So I was fishing from an NRS Gig Bob, 8'4 by 6'6, 44lb frameless pontoon. To call it a float tube is quite a stretch but my only propulsion was my feet so it's the same experience. I had a ton of trouble turning, could have been the size, could have been the dive fins I had. I liked being high and dry, I was only wet up to mid-calf and wore normal shorts for the day.

I'm probably going to try a co-worker's Cumberland U-shaped float tube real soon and compare experiences. I will have my bum in a couple inches of water for that. My thing about that is it will eventually necessitate another pair of waders that I have to buy and I'm extremely tight on space, barely enough room for a float tube purchase.

After researching a ton yesterday, the perfect fit for me might be the Dave Scadden Slash, which is a tiny pontoon type, 6'x4' and 18lbs, sits real high, 500lb capacity. But at $600 on sale right now and $900 normally, might be tough to justify. If it's my primary fishing style for the next year or two then maybe. Probably will become more of an annual thing once I get another boat. Or if I don't mind being a little wetter, I might try the 350lb capacity GoPlus on Amazon for $120, which might still keep me dryer than other tubes.


And I did get a good burn on my knees! Couple applications of Aloe Vera and I'm doing okay.

Dave was poring over information on halibut after the trip and brought it to my attention that California Halibut are not "true" halibut. I had to double check, and it appears true.

These fish are distinguished by their massive size (often exceeding 400 pounds), a distinct diamond-shaped body (rather than round), and forked or concave tails. They are almost exclusively "right-eyed," meaning that as they mature, their eyes migrate to the right side of their head.

Which leaves only the Atlantic Halibut and Pacific Halibut, in their own genus of Hippoglossus.

Every now and then it bugged me that people would say they target flounder in SoCal and now I see that I was foolish to feel at odds with their naming of things. Foolish!

Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Does a butt by any other name smell as stinky?

It's back!!!!!!!!! Ordered 2000m of 30# rainbow 8 strand for $55. I got a Tekota 800PGA that apparently fits 1200 yards of 50, so I'm gonna see how much 30 it will fit for mind numbingly deep deep-drops.

I've been getting bugged by everyone at work to try float tubing. I've told them that I'm afraid of sea lions, sea lions killed my family, and I don't like sea lions. Really, I was probably putting it off because if I like it then that means I need to buy more sh!t. Finally I said yes.

It was supposed to be myself along with 4 other guys, but that plan seemed to disintegrate in the atmosphere, just as Artemis II did not! Just me and Dave. I borrowed Dave's inflatable pontoon and flippers, and he was on his Hobie yak.

I arrived around 0700. Having grabbed the pontoon off Dave the day before, I inflated it and prepped. Realized I forgot sunscreen...



Dave showed up around 0745 and we launched into Newport by 0800 or so.

I started with a fluke on a swing head. Dave said something about some kind of JDM soft plastic. He was on 'em quick and went 3 for 4 in the first hour. I was still trying to figure out how to turn at that point.

It took at least 2 hours before I got my first bite. Felt nice and it stole my fluke(!). Put a fresh one on and on the next mooring I nailed my first fish in what feels like 10 trips.



We were at the apex of our trip and finally the bite turned on a bit for me. I ended up getting 3 spotties and this ~16" halibut in 30 minutes or so.



Dave wanted in so I gave him the same lure. 5 minutes later, he gets hooks up. "Oh it's just weeds...[zzZZZZZzzz]!!!"

Ended up being his first legal halibut at about 26". He was about to gill it and keep it for dinner when...it made good on its name. It floundered, as it never floundered before, out of the yak, and slipped away...burgers it is.



Finished a little after 1100 I believe...what started as yet another cursed trip turned into something much more memorable!

I am, of course, researching float tubes now.

My predictions have been wrong every year for the past 5 years so I give up. Maybe I should stop predicting black marlin.

I don't remember a Spring this warm, full stop. Which makes me think this could be a ridiculously warm year.

Or it flips, we have a cold May, temps settle back to normal, and we forget all this ever happened. I feel like something like that happened last year or so. Warm spring, then water temps dropped below 60 at the end of June.

A yellow from the jetty would be nice though! Even just some consistent bonito would be great.

Boat looks great, so does the mustache!

Didn't know there was a boat show in Anaheim this weekend...that could be fun!

Overall solid day of rockfish. I started releasing starries after several in a row had so little meat but made a mess of my cutting board with the eggs. That is a really nice one though.

Thanks for the writeup, exciting day. I've noticed whitefish tend to know when you have 9 of them in the bag. Nice to get a yellow this early!

So much adversity, so many more fish tacos! Good to see the Cyclops get wet.

Quote from: Latimeria on April 02, 2026, 05:34:46 PMYou need to get some meat in the boat!  Get'em Timmy!

As for Jeremy... Get some easy limits of cod!  The OC has to produce something!

The OC has no such obligation!

I got a couple of passes for a local landing that I'm thinking about using soon. Probably should have used tomorrow to go but I left the passes on my desk at work. I really wanna go when they deep drop the 14 but the counts definitely aren't reading like they did that the last two days.

Also feel like I'm gonna habitually go back to cleaning the boat after each stop if I hop back on a cattle boat...

Good luck on the rockfish, and on your fishmas trip! That's probably good timing anyways, pre-fish before opening and maybe have less people fishing next to you, then hopefully take a few home when it does open. My freezer is empty, I gotta figure my way into a limit of rockfish somehow.

Had this up for a while and thought I should post it here as well. Also I've gotten like 5 "dislikes" on this video on youtube and I don't know why? Too much heavy breathing? Idk, it exists as a reference and some people are finding it useful.

Forgot to post this here when I originally made it a while ago, but it's become surprisingly popular on YouTube so I thought I would throw it up on the forum as well.

Alicia decided about a week ago that now is the time that she wants to try a camping trip. I ran through my options. Something local like the Angeles forest would be boring to me. Big Sur would be awesome, but $80 to sleep on the ground with the possibility of her hating it didn't sit well with me. I realized I still hadn't been to the Eastern Sierras, so I started honing in. I almost settled on Tuttle Creek Campground near the Mt. Whitney Portal, but the roads into the mountains were closed for the season which would limit our ability to do anything but check out the small creek there, and the Owens access in that area is limited.

So I decided to go a little further north of that to Goodale Creek Campground, 30 miles south of Bishop, then book it to the Upper Owens the next day in the morning.

First time driving up the 395 was great. A few slow trucks bogged us down but we made good time. I'm in an online Geology class right now which has freshened up my enthusiasm for all the geological varieties and wonders along the way.

We got to the campground at about 1400. Amazing skyline, Mt. Whitney a little south of us...









uhhhhh basalt!!!



Unfortunately, Goodale Creek which flowed just steps from the campground was completely shrouded in trees and shrubs. Basically no access to fish, and the host claimed there were definitely no fish in it. Google has much to say on the contrary, but I had absolutely nothing to work with from the campground. Here was the only fishable spot and it was barren.



Weather was supposed to be 70º/50º, but it felt a lot more like 90º at the afternoon peak and 50º in the morning. Quite a bit of warm wind came off the mountains from sunset until about 0300, which actually made me quite hot through the night until it died off, then I quickly became miserably cold. Relatively miserable sleep despite a healthy dose of ZzzQuil.

About 0700, we packed up camp and headed north. Not before being intercepted by Koga for a toll on the way out of the campground.





We got breakfast at 0800 at Jack's Restaurant, diner with trophy trout mounts and good breakfast.

Next we headed to Convict Lake for a little walk, as Jared made it clear he would not respect a decision on my part to forego visiting it. He was absolutely right to insist.



Bunch of perv trout trying to interrupt two otherwise consenting trouts.



The water was gin clear and the trout were very aware that it's still a month til Fishmas.

I spy:



On to the Owens...I didn't have a ton of time, what with these explorational activities. I put in about an hour and I did not see any fish whatsoever. Quite a few guys fishing and not catching. Beautiful country, but I didn't get sniffed on nymph nor micro spoon.



Alicia insisted we visit a hot spring nearby. It turned out to be 15 minutes down a dirt road. I was hoping it would just be right on the side of the road since we had essentially just done 2 other hikes, but it was down a little canyon and Alicia wanted the closer look.



Thankfully, my whole day, and maybe trip, was made by seeing that the Owens community has rigorous safety standards in their vault toilets, see on the lid:



It turns out that the hot spring is part of broader volcanic activity. This area is known as the Long Valley Caldera, a massive 8x15 mile volcano that is still active and monitored. Further evidence of recent volcanic activity can be seen upon the walls of the vault toilet.

Traffic on the way down was fantastic, took the 14 to the 5 instead of the 15 and only got the backside of 7pm LA traffic. Plus, got gas in Bishop at 5.09, which felt like an absolute steal in this particular moment, and got excellent fuel economy rolling downhill back to SoCal.

Alicia seems to like camping. I'm reminded that it leaves me with much less than 100% in my battery for the day, between the miserable sleep and extra physicality. Gotta love BLM campground pricing though, along with the views. Next time I will probably stay somewhere between the Upper Owens and Bishop and focus all my efforts there, although there are some golden trout opportunities in that Whitney Portal area that I would like to try eventually. Overall beautiful part of the state that I regret not visiting sooner. Maybe one day my salmonid curse will lift and I will have some great fishing days up there as well.

Quote from: sasquatch on March 25, 2026, 02:30:54 PMUsed to drift a single salmon egg on a hook with a little split shot and get bit in creeks. Wonder if a bead pegged near the hook or slipped over it would work. I know they use beads in the north west.

I was thinking about trying beads. I've got a few people with strong convictions insisting that I fly fish, so I might commit to that. But I would be pretty comfortable with beads and spoons.