MDR - 7/14/17

[goldenglory18]

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday!

Hit the Marina on Friday at around 6am with a plan to throw bigger baits to bigger fish outside of the break wall. I paddle straight out to end of the channel, make the turn to the North opening and stop at open water. I make a few casts to the N end of the wall and nothing. While casting, I look out to the sea and the open water looks ok. My nerves are kicking, my intuition is telling me to stop, but I head out anyway. I get past "the washing machine" and I can feel myself paddle downhill. Immediately I realize there is more swell than I should have taken on, but wow what a feeling being out there on your own. Next investment is definitely going to be a VHF radio (NEVER GO OUT BY YOURSELF WITHOUT A RADIO!)

First cast outside the break wall and BAM, my 3/8oz under spin gets hammered. First color I see is the white belly and yellow colored tail. Not the "first" I was hoping for, but I'll take it!



Looked close to a keeper size, but she was too pretty to keep so off she went back to her friends. My fist ever White Sea Bass!

I threw everything but the kitchen sink at the same spot and couldn't come up with another bite. The swell was moving me around a lot so it was hard to stay on the same spot for too long. No graph on board so I have no idea if I caught one in a finicky school, or if I got the lone fish in the area.

For the next few hours, I drift South along the wall and have an occasional bite here and there with no takers. I even had a HARD break off that could have been a seal or a unforeseen rock pile but I'd like to think it was a big fish. A lot of short, strong bites all the way around the wall until the South end. I didn't land any more fish around the outside of the wall but man alive there has to be some tanks hanging out around there. I think I know where I went wrong, so I'll be more prepared next time.

The South end of the wall is one of my hot spots, so once I made my way to the end, I focused on this area for a while. I still kept getting short hits on the big baits, and my typical finesse rigs so I switch over to a hard, multiple hook jerk bait. First cast, BAM, second landed fish of the day; a very healthy Calico. C, P, R, and off she went.



After that bite, I decide the fish are still focused on a small bait fish profile so I abandon the big baits and tie on a drop shot and go to work. Drifting back up (North) along the inside of the wall, I start to connect more regularly. Most notable, I get a small Halibut that was a mean mother f***er. Trying to secure it and unhook the small D/S hook, the little s**t bites my right thumb. I mean, all things considered he was in the right, but man I've NEVER had a fish do that to me. I should have taken a picture for future reference (I think I took out one of his eyes) but off he went either way. A few more short fish here and there up to the end of the break wall.

One spot I've yet to explore much is the North (outside) of the channel wall. That water is a great little area with a lot of movement. After a few casts, I connect with my last decent fish of the day, a healthy Spot.



After that one, I made my way back into the channel and drifted my way back to the marina. Dragging a large swim bait behind me in the grass and tossing my under spin to my usual Hali/Spottie areas, I go without another bite for the rest of the day. Tired and hungry, I'm off the water at 3:30.

Final fish count:
1 White Sea Bass
1 Calico
1 Spottie
Multiple short Spots
1 short Halibut

On the way home I think about the fish totals and realize I was one Sand bass away from a Bass Grand Slam! I wonder how many people have actually caught all four major saltwater bass species in one day (Spot, Sand, Cali, WSB?)

Rigs of the day:
7' MH Okuma Helios, Quantum Smoke Inshore, 10lbs Trilene 100% Gold Box with a Luckycraft 78 sized Pointer Minnow or a 12-16" leader to weight drop shot.

7' MH Okuma Shadow Stalker, Daiwa Tatula HD, 10lbs Trilene 100% Gold Box with a 3/8oz under spin.

Again, my main plan for the day was to throw larger swim baits and skirted jigs to bigger fish. That rig was setup with a 7' H Okuma Shadow Stalker paired with a 300 sized Okuma Komodo and 20lbs big game mono-filament line. Not sure what it was on Friday, but no matter what color I threw, I was getting chewers not takers. I looked at the baits when I got home and every one I threw had teeth marks. 1 - 2oz heads, 5" to 7" baits, grubs and swim baits, dark, bright, and bait fish colors all netted the exact same result. The only profile all day that got full commits was once again a 3" natural colored shad....