Islander 11/11 - 11/13 Yellow Fever

I know how long and how tough it can be to reel in a yellowtail while standing at the railing of a boat. How long did it take to haul one in from a kayak?

Howard

I know how long and how tough it can be to reel in a yellowtail while standing at the railing of a boat. How long did it take to haul one in from a kayak?

Howard

Probably 10-30 minutes depending on the size

Wow!!!!! that's awesome guys..I hope to join you guys next year.....thanks for the pic and report..



Kiel

Holy @#$%^& was I pooped last night!!!  LOTS of fishing and lots of road time...TOTALLY worth it. 

After the long drive down, I crashed at Rics house and I started out my SoCal tour at 0400 on Saturday by fishing with Ric and PAL at the Plastic Navy Tourney at Newport Bay.  Not exactly a wilderness experience, but at least you could tie-off and get a latte!



This beast of a butt had me crying for mercy...sOOOoooo cute!



I finally managed to hook a spotty.  These little rascals had over a 180 anglers on the water....



After a brief stint at the weigh-in/partay (BTW, NCKA could cook these people into the ground...no comparison) we headed off to Ric's to load up. We LOADED up.  This was just the gear to use.  Ric had a whole nuther' load to give away.  Okuma kicked down a TON of raffle prizes.  We had a rod for every occasion and then some...



Zilla also packed super minimalist ...



Like everyone, I was a little bummed that weather had dashed our hopes of Cortez.  However after 20 minutes or so on Day 1 my opinion of SCI changed dramatically.  I just couldn't get over the view...



On day 2 we had a real SoCal day.  Blue-blue water, warm weather, and cool vistas.  The fishing was ok, but not as good as Day 1...



Althoughit was slow, the Zodiac would occasionally come by and drop off my order of happiness.  The service and food on the Islander remained nothing short of awesome...



Me and PAL fished til dark on Day 2 for a mix of entertaining fish, but no toads.  Sooo nice to roll in at dark knowing a killer dinner and a hot shower was waiting onboard...



Day 3 brought NorCal weather but excellent YT action.  By the time I took this shot before loading up for the last time I was dog tired and at full fishing saturation.  Yet it was sad to be time to go. 



All in all an outstanding trip, couldn't really ask for more.  Great service from the Islander crew, insanely generous support from Okuma, GREAT food, and lots of big YT.  Me and PAL will continue to fine tune the schedule and itinerary to improve this trip even more, and we'll let everyone know when we have next years trip scheduled.

Pic #1 - Carpooled with Josh and Allen. Josh's son thought the trailer was cool. Note the getto tie down.

Pic #2 - My roomate Tall Paul and Rickshaw waiting to fish castle rock the first day. Paul ended up with a large YT on the 3rd day.

Pic #3 - lining up to get back on board at the end of the first day. Was exhausted after pulling a 4 in bait tube through kelp for 2 miles after the military guy on the VHF says "unidentified vessel you are in the target range". Capt Shane called back to the military guy and told him we were in kayaks and he said "kayaks???". It was pretty funny but kind of creepy thinking someone might be shooting at you.

Pic #4 - 2nd day - one of 10 calicos all caught on a pink and silver butterfly jig

Left Placerville at 3:15 AM Saturday. 10 hours and 6 freeway accidents in So Cal later ( not us thank goodness )  we arrived at Fisherman's Landing.
Bought a few last minute goodies and hung out with the gang waiting for the Islander.
We left the dock at midnight and I bagged one of the best nights sleep in a long long time.
Woke up to the north side of San Clemente Island where we all launched. It was a tough day due to the wind and the never ending kelp bed. It seemed no matter how far I paddled out I couldn't get around it.
At first we were warned by the Navy to stay 300 meters from Castle Rock. No problem. Then later in the day we were called by the Navy on our VHF. "Unidentified vessels; you must stay between 3000 and 4000 meters from Castle Rock."
Then Zilla responded, "4000 meters? Earlier it was 300."
Navy, "You need to stay 3000 to 4000 meters away."
Zilla again, " But we're in  kayaks."
The last thing we heard from the Navy was, " KAYAKS?!??!!?"
And that ended that. It was pretty funny.
Sean and Walker were the only two to have any YT love that day.
I didn't realize what a slug you got Walker until I saw the pic. You da man!
Since Cortez was out due to the weather we decided to head for San Nicolas. When we got there it was typical NoCal conditions. Windy and choppy. The kind of conditions that most of us are used to. But with 20 yakkers and a stiff offshor wind the capt decided that only six of us could go out at a time. it was just too rough to keep an eye on 20 with those conditions. After some discussion we all decided it was better to head back to San Clemente so we could all get wet. It cost us 1/2 a day.
We ended up at a  different spot than the 1st day. Calm and relatively flat.
I decided to dive instead of fish. It was like being in an aquarium with all the colors and underwater activity. I speared one sheephead. I was exhausted when I ended my dive. Climbed back onto the yak, took off my hood and mask. Looked to my right to grab my gun and it wasn't there. It had fallen over the side.
Pat was still in the water so she dove a personal best of 23 feet and snagged it! WAY TO GO PAT!! Thank you so much for that.
Went back to the Islander and chilled. After a great nap the mackeral bite was ON at the boat. it was like bluegill fishing for a little kid. Was hoping for something to be under them all but no YT love there.
The last morning it was ON! Seemed there was rarely a moment when someone wasn't hooked up. Mine came in 158 FOW about 80 feet down on a blue/white knife jig, 50#Spectra with 40#Seguar fluro.
From hook set to wood shampoo was 25 minutes. What a sleigh ride! Just when I thought I was gaining some ground it would peel line off and I would have to start all over. I could see it was headed for the kelp and a lobster buoy so I had to put the clamp down and not let him strip any more line. I think he was pretty tired about that time and things worked out in my favor. Amazing all the things that go through your head when you really want that fish at the other end. My biggest worry was that my knots were right.
I didn't get another YT hook up. I did get a bonito and a whitefish and a few calicos.
I cannot say thanks enough to all who were involved.
Big J for the photo right after I landed my YT.
Scott Gee for schooling me in cribbage ( he crushed me! )
Danglin for showing me his YT weapon.
Rick for the awesome Okuma Rod I won in the raffle.
Paul and Sean for all the hard work putting this together.
Pat for the gun rescue.
Everyone for making this one of the best experiences ever.
The cooperation of the guests and the crew amongst each other was amazing.

Me and PAL will continue to fine tune the schedule and itinerary to improve this trip even more, and we'll let everyone know when we have next years trip scheduled.

Sean -

Forgot to thank you also. I have been on many long trips and caught many YT but nothing compares to this trip and catching one in a yak. An epic trip for sure. Man, BAM, Elk, Islander what's next... maybe a GWS sleigh ride at Guadalupe  . Count me in for next year. BTW, NCKA can FISH and COOK with any kayak angler group IMO, not to mention a great group of people to hang with.

Scott

Scott Gee for schooling me in cribbage ( he crushed me! )

Tote good fishing with you and nice to meet Becky. Sorry about the cribbage game. After awhile nobody wanted to play me anymore . WTG on the YT.

Scott

Oh no....  I bet we can count on seeing Danglin's yellow tail pics in the Fish Sniffer, the Western Outdoor News, and many, many future posts.

 I don't know about that, my pics seemed to be boycotted lately, But that won't stop me from trying

 Got's to Work It Baby ....... HollyWood... ....

  And spread the word of our sport and NCKA..... ...Danglin

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The weapon, the yield from 1 YT and more.

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