Nice trip! Interesting variety. Glad the bass rod got broken in right. Which one is that?

We've got a 6 pack co-worker trip coming up next Friday. I'm hoping the bite keeps up or pops off even more. Very exciting to see so many paddy yellows along with a couple dorado caught very locally. I could probably get in on this season with a tiller livingston...............I shouldn't think about that. Save money for a little bigger boat.........

Felt kinda lazy through the weekend (I bought edibles on Thursday so there goes my month). Then Omar told me when I got into work that he fished twice through the weekend and did well. So I said, well, the tide can't be beat and the weather is nice, so I'll go this afternoon.

I do tend to crash Monday afternoons but I stayed strong and headed straight to Newport after work.

Calcutta 100B that I've been fishing was feeling the last few sessions so I switched to a low profile Tranx 150. Launch around 1600. By 1605 my hand was aching from the rod's trigger grip in relation to the reel. I landed, went to my car for the Calcuta, opened the side plate, and the spool was stubbornly hanging onto it. There's the problem. Pulled the spool out and ran my fingers around all of it to dust off any salt and put it back in. Butter. It will do for now! I professionally recommend popping the spool out after the session for it to dry and not fuse, but personally I am quite lazy.

Not a sniff on the dropshot to start. Switched to a 5" fluke and got one short bite. Normally I can get 1 or 2 near the launch spot but I was getting frozen out. Keep trekking. More short bites on several different baits but nothing to stick.

Tried a new set of docks for me and after 30 minutes, I got bit on the fall with a fluke near a piling.

The Harbinger of No Good Bites. I really enjoy the pattern on this particular fish.



More short bites on a long-ish trek back to the landing spot. Landed at 1930 without a skunk. Nice weather, just a little windier than expected.

I don't know if it's coincidence, but there seems to be something about catching dink sand bass in the harbor that tells me that I am not onto the bite pattern. It's normally a lure thing, where it's the only fish I will catch on that particular lure for an hour or two. Sounds kind of stupid but it's quickly becoming a theory bordering on superstition that I have. Conversely, a spotty or halibut to hand often indicates I should be catching a couple more if I keep it up.

My next report should be taking my sister float tubing this weekend. Excited!

She is suddenly taking a measurable interest in fishing at ~25 years old. Maybe I'll get her to start writing us float tube reports for Channel Islands Harbor if I play my cards right.

Glad you got the boat back in action and found a few fish

So what do you think the white stuff is  ??

I think I figured out the baitwell issue but could not find the loose wire on the electrical system for the trolling motor.  I decided to give it an ocean run anyway and see if I could find any of the LJ yellowtail.  The YT in LJ have just been off the charts this year and I unfortunately have not been able to participate.

I got an early start, but not at O'dark thirty.  There was an early stiff south wind which gave me pause before running up to LJ thinking about having to come back with that in my face, but the marine weather channel had me convinced it wouldn't be too terrible.

Apparently, they weren't selling bait to the public at the receivers and the mouth of the inlet was packed with people trying to catch mackerel.  I had to squeeze through and decided to look for bait on my own.  I didn't see sh!t... No bait, no mackerel, no signs of life. 
I get to LJ and cound 64 boats and 52 kayaks.  I stayed on the outside circle and would dare entering that arena.  I casted my small iron looking for something to use as bait and started to get bites.  I was a little taken back as they were all BIG Lizard fish!  I mean 10"-12.5" models!!!  I stuck them in the livewell as a back up.

I started slinging the surface iron and picked up a few bonito (Little 2-3 pound models).  Too big for bait and not big enough to really have too much fun fighting them in.  I switched it up and started dropping a deep iron with a small squid strip.  I did bring two squid with me so I had to make it go a long way.

At this point the bites came with a little more frequency.  I picked up a dozen assorted bass and even dropped a lizard fish down on an iron with an assist hook and immediately caught a few more nicer grade Sand Bass. 

I picked up some nice sculpin and a vermillion and saved one little strip of bait just in case.  One thing I noticed was all of this white thick soupy and fibrous material floating in the water.  It was everywhere for miles and I didn't want it getting clogged in the motor or bait pump, but it was hard to get around.  It didn't smell at all, but when I scooped some into a bucket, it was thick like a chowder and weirded me out.  I have some ideas what it could be, but haven't had any confirmation yet.

My next drop and I use my last piece of squid.  It wasn't long and I'm on with a bruiser!  It was on the bottom and I was thinking lingcod but saw this really nice male Sheepshead (20-22") hit the surface.  I decided to grab my lip gripper on him and as I reached over the gunnel noticed my lure to the right and the fish just sitting next to my boat without the lure in its mouth.  WTF!  I tried to get a quick lip grab on it, but it was gone.  I didn't grab him by hand since I could see all of these amphipods crawling all over its body and thus went for the lip gripper since I was going to release him anyway.  Oh well, still a really nice goat.

The bite never got hot, but I saw some HUGE cuda caught by guys trolling by.  Probably 40" models yet I strangely couldn't get a cuda to hit any surface irons. 
The NSF pulled up and started brailing wiggles with eyes and now 75 boats surrounded his boat.  If there were any fish left in LJ, they were around the NSF for sure.  I heard some big hooting and hollering so I know some yellows were caught.  I was ready to leave, but only managed a few more little bonito.

I decided to troll on the outside of the fleet for a little bit and had an absolute screamer!  Unfortunately, it only stayed on for about 5 seconds before unbuttoning.  I grab the big bass stick and cast a colt sniper to the area when I got bit and I hook up right away!  Definitely a YT!  I kept it out of view to the fleet for the most part and finally got him to gaff.  Not my usual YT I've caught over the last few years, but a scrappy 10-12 pound model which was perfect for the rod and reel I was using.  (Jeremy, I broke in the new bass stick properly!)

Well, the wind started to kick up and I decided to head to the barn.  I kept a few for dinner and released the rest.  (I'll put pictures up when I get home from work)

I really need to find the issue with my trolling motor, but otherwise was really happy being back out on the pond!

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

Pics...

There are tons of cabins to rent in The Sierras, it's only a 7 hour drive for you

Sounds like the Penguin has issues, time to put him in his place !

Some cool Lapel Pins would be a new twist and a nice keepsake too

A Thursday evening would be all but impossible for me to get to, but sounds like a delicious combo night!

Well, that's my code for someone and it's making me miserable.  Non-stop micromanaging and tapping "their" watch every time I get out of my chair to do something.

Needless to say, someone is going to break... Me or the Penguin... but I expect the sun to start finally shining when it does.

Thank god it's Friday...

My wife realized we need to be a little tight on the purse strings this year, so we decided to stay local.  I was thinking about maybe some camping up in the mountains, but my wife like Glamping over camping.
Before I knew it, she had a floating cabin booked for 3 nights at the puddles.  Even though it is really close, I'm looking forward to some chilling, boozing, fishing and grilling out on the deck in a few weeks.

Maybe time to Carp fish!