Exciting day! That spearfish/sailfish is definitely a prime El Niño target. At least you didn't get skunked.


Not so fun on the ride home. Those short tall swells were exactly what I was trying to avoid out there. Got caught in that with the Mosquito once and I am good on it! Wasn't quite that as I was racing back, but it was still really messy and nerve wracking in a hull that I'm still not fully familiar with.

Exciting and nerve racking, glad you made it back in. Stuffing the bow does not sound fun !

I decided to look offshore before the wind came up as forecasted, but figured I had a good 6 hours before it started.  My plan was to fish the inside drop-off to oblivion since that is where I have seen the most flying fish and marlin signs the last few weeks going out and coming in from the 178.



Wind was pretty choppy at first light, and I saw a familiar boat out there.  After a quick telephone call, i realized it was buddy Scott who likes to fish all Nija like.  He never answered the hail or my texts, but soon as I called him, he knew the gig was up!  He was staying inshore since he had some intel on some nice yellows.  I said I was going offshore and he tried to talk me into staying inshore saying the wind was going to be brutal.  I figured I was close enough and be able to run in with the wind at my back just fine.



I get to the area I want to fish and flying fish everywhere!  I'm feeling pretty hopeful and even found a sweet paddy but couldn't get anything to hit my micro jig and my side finder was almost blank looking under the paddy.



I started trolling a 5-rod spread:  one marlin lure, two wahoo jigs, and two small bubblers for tuna/dorado.  It wasn't long before I had my first take down on the small bubbler. 



Skippy!



I could see in the distance the weather line heading right towards me.

Then my bent butt started to scream!  I jumped on the rod and tried to make sure I sunk the hook in before clearing the other trollers.  It jumped and I literally was like "Was that a sailfish?!!!!!"  It was a pretty small billfish from what I have been catching, but I saw a huge fin/sail on it! 
Then it jumped again and I know I saw a longer sail, but it was sideways so I couldn't tell if it was a spearfish, sailfish, or small marlin!  Now my heart was pumping and I started clearing line!  I had the boat in gear and was on the last rod when i could hear it splashing and then the line started ripping off the reel and stopped suddenly.  OH NO!  I know that noise!  It popped off.  f@ck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called Scott and he seemed to think it was most likely a shortbill spearfish, but that first jump, I swear I saw a huge sail on it and not a low and tight one to the body.  Well, I will never know but in any case, it was a really cool hook up! (The area I hooked up was 75.4 degree water and only a half miles away it was 72.6.  I definitely was on a break and flying fish everywhere)





I started trolling again and the small jet heat gets slammed.  Another skippy!



Followed by the chrome bubbler and another Skippy!



Then I realized that weather line was almost above me and then it started raining on me.  The wind went from 10 knots to 25 knots immediately and the texture on the water due to this wind was crazy!  I should have just reeled in and shot back to the ramp, but that stupid billfish had me still hunting the area.  By now it was too late.



I cleared the line and though I could run straight in with the wind at my back, but the wind created these tight tall wind waves that crashed over the bow every time I tried to overtake the backside of the wave heading in causing me to submarine and throw a wall of water over me almost every time.  I was soaked and pulled the deck plug to make sure all of the water drained out.  By the time I got into the inlet, I was a wreck and it was just plain nasty out there.

Thankfully I got 3 skippies for poke and lobster bait so it wasn't a complete loss.

Anyway, now I need to go lobster fishing.  Surgery is a month away and I need to stock up while I can!

I'll pu the pics up whem I get home from work today.

Thanks for reading!

Then again and I couldn't tell if it

I kind of like the full colors but you always seem to surprise us, maybe a preview of ideas so we can decide

This weather/Super El Nino was predicted quite a while ago and everyone got pretty excited. I remember it happened back in the 80's as well and fish were in places that were not normal. I guess Mother Nature definitely is cyclical but at the same time very confusing. Hopefully the warm water sticks around for a while longer, I need to say I caught something other than a damn Bonito from this surge of warmth Just wondering what this latest storm we just had will do to add to the confusion. I know the Lobsters will be active, the rain always seems to stir them up and get them active. Good luck out there and just remember......There ain't nothing colder than yesterday's hot spot ! 

I went for wahoo Steve but should have stuck with Lobster.

Dude, I left about 45 minutes too LATE.  I saw it coming but figured I had more time.  My buddy with a 28' boat called me up on the radio and said he was racing in and I probably should too.  Instead, I started trolling in until I realized that the waves at my back were going to be worse than at my bow. Ugh, I took about 400 gallons over the bow.  f@ck, I just realized that I didn't put up a post.  I'll get to work on that but glad you got back and figured out the gas issue.

The Coronado Canyon has been on fire with Hoo, but I just haven't been able to get over there.  The storm probably f@cked everything up.

Thanks for the post boss and the Jets and Fins tangle soon!

Glad you got the fuel problem dialed in and good to see steady reports of you getting back on the water, good stuff

At least in the OC water, things tend to set up really differently from year to year. Cat channel is where everything is at one year, and it is only a lifeless stepping stone the next year. So I'm glad that there are fish in the channel this year, but like you said, very tough to find. Very few paddies around. Birds are generally not on them or anywhere. But with the cattle boats getting on them consistently, I'm sure there is some method to the madness. Maybe just be 15' up in a pilothouse. I have drafted plans for a 20' periscope...

Granted, I'm still getting dialed in with this boat. I am practically blind with the old fish finder. I think I'm finally going to switch out the old FF in the boat for mine from 2022. Doesn't have Navionics but should be way easier to read the down-scan while trolling.

I had invited Omar over a week ago, but the combo of me not knowing when I would get the fuel line issue resolved and him getting invited to hoop on Friday night led me to a trip without a partner. I also tried inviting mechanic Chris as he helped me sort out a couple things after work including replacing the fuel filter and pump, but he had a gig in the morning.

I had brought the boat to Chris in HB where it would stay overnight, so I was split on whether to take the easy morning routine and launch out of HB, or keep trying the water off Dana Point. In the end, I figured after the car's gas was put into perspective, both would burn the same gas since I would wanna ride 15 miles past the HB Flat to find blue water, so I went with Dana.

Nice sunrise. It got even better but I had to focus on not f@cking up my first solo launch.



And of course I can never seem to just put in the water and go. Maybe one day. This time, I installed al the bunk slides on all the bunks. Took about 30 minutes. There are a couple minor issues that I won't get into, so I will monitor them. In the mean time, I should have a way easier time getting the boat on and off the trailer.



Knocked that out, hopped in the boat, left the harbor. Half a mile out, engine stalls while on plane. f@ck! I was sure we had solved it. Pretty much clueless, I took a video of it failing and sent it to Chris. Asked AI on the water what it could be, and why when I pump the bulb it would stay flat. It said there must be something upstream of the bulb. Then it occurred to me. When I installed the new fuel line/bulb, I did not pay attention to which direction it was going. Looked, yup! You're a f@cking idiot Jeremy! I texted Chris to let him know as much and I got to work flipping it. And when I was done, clean start. Hopped up on plane and ran a bit down the beach, problem gone.

After proving to myself that I may have been an idiot once, but I am a better man now, I decided to immediately head straight offshore in search of pelagics. Took a heading SW but not particularly toward the 267 or 14. Put out a Ledge Runner 160 and a tropical jet head and trolled at 7-9mph into swell. The wind was supposed to come up around 1400, but I knew it could come earlier, and I wanted a following sea home.

I imagine Tom was directly under the distinctive far cloud in this pic at 0900. Ominous clouds on the horizon telling me to time my trip carefully.



Trolled alongside another boat for a bit before he decided to turn around at 0930. Huh. Kept going. Eventually ran up on half a dozen boats, a couple with birds all over them. Looked like they were stopped and probably fishing bait. Then I noticed a flipped boat. I believe I saw it on social media earlier this week and it's been floating upside down in the bight for a few weeks now. No urgency in the area, that's for sure. The wind eeked up just a bit more as I found these boats and started zig zagging through them. Then a slow steady ZZZZZZZZZ. I turned around and saw the rod pump a bit, then slowed and I watched the Ledge Runner fly out of the water. Bite or did it violently blow out? Reeled up, and it was definitely bit in the middle of the body. Put it back out and tried to make a turn on the same spot. It was getting windier now and as soon as I thought I made the pass, I reeled up and skedaddled. The dark wall of clouds were still several miles away and I wanted to beat them home.

I could see the white caps popping up by the hundreds and the water tightly rippling now. The air felt still as I was moving at 17-20mph, not a great sign. Then I ran up on a paddy. Really Jeremy, in this? One drop. It was given to me! Stopped the boat and immediately felt how bad the conditions were getting behind me. Gave it a 15 second drop with a colt sniper then wound up and kept racing home.

This was a pretty comprehensive test for the boat. The swell was pretty mixed, with a longer faster period SW swell that's been shaking up the coast, followed by W and SW short wind chop. I was slamming a good bit but staying only very lightly misted. I was worried about stuffing the bow, but it just never happened. Kept the throttle to 4000rpms and only made slight adjustments to my direction, and held on tight til I passed the jetty.



Pulled the boat up onto the trailer with the bunk slides. While powering the boat onto the trailer, it seemed to get stuck short somewhere for a few seconds, and just as I stepped around to inspect, the boat gently moved up the rest of the way onto the trailer.

Anyway, a lot of words to say I didn't catch anything. Big relief with the fuel line and the trailer bunks, though. Next launch shouldn't have any delays like all of them have up to now. Hopefully the pelagics stick around for a while longer, and I think they will.