6/22, 23

[jrodda]

Saturday___

Rough start. Arrived at the ramp at 0530, realized I forgot the hand pump to top off the boat. Electric pump doesn't quite get it tight enough. So I had to leave the parking area, go back to my storage, grab it, and come back and pay for parking a second time. Oof!



Lost an hour with all that hoopla. Wind wasn't supposed to be bad so I wasn't too pressed.

Was feeling out the swell and wind on the way out, trying to decide if I wanted to fish 300' or take a chance on a new 700-1000' zone that was a little further and more into the swell. Short period pushed me away from the latter.

Only one on the spot, sort of surprising for a weekend, but nice. Nice blue water. I got a couple birds for paparazzi real quick.



First pull was a dink chili. Second pull was a sand dab. Third was more sand dabs. This went on. After a combo of 9 dabs and dink chilis I took the hint and went shallower.

The mussel farm (Catalina Sea Ranch) has piqued my interest as of late. From what I understood, they went out of business in 2019 after a lawsuit for a poorly marked buoy, so the project got scrubbed. Internet folks would lead you to believe that it no longer exists, and even when I asked around point blank people didn't really have a clear answer for me as to whether any structure was still there or not. It's marked on Navionics and after much research I had to see for myself. Only 20 minutes from the rockfish grounds, so why not.

Pulled up, yup very clearly marked. Started trolling a sabiki around while metering for life and/or structure. I saw two separate rows of buoys with presumably long ropes of mussels leading down into the depths. Trolled tightly by either side of them to see what I would find, not much at all. There was an average amount of bait in the area, maybe one or two small schools, but nothing to write home about. No yellowtail breezing, that's for sure.

Continued on, stopped on Izor's for a quick 15 minutes. Didn't get bit on dropshot flukes and was too lazy to retie to anything so I headed in. Rockfish and yellowtail were the goals and I checked off the boxes, for attempts at least. A little wooziness and the wind coming up led me to come in around 1130.


Sunday___

I knew the weather was gonna be great, and next weekend might not be, so I napped off Saturday and tried to think of a fresh game plan for Sunday. I decided to check on the pipe, poke around some spots along the coast, film some underwater and above water footage, and maybe make some macks for a potential shot at threshers soon.

Launched at 0600, air pump in the car this time....super glassy out the gates.



Stopped along the way to break the skunk on a barely legal sandie. Recorded a little commercial for windy.app that I've been meaning to make for them for a while and keep forgetting. GoPro wasn't charged so I couldn't finish it. Oi, so it will continue to linger.

A couple spots that consistently hold bait were dry, so ended up at the pipe and started metering good stuff. Put out the underwater camera. I was told there are WSB around so I wanted to confirm or deny. Certainly good marks, but WSB?



Trolled a tiny LC for the most part and was picking away at a 50/50 sandie calico shorts mix.



Finally got to use my stupid mackerel handlers from amazon. I didn't put them down for bait so I don't know how badly they affect their mortality, but it sure was nice to not have slime on my hands for hours after unhooking them. Picked off 4 trolling the surface as they puddled.



As soon as the wind started just a bit and the glassy conditions went away, I started back. By the time I was halfway back I was getting beat up, so good call. Picked off one more bass on the way in and called it.

Lot of small boating this weekend in the sun called for a treat.



And here's the underwater footage of the pipe! In summary, didn't see WSB. And the calicos weren't as stacked as I thought they would be. Or, perhaps more likely, I'm visualizing now how the fish finder compresses a 10, 20, 30' wide beam into a 2D image that makes schools look like big walls. But, pretty consistent showing of bass, sheephead, garibaldi, sargo, blacksmith as always, and the special treat was a pair of black seabass. I would guess 50-100lb range.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SdG7zE13TN0

The video is unlisted, so you can't search it, have to have the link. Just an fyi if you try searching it.

[Latimeria]

That line tag you have was killing my OCD in the video......

But I did spy that huge halibut lying there in the one clip!

Nicely done boss.  I love that camera idea and may want to try something like that myself.  How deep is that camera capable of?

[jrodda]

That line tag you have was killing my OCD in the video......

But I did spy that huge halibut lying there in the one clip!

Nicely done boss.  I love that camera idea and may want to try something like that myself.  How deep is that camera capable of?

Oh my god that line tag got me as soon as I started editing. Last video that eye was all but out of view and it must have got bent since. Definitely cutting that tag next time....

I didn't see the big halibut, when was that?

Camera is capable to 100' presumably. I've hit 90' with no issues so far. The quality is actually better but the youtube upload all but ruins it. Gotta figure that out.

[vdisney]

Enjoyed the video Jeremy, thanks for sharing

[Tim524]

 Cool video, Maybe the Tag Line was setting off the Fish Finder. Ha ha

Sorry for the late response, been gone for a week and it's hard to navigate the site on my phone with one eye so I waited to comment on my Office Computer.

Sand Dabs can be a pain, unless you like to eat them, definitely time to move. Too bad the Chilis weren't bigger, they be Tasty !

Are you still doing your Podcast ?

[jrodda]

Cool video, Maybe the Tag Line was setting off the Fish Finder. Ha ha

Sorry for the late response, been gone for a week and it's hard to navigate the site on my phone with one eye so I waited to comment on my Office Computer.

Sand Dabs can be a pain, unless you like to eat them, definitely time to move. Too bad the Chilis weren't bigger, they be Tasty !

Are you still doing your Podcast ?

Lol to the tag line comment...

Dabs can be tasty but I'm all but done pretending they're worth the preparation. Chilis are great when they're bigger, shame there are only dinks around there. Gotta hit the 14 for better ones but that's closed til October.

Podcast is paused for now. As a sort of journal entry format it was gonna get repetitive after more than a season. It's definitely not done but I've been mulling over how to keep it fresh, informative, funny, and at least a bit original. I just see no need to repeat what's already been said by youtubers or people like Dave or whoever. I have sporadic ideas but I haven't prioritized it lately. We will see. It is very satisfying to do.