Islander 11/11 - 11/13 Yellow Fever

Still on the way home with P-Spark at the wheel and our YT's I on ice but since I had a few minutes (hours) I will start the string. First thanks PAL and Rickshaw for organizing such a great event and the Islander crew and Capt Shane. A total of 12 YT in the 20# class boated. Sean and Walker drew first blood with Sean going Ike on the VHF. Yesterday turned into a YT slug fest with Danglin landing 2 and bathing on their blood. P-Spark and I also had luck with one YT a piece. All were taken at SCI on yoyo jigs. Didn't make it Cortez because of weather. More details and pics to follow.

Scott

well done, nothing pulls like a Jurel.........      Can't wait to see the pics, and reports!

Sweet... thanks for the report.  Look forward to seeing the pics.

I heard about the weather and was worried it would screw up the plans.  Glad it all worked out!

Here are some photos to whet your appetite.

HELL YA!
Way to go, guys!!!
More pics please....

Ok, just a few more... I bet there'll be a lot up here tomorrow.

  Oh Man, those are Great Pics Pal

  Huge Hats Off to Pal for organizing this event and all the HARD WORK that went into everything

 from planning to bringing all the extra gear and who knows what else


 What a trip,  don't know where to start, so I won't, too Tired and sore,

 I will say , A Big Thanks to KZ for a Awesome Gaff that I finally got to put to Bloody Use

 But here a few pics,

  Awesome Trip..... ..... Danglin

Super cool guys....super cool! Much envy!

Glad to see everyone made it back safe.

Cheers!

When is this trip coming up again?

Great job fellas.  Glad you all made it back safely and caught some beautiful fish.

WAY more pics to follow tomorrow and more of a story too.
I cannot think of anything that could have been done to make this a better trip.
Just wanted to include one pic so Hydrospider will know he wasn't forgotten.
WAY more tomorrow. Right now it is bed time. I am beat.

Here are some photos to whet your appetite.

Only people I recognized were Sean and Don (and Scott in the first post), which brings up the question of how many of the kayakers are from northern California and how many from southern California.

Howard

OK, here is the details on my YT. I was a little bummed that we couldn't make Cortez and it was the last day on SCI and only two YT's had been bagged so far and it was the last day of the trip and I had only bagged a dozen calico bass and assorted rockfish and bonito to show for 2 hard days of fishing. I started the drift with my standard 2 rigs: dropper loop dine at the bottom and yo-yo blue and white jig. After an hour of drifting with the lead group I hook a YT in 150 FOW on the yo-yo at 100 FOW. Slam him hard with my Avet SX 2 speed in low gear pulling 60# braid with 30# fluoro top shot, after 30 minutes he comes off and I pull my jig up to find he bent the hook out. Called it in to the Islander and Capt Shane says "what do you have the drag set at?" and I said "the drag was set by your crew" followed by silence.   I loosened the drag a little and jigged some more for nada so I decided to paddle up wind and re-drift the area of the first hook-up. Luckily I had marked the waypoint on my GPS when I hooked up. On my way up wind I passed Danglin who consoled me on the one that got away. I had decided to set up the second drift with a butterfly jig in the green mac pattern to give him something different the second time around. At the top of the drift Danglin called in that he had hooked a YT on a butterfly jig and I was thinking I made the right call on the jig. Ten minutes later I dropped the jig in 150 FOW and 50 ft up I go bendo big time.   I was thinking, Scott this is your last chance, so don't screw it up. I put the Avet into low gear but the fish is ripping line at a rediculous rate. After the first run, I pulled the line and found the drag to be at about 5-7# but I didn't want to readjust it in the middle of a fight and since I was in a yak there wasn't much urgency to bringing him on-board. That was until it turned into a fast sleigh ride and was heading directly at Big J who was fishing about 25 yards from me. I called out to Big J that I was "incoming" and she moved just in time. By this time I was ready to have this one over before something goes wrong so I pushed the drag to the maximum setting and horsed the fished to the surface where I thought it was going to be over,   unfortunately the fish had other ideas and started a 360 degree tour around my kayak. About this time Zilla showed up and took some pics while laughing at me.   I finally got him tired and gaffed him in the head and brought him on the yak. With over 20# of YT flopping around in my lap, I cut the gills with clippers and watched him die while I sat in a pool of blood. It was was a truly primal experience which I remember for my whole life.   I called in to the Islander and asked if they were going to pick up the fish but there was no answer. Eventually they did come around and pick up the fish but I was so wasted from the experience I forgot to take pictures of the fish but all of the fish on the trip were about the same size in the 18-25# range. I fished with Etienne a little in the afternoon and he hooked one of the largest calico's of the trip in the surf zone. I had the crew fillet the fish out and the NCKA crew consumed the YT sashimi in about 15 minutes. I had to hold them off to save some for Zilla. More stories and pictures to follow...

Scott

Only people I recognized were Sean and Don (and Scott in the first post), which brings up the question of how many of the kayakers are from northern California and how many from southern California.

The only SoCals on the trip were myself, HuntersPa, Ric from Okuma - and I think there was one more, a friend of an NCKA'er.

Every one of those yellows was what we call down here Quality.

Way to go guys! Needless to say I am jealous and stoked at the same time. Quality fish all around.