My turn...

[Aaron]

Yeah it was that good...6/16/10

The short of it: Decided I had had enough of paddling in circles with nothing to show for it. Arranged a day with Josh Pruitt (inshorekayak.com) to go out and try to get one. Yeah, that one turned into 7. Released 5, kept these two (no official weight, 40-45 is a guess) and have been dining like a king ever since. Best money I have spent in a long while and besides filling the boat with tasty wsb, picked up a ton of priceless info that I will keep in my back pocket for the rest of my fishing "career".



The long of it: I have always done just ok in La Jolla with a few nice fish here and there but have never been able to succeed with any sort of consistency. I live in Murrieta and work in Riverside and thus running down to the coast like I used to be able to takes a bit more effort and means that when I do get out on the water, I really want to maximize my time.

I've been wanting to have a day out on the water with Josh and had a flash of brilliance that all of you are welcome to use...I told my wife, "you know, I'd really like to take a fishing class. There's this instructor in San Diego named Josh Pruitt that I found and he seems like he's the guy. What do you think?" My wife's a teacher...she obviously thought taking "a class" was a great idea. OK, so maybe that felt like pushing the truth a bit...but BS to that...this ended up being an amazing learning experience and I don't think I could have been more honest.

I emailed Josh and heard back from him within a day or 2. I got him on the phone told him what I was looking to accomplish and the instruction started. First time on the phone with Josh we spent almost an hour talking about gear...what I had, what I didn't have, what I needed to get, tides, etc etc etc.. We put together a plan and the only thing that wasn't set was a date.

6/15/10 Josh gives me a ring and says, "Let's get out there tomorrow, trust me."

6/16/10 Met Josh at the shores and we went through EVERYTHING. I had recently picked up a revo and Josh went through how he loads, drags, launches, lands, and fishes his. Small tid bits that were all really great pieces of advice that would be difficult to pick up on your own. We launched through medium surf and headed out to the grounds that produced the evening before.

As we pull up to "the grounds" Josh tells me, "I want you to be ready, this could happen right away." And it did...30 seconds later, meter lights up, Josh says "Drop it NOW" and within 10 seconds he's hooked up, 5 seconds later I'm bit. Double on the first drop. I farm mine, Josh releases a fish pushing 50. 5 minutes later...same story. "Drop it NOW." Double, Kevin comes over, make that a triple...Kevin's buddy comes over, make that a quad! And it simply did not stop for a good couple of hours. Four of us on the water, everyone bit constantly.

And here's the kicker...while we are hooking fish, some of Josh's former clientèle were paddling right through "the zone" on their way to somewhere other than where the fish were. Josh made sure I was all set, paddled over to those guys and put every single one of them on fish. He was even handing out jigs to former clients and telling them to stay right next to him and drop it as soon as he told them to. These aren't people that paid to fish with Josh that day, just people that had paid in the past. I even saw one of these former clients try their best to pry money into Josh's hands as thanks for the help, and Josh absolutely would not take it. If that isn't an insane level of customer service, I don't know what is.

I know a lot of you are seasoned vets and locals, but for those that are like me and are looking to see what people are doing that really know what they are doing, I couldn't give a stronger rec for anyone but "Dr." Pruitt. Josh got me going. Learning to adjust, tune and read the meter, put the jig on the meter, and most significantly how to PROPERLY and SAFELY hook and land big fish has such a stiff learning curve if you try to do it all on your own based only on what you read on the 'net. He's a no nonsense guy that quite simply wants you to catch fish. Josh was able to point out what I was doing wrong and correct it, problems permanently and quickly solved. Not to mention all of the additional information that I now have that has already paid itself off...at the islands, not at La Jolla, NO MORE FISH IN LA JOLLA.

Sorry for the Pruitt commercial. The guy gave me an insane day on the water, a shitload of know-how, and I'm sure a lot of great future days fishing with that knowledge and I feel that I owe him a huge thanks. Give him a call or drop him an email, you'll be stoked ya did.

[-scallywag-]

Nicely Done !!!!

[Caballito]

Went out yesterday with Josh for the first time, ditto everything sapdawg wrote. Landed one wsb approx 25# that we worked for 7 hrs before hookup. Great guy, with a boatload of info and I enjoyed every minute of that trip. If you're even thinking about using a guide , call him.

[j mo]

Nice report Aaron! That was a special day for sure. You were in a stoak fueled haze when I met you it was great to see. Those are some great pics too even the one with the Dodgers hat....

[DESTROYER]

Lose the LA hat and that would be a great Picture!!!

[Mtobolsky]

Awsome report. I haven't had the pleasure of going ou with Josh yet but I am saving $$$ that is for sure. I ran into him on the way out a week or so ago and chatted for a few, the guy exudes a real enthusiasm for the sport.... No, art of angling and even though I haven't paid YET he was very generous with the tips and info that would help. I told him he should set up a tip of the week that people could sign up for, i'de sign up. At any rate I am very antsy to get out there with him.

Stoked on the awesome day!!!!! Sounds epic, I should have been there last week

[Aaron]

Ha! At least people show up to Dodgers games...last I heard they were paying people to go to Petco!! Go Dodgers...or should I say Doyers right? Oh boy, I miss the days of Hershiser...Thank God for Scully.

Thanks for the congrats. Josh (j mo)...looks like Josh P forwarded those pics from me to you. I was stoked to see you stick with it and get one. You really did come out about a minute after things settled down. But you ended up with a monster so I'm sure you're not complaining!

[Nic D]

Originally Posted by DESTROYER

Lose the LA hat and that would be a great Picture!!!

I was thinking the same thing broham.

nice going Sap

[THE DARKHORSE]

I still can't believe I didn't get photos of our doubles on the jig-sticks. We had double after double and started catching them on all of our different rods---why not!?! Well, becuase sometimes you hook a 200 lb Black Sea Bass on the ten-footer---that's why not!




If I never saw Aaron again, this is the image that is forever burned into mind. Every time I looked at that guy he had a huge smile and a doubled over rod. We'd throw each other a shaka' while bendo, pedal our fish in different directions---all the while laughing like a fifth grade, class clown. I laughed until my stomach hurt that day. This poor guy was on his brand new Hobie Revo, with a new sonar and fresh line on all his reels. Enough for most any guy to be stoked out of their mind, fish or no fish. We caught fish, though!
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Next trip, we're going for double-digit numbers of Yellowtail---get ready!

[cowboybill]

Congrats on the awesome catch!

I have only met Josh through a friend, but I have seem him work his magic....My buddy and I were out there and it was pretty slow... the only bent rods that day were Josh's client....and of course Josh...That SOB got a yellow, first drop on his tsubiki going for Squid!

I know its not magic (OK, hooking a YT while going for squid on first drop is, but landing it isnt!), but knowledge, skill, confidence, time on the water, etc, all wrapped up in one...

I call him the Fish Whisperer!!!

cowboybill