Bananas

[kanuk]

There are a lot of posts out there right now regarding big Halibut, White Seabass, and heck, even Dorado! But - and I think most of you out there will agree with me on this - there is nothing quite like landing a good Yellowtail. They're beautiful, fast as hell, and are some of the hardest fighting fish you'll ever hook onto. They just go.... BANANAS. No other word to describe it.

Last year, my brother came to San Diego for a fishing visit. He's a hardcore angler himself who calls Canada home. And, being that brothers are very competitive I didn't want to let him down. I decided to hire professional help to, you know, actually get some fish in the boat? It definitely proved to be a wise decision (see HERE for the details). As you can see, we DESTROYED the White Seabass and Yellowtail on that trip, and this time, we decided to target the aforementioned wrist-wrecking, back-wrenching, gaff-shy Yellowtails. In short, we decided to call Josh aka "the darkhorse". You all know the rest of the story by now

Now that I've mentioned my guide, or "coach" as we like to call him, I won't bore you all with a long-winded story. Besides, most of you, like me, will simply scroll down to the fish porn anyway. Most of you have probably already scrolled down.
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Still here? Ok, well here's the story. My brother flew into town on a Sunday and we met Josh on Monday. No time wasting here...we came prepared for battle! It was sunny and warm. You couldn't have painted better Southern California weather if you tried. After last year's adventure we were both ready to pound the water in search of our trophies, no matter what it took. Unfortunately, we only had one Hobie (my Revo) so my bro was going to have to make do with a paddle kayak (or, at least, we thought).... Luckily Josh was nice enough to rent a brand new Hobie Pro Angler for the trips, as later my brother told me, it would have been really hard to go back. Anyway, it's safe to say we were not let down by the action this time around either.

My brother, not me, is the first to go bendo, of course. He was the hot stick the last time around too...catching not only the largest Yellowtail, but the sixty pound White Sea Bass... So I wasn't surprised.

In this shot you can really tell he's, yep, flying!

Josh had his hands full on this trip and very few bendo shots were taken. By the end of day one we remembered just how fun this sh** actually is. Loads of laughter and smiles all around. Here's the biggest fish from the afternoon...

Josh took these photos just as the sun was beginning to set. Thus that golden afternoon light. My fish wasn't too shabby either.

I didn't realize it at the time, but apparently he continued taking photos on the ride back in. If there ever was a time for a cold beer...

Safely back through the reserve day one of our trip is complete. Wishing the day was 36 hrs long....

We opted to sleep in the next day to recharge our batteries. Josh had other anglers ready to go and we were toast. Besides, this would allow us to go out and have a few beers at pizza port (ie fishing training). Next day rolls around and we're right back at it. It's make bait and go with a focus being on go. We bring the cold beer this time and this day's going to be a celebration of sorts. The pressure is off for all of us at this point.

I had my shots on this day as well. This one was not playing nice. They should call them amberjackA** for being so darn stubborn...

Of course once again, the hot stick on this day does not belong to me... My bro miraculously managed to catch the bruiser of the bunch. Again!



All told: We spent two days on the water with the fish whisperer and landed 7 beautiful Yellowtail. The real story is probably in how many we lost, but who wants to hear about that? A few of the fish were real trophies over the coveted 30 lb barrier. Of course, the other fish weren't exactly chump change either. Even a low 20 lb'r Yellowtail will kick your butt. I can't imagine it getting much better. The combination of SoCal sun, blue water, hoppy beers (in moderation, of course), and fresh meat on the boat is utter and complete euphoria!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you're a novice, intermediate all the way up to a seasoned La Jolla fisherman, I don't care who you are...Josh will teach you things. A lot of things. Even weird s*** you never thought about before. He's pretty fun to have a beer with, too. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, he'll sneak in a once-in-a-lifetime shot of you pounding the water at sunset with your brother.

Tight lines out there.