ISLANDER 3.5 DAY - Reports on pg 44!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kiel's and my bounty.

Breakfast at Denny's.

Back in NorCal!

only one word can describe this report, EPIC!! I'm totally in on the next one

Great Pics D!   

Thanks for sharing all the pics guys..... I had the go pro out probably a whole 2hrs the whole trip and a couple pics on my phone 😕 to busy having fun! 

Awesome Awesome EPIC EPIC for sure for sure.  Thank you everyone for sharing your pics and reports.  A fine NCKA Trip with some of NCKA's Finest. Hell yeaa great times.

I'm sitting here reminising about this trip, going through all these great photos. I had fun. It was my second time yakfishing SCI from the Islander. The 2013 trip was memorable, but no yellowtail...only 1 wsb and 1 thresher were caught among our group. Plus a ton of calicos, sheeps, and whitefish. Which are incredibly hard fighters--much harder than your standard rockfish. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast!   

But THIS time...the calicos, sheeps, and whitefish were merely annoying distractions from the hot yellowtail bite.  I think the previous ~10yrs of NCKA trips to SCI tallied a dozen yt total. We caught over 90!! We moved repeatedly and each time we found some yt. Most were caught by flylining live sardines.

Running 2 rods, I usually had a small weight on one line to keep them from tangling. You just feed out some line, then engage the clicker...and hold on. These things hit like a freight train and violently rip line off the spool and the clicker screams. It's wild. Then you ponder for a split-second if you should engage the reel...because once you do, it'll damn near yank the rod from your hands!

Over the 3-day trip I had about a dozen hookups and landed 5 yt from about 8-14lbs. And lucky enough to win the Day 3 jackpot...which I gratefully donated back to the crew. Even when they handed me the envelope Monday morning, I still wasn't sure if I had really won or not... 

Oh, I also spent some time looking for halibut. And playing with calicos on the wash rocks & got a new PB @ 7lbs. Food was tasty. Even better than last time. Crew was wonderful. Very helpful group of guys. They work their asses off too. I'm so happy we all got to go and experience a hot yellowtail bite. Thanks for being such good friends!

The first day didn't start out so fast, for me. I got snagged repeatedly and broke my line a few times, before finally hooking up and catching...a...grass rockfish!    In the moment, I was thinking "I came all the F the way down here to catch a GD grassy?!" 



Shortly after, I got a few small sheeps and immediately felt much better haha.


Dan in the distance


After hearing about some yt action, I ventured out further from the kelp and saw O2B land one.


Sharp end good?


Success


Tong hooked up


Finish him


Back when the skiff had a motor (spoiler alert: it mysteriously fell off the transom while delivering beer on day 3).


Dustin prepping for battle


Monkey see, monkey do!


And again!


I was so stoked


Courtesy of O2B photography studios


Told you I was happy






Zisco


Slow-trolling back to the boat...


Then this happened!


Floating on air...




Went back out and caught a barracuda. Slimy little mofo


Calico


Back on the boat, we motored around to calmer waters and dropped anchor. Weather was perfect.


Lil Joker




And that's it for Day 1...

DAY 2
Foggy morning at birdshit island




Went back to this small beach for halibut and hooked something huge...yt or wsb or batray, it was crazy strong.
v

Little calico


Buh Bye


Better grade


Went in tight to birdshit island and got some quality calicos, casting right up against the rock.


Check the FF


New PB!


Pwetty widdle fishee


Pablito with a nice yellow


Pablito part duex


I rescued a lucky butterfly


It's gonna be a lovely day


Time to move spots


Crazy naval training landscape


Zoomed in from same shot


Rob back on the water


Cool topography


Little bulldog


Bernard


The group


Fog be creepin




Our bald eagle mascot = MERICA!




Big fish under little fish


So hard to stop fishing...one more cast!


Bushy out late


OK ok time to move




And that's Day 2!