Islander 11/11 - 11/13 Yellow Fever

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 

Scott

Guadalupe is also known for giving up 100 pound tuna...

I know I missed out bigtime on the Islander fun, but through GB2's generosity, my wife and I will be eating good tonight.  He stopped by today and gave me a nice chunk of his yellow tail.  Scott, thank you so much! 

I just sampled a piece of sashimi and it's delicious!

Chuck -

You are very welcome. Thanks for inviting me to join NCKA on lake Chabot 2 years ago. Never had so much fun and made so many friends since I joined. Really a special bunch of people. Tell your wife to have a safe trip.

Scott

Oh my! I'm speechless. Congrats on a successful trip. Thank for sharing, for the unfortunates who can't go. Hopefully I can go on the next one.

Nicely Said Rocket,

  Thanks for the replies on the freezing, packed them in water and back to the deep freeze..

 The Trip...

 The night before, I got a little food poisoning to start with, stayed with me till the end of the 1st day

fishing. I always get sea sick on charter fishing boats, and can't say enough about the scopase pills.

$20.00 for 20 pills and worked like a charm,

1st day on the water, Still Queasy from the food I ate prior to the trip,

totally intimidated by my new, very expensive rig, with my 65lb. Braid,

40lb flouro carbon held together with a special " Bimini Twist " done by the Kool guys @ Bay Tackle,

10 min. into the day I snag the Bottom. No way I'm going to break this set up, the Braid slices my fingers

tring to break it free and finally cut the line,

 losing my professional terminal connection with " Go to YT Jig ",

 Regroup, left my flouro on the Islander, pick up a few coppers towards the end of the morning,

 did not do much better the rest of the day but Phisically started to adjust..

 Day 2 , Windy St. Nicolus and a 4 hour ride back to SCI, it was nice and more time to adjust,

 So excited to get on the water that afternoon, Get out there.....

 What the Hell am I doing????  Kind of lost again,  Drop looping a bait, Jigging a Jig like I've

never done before and finally pick a small Bonita on the Sardine and Plug with the KZ Gaff

OK, Now were getting somewhere,  things totally die off, don't hear much of anybody doing anything.

 Captain Shane said to throw swim baits into the shore, tight for Calico's,  WTF, nothing else going on..

 Oh ya!!!! 2nd cast...BAM!!!! nice 2lbder in very shallow water,  Nailed on 1 for 5 cast average with

12" to Nice little toads,

  Wound up being last in that night totally feeling like I'm getting on my Game,  pull up to the islander

 " You going Hooping "... Uh  ... Sure... Stay in my water soaked booties/paddle pants,

eat a incredible dinner and head out with traps on my Yak, again not knowing what the Hell I'm doing.

But I did have the Kool Blinking lights on my Yak ,

So Glad i went out there,

Unbelievable, just kicking back on my Yak, warm breeze, gentel surf, watching these lime green lights

and looking up to a canopy of stars, simply magical,

Then pulling those bugs and eels up was really a treat, Supper fun, 

  Thanks Pal,  That was so Kool and something I'll never forget ,

Get in, Clean up the traps, drop like a rock in my shelving unit of a bed, looked small, but oh so Comfy.

Day 3, we awake to a bit of a swell and wind,  Again full of excitement and Positive Vibes..

 Till I get on the water, all I want to do is not snag kelp or bottom.

I'm going out deep, I start towards shore,...

YT?..  probably not going to happen,  Captain Shane Pointed out a good Halibut area with good

Calico's... start heading inshore... Come on Danglin, think Big.. what sign do you need to get confidence?

I stared out @ the horizon and I see 2 birds about a mile out...

then I see what looks like a Porpoise, then another, and they are moving fast...

I radio up about what I saw and the Scaw comes on that he See's them too,

Beat tracks to the area,

Send the the sardine down, send the Butterfly down with my 2 speed Avet, reel up fast, nothing...

 Still thinking positive that this is it, send it down again and reel fast.....


 WAM!!!!!! BENDO!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!    " ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ " Key up the VHF  " I'm ON!!!!! "


  WAS so Kool to Sink that KZ Gaff into that Babe and came in like butter,

Pal came up gave me a good shot and the advice to bleed him out,

  " How do you do that? "."Rip his Gills out" he says.  Ok, and the Barbarism began, Ya there are more

 civilized ways to do somethings, but I wouldn't have done anything different.

Second fish came while I was just drifting a Butterfly Jig and pumping it up and down. I had sent it to the

bottom, reeled up just enough to keep it off the bottom, one minute later, there he was.

Much more confident and relaxed on this one, Great fight and went like clock work.

 Would have been a Awesome time with out the 2 YT, but it sure put it over the Top picking those

 Babies up,

Thanks again to Pal,  you really put a ton of effort into this and thank you..

 Sean, you can always count on my support and thank you,

 Rick, Great Talking with you and the great stuff ya brought with you, that was over the top,

people walking away with Rods and Reels, got to like it,

 and thanks to Promar for all the equipment to make a hooping experience I will never forget...

 Had to go long on this one while it was still fresh,

Great time, 

 My imagination ran wild on what this trip would be, I had visions of battling a 100 lb Tuna,

 a 23lb YT

( I'm guessing, my smaller one was 20lb, did not get to weigh the big one )

Kicked my Butt,

 But, I still want a shot at one of those IBM's

 Maybe we can get BW Jon to come along for some pointers,

That video was pretty funny ......... Danglin



 

 

 

Just in case you want to see even more pix of this fabulous trip, please visit my photo website at:

http://jamas.smugmug.com/gallery/3835644#221848022

Janice,
Thank you so much for taking and posting all the photos...WOW, well done!!!
Steve

Ditto to that!!!

 Well done Big J ..

 Glad we were able to pool down there together, Great Company,  Thanks

 I should have forced you to take some of that YT,

 I have slabs in the freezer if ya change your mind,

 I heard they can make great Fish Tacos

Great job guys and gals looks too kool, I can't believe you let Sean near a beer with his history of beer and wind . Don't see any pictures of Ric I heard he was spotted getting breakfast right after you all got off the boat.

Thankfully the Tomales wind gods were nowhere near.  I am POSITIVE that Ric was not seen at Macs...he has lost 45 pounds and is still losing...GO RIC!!!

To follow are a slew of pictures and some memories.

Loading up at night you could taste the excitement.  I pulled into the lot as Cal was down by 7 and never even thought about the game again until we landed.  It was fun watching the heron feed in the shallows while we waited for the Islander to arrive.  Loading in the fog and drizzle.

The first day was overcast and drizzly but we were ready to go.  Mostly Boccacio and Calicos that day but I had a two good take downs one in the kelp that I fought for 5 minutes until it broke off my 50lb power pro.  I had been watching my spool diameter shrink at an amazing rate when I got tangled in the kelp.  It is hard to run three rods in the kelp two with live bait and one jigging rod without getting tangled.  I believe I had a YT on but never saw it. 

The second day dawned with 15-20 mph wind outside at San Nicola Island so we made a 4 hour trip back to San Clemente.  We started   late because of this but the 4 hours of forced relaxation pending arrival at San Clemente Island was welcome.  When we got there the conditions are great and I had my first sleigh rides (other than by seal) by three good size Bonito.  My first catch of the day was a flylined seagull.  I had a fourth that was small and Let it go.  I also landed a nice Calico this day.  The sun was out and we fished till dark.  Lobstering after dark and a great fun Mack bit off the stern of the Islander all evening long.

The Bonito Sleigh rides were great fun.  The visibility in the water was so good you could see the Garibaldi and other shallow reef fish from the surface.  Beer and Bait delivery on the water can not be beat.

Paddling at night among a bunch of lit up boats paddlers and lobster floats in calm water with warm wind and the excitement of what might come up in the traps was a highlight of the trip.  The ocean and sky were so dark and our little lites were beautiful.  The following picks are from the second day. 

Awesome reports, I am jealous.  I would love to do that next year, looks like you all had a great time. 

Day three was a winner for most.  My radio had been left on over night after the lobstering and so I kept if off in case I needed it for an emergency.  As a result, I missed the work about the hot YT bite outside.  As I headed inside the crew headed outside and many hooked up on yellows.  I landed a nice Ocean White Fish (these fish are really good nice white meat with a firm texture when cooked similar to salmon or halibut in texture) that we ate last night.  As I figured out what was going on I through on a Mack pattern X-Rap and paddeled to the outside I hooked a nice Bonito on it and proceeded to jig till my arms hurt with no YT love.

At one point Scott offered to let me try is Butterfly jig and rod.  As I was figuring it out, Zilla was fighting a YT nearby and suddenly he went from my left side and was on my right hading straight for me.  With over 200 ft of line down I tried to get out of the way but before either of us realized it his fish was off.  It was a true rookie move and I am sure that I felt even worse than Zilla.  Sorry dude.  I knew you were pissed and you deserved to be.  I learned a good lesson.  Sorry that it was at your expense.  I really wanted to land a YT after that and give it to you but it was not to be.  My hart was just not in it after that.

In the afternoon we tried for butts and YTs but the bite had stopped so I followed the advise regarding the grandpa Calicos in the shallows.  I went into the boilers inside two large rocks where the water was from 2-10 feet deep.  I was constantly fighting the wind current and swell to stay off the rocks and out of the breakers but managed two reasonable Calicos that I wrenched form the kelp.  On my third to last bait, I casted into 2 fow and pulled out a 6-7 lb hog of a calico.  He emerged with kelp stringers hanging from his mouth.  Two more casts with bait that came off the hook and I headed in for the day.

My hands were sore and swollen from saltwater and hook knicks but I was smiling inside.  What a great time.   

Last night we ate Bonito Poke and steamed Whitefish.  It was great.

Ok, it's two days later. The gear is heaped in the garage, I've made a post-trip deadline, and had some sleep to help me sort out the many impressions and memories of our adventure.

I posted some pics, but I haven't really put a report together yet, so here goes.

First off, all the work of putting this thing together was worthwhile and incredibly rewarding. I consider our adventure a huge success. If we'd made it to the Cortez Bank, we really couldn't have counted on any better result than that last day.

The thing about that is - you guys made it happen. You wanted yellowtail. In true kayak fishing style, you went out, found the bait and marks yourselves, and ground out a bunch of big fish. Much respect. It is I who owe you a BIG THANK-YOU.

It's hard to make conclusions from one trip. I'll say this. Fall definitely looks like a better time for a SoCal mothership than spring. We really are making history. No one had tried this length of trip, at this time of year, or found a full boat-load of go-getters willing to be pioneers.

We'll try to run this one a little bit earlier next year. A lot of you were there when we talked about the economics, so you know we're limited in our choice of dates. The good news is the Islander crew wants to work with us to keep this thing going. 

Hey, didn't I say this would be a report? I'll keep the rest short and hit just the highlights.

All the salmon grouper I could ever want on day 1.    Calicos too, cute little guys. That weather on day 2 was incredible. I had fun with the bonito - oh those two doubles made a mess of my lines. The calicos were rediculous. Rather than catch endless 12 inchers, I just sat on the 'yak and peered down and watched them in fascination, dropping them the odd stunned sardine and watching as they lit up. Very cool.

Hoop netting at SCI was a blast. I really love it out there at night. Truth to tell, it was so fun I was only a little disappointed we didn't bring in any legals. I'm still shocked by the ratio of shorts. A special thanks to Danglin for helping me clean up all those nets when we were both ready to drop. That was one long day.

That last day I decided to chase trophy calicos on the rocks, so I headed in tight only to barely escape a brutal pummelling by a set of monster waves. The last one I scaled seemed at least 20 ft high - it was probably closer to 8 but big enough. I was a little busy running for my life at the time, but the radio chatter about my size 13s and walking on water was a highlight. It's hard to paddle when you're laughing hysterically.

Hearing about the first big hook-up, I headed out deep and commenced to jigging. Snapped some photos of happy anglers (super gratifying seeing those happy faces), then got my own opportunity when I went bendo near the bottom. Moments later the 'yak and I are ripping upwind, my fastest sleigh ride ever, even better than the time a sea lion grabbed my yellowfin in the East Cape and dragged me around and through a fleet of at least a dozen boats.

Five minutes in, rod tip in the water, I'm pressing the line down on the rod butt risking a bit more pressure, and I KNOW the fish down there is about to give in a bit and come up. Then nothing - broken off on a rock, line chewed a good 5 ft. Taken to the woodshed, schooled, beat and bested, outgunned, a score to settle. I lost that battle. Gotta love those YT - they have no quit in them.   

Big J, those pics are awesome! Thanks for the morning virtual trip!

Z