Running and gunning Saturday 13Sept
After getting a late start with my boys and I and a buddy with his kid departed MB about 09:30 with a great scoop of med-big dinos. Set a course towards the 182. During the entire ride out we spotted alot of huge paddies but, none seemed to have anything on them. Within 5 miles of the 182 we began seeing boats everywhere. I have NEVER seen that many boats offshore before. Seriously over 100 boats within the area. Probably why all the paddies were dry. A couple radio fish being reported but, sounded pretty slow. We finally found an area on the horizon where there didn't appear to be any boats so we went that way (SW). After 5 miles or so we came across a small pod of porpoise in cooler 67.5 degree water that we metered fish in. Ran in front of them a couple times and on the third time I hooked a fish on my 9yr old's panga stick w/ 20 lb. Whew, I handed the rod to him and he looked worried as the line ripped off of his newell but, after about 10 minutes he was able (with a little help) to work the fish to the boat. Sunk the gaff into a respectable 25lb YFT which was his first. Tried several times to get another fish off of that pod but, no luck. Continued SW and ran into a large pod being worked by a few boats. On the first stop I hooked up again and this time handed the rod to my 11 yr old who kicked the fishes butt, but, the line frayed at deep color. We runned and gunned on this pod for over 2 hours with no more hookups. Now about 5:00 PM and we were 40 miles West so we decided to head in. By now the water was pretty much a ghost town and we spotted a big paddy just east of the 182. I immediately got bit and wrapped in the kelp by a good fish. While attempting to pull the fish out, my buddy helps my eager 11 yr old get a bait out and he gets a big backlash. Of course he gets bit by a very big dorado and the line parts to the sound of a loud pop. Damn! That's two missed nice fish. I finally get the big yellow free and we sunk a gaff into a fat 21lb yellow. Out of nowhere comes this twin Vee 21 foot boat which zooms right over to the paddy, stopping pretty much right on top of it. This boat had 9 adults on it (no kidding). Anyways, we decided rather than get upset about it that we would just head in and plan the next trip on a weekday. Great day on the water though and bonus on the kid getting his first YFT.
