Skiffing with Sherm (10/19)

[Latimeria]

I've been trying to get Sherm out on the skiff for a number of years now.  He's always hooked me up with fresh tuna after his 8-day trips and I owed him one for that.

The forecast was iffy.  South winds to 15 knots in the afternoon and 3-5' swell from the SW which is a terrible direction for my boat.  Sherm wanted to hit the LJ kelp and look for bass and yellows, so we got out at first light and started making our way up.  The morning was rough as hell and quite a bit bumpy along the way, but we powered through.

We started working the kelp, but the water was filthy and stained.  We popped around a lot of the structure areas inside the kelp forest and finally found a spot with cleaner water, current and willing fish!  Inside the kelp forest was a lot nicer conditions than outside it.

We sporadically caught decent calico bass and I get a different type of hit.  First WSB in years!



Sherm had WSB and bass crashing his secret lure while I was stuck catching my fish on plastic and watching them totally attack his baits!  He would switch back and forth depending if my plastic was getting bit more down deep or they started to flop on the surface.



As the day went on, conditions got better and not worse!  WTF?!?  Totally wrong forecast, but we made the most out of it.  We went hunting for yellows in an area they've been popping up and ran into another buddy who was out there looking for them also.  Fish have been caught, but only in a tiny window of opportunity.  We saw the signs, but nothing came up.  I metered some big fish and we were even fly lining a mack that I caught, but could not get anything to bite.  They were so focused on the smaller baits.

I took Sherm to one of my favorite bass spots and he said he wanted a 10 pounder.  I told him he had a great shot at a 6# and he said he was good with that.  After a few mid sized bass, he gets SLAMMED!  Well, what do you know... a 6# Calico!  We had a scale onboard and did some quick pics before releasing her.  Beautiful fish!



I didn't take a lot of pics, but we had a steady flow of bass and critters throughout the day.  The bass at the end sealed the deal, but it was a great time out there.

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

[Pinoyfisher]

Surprised to not see a rockfish in your report!

[Latimeria]

Surprised to not see a rockfish in your report!

I got a few, but just quickly released in shallow water. I went CPR unless we got one of the big inshore 3.

[vdisney]

Good to see a picture of Sherm, been a long time.  Do you have any idea how long the 6 lb calico was?  Just curious because my PB off the beach was just shy of 21" and wondered what it might have weighed.....

[Latimeria]

Good to see a picture of Sherm, been a long time.  Do you have any idea how long the 6 lb calico was?  Just curious because my PB off the beach is 21" and wondered what it might have weighed.....

We forgot to measure it as I was prepping the scale and Sherm wanted to get it back asap.  It was in the order of 23" I would say.