# West Coast Report 10/6/04



## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

Me, my dad, and my uncle went out on the Freedom docked at 22nd street landing in San Pedro for a Yellowtail trip. The boat left at 10:00pm and returned at 7:00pm the next day. I jigged a sabaki rig around the dock and hooked up with some small mackerals, some type of a croaker, and some small bonita, I had 4 of them hooked up at one point. After a short stop at the bait stop, the boat purchased about 80-90 scoops of sardines, we sailed about 6 hours to our destination. Some people tried to fish but the mates said to wait till daybreak to start fishing. It took about an hour and a half after daybreak before the first fish was decked. There were quite a few seals around and the mates were using some type of seal control firecrackers to push the seals further out. There were some small ling cod being caught along with some kelp bass and some other bottom fish that I didn't recognize but there were alot of yellowtails being caught. There were usually at least one person hooked up with as many as 7 being hooked up at the same time. The mates did an excellent job with making sure that no one got tangled. Also all of the anglers were very experienced and knew how to cooperate with each other. The first two fish that I hooked up to broke me off. I was able to catch the next three before the last one I hooked up to broke me off. I really hate using rental rods but I had no choice, I didn't know that I was going to do any fishing while I was here so I left all my gear at home. The rentals were Penn Jigmasters with MH rods and 25lb test mono. My fish were 10, 15 and 20lbs. My dad and my uncle were able to deck one fish each, their fish were in the 10-15lb range. There were 27 anglers on the boat and the final count was: 94 Yellowtails, 3 Ocean Whitefish, 2 California Sheepshead, 12 kelp bass, 2 barracudas, and 12 rockfish. All the anglers were targeting Yellowtails so the other fish were bycatch. I think the high hook on yellowtails was 7 and there were a few that got the skunk. Most of the fish caught were on freelined sardines although there were a few throwing iron jigs that did fairly well too. The average yellowtail was 15lbs and the pool winner was around 30lbs. A few things I learned. Yellowtails are very picky on what they hit, if you used any sardines that had red spots on them, you weren't going to catch a fish. Also you had to change baits very often, I probably used 75-100 sardines and only had 6 hookups. I had more hits on florocarbon than anything else but you couldn't use a swivel to connect the lines, you had to use some kinda knot to tie the two lines together, I was using an albright knot. Those tying hooks directly to their main line were doing better with 20lb line than with heavier line. Make sure you have seasickness pills, this trip is no joke. Even with all of the anglers being experienced, several were sea sick. Overall this was a great trip and I would do it again. Pics to come later. Another note, I made some Yellowtail Sashimi for the first time and I have to say that was the best Sashimi I've ever had by far, I've never had fish that fresh before.


----------



## SeaSalt (Apr 29, 2002)

Hey Anthony, sounds like you had fun. Those yellowtails are good eating fresh sashimi or sushi. I bet you could of sold couple of them to one of the japanese restaurants in the area too. They are not cheap fish especially in East coast...


----------



## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

They definitely aren't cheap here either, I went to a local grocery store, $25.99 a pound for the belly meat . Here are some pics.









Picking up sardines.









My first yellowtail.









Part of the boat catch.


----------



## HighCap56 (Oct 21, 2003)

I'm jealous!

It does not get much better than Yellowtale Sashimi or Sushi. Had some not long ago in VB and this is making me want to go back.

Those fish have a unique, chisled look to them. I remember a photo of my cousin in California (Redondo Beach area) in the early 60's with a large one that made some kind of record, so they have been popular for quite some time I see.

Gotta go fishing next time I get out there.


----------



## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

*Outstanding report!*

Anthony,

Glad to see you had a great outing! If I had know you were going, I could have lent you some of my setups for party boat fishing...

The book I was referring to is called "Saltwater Fishing in California" by Ron Kovach and sells for around $13. It's a great book and shows you everything you need to know about fishing party boats, CA surf, and piers. It pays for itself after you win your first $500 fishing pool on a party boat!  I've attached a link below. A used copy will go for under $5. 

http://www.alibris.com/search/searc...ach&siteID=wv1I9XM390g-wUMQJ7sDfCnqcus2S9Rhiw


----------



## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

It was definitely a lot of fun. It's a good thing that we fished when we did. Their last report shows that they only caught 2 yellowtail the whole trip for two overnight boats b/w 35 anglers. The yellowtail run is pretty much over, we were able to get the tail end of the run, they run from spring to fall. Seems to be some more bottom fish being caught but you can do that from the 1/2 day and full day boats with much less sailing time. I am really impressed with the fact that there are links to see accurate fish counts for the entire central and southern coast, http://www.22ndstreet.com/fishcountlinks.html. I wish that they would have something like that on the east coast.


----------



## Orest (Jul 28, 2003)

*Glad to hear from you*

and looks like whether you are on either coast you catch your share of fish. What's the price of rods/reels out there? Any better then our local stores? The yellowtails looks like blues. How far out did you go?

Any way best of luck out there.


----------



## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

I didn't look at the rods and reels too much but the rods they sell are different then what we use at least from what I saw. The boat didn't move that fast but it was a 6 hour trip to the fishing grounds.


----------



## Orest (Jul 28, 2003)

*That's a long boat ride*

6 hours out and 6 hours in. Can you sleep on a boat?


----------

