Wide Open YT and Crazy Hammerhead Sleigh-ride

[chris138]

Report from Saturday 08-22-15:

Not much change in La Jolla this week. Lots of bait in some places, not much in others. We saw big active schools of greenbacks over the canyon in 500' depth, with larger fish beneath. Our plan was to "go long" and try to find some of the exotics. Ended up finding lots of hungry YT on the way out.

Got a chance to meet Tony and George in person for the first time... Great to see you guys, and thanks for the secret weapon. Had an easy time making bait in the dark with those boys, then we went our separate ways more or less. As soon as we headed outside we started seeing lots of action. Mammals, birds, bait, foamers... pretty much the kind of conditions where you just know there's lots of fish around.

I got 2 early and released them both. First one was ~15ish and the second one was ~22ish. Further outside is was total hammerfest. The sharks were so thick, the dogs were no where to be seen. I had a heavy 60# rig set up just in case we got into the larger pelagics. Ended up hooking an 8-10' hammer and getting an insane sleigh ride. Got her to the boat for a while before she finally chewed the flouro. After that I hooked another YT and decide to keep this one, as I had already released two and the tuna were a no show.

I would really encourage everyone to start releasing some yellows. Pretty much anybody who's been fishing LJ lately has plenty of meat to feed family and friends. C&R can actually be more rewarding and more fun than harvesting every fish you catch. There is no better feeling than watching that big 20# yellow swimming off to fight another day.

Helpful Hint of the Day:

The YT are in medium sized schools and they were showing on the meter in about 150' depth (fishing in 200-300'). They might not look like much on the sonar, but if you see these marks slow down and start drifting and slow trolling in big circles around the area. They are often down deep but they will come up on your bait quickly. The water is super clear and I was fishing straight 25# mono. My buddy fishing w 30# never got bit. Look for this:





Got some sweet YT release and hammerhead sleigh ride video. Sorry I know you guys have got to be pretty tired of all the videos. See 2:00 min for the hammer ride.

[Murray]

thanks for the intel and video.

[Iceman]

Nice Chris! You got cooking on that ride! Love that blue water!

[kjsdad619]

Chris, great post and video!..what Lowrance do you have? I have the Elite 4 and can't get those kind of marks on mine..which settings do you use?

[yak-fishing-socal]

Man I went south and had no luck went 5 miles off shore had a hammer take two of my baits then came back to the point and the dogs got the rest of my baits..
Nice video by the way
sent from my thumbs on my G4

[Dirty Curti]

Great report and video.

On my FF (lowrance elite 4x DSI) I don't get the arches so it can really be tricky identifying big fish from bait. But what I noticed after yesterday was that by changing the setting from 800 Khz to 455 Khz definitely gave me a better look at what is down there.

Great work.

[chris138]

Originally Posted by kjsdad619

Chris, great post and video!..what Lowrance do you have? I have the Elite 4 and can't get those kind of marks on mine..which settings do you use?

Elite 4x HDI... Manual mode, auto depth. The settings depend on the depth and clarity of the water. you have to increase sensitivity the deeper you are. In deep water you essentially set the highest sensitivity you can without "washing out" the return. Colorline you mess with once you know you have a clear return of some object that you know for sure what it is ie the bottom, bullkelp, finbait, sea lion etc. You could use the "surface clarity" function which cancels out the noise from the surface. I don't bother with it, as I'm not even looking in the top 30ish' of water when i'm out that deep. In these shots, i have 200khz gain turned down a bit to avoid all the noise associated with zooplankton blooms, red crab, micro finbait etc which only show up on 200khz

Hope that helps. the key for these cheap crappy FFs is using dual frequency display. If the marks only show up on 200khz and not 83, its likely not a game fish. once you get deeper, manually set the range to 250 or 300' to get good resolution in the target depth. If you have 500+' of water on the screen, a big fish will barely be 1 pixel thick.

[chris138]

Originally Posted by Dirty Curti

Great report and video.

On my FF (lowrance elite 4x DSI) I don't get the arches so it can really be tricky identifying big fish from bait. But what I noticed after yesterday was that by changing the setting from 800 Khz to 455 Khz definitely gave me a better look at what is down there.

Great work.

A school of yellows in 200' looks a lot like a school of greenbacks in 90'. The size of the return is relative to the overall scale of the "cone".

[surfisher]

I agree, releasing a yellowtail is just as good of a feeling as catching it! The power of their kick as they swim away is mesmerizing.

[Greg Macker]

Hey Chris. Good to meet you. Glad I could make a cameo appearance in the video. I was trying to scamper away so there was no chance of a tangle, but didn't realize you had that fish so close to your boat at that point.

Great video. Incredible the amount of speed generated and documented there. Towed out to sea by a hammerhead shark!!

So damn cool that you are releasing these fish. I released one as well on Saturday. Keep arm paddling!

[chris138]

Originally Posted by Greg Macker

Hey Chris. Good to meet you. Glad I could make a cameo appearance in the video. I was trying to scamper away so there was no chance of a tangle, but didn't realize you had that fish so close to your boat at that point.

Great video. Incredible the amount of speed generated and documented there. Towed out to sea by a hammerhead shark!!

So damn cool that you are releasing these fish. I released one as well on Saturday. Keep arm paddling!

Good to meet you as well Greg. Nice job on the release! Homeguards are made, not born(:

You were fine on the positioning. The only time you have to be careful is when somebody first hooks up and its up on the surface. Once it sounds, and im right over it, you can work circles around me and be ok as long as you don't let too much line out.

That's not to say people should just go in doing hot-laps around a guy who's hooked up... Only with permission! Come in at a distance, assess the situation, say "whats up", and do a wide circle giving plenty of room.

Shoot... i basically lurked your fish when i got my 2nd one. I was offering Greg a friendly OTW photo after he had just stuck a nice 20+# yt , and low and behold...

[lbsurf2ca]

That's the right way to get out to the tuna grounds. lol

[Greg Macker]

Mine Thanks for offering up the "on the water" picture. Too cool

[bigbarrels]

Released 3 YT today

[FISH11]

I totally agree with that releasing a yellowtail that is large enough to usually keep, is as much fun if not more fun than gaffing it to take home. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat Yellowtail, but when you still have some in the freezer why harvest every fish you land. At least be selective in what you keep. A year ago, I would have thought that was crazy. I guess that is one more lesson I have learned. There is a lot of pleasure to watch the yellowtail swim away, because you chose to release it. I hope more guys feel confident enough to release some an keep the fishery strong. Really well done Chris, loved the video. I wish I had gotten a sleigh ride like that the last time out with the hammer that took my line 3 different times. I guess I just pulled too hard the first time was a 5 minute fight and he towed me some but the hard pull on my part made him go deep and finally cut the 40lb fluoro. The best sleigh ride I have ever got, was a large Thresher last year and he towed me around in circles and then for almost a mile before using his tail in mid air to cut my 65lb braid. That was awesome. Tight lines, Chris

[MITCHELL]

After the first hammerhead sleigh ride...the other two I just tighten my drag until the line would snap not crazy about bringing in a shark the size of my kayak

[chris138]

Here's one without my bow in the shot, literally 1 second before my flyliner went off haha

[ful-rac]

Hammerheads!

I hate those things!

[Scoot]

Awesome sleigh ride!!

[kjsdad619]

Originally Posted by chris138

Elite 4x HDI... Manual mode, auto depth. The settings depend on the depth and clarity of the water. you have to increase sensitivity the deeper you are. In deep water you essentially set the highest sensitivity you can without "washing out" the return. Colorline you mess with once you know you have a clear return of some object that you know for sure what it is ie the bottom, bullkelp, finbait, sea lion etc. You could use the "surface clarity" function which cancels out the noise from the surface. I don't bother with it, as I'm not even looking in the top 30ish' of water when i'm out that deep. In these shots, i have 200khz gain turned down a bit to avoid all the noise associated with zooplankton blooms, red crab, micro finbait etc which only show up on 200khz

Hope that helps. the key for these cheap crappy FFs is using dual frequency display. If the marks only show up on 200khz and not 83, its likely not a game fish. once you get deeper, manually set the range to 250 or 300' to get good resolution in the target depth. If you have 500+' of water on the screen, a big fish will barely be 1 pixel thick.

Hell yeah it does..thank you very much. I just noticed your markings are legit and I have fiddled with mine and never got it there. Thanks again!