Report?

[Saba Slayer]

Come on Shawn...let's hear the whole story....?
Does the "new" PA work as a hooping platform?
And...is that really a rape whistle...?

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Dude, where are you guys catching these crabs at? I've never caught anything other than dinky rock crabs in my nets. Is there dungeness south of LBC? From my understanding, they're in Santa Barbara and north.

[Saba Slayer]

Santa Monica Bay is closed to commercial Crabbing and Lobster from Malibu Point to Rocky Point in Palos Verdes... so just about anyplace in the Bay with rocks or structure will be holding Spiders, Reds and Yellows...I don't think you'll find very many Dungeness crab south of Santa Barbara unless the Buddists have released em'.
Lots of crabs in Long Beach and San Pedro Harbors too...

So about that whistle Shawn...?

[MrPatrick]

State law requires all vessels to have a whistle, horn or other signaling device to alert fellow boaters.

[Saba Slayer]

Thank you so much for clearing up that important state law Mr. Serious!

[flemdogg]

Originally Posted by Silbaugh4liberty

Dude, where are you guys catching these crabs at? I've never caught anything other than dinky rock crabs in my nets. Is there dungeness south of LBC? From my understanding, they're in Santa Barbara and north.

Jim's book HOOPIN IT UP. It'll tell you all you need to know about hoopin. I've got a signed copy!

[alanhighhand]

nice post

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Originally Posted by flemdogg

Jim's book HOOPIN IT UP. It'll tell you all you need to know about hoopin. I've got a signed copy!

You're the second person to tell me about this book. It's it at any of the tackle shops (the Longfin)? Or amazon?

[flemdogg]

Originally Posted by Silbaugh4liberty

You're the second person to tell me about this book. It's it at any of the tackle shops (the Longfin)? Or amazon?

Local tackle shops, maybe oex, I've seen them at oceanside dive and kayak.

[Hunters Pa]

OK, here it is. Those of you with younger kids will know how it goes, the price you pay for a day on the water - kid duty, to do list, cleaning up your fishing stuff so the garage doesn't stink, etc.


Got the call (text, actually) Thursday from Jim that he was going out for a crab run Friday and searching for bonita during the soak. At first I was not optomistic about clearing my calendar, and also not having my gear in order. Then things started to fall into place. Able to move meetings, Jim had a couple extra hoops I could borrow. PA still needed some rigging but I was going to just go with what I had and could borrow.

Loaded the PA on top of teh SUV - yeah, 155 pounds of me put it up there. Made some runners out of 8' 2x4s, some outdoor carpet and a couple wall hooks. Slid right on up. Loaded everything I might need and finally got to bed around 11.

Met up with Jim at Redondo a bit before 7. Started rigging up and FF would not power up - rushed job, probably grabbed a battery that needed charged. No worries, Jim had his.

I had brought a couple cages stuffed with salmon trimmings. Forgot to grab clips or zipties. That's ok, secured with mono - more on that later. Put the bait tank from my Trident on the back and launched. Jim had buzzed out with his trolling motor and I was pedalling to catch up. Could not believe the room on the PA. Wide, like a lot of girls I had dated. Stable, unlike a lot of girls I had dated. Enjoyed the hands-free propulsion.

Got to the grounds and dropped 1, 2, 3, 4 hoops. Trolled on the way out looking for bones but it was nothing but greenbacks. Hoping for a smaller greenie to send to the bottom for a soak. Did not get a small one until until later in the morning.

Played with greenies most of the morning, keeping half dozen or so for bait. Time to pull traps.

First pull - 3 nice crabs. They were not happy about having their meal interrupted. Into the bait tank they went. Next pull was one of the hoops with the salmon bait. Don't know if it was the sealion that was following us or if teh cage was just not shut, but the cage was empty. Jim loaded it on the back of his PA and we moved on. That Scotty trap puller he had sure made short work of hetting those hoops to the surface. Next hoop, one crab. Into the bait tank and hoop sent back. Next was another salmon hoop. On this one the bait cage was completely gone. No trace. Guess it was not secured as well as I had hoped.

Left the set for another soak and went back to the search for bonita. Not as active on the greenbacks as it was earlier, but enough to keep it interesting.

Summary for the day, 11 crabs for the two of us with 4 hoops. Mackeral in the freezer and a couple of good lessons learned on rookie mistakes.

Oh, the whistle? That's for when I get bored. About as complex a musical instrument as I can handle.

Actually, I always have that on the water. When I started doing this yak thing 10 years ago I took the name Hunters Pa to keep me reminded that there are people at home counting on me coming home. For me, safety and backup plans every time.

Great hooping with you Jim. Looking forward to the next time.

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Sweet report Hunters PA. How's the drive to Redondo? I'm just down the street from you, so my drive would be the same.

[Hunters Pa]

Originally Posted by Silbaugh4liberty

Sweet report Hunters PA. How's the drive to Redondo? I'm just down the street from you, so my drive would be the same.

Not bad at all early in the morning. Coming home in the afternoon hit some slow patches

[Saba Slayer]

Well I guess yesterday could be considered your tune up for Lobster season in a few weeks.
Lesson 1...locking the door on the bait cages with zip ties once they're full and using the bait cage clips attached to the bait pocket ring...those crabs and Sea Lions are smarter and stronger than most people think. Oh yea..and adding some extra zip ties to my tackle kit.
Too bad the Bonito fishing turned into straight Greenies. I wanted some spicy tuna!
5 steamed crabs was just enough for the two of us last night. I hope your using the Crab meat tonight for your stuffed Portabellos....that sounds sooo GOOD!!
I carry a whistle in my PFD too... You never know when Team Sewer might be lurking around Redondo.
Here's a short YouTube video with the Scotty Puller in use...I tried embedding it but it kept coming up blank on the preview...? Help?
http://youtu.be/P7nNyUj9yYs
Another short video on the Scotty Trap-Eze...

You can find "Hoopin' It Up" at OEX...Oceanside D&K had a bunch...or on my website sabaslayer.com.
Thanks for asking.

[Hunters Pa]

Originally Posted by Saba Slayer

Well I guess yesterday could be considered your tune up for Lobster season in a few weeks.
Lesson 1...locking the door on the bait cages with zip ties once they're full and using the bait cage clips attached to the bait pocket ring...those crabs and Sea Lions are smarter and stronger than most people think. Oh yea..and adding some extra zip ties]

I looked right at the clips and did not grab them. Thought abou grabbing zip ties too as I was dozing off. Going to add some to my jumper cable bag

[mclanea]

Hmm... I like this idea of letting it soak while going to do some other fishing. Think you can leave them for like an hour, technically right?

Might have to try that tomorrow.

[Hunters Pa]

Originally Posted by mclanea

Hmm... I like this idea of letting it soak while going to do some other fishing. Think you can leave them for like an hour, technically right?

Might have to try that tomorrow.

We soaked for about an hour before pulling.