Gailforce 10/9

[Eric H]

This was a bug/fishing combo trip.

I only brought 2 rods and a small amount of tackle since it wasn't really a "fishing trip".

We left San Pedro at 12pm and headed to catalina.

We arrived at our first spot and the captain said we were gona be targeting rockfish.

Just about everyone rigged up with their sardine/squid strip on the dropper loop. They all did pretty decent.

I started tossing the heaviest flat fall and jigged it a few feet off the bottom.





I ended up catching 3 Widows, two at the 2lb mark and one a bit smaller.



At another spot I started throwing a 7" big hammer on the swimbait rod right into the rocky shoreline of the island and working it back to the boat.

This ultimately didn't produce anything.

Night fell and the deckhands began dropping the nets.

A handful of people were sharing a net which caused them some confusion.

We had 10 nets in the water so when they decided to each pull one up they were in fact pulling up someone elses pot.

This happened twice and the peoples numbers got mixed up as well which just made things worse.

I was in the back of the boat when all this took place. Wasn't gona deal with it and was just waiting for my number to be called.

Ultimately I lost out on my turn and only ended up pulling up 2 pots.

The girlfriend took charge and talked to everyone on board and set things straight.

The lobster fishing was pretty slow, about 10 legals came over the rail in total. Possibly due to the awful conditions out there. Lots of things got knocked over, the lights blacked out for a while and the bait tank stopped working.

We also had a few pukers including one of the deckhands.

Girlfriend and I ended up with zero bugs, just a couple shorts that were tossed back. She explained had things gone correctly we would have ended up with 3 legals, one being the jackpot bug.

Oh well, I wasn't gona get upset about it.

For the record this was my first bug trip and I actually didn't care for it.

The deckhands do all the work and all we do is walk up the rail and pull up the pot. IMO theres no satisfaction in catching them. I would feel like I caught them if I were to bait up the trap, set it and pull it up.

Glad I went out though but wont be doing it again on one of these trips. I would much rather do all the work.

Got some nice fillets to take home and will be cooking them up shortly

[Pinoyfisher]

Bummer. At least you got some tasty fillets! I love rockfish. I did a sportie lobster trip, wasn't too fond of it either. Won't do one again.

[Latimeria]

Wow, crazy evening indeed!  That sounds like a little bit of some crappy luck, but you got some fish to throw in the skillet. 

It's bound to happen sooner or later for you Eric.  Seems like the fish Gods have been making you work for it this year for any sport boat fishing.

[Eric H]

Just not the greatest year for me in general.  That's ok though, I'm doing what I love. Will keep doing what I'm doing and they'll come. Really the only thing I have to show for this year is an 18lb yellow.