Iron Was Warm 7/13

[jrodda]

0630 launch. More chop to start than was forecasted. General reports have been that the sand bass have started spawning locally and it's easy fishing. I wanted to head west to the Horseshoe and beyond but mother nature said no. Went to Izor's to start instead. Black flag gill nets everywhere in the area, boats all around. I drifted a few different spots and there was no life and no bites. Bailed after 20 minutes. Why do I ever bother with Izor's? It sucks every time.

Got away from all the gill nets, headed in shallower. Also wanted to fish iron today. 40g mega bait style for bottom jigging...



Got bit on the drop at my first stone away from Izor's by a solid fish.



Pulled another then moved on since it was a tiny stone.

Headed to a bigger stone and I was happy to see fish up in the water column, but no biters.



Moved ever shallower and found a decent calico.



Wind was backing off and by 0930 it was glass.

Bite to hookup ratio was about 50%. Far from wide open. Saw some more stray marks suspended and moving up the water column so threw the Tady 45 for the first time in a long time. 3rd cast I got a nice calico. First bass on surface iron I think, that was cool.



Made another drift and got another. Felt like trying some other surface irons in the box to possibly dial in a pattern, or at least see how some of them swim. Went through 5 with varying colors and actions before moving on from the area.

Went a little deeper again and started up the bottom jigging.





Got to 10 and decided to go home. Even split on sandies vs calicos. DFW surveyors at the ramp said the water temps dropped from 71 to 68 the day before so people were doing really poorly. So I felt good about my outcome for the day. Pretty decent quality too, I think they were all keepers 14-18".

Also recorded a few drops with the underwater cam, but it seems I broke it on the last drop somehow. Put a 12oz weight ahead of it to watch directly below, 12oz sinker caught bottom and broke off, and the camera's little blue light that always blinks was gone. Got a few different lights out of it back home while charging but now it's unresponsive. Might send it in for warranty...I knew I wouldn't get a long run out of it but hoped for maybe a season.

[Tim524]

 Almost every pic has a sharp hook in it, my mind is constantly telling me you already know you are in an inflatable boat (nervous chuckle) Ha ha , nice bass session !!

[Latimeria]

Double digits of nice bass full of iron is good stuff.  Not triple digits, but pretty damn good.  lol

Gill nets???  If anything, they should be a long line as I'm pretty certain Gill nets are illegal in Cali. I need more clarification on that one.

Well done boss.  I couldn't even get out this weekend.  You have YFT right off the beach by you apparently.

[jrodda]

Double digits of nice bass full of iron is good stuff.  Not triple digits, but pretty damn good.  lol

Gill nets???  If anything, they should be a long line as I'm pretty certain Gill nets are illegal in Cali. I need more clarification on that one.

Well done boss.  I couldn't even get out this weekend.  You have YFT right off the beach by you apparently.

Well I'm relieved to hear (and confirm on the web) that gill nets are illegal. A local BD regular IDs them as such so I presumed much too much that he knew what he was talking about. Commercial fishing in that area doesn't make any sense to me in general. Load up on, what sand bass and a couple halibut? Pretty fragile ecosystem over here in my opinion but I guess some fisheries expert approved it.

Late to this reply, but I did hear the YFT were behind Catalina around this time, but didn't hear anything about them on the beach. Wish they were coastal. That's what I really want, not these fickle bluefin.

[vdisney]

Got to say my man, you put the miles on that inflatable.  Nice bass