Number 8 .... Fresh La Jolla Rerport

[ctfphoto]

Tuesday, Sept 2, after a long long dry spell (all summer) it's my kids first day back to school, so I decide to go out to fish the afternoon till sunset as my wife was doing the back to school thing.

Super easy no swell launch so of course I get completely soaked as I always do. Light 5 mile per hour wind. Strong current.

Bait not so easy but I manage 2 greenbacks and 2 spanish with my modified bait catching technique. Wanted more bait, but wanted to fish even more.

Go out from the kelp throw out a flyline greenie and call the wife to ask how our sons first day of school went. Hung up and put the phone away and buzzzzz goes my pole.

I go on a long sleigh ride into the open ocean, Sweet. Head shake after head shake. Yes it's a large yellow. Line peel after line peel. Many runs.

After 15 minutes I finally see color and bring up and gaff a tired 26 pound yellowtail.

Launched at 3:30 PM had a yellow on deck before 5:00

After many hours on the water this sumer, this one seemed so easy….. leave late, paddle out, catch bait, catch gamefish all in an hour an a half. So I decide to fish more....

Hooked onto another yellow with my last greenback and he started peeling line …. this was a smart fish as after his first run, he ran straight towards me and under my boat quick enough to get a little slack and spit the now now crushed greenback. …. dang …so much for number two … oh we'll lets try a spanish …

Now the clicker goes off on the spanish, sweet another chance ….

Fight the large fish for awhile but can tell its smaller as it is coming in quicker even tho it is peeling line.

See color and it's a very large Bonita, Huge! , awesome, first kayak bonita for me and I love the taste of it so out comes the gaff. First attempt, a glancing blow, the gaff bounced off. Second attempt, a real fail as I gaff it, it got away.

Hmmm..... at least I got a very large yellow on deck

What I learned is that Bonita are way quicker than tired yellowtail. Next time I will take my time.

[blitzburgh]

Nice man!

[octico]

Nice fish!

[Lipripper92592]

It's nice when a plan comes together! Nice haul.

[battleborn]

Nice fish. Looks like a better grade of fish has moved in.

[FlyFishinYakr]

Originally Posted by battleborn

Nice fish. Looks like a better grade of fish has moved in.

Just in time for "HOW"!
If I'm not taking Vicodin at bedtime and when I wake up, I might just drive down just to watch the weight-in! Just might be "Epic" ! Wouldn't want to miss this!
FFY

[kayakfisherman]

Wow Chris,

sounds like your day was busy!!! I'm with you, love bonito!!

Nice size yellowtail and it looks like your enjoying your Bubba Knife.

[FISH11]

I was wondering why there hadn't been any reports from you recently. I thought maybe you where on vacation. Good to see you got your Mojo back. Very efficient short trip. Congratulations on your latest Yellow, Chris. Tight Lines

[swinginFish]

Saw you at the launch while packing it in. Lovely day out there - congrats on the fish!

Avery

[Cadillyak]

Nice fish indeed. You sure know how to get the job done. I'm curious as to your new method of making bait. What was wrong with the old way you taught me??

[Cbad Mike]

Nicely done sir!!!

[ctfphoto]

Originally Posted by Cadillyak

Nice fish indeed. You sure know how to get the job done. I'm curious as to your new method of making bait. What was wrong with the old way you taught me??

I modified my rig slightly. For the past two years, I have not used a sabiki but instead used a double dropper loop set up with frozen anchovies. This set up will only catch you greenback mackerels and not other baitfish.

It work great for 2 years, but this summer it stopped working for a few weeks, probably because I never found the greenies. Others around me kept telling me that they were catching fish on spanish so I decided to change my bait rig.

I still use a double dropper loop set up with frozen anchovies, but I added half of a sabiki rig (three hooks) below the dropper loops. This modification now catches both types of mackerel but mainly greenbacks.

[primosurf]

Very nice report! Thank you

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Sweet report, and awesome tip on bait technique! I hope to get one next time!

[addicted2sp33d]

I hear yah on the Bonito - they are like Super-Mini-Tuna!

I've had one in the boat that kept flapping for another 15-20 minutes before expiring... I didn't have a gaff at the time, and his flapping against the hull made it sound like my boat had a lawnmower engine below deck!