It's a winter and spring technique for deep water. 80ft + out to the ledge in La Jolla, 120ft off HB, 80-100ft off MB.... Really heavy weights and a little faster than what feels right. I always struck out on bounce balling (caught a few keepers but nothing great) but have been 10ft from guys using heavier gear and going 1.5k knots faster (up to 5 knots) and seen them land multiple 20-40lb fish.

It also seems like the uglier the bait the better it's bit. I've spent way too much time trying to make a bait look good to have a salted anchovie outfish me

Crazy how they have pretty strict rockfish regs but need 10 experts to ID one.

Nice fish Tom!

The wording for harpoons is kind of confusing If you take it at face value.

You cannot even have one on board if you land a billfish, unless of course you have a commercial license.

You can use one to assist in landing pacific halibut (this is what confuses most people, this is here because there are rules against spearing pacific halibut so they make sure to mention it is OK to harpoon one to LAND it)

You can use a harpoon to TAKE sharks and rays. This means you can actively hunt them with a harpoon and do not need to hook them first.

Everything else is ok to land with a harpoon just like using a gaff.

Per IGFA rules the buoy on a flying gaff is a no go and harpoons are a no go but for normal recreational use a buoy is OK. I use 100ft of rope to mine and have it daisy chained for storage and its supposed to unravel on its own. It worked for the first sword but I had the first loop too tight against the butt of the gaff for the second and it didn't but the system still worked as designed and floated the fish.

Have you looked closer?

That looked like a solid goat at 1:50

Quote from: skrilla on May 12, 2024, 08:54:29 PM
Good seeing ya and congrats on the longest spotty!


I've got an email to fire off to the tournament committee concerning one of the first place winners. Let's just say I'm hoping the rules are better clarified and actually followed next time around.

Good seeing you too and thanks! Getting 3 decent fish in a row was definitely exciting. Almost enough to make me go bass fish again lol.

Are you referring to the use of a kayak to gain foot access to private docks?

The first annual BD/CCA Bay Bass Classic was held yesterday, Saturday May 11th in Mission bay.

Registration was $20 and we got that and more back with the goodie bag they handed out to everyone.
Ahi/ promar gave out some small coils of 20lb floro with a bag to display in the pics to enter thier side pot. I put on the leader and stuck the bag in the top of my tackle bag and totally forgot about it when I took fish pics. Big goof on my part.

There was a side pot for halibut so I spent the first 3 hours targeting sandy grass flats in hopes of a good flattie and maybe catch a spottie while I'm at it.
Ended up with two halibut, one 17" and one a little shorter I didn't enter and a handful of bass from 9-11.5" . Topped it off with a small cuda and hog lizard fish. Lol.

There was an outrigger canoe race going on and I got stuck in their traffic trying to cross a channel to go pee.... Talk about the most inconvenient timing being stuck 10ft off the shore of a packed dog beach and 10ft from 50 womens paddle teams when I'm about to piss myself. Luckily I was able to hold it and wasn't arrested for indecent exposure.

About 11:30 I checked the stats and even with my smaller fish I was in 30th place out of 140-150 anglers. Decided to go hit some docks and structure and try to atleast make a showing.
Found a row of docks with 3 submerged boat lifts and threw an under spin with 3" big hammer in them and pulled out a 17" bass on first cast. Wrestling it out of there was fun. Had to retie a new leader because it got really chaffed up and then cast into the second and pulled out a 14" spottie! Entered them and checked my stats and I was in 16th with 45 mins to go. Had to retie and put in a new swim bait then nailed a 13.5" on the 3rd cast. This brought me up to 6th place. I spent a little time pounding some posts around the area and had a short bite but nothing stuck. With 15mins left I went looking for another promising spot but the wind was now blowing my boat around like a balloon. Figured that was it and headed back. A couple last minute updates to the entries put me in 9th place with a 70" total and biggest overall spottie at 17".

Award time was interesting. They gave the overall spottie award to the guy with the 3rd biggest fish at 16.5" when there was a 16.75 and 17" ahead of him. I asked the event coordinators if we had been disqualified and they looked shocked and said it was a mistake. They gave me a rod for the largest spottie but didn't do an announcement or anything. BD has been made aware, the guy that won was aware and so was half the crowd when they announced it. We'll see what they end up publishing because BD is really good about event recaps.

Besides that I had a good time. Saw some old faces, including Len and almost had a dog join me which was funny. It swam out 100ft or so and looked pretty intent on getting to my boat.

After 4 straight nights battling sea lions on the WSB grounds I can say with almost 100% certainty that big mark is a sea lion....

I don't go to BPS for their tackle selection, it's their socks, redhead brand clothes and foul weather gear I like.
It will be nice for sales on electronics as well.

If you need a good tackle selection Meltons and Hogans are right around the corner. Ammo bros also has some good stuff.

Quote from: Latimeria on March 26, 2024, 05:48:45 AM
Nice boat BTW Chris.  I bet it's nice having the extra room compared to the narrow inflatable.

Thanks! Still very minimal style fishing but being able to stand up and carry more Ice is really nice.

In the pic I have a 15 gallon bait trash can (plumbed for 10 gallons) 6 gallons of gas, yeti 105 with cushion (holds extra ice, drinks and food but mainly a seat), crate with rod holders and tackle (under the front bench seat which is used to hold my FF and Measuring board), 48" kill bag and bow bag.

Having the bait tank on board really takes up a lot of room but I'm glad to be able to take it when I need it.

We'll be there. Going to hang out with the base camp this year.

Hit up the jewel with high hopes and low expectations.

Arrived just after high tide and put out two Xrap 40's as soon as I crossed the MLPA line. Lots of surface activity and about 10 mins in a troller went off! Fought a kelp stringer to the boat and safely released it... did some circling around and realized the kelp in 90ft is pretty thick and not trollable.

Got outside the kelp and put the diver back out and cruised around from bait puddle to bird pile and made my way over to a small floatilla of boats. Lots of bait going off in and around them so I pushed to the outside. Found a nice gap and cut between them towards some birds nobody was working and when I got about 50 yards from it the yellows started blowing up around me. I stopped the boat and tossed the surface iron, about 4 casts in I got a short strike but it was enough force to spin the boat a little and I noticed my troll lines going across the back. Figured I need to pull those before it makes a mess. Got the first one half way in and snagged some kelp... then the kelp started peeling line. Fish on! Cleared the other line while holding the hooked up rod between my legs and it pulling me sideways.
Stuck the gaff near the throat and  it ripped off, lots of blood everywhere. Another 90 seconds of it fighting for its life left it pretty much bled out and second gaff put it in the boat. As I was getting that fish in the bag they started puddling around me again. Grabbed the surface iron rod and chucked it past two boilers and fish on! Short 5-7 minute fight and got a good gaff shot. Bled it out and had two in the bag.

Had one more opportunity to cast on them after that but the other skiffs were on thier toes and everyone was now racing towards fish and pushing each other out.

Got another boat to snap a couple pics for me and then went home. Good 3 hour session. I wish every day could be this good.

I guessed 25 and 28lbs but they went 29 and 31 to my delight.

I had a blast. We set up on Tuesday then went fishing Wednesday. Nothing but snot sticks to report.
Thursday was an older crowd. Lots of boat owners, business owners etc. making connections and big purchases.
Friday was a little younger crowd. Majority of people seemed to be mid 30's to 40's and there to network and take advantage of show deals. I had a few people call me by "Lowprofile" from BD and couldn't tell you who they were but everyone was friendly.

Saturday was quite the show. Tons of families with kids, dogs, pushing grandparents in wheel chairs and quite a bit of eye candy.

The negotiators were also out in force that day which made it super entertaining. We were throwing in rod wraps, rod covers and beers with purchases and apparently it wasn't enough.

Sunday was less crowded but still a full house. Everyone was worn out by Sunday and thankful the show closed at 5.

I met the Batson Family and they offered to put me on the team. Super cool opportunity and really excited about that.

Nick Morris from Morris lures Hawaii was on deck. Really cool to meet the guy who made the majority of the lures I used while in Japan. Learned a lot talking to him.

Joe from RAP systems donated a 0 degree railer bar to my inflatable shenanigans. Big plans for that.

Britney picked up a beautiful purple jig stick wrapped by Jon Tac with Pura pesca and he threw in some swag for us. Her Tuna hunt begins now. He anlso insisted we come catch East coast bluefin with him so I need to start saving for a trip.

The BBQ place always had a 20+ mins line and was always out of brisket....

Finally met Bill Depriest in person. Very brief interactions but super nice guy... very busy

Met Ali from BD. That man is also very busy and has 1,001 things on his mind at once.

Billy K stopped by the booth and ended up talking to him like we'd known each other for years when it was only minutes. Very easy going and nice guy.

Tim, it was good seeing you and hope that bag treats you well!
Len, also good to see you after all the years. We need to do some seabass fishing soon.

An Instagram acquaintance who's working the Bart hall show posted on IG asking if anyone in SD wanted to fish. I was about 10 mins deep into trying to entice my GF to go fish WSB from 10pm to sun up and she was not biting...
I messaged him and due to show obligations and lack of gear we decided to hit the big bay...in the inflatable.

We launched just before 9pm and went down to the barge. He used a small squidtrex (1/4 or 1/5oz) and I was using 15 gram reaper jigs I just got in the mail. We both worked them the same, cast far, hit bottom then bounce it and keep a steady retrieve and swoop the baits to keep them from snagging grass, rocks and ropes on the bottom.

I was using a light rod rated 4-10 with 10lb braid and 15lb leader.

It was a slow but steady bite. About one in ten casts got hit and our hookup ratio was in the 90th percentile. Idk how a fish can bite a jig with an assist hook and treble and not get hooked....

Early on I hooked something that felt like a cross between a batray and halibut. Didn't think it was huge but might be legal.... Got it up and it was a lobster! Measured it and it was legal too! Bummer.

Had a few hours of fun with spotties, calicos and sand bass (I got the big bay trifecta!) and then my buddy hooks up and it's pinned his 2-8lb rod... big slow swoops on the rod and a heavy pull.... He works it up and it's a huge lobster! I net it and we take pics then release it.

We saw Josh on his scout slaying the sand bass out there too.

Another hour goes by and we got a couple more bass but nothing great and decided to call it.
Boat on the trailer by 1:45 and home at 2:30am up for little league practice at 7 and regretting it... 34 is rough but fishing is fun.

I'll be working at the deckhand sports booth. Come say hi and grab a beer!