500+ Pound Blue Marlin....

500 Pound Bluefin Tuna....

Wahoo in SoCal....

Amberjack in SoCal....

Manta Rays, Whale Sharks, etc....

Timmy my boy!  Get the Cyclops out!!!!

I never heard of a trailer inspection... and have never had one on any boat that I ever purchased, so I'm a little curious right now.

We launched with one thing on our minds: marlin and wahoo. The anticipation was high as we headed out, even though my buddies didn't have Mexican permits and planned to stay in U.S. waters for the day.



First stop was the bait barge, where we grabbed a half scoop. It was mostly small anchovies, with a few tiny macks and dines mixed in. Not exactly trophy bait, but we've all seen stranger things happen offshore.
We spent some time on the 9-Mile Bank and metered some really promising fish, but no matter what we threw at them, they just wouldn't commit. One of those classic "they're here, but they're not hungry" situations.



From there we made the run to the 182, put out three marlin jigs, and then things got absolutely stupid... in the best possible way.





Twenty minutes later... TRIPLE HOOKUP!

Three marlin on at the same time! We ended up boating two and releasing the third. Not long after, we hooked a fourth marlin and sent that one back to fight another day. Definitely not the kind of action we were really expecting when we left the dock that morning.





After riding that high, we headed over toward the 43, where a fleet of marlin boats was working the area. We started trolling and stumbled onto what can only be described as a magical paddy.

This thing was loaded.

Yellowtail... Dorado...... Yellowfin tuna!







The tuna were mostly footballs, but nobody was complaining. For the next several hours it was pretty much nonstop action. Even better, somehow nobody crashed our little party! We jokingly started calling it the "Paddy Party", and the invitations apparently got lost in the mail because we had it all to ourselves which was unreal.

By the time we finally called it quits, the kill bag was pretty much stuffed and the arms/shoulders were feeling it.
The ride home got a little sporty as the wind came up, but we were treated to one final show when we saw huge manta rays launching themselves out of the water all over the 9-Mile Bank. An awesome way to cap off an already unforgettable day.

No wahoo this time, but with four marlin encounters, a loaded paddy, nonstop yellowtail/dorado/yellowfin action, and flying manta rays, it's pretty hard to complain.

Some days the ocean gives you exactly what you're looking for. Other days it gives you something even better.

Until Next Tide!

Hahahaha, sorry Steve-O!

Nice trip Jeremy!  I love to see what you guys get on the annual Bongos trip.  I do have to say that it's a bummer that you didn't get out to Clemente though.  That could have been a really good trip, especially now!

Holy crap, that boat towing the dory sideways has me cringing.  What in the actual hell....

Well, the fish are snapping down here and a big wave of wahoo are at the border.  The next few weeks should be pretty wide open down here! 

That's way more fun than Squatch has been having lately.

Well, have a blast when you get to go.  I haven't been able to do squat lately.

Sx is coming up mid-November, so I need to get some fish while I could!

Man "Jerime", What an epic journey!  I did something similar picking up my boat, but not at that distance.  Very, very cool stuff and what a way to drive a trailer for the first time.  I can only imagine the white knuckle driving you were doing.

Bravo sir!  Well done and congrats on your hole in the water you'll continue to dump money into... but your memories from what the boat will bring you will be legendary.

Concolor...

I only got bits and pieces and don't want to ruin his story, but I am pleased to know he survived the epic (land) journey as I did something sort of similar before and know how white knuckled it can be.

Looking forward to reading about the trip!

I met up with my fossil buddy from the museum to do a little crab hunting.  Looks like this plot of land may be off limits here in the future so we got in while the getting was good.

Ironically having him here we actually figured out what was happening and where they were coming from.  I had an idea, but having my buddy who works as a full-time paleontologist at the museum really confirmed that I had the same hypothesis.

Basically, we tracked the erosional movements of the crab fossils from the source to where the erosion brought them over the years and decades.

Pretty cool stuff and found some really great specimens.  I'll post them later also.

Water was warm and turgid...  I didn't put a lot of time in since there was a lot of floating stuff in the water and the wind started to kick up a little earlier than I was hoping (along with the jet ski/boat traffic).

The rocks were tough, so I moved to some beach.  I thought I snagged a lump of weeds until I felt it shake and realized I was on.  One 18" flatty slid up on shore and I was pretty stoked. 

I have a pic but have to post it later.  It was kicking up the good old MB mud on me and shimmied back into the bay before I could get some better pics.

Oh well, but better than a skunking and I wish I saw more flatties around the bay like that.

Looks like a great trip Tim! Nothing like taking a break from the Sierras to go stack up some taco meat. 

That story about the guy with the Squidtrex in his thigh had me a little bit laughing and a little bit cringing. Everyone thinks a hook will just slide right out until they find out skin is a lot tougher than people think. Once that barb is buried, it's pretty much a choice between creative surgery or a trip to see someone with better tools and pain meds.

It's great to see Cheez! Sounds like he came ready to fish while Max came ready to enjoy some boat napping. At least he was conserving energy for the fish tacos.

Question... did you guys troll Rapalas for yellows at all, or was it frozen squid and bottom fishing all day?

Nice day fellas!

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.

Ouch.... that's a tough one. Sounds like you guys did everything right and just ended up on the wrong side of the fish gods that day (did you pour out some beer in homage to the fish gods that morning?). Between the bait shortage, the armada sitting on the yellows, and running 75 miles south only to find lockjaw fish, that's about as expensive a boat ride as they come.  Bait has been really hard to come by the past month or two.

Honestly, I'd rather burn a lot less fuel and take my chances with The Cyclops out of La Jolla too. With your track record, I wouldn't be surprised if you put together a better report locally than the entire fleet did offshore.

Good luck with Cheez on Friday. Hopefully the next report includes bent rods, bloody decks, and a fish story worth every penny this trip wasn't! Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

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!

Is that a nuclear chicken color lure on the first pic?  That right there may be your problem.  lol

Well done boss and glad to read someone else's fishing post.  Forums these days have given way to a quick snapshot on social media and a quick line like "Look how great I am" or "Go get sum" instead of telling the story of the trip.