"Finished Business Tour"

Sounds like everyone had a great time.  I love it, SoCal fishing at the islands is tough to beat, the scenery and fish.  I knew it would only take one 1 day trip to hear the multiday talk.  It a slippery slope from there.  Growing up fishing down there has hooked me for life.  A lot of the calicos you guys hooked and landed are trophy fish even for SoCal guys.  Sean, I hope I can go next year.  The islands can be frustrating if you are looking to catch one particular fish (usually WSB and yellows) but there are so many options (halibut, sheepshead, calicos, rockies, lings, bonito and more inshore and kelp species), not to mention the change of scenery.  Keep the pics coming.

BTW-Huge thanks go out top Brent at OEX for rolling out the red carpet and letting NCKA turn his parking lot into a campground.  Brent is a super good dude!

Awesome trip. Nice scenery, good catches and great company.  I'd be down for the next one if  that happens.

Gotta say I feel pretty fortunate to know a group of folks who honor the memory of their friend in such a way.  Top notch.

I agree wholeheartedly--you guys are the BEST. Thanks for sharing this special adventure!

Janice aka "Big J"

Haven't had time to upload all the pictures but here is a sample of the scenery.

BTW-Huge thanks go out top Brent at OEX for rolling out the red carpet and letting NCKA turn his parking lot into a campground.  Brent is a super good dude!

Ditto!!!   We were very lucky to have OEX kayak shop right next to the Dolphin Motel where most of our guys were staying.  Frank simply parked his Winnebago and kayak trailer in the shop parking lot and hooked up the water and electricity.  It became our home base Friday and Saturday night.

BTW-Huge thanks go out top Brent at OEX for rolling out the red carpet and letting NCKA turn his parking lot into a campground.  Brent is a super good dude!

Brent your the best from the "Asian Express"

I had a blast and would do it again in a heartbeat. I started Monday morning drifting for YTs, then switched to the calicos and eventually ended the trip with a halibut hunt with Zilla and KB. I had one intense moment when I heard a splash and looked back to see something repeatedly crashing the surface trying to get my bait...but I guess my little soldier was too feisty because the hook-up never came. A little later in the day I saw a lone pelican dive bombing some bait so I paddled over to the area and hooked up a few of the "smaller" calicos in the 2-3lb range. They were all schoolies - whenever I hooked one three or four more would follow it to the surface. I also hooked and long distance released at least three seagulls. When the wind started to pick up I tied off to some kelp and threw 5" FTs at the boiler rocks Jim had told us about earlier. I caught 3 very nice calicos and got kelped by one that was just ripping line off my reel with ease. If I would've know how the rest of the day was gonna turn out I would've stayed there a lot longer.

After lunch it got really slow and I ended my action with a large sardine bit completely in half by a suspected halibut.

The crew was awesome, as were the passengers. The grub was topnotch, the ride smoothe, and the sleeping quarters surprisingly comfortable.

Pics attached:
The Islander at dock.
The yaks loaded.
Bait delivery.
One of my nicer calicos.
Joel trying to gaff his YT.
Finished Business.
Joel and Fred in the cove.

As the only diver on the trip I was a little afraid that you guys would be annoyed with me being in the water, but every one was very friendly.  It was nice meeting all of you.  I had a great time and exceptional diving conditions with 30-40 feet of vis. 

I saw a 200 pound black seabass when i first jumped off my kayak into the La Jolla kelp bed.  Later I saw school of nice sized barracuda and I was able to spear one.  I found a school of nervous Spanish mackerel near some top smelt that had teeth marks in them.  So I made a few dives in the kelp near the school.  After the 3rd dive I saw two 20 pound yellowtail chase the bait into the distance.  I saw 4 more nice yellows a few minuets later, but I never had a good shot at them. 

The visibility at the Island was even better, but there was not much bait where I was diving and I did not see any pelagics.  The owners of the boat showed me around and taught me a few things about white seabass diving.  Shane shot a 35 pounder.  Latter that day he took me out halibut diving.  Shane spotted one right away, called me over to shoot it, and even lent me his polespear so I would not ruin the tip on my speargun.  The halibut was almost completely buried in sand and I would never have seen it on my own.  Thanks Shane, you have an awesome boat and crew!

A very shaky video of urchin diving at the island
A few of the boats at La Jolla
My Halibut
A gyotaku of my halibut

Dang Justin, your vid made me jealous of the nice viz...  and dizzy from the camera work.   


Good to see you on here bro!   

Nice vid and great bottom time. I am jealous.

Thanks for the cool vid...neat to know what its like under there.  The halibut print is awesome.

The halibut print is awesome.

I was just thinking the same thing. Sean,will there be some printing going on at Elk this year?

Yep.  Hopefully we can get Justin to help, he is really good at it.

Hey Frank, Do you have my bass shots?????
Once again, thanks for letting me share in this great trip with you guys.