Re-Introducing Myself & Islander June 11th

[Rock Hopper]

Hello there. I just wanted to re-introduce myself. I've been a member for awhile, but have just been lurking around every so often recently.

Anyway, thought I'd say hi since I'll be seeing a few of you on the Islander trip next week. I'm a moderator over at NCKA and our yearly 3.5 day trip didn't pan out this year so I decided to join you folks to get my San Clemente fix. My buddy, and owner of the NCKA website will also be joining us. We're stoked to be going and look forward to meeting and fishing with those of you going on the trip.

Cheers,
Dustin

[619-SWIM-DOG]

Right on Dustin,

I'll see you on the trip. I'm looking forward to this trip. My first mothership trip so should be interesting. I have a yellow hobie outback. See you next week.

Nick

[Chuck D]

Cant wait to get out there as well Dustin. Look forward to meeting you and learning a little bit more about Nor Cal fishing style. C u next week.

Chuck d

[Rock Hopper]

Thanks for the welcome, fellas.

I'm by no means an expert on fishing SCI, but I have learned some things over the last three trips that I wish I knew on my first trip. Maybe these tips will be of use to anyone who is going for the first time.

- This is probably general knowledge but big coolers are frowned upon. They take up a lot of room and the crew would prefer you buy their reasonably priced drinks. Small coolers with a few drinks or snacks are fine.

- Try not to bring too much gear. Every year I see people bringing tons of stuff and only using a small portion of the gear they bring.

- Most of your gear will be stored outside on deck. It turns out to be a huge mess every time, so try to get by with as small of a tote for your gear as possible, or a mesh bag, etc.

- If the exotics are not cooperating and we're in one of the shallower areas of the Island (let's pray for the weather side) try to get in as deep into the kelp as you can and target sheepshead, calicoes, and ocean whitefish. Last year on our 3.5 day trip the fishing was pretty dead the first two days. On the last day the captain urged us to get deep into the kelp where only us kayaks can get to. My buddy and I took his advice and ended up tying off to some kelp bordering some big potholes. We literally stayed tied off to those same strands of kelp for FIVE HOURS and picked up fish on almost every drop. I caught no less than forty goats and a dozen or so calicoes. Everyone else around me did just as well. Live squid was the go-to bait, but old dried up pieces found stuck to my yak while waiting for a new bait delivery got hammered, too.

- The staterooms have power outlets. Bring an extension cord so you and your roomie can both charge your electronics.

- The crew is going to work their asses off to make everything damn near perfect. Set aside some dough to give them a nice tip.

- Get in on the jackpot! If the fishing is slow your 6lb goat could take the pot.

- When coming in to the big boat for breaks, lunch, or a move, leave as much stuff on your yak as possible. It will help you launch faster when it's time to get back out.

- Find a way to identify your stuff!! When making moves all paddles, gear, etc. just get piled up by the baitwells. It's a mess and sometimes takes awhile to find your gear. Especially your nice Werner paddle when there's four others in the pile just like it. I blacked out one of the "e's" in the Werner logo and that still wasn't good enough. Colored tape or stickers are good for identifying your gear.

- If you have wheels it helps to bring them. It makes loading and unloading the big boat much easier and faster. You can stash them in your car after we load the big boat.

- Take lots of pictures!! Every year I take more and more and every year I feel like I didn't take enough. Last year the fishing was either so slow or so red hot that I barely got any pictures of my fish. I got tons of scenery pics, but wish I had more fish pictures.

I guess that's a lot for now. I'm sure I'll think of something else as soon as I hit Submit Reply!

[Rock Hopper]

And I did.

- Up here we use a lot of three way rigs when targetting halibut and bottom fish. Our catch rate went up when we ditched our three way rigs for reverse dropper loops.

- One of the deadliest rigs on our trip last year was a simple one or two ounce egg sinker directly above a 2/0 or 3/0 live bait hook. I felt like I was missing a few bites due to the fish biting the sinker, so I added a barrel swivel maybe 2" above my hook. Basically just a Carolina rig with a super short leader.

- Bring your live well or bait tube. If we end up with big 'dines or macks they won't last long in a Plano bucket.

[lbsurf2ca]

Looking forward to the trip guys. Its been a few years since I have had the time.

Feel free to ping me out there for a photo. No deck shots on this trip only Big fish on the water shots.