My cherry poppin LJ yellow

[bellcon]

Well I guess it's safe to share my story
I have been fishing La Jolla exclusively in 2009
Six trips so far... (I know a drop in the bucket compared to some )
This story is about trip #5 Monday 2/23/2009
Alarm goes off at 2:30 am, but I have been waking up every 30 minutes all night long
Grab a couple things, check my list and I am off
stop by 7-11 for a hot cup of joe and a donut get on the 110 north
No traffic on the 405 to the 5 fwy south...85 mph.. slow down I am making good time no need to get a ticket (wanna save my online traffic school opportunity for latter)
Get to the launch in the dark... just a few other addicts on the beach,
Set up the Trident...park close by and I launch at 5:30ish?
To be honest it has been a busy week... and the details are starting to get fuzzy.
Fast forward----
I find myself kind of in the middle of the group,
I have no fish finder / sonar, it is at west marine dealing with warranty issues.
so I am just happy to hit everyone up with an occassional "how deep are we?" "reading anything down there?"
I am yo yoing a Tady A2 scrambled egg glow back iron off the bottom with a dead squid pinned on and I have a Carolina rig dead sticked in another rod holder
After awhile of being in the middle the decision is made to move to another spot
So I get my stuff ready to move, the last thing I have to do is bring my two rods in… first the yo-yo rig…
I bounce the iron a couple more times and then start cranking it up fast to move on
About 3 cranks into the retrieve BOOM
Fish on!!!!
Damn that guy hit me hard...like he was sitting there staring at my iron, and when it started running away he said your mine!
It was kind of crowded around me but I thought luck was on my side...
he wasn’t really going for long runs
Mostly down then back and forth
I couldn’t get much line in on him at first
Then he decides to run
First to a guy about 30 feet away from me
I yell to get his attention but he couldn’t get his rig up fast enough
I ask him to put it in free spool and he does... couple seconds’ latter same thing with the guy right behind him
And my carolina rig with spectra is tied in to this mess by now too
I now have two really cool yakers paddling along side me with their rods in free spool (thanks a ton to both John and Martin!!!)
I am finally starting to gain some line on him
Josh Pruit “DARKHORSE” is near by and comes over (GREAT guy by the way)
The tangles start coming up and my adrenalin is pumping (but I am cool )
A couple tangles down then Josh starts working it for me keeping the mess out of my rod tip while I am cranking down hard, Josh is coaching me to "CRANK HARDER" (BIG THANKS Josh)
We ended up cutting very little line and didn’t lose any of the other guys rigs.
Finally I see my first La Jolla Yellow!!!
Talk about a rush, gaff, game clip, couple of yes yes yes (say it loud)
and I get to join the many who have come before me in the La Jolla Yellow Tail Club
This maybe old school to many out there, but this is only my second yellow tail (first one was the one last year with the boys on the Catalina camp trip) and this one is my cherry popper for La Jolla!!!
It was good seeing some Baytuber blood down south, John, Brian, Greg, and my lucky charm the smack talking Gabe.


I gotta give BIG thanks again to Josh “Darkhorse” Pruitt for his help in managing the tangles and Guiding me on a couple earlier trips in L.J. He is a hell of a Fisherman, Guide, and a Gentleman too. It sure helped with the whole learning curve. Josh definitely knows a thing or two about La Jolla and fishing in general, Yakrider once said to me "Josh as forgotten more about fishing than most will ever know" I agree!! Thanks DARKHORSE
You have my whole hearted endorsment as a guide and man of integrity. Thanks for teaching me and giving me a vision to chase those tails.
To say ... is an understatement thanks my friend!


And again thanks to the yakers who free spooled their lines and allowed me to fish threw them, some good guys down there in San Diego and I was lucky to be around the right ones.

So that’s about it for Monday 2/23/09 (at least as much as my fried brain remembers )
My second yellow off the yak, first in La Jolla and a new personal best at 34.1 lbs
Not the biggest monster yellow ever caught off a yak, or this week for that matter...but a monster of a good time for sure! (Besides leaves me room for improvement )
Here are some pics of my epic day in La Jolla:

My new favorite fish eye pic :







theres my story brothers...
one thing catching that yellow didnt do was satisfy my desire...
the next morning I went about planning my next trip to La Jolla...
To Be Continued....
Don
The very happy yak fisherman


p.s be careful if DARKHORSE is your photobeeotch... i think taking pics with Josh behind the camera is almost harder than landing a La Jolla Yellowtail ....(but worth every second)