It's always a great report when you head up north.  That water level is LOW!  I do love that geology up there though.  Damn cool formations.


I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger since I got invited up to Washington for some Salmon, Halibut, Steelhead, Lingcod, and Rockfishing for a week in October.

Wow, Sea Tow was the first thing I saw!  haha, nice whaler!

Bummer on the low counts, but not too shabby.  Only 12 more days until the deepwater rockfish season opens which will surely be limit style fishing.

Keep the reports coming!

Damn... I was loving my warm bed in the morning when my alarm went off, but I got my ass out of be anyway.



I got to the grounds and hit the squid hard, but there was barely anything thing there so I really just wanted to get whatever I could before I dropped down any baits.

When the bite died, I got my usual spread out. 

It really didn't take long before I hooked up.  I thought it was a bat ray at first, but realized it was probably a yellow after 5 minutes into the battle.

Finally got it to gaff and 24#. I wish I could have taken a better picture but I didn't want the "Bent Rod Invitational" so tried to get the picture really quick out of the other's guys view.





Oh, BTW...  The New Seaforth just dropped the hook 50 feet from me and now I have people casting at me...  I'll refrain from my thoughts on this.



So lets continue.  I caught a big batray, a nice sand bass, and a nice Blue Shark.  Normally I would take pics, but I felt weird being in front of the SDF elite buddies (not NSF) and didn't want them to think ill of me.



Then I get a SCREAMER!  I mean a SCREAMER!  It took me around the boat a few times and I knew it wasn't a BSB.  It surfaced and thrashed water like crazy like a shark, but was a donkey of a yellow.

Finally I got it to the boat and sunk the gaff.  In my head it was over 40# for sure!  Possibly my PB.





I Didn't get any "Real" bites after that and gave my remaining squid to my buddy who just showed up.

I put it on the scale expecting to see 42-43# bled out, but realized I was a little generous.  Only 39#.  LOL

In any case, it was worth the trip and I have more meat than I can deal with at the moment.  But... there's still a 40-50 pounder out there with my name on it! LOL

Until next tide!

Long story short, but the local bite is a hope-fest.  You're going to catch a beast or nothing at all since there is no biomass around.

I've been hitting the spot hard the last week+, but have not got what I was hoping for....

Until this day....

Squid is hard to come by since it isn't bedding.  Just got to be in the right place at the right time (Early)

Finally scored a 22# yellow. 



It was a huge weight off my shoulders because of all of the bycatch I've been getting the last few weeks.  I'm not complaining, just stating that I haven't connected with my target species in many many many hours of searching.

I'll hit the grounds as much as possible to get my PB.  Local PB is 43#, so hopefully I can upgrade my PB!

Man, we had a pretty much wide-open spot to fish down south at the flats and decided to try for glory or nothing.  Only one boat was near us and we happened to know him so we so it was all good. We saw him catch back to back yellows and we had nothing at this point.

Then my dropper goes screaming out!  I start to crank and for some reason the circle hook pulled.  Not sure how that happened.

We continued to fish and saw our buddy boat pick up a few BSB also he released.  Now we were deciding what to do.  Then I get a bite on the big C-Rig!  It wasn't big, but what the hell!  Another Fantail Sole and it swallowed my big ass circle hook!



At least the skunk is off the board.  Then it was Scott's turn at a flatty and at least got a decent one!



Scott then had a screamer that we were sure was a big Yellow.  About 10 minutes into the fight and he started to bring it in... then the circle hook pulls!  Ugh....  Not a fantastic start even though there was a lot of action.

Not soon later, I was sure I had a small yellow... then it started to feel different.  Well, back to my roots I guess...



I then get a scream,er that takes me around the boat a few times.  I only had my star drag reel, so couldn't use the power of the two speed, but it had blistering runs.  I had 50# yellow in my head the whole time and even Scott was convinced, although it took way to long to get a yellow up.  Then we started to fear it was something else, and then that fear became a reality.  Not a yellow but a +100# BSB.  Thing was spewing jizz all over the place.... I think that's what it was at least but it doesn't seem like breeding season.



We just popped the hook and gave its head a push down with the gaff handle and off it went. 



I was already late getting in but we really wanted something else to throw in the cooler.  Then Scott gets slammed and we were sure it was a halibut.  I can't believe how many times we were wrong today.  Next time and I'll be better at guessing since the fights will be fresh in my head...

Scott hasn't caught a leopard shark in years and now he reset the clock.



Well, we left IB and ran to the barn.  The ramp was packed as expected, but we got out and back rather quickly considering the traffic. 

Well, that was it and until next tide!

"I brought a sledge hammer handle to use as a billy club"

I've heard of wood shampoo and aluminum shampoo as billy clubs, but a sledge hammer is another level!

Nice season boss!

I got to the lakes first thing and realized that they had the "No Fishing" signs everywhere..  WTF....  Then I realized it was because of the big catfish stocking they were doing for this weekend.  The last Cat Stocking of the year I think.

Lets just say I had to get creative...

Creativity led to a morning bass.  only a little guy around 14", but better than nothing!



I saw about 6 bass blow ups, but couldn't get them to take my offering.  I also ran into another 5-6 other bass guys that were creative like me, so spots were limited.

Well, I might have to try for cats next.  The bass thing was a cool change, but they aren't exactly strong fighters.  I want to see my drag screaming.  lol

I fished the morning for nothing.  I would have thought the weather change might have helped, but it did the opposite.

Went 0 for 0 in the morning.

I didn't like that skunk, so went back down after dinner to rectify the issue.  Well, I saw a few fish but couldn't get them to bite.  After pitching my bait by some structure, I saw the pop of the line and then it started moving sideways...  Hell Yeah!  Not a monster, but the skunk is gone!



Well, back home to continue the job search.

I took the boat out in hopes to landing one of the big 3 (WSB, YT, or Hali).  I figured at worst, I'd just bass fish the kelp and maybe get a rockfish or two.

Got out at grey light.  Funny, it was much darker than this, but the phone automatically adjusts so it looks a bit later.



I was fly-lining some Ranch 99 squid along the kelp edge.  Amazingly there was a lack of bait stealers until the squid made it to the bottom.  Every one that hit the bottom was a Brown Smooth-hound.  Funny because I thought we only got greys around here, but I'm fairly certain these were all browns.  I was hoping they were halibut...  hahaha



I switched to a weighted line with the squid and kept it off the bottom around 10 feet.  I grabbed my bass rod and started throwing the Yozuri Hydrominnow.  All of a sudden... BAM!!!  ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

I was for certain I had a yellow and used the trolling motor to get it away from the kelp, but it didn't want to go in that direction anyway.  Then it started leaping into the air!  Holy crap!  Thresher!

It was only like 6' with the tail, so a little guy, but a whipping tail and two treble hooks got me on edge, so I just sunk the gaff to harvest him.  Beautiful fish!



I tried to get some fresh shots, but he wasn't having it, so I had to wait him out.  Still, a nice surprise!



I look over and my squid rod line is moving!  This definitely felt like a big halibut!  The entire time I was confident it was my 40-pound butt!  Nope...



This is one shark I don't usually catch from the boat, so I was pretty amazed.



I move back over to the kelp line and drop another squid.  As I was waiting, I cast out the Hydrominnow again.  About 12 more casts and I'm hooked up again!  This must be a yellow!

It pretty much jumped right away and I saw it was Thresher #2!!!  About the same size or smaller but one hell of a fight.  This one was hooked in the tail so I grabbed the tail and removed the hook.  As I was trying to get a picture, he thrashed and was gone.  I got a little nervous about that tail.  lol

I get back to the kelp line and start again.  This time the squid rod goes off!  I thought it was another halibut, but I had a strange feeling...  Well, it was what I thought it was.  A Bigger 7-gill!  I couldn't get him up the last 15 feet and he pushed his weight around on me and swam into the kelp.  The line to the hook got bit off but at least I got my sinker back.

So a pretty crazy day.  I didn't want anything shark, but wound up catching 7...  I kind of wish they were YT, WSB, or butts... but I'm not complaining!

I had to get back and clean the boat before getting on the job hunt again.  In any case, it was fun.  It was a little bumpier than I would have liked, but thankfully it wasn't too far since I was going slow.

Thanks for reading!

The job hunt isn't going very well but I'm looking every day.  I got a little stressed out the last few days from life in general, so decided to spend a couple of hours down at the lakes looking for bass.

First lake I stopped at, and bass were jumping, but the water was really brown and could not get a bite.  I saw them run up to my plastic but turn the last minute (wake gave them away).

Then I see her...  Big black shadow in the brown water.  I questioned to myself if it was a rock or not but remember when I did that with the Lightning Trout earlier this year and spooked it.  I pitched the worm in front of its face, and it moved so I knew it was a bass now!  double digit bass ALL DAY LONG!  I was about 12' up the bank trying not to spook it and switched o9ut a few plastics to see if I could get her to go.  Then I see some "wiggles with eyes" at the surface (about 15-20 of them) wriggling right by her a "WHOOOSH!"  She friggin inhaled the entire baby school!  I kept trying until I saw her slowly disappear away from the bank out into the big brown yonder.

I decided to leave her be since I know where she is and moved onto the next spot... and next lake....  The bass would give their location up by slamming something at the surface.  It looked like tiny baits, so there might have been a spawn.  Well, I watched my line go "tick" and then started moving sideways!  Fish on!

It actually felt like a much nicer bass but turned out to be half the size that I was expecting.  Still nothing to sneeze at, but I was stoked to get the skunk off.  Only took 40 minutes to get on the board.



I moved to about 4 more spots on this puddle and nothing doing.... So I moved to the next puddle.

I got bit instantly, but missed on the hookset.  Then another bass guy was coming in hot so I just stayed put.
I moved about 50 feet each way and kept trying for nothing and decided to really get the bait in the weeds.  "WHOOSH!"  Immediately on with a bigger bass than my last one!  It thankfully swam out of the vegetation so gave me a real shot at fighting it.  It jumped about 5 times but didn't throw the hook.  Got my thumb on him...



I wanted to leave, but that was one fine adrenaline rush, so I kept pitching baits.  About 10 minutes later and I get inhaled again, but this one shot right into the tulies and broke the line... Ouch...

I had to go at this point, but mission accomplished, and I know where I need to go to get that big girl later.  Hopefully she stays around for a bit.

Down to my last two frozen tails from last season.  My wife is out of town, so I was thinking this may be a good time to eat a lot of seafood.

Unfroze one of the two tails and made probably the best lobster roll I've had in a really long time!



Now it's time to restock my tails when the season kicks off!

Quote from: Tim524 on September 04, 2025, 06:54:59 PMAll this Drama calls for a Getaway to Bishop/Mammoth next week

That's giving me ideas....

I finally got my buddy Oz out on my boat yesterday.  Target was yellows and only artificial fishing.

We get out and see 30 boats all clumped up on the outside and said "screw that".  We went on a hunt for our own fish.

Not a soul around and things looked fishy.  We got some decent calico on the iron.



Then the birds showed up and yellows started popping here and there.  I made a perfect cast and was inhaled!  I only got a few crank on him and he popped off, so not sure what happened, but that hook never hit a meaty spot.

We started casting when I looked up and an armada was coming in on us!  WTF?!?!



We got lines in our motor from dudes trolling right next to us and casting at us....  f@ck me.....

Finally the NSW took off and the armada followed them away.  By then there were no signs of life.  We had the gyros and watched the fleet all day.  We NEVER saw a single yellow caught and we glassed the fleet all morning.  We saw the reports and knew that there was a lot of lies in the fish counts.

Oh well, the wind picked up and we got off the water.  We had a chance, but next time.  If anything, it's a reminder to stay away from the lemming fleet.

Still a fun day out there.

I took the Curmudgeon out to look for some local yellows.  Weather was a bit bumpy, but there have been some real toads around, so worth the trip.

I didn't see a real bend in any rod all day in the middle of the fleet, but there was no shortage of bonito.  I hooked about 10, but only bounced my limit of <24" on board.  They were all 17-20 inches.



It was pretty awesome seeing them on my side finder, so I knew what side of the boat to cast on.

I was realizing that the yellow bite may never materialize.  The only mackerel I was catching were like 2 pounders!  I tried slow trolling a 2#, but the seals were on them in a heartbeat.

I dropped the jig and caught some strange color variation rockfish (or possibly new ones for me).

I'm sure this is a Starry, but the colors and body style was unlike most of the starry's I've ever caught in my life.



It may be a splitnose, but I have to investigate further.



I loaded up with big spanish and green macks and decided to start throwing the jig again for yellows.  First f@cking cast and my line starts screaming out!  Holy hell, another one on this jig!

Then a boat sees me hooked up and literally casts his sardine over my line (he didn't realize how much line was apparently off my reel or wasn't paying attention).

Then he started fighting my line as I was attached to the fish.  I yelled to them they were hooked on my line and I'm fighting a fish, but they responded "No, I have another one hooked up".  Well, their hook slid up my line and I showed them.  I grabbed their hook and almost got tetanus!  f@cking hook look like it came out of the back of their truck and was in there a few years!  The amount of rust cut the braid as I got the hook off and everything was lost, but he got his f@cking rusty ass hook back.

Grrrrrr...   Well, I tried for another hour but didn't have any more of those jigs.  No bites and the wind started picking up so I trolled a Rapala home.  Nada... but I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

Oh Damn!  78???  Thank goodness that lake is deep so it can sustain the ones that live deeper, but holy crap that is warm for up there!

I hate hearing about fish die offs.