a bummer to pull up the small ones and not be able to release them since they didn't look like they would survive. I did post a pic or two of Don with them even though he was not excited about me taking the pics of the small ones! It was a part of the trip and so I took the pic for the memory.

The sun started to set and time flew so fast. We headed back to the launch ramp I got a pic as the sun was setting. Darkness set in quickly and out of nowhere, we had a boat upon us with lights flashing... DFG!!! Don said that he had never been stopped by them and this was his first! He asked if we had any lingcods on board, we told him no. He asked to see what we caught and Don showed him. He asked for our fishing license and only needed to see one so I volunteered mine so that I could have another first. Then I asked Don to take a pic of me with the DFG guy and boat with flashing lights in the background. The settings on the camera were not right so the pic came out bad but it's posted below.

We landed without any problems and headed home. We logged 10 hours on the water, had perfect weather, lots of firsts, and a great time on the water! Don was an awesome host and I learned a lot from him. Thanks so much!!

Jaydog · Nov-19-2007, 11:56 PM

Sound's like a good time, shoot I just drank beer and played Scrabble all day. I guess you guy's will be eating fish tacos in the near future, yum yum.

**nunyabizness1** · Nov-20-2007, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaydog

Sound's like a good time, shoot I just drank beer and played Scrabble all day. I guess you guy's will be eating fish tacos in the near future, yum yum.

There were plenty of fish tacos and they were yummy!

I haven't played Scrabble in forever!

geno machino · Nov-20-2007, 08:39 AM

Nice going in your four first's! It sounds like the start of a long love affair with fishing. WTG! Geno

raffman55 · Nov-20-2007, 11:29 AM

Sounds like a great time Maggie, glad to see you back on the water. Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving. Tom

Sluester · Nov-20-2007, 11:33 AM

Arrrrgh Capt Ahab.

Sweet!

**fishnfool** · Nov-20-2007, 11:50 AM

Nice report Maggie. Congrats on all the firsts. Glad to see someone out there having fun.

SDtone · Nov-20-2007, 12:02 PM

thanks for the report/pictures. glad to hear Don put you on some fish.

**Orca** · Nov-20-2007, 12:14 PM

Funny there's no pics of you, Maggie. Glad to have you aboard you are fun to fish with. Hopefully we get you your first Halibut on Sat.

Az.monkey · Nov-20-2007, 12:39 PM

Good job hooking up Mags Don, did she use a coffee grinder or a conventional ?

**Orca** · Nov-20-2007, 02:51 PM

Coffee grinder for bait and conventional for fish.

2813mrbill · Nov-21-2007, 07:45 PM

Them is some nize looking cheese burgers Don. You would make a dang good charter skipper. Maggie, great to see you back in the fray. See ya back at the salt mines.

I'd rather be fishing (WITH BAIT)