Cracking the 20 (1/13)

[Latimeria]

So, the Big Bone and Yellows keep popping up here and there with no regular consistency and I wanted to go take a look for myself. 

Besides just generally being cold, it was a fairly decent ride out to the grounds.  The water was cold as hell though at 59 to 61 degrees.

I metered some roving packs of awesome sized boomerangs on the sonar and would yoyo jig for them but couldn't get anything to go.  There were about 20 other boats doing the exact same thing... Troll then yoyo when metering.

No bait at the surface, but I would meter big bait balls deep every now and then and drop the jig on them just to see if any gamefish were around.  I was also trying the really sweet squid jig that I picked up last summer but didn't have a chance to use yet.  Thing was, the mackerel just LOVED this thing, so I could rarely get it to the 100-150' depths I was trying to.  That or the macks would slam it at depth.



I went back to trolling my go-to Rapala 20 deep diver (My favorite lure that has caught more big fish than about anything in my tackle box).  I've wanted to retire it, but it always catches fish, so I haven't been able to shelve it yet.

I then swear I hear a sound barrier snap and the clicker goes from 0 to 100mph!  I had the drag a little too tight, so it was tough pulling the rod out of the rod holder, but of course it was gone soon as I got the rod in my hands.  I reeled up to check the lure out since I KNOW it wasn't a bonito, but there was no new teeth marks on it.  Then I saw my poor lure is now retired for good....  A broken lip....  I've only seen this once before in a much smaller lure a long time ago.





The only two things I can think of is a big yellow or possibly a slap from a thresher tail.  Who knows....  In any case, that was my only real shot at them.

I dropped down the squid jig again, only pinned on a fresh frozen squid to mimic a breeding pair of squid.  Unfortunately, it did really well for big makerel also...



I finally called it quits and ran back in.  On the way I stopped at the reefs and caught some small calico on the plastics.  It was barely a consolation prize, but at least it felt good reeling something in before I got to the dock.  LOL

I need a good Homeguard to keep the ball rolling!

Thanks for reading!

[jrodda]

That 20 looks like it's seen a lot, wonder what the bite was. Cool jig though, I've been curious about that one or at least ones like it.

[Tim524]

 The Squid Jig looks spot on 

[vdisney]

It's stuff like that that keep us coming back   

They dredging Marina Del Rey, it's going to last through May.  Last two trips out we haven't got a bump 

[Latimeria]

I tried again today...  So many people out there catching macks while the bones went MIA.