Six Day Trip to Jeronimo and Sacramento Reef Area
Saturday
We left San Diego at 3am Saturday morning on July 20 so we would be at Marina Coral to fuel up when they opened. It was a nice trip down and included juice, bacon eggs and lots of coffee. After we fueled up it was off to San Martin. Lunch for the day was sautéed bonito with a green salad. This set the lunch tone for the trip. Fish for lunch but it had to be a different fish and it had to be prepared differently. We caught the bonito just after clearing Todo Santo Islands and then caught a big humbolt that pounced on a black & purple jethead that was being moved along at 6 ½ knots. On our arrival at San Martin we were greeted by very green dirty 62.9° water. Since we were ready for some fishing time instead of boat riding and eating time we ignored the water conditions and started throwing lures for the next couple of hours. When we quit for the day and anchored up at 6pm our meager catch totaled 3 bonito, 1 squid, and 5 calicos. After a couple of cold Coronas and a dinner of baked ziti, salad & rolls we crashed for the evening.
Sunday
After coffee and a quick check to confirm that the water conditions were truly crummy we headed south to Jeronimo and Sacramento Reef and much improved water conditions and fishing. While they weren’t chewing the paint off the bottom of the boat we managed a mixed bag of fish that ate pretty much what ever variety and color of iron or plastic we chose to throw at them. We finished the day with 1 barracuda, 42 calicos, 8 reds, 4 johnny bass, 1 sheep head, 4 white fish, 6 bonito, and 14 miscellaneous. This was a much better day to discuss the catch over a dinner of steak, green salad & baked potato.
Monday
Back to Sacramento Reef after a late 7 am start and the Shogun was there. We are also greeted by a wide open bite. When it was over we had caught and released 1 barracuda, 187 calico bass, 64 reds, 3 bonito, 31 johnny bass 2 sheepshead, 15 whitefish and 17 miscellaneous. The yellowtail continued to be conspicuous by there absence.
Tuesday
After spending the night at Jeronimo we again returned to Sacramento reef for our final days fishing there. Other than we lightened up the tackle the day was similar to Monday with 1 barracuda, 133 Calicos, 48 Reds, 1 bonito, 18 johnnybass 4 lings, 6 whitefish and 24 miscellaneous. It was interesting that the reds and bigger Calicos were in the same area and depth and it was shallow enough that they could all be released.
Wednesday
We left Jeronimo at 2am and headed offshore. Other than a nice blufin in the morning and a couple of keeper dorado the day was filled with micro dorado and not much else. Some of the dorado were so small they couldn’t pop the release clip. Most of the mid day we had less than desirable water color but it improved considerably by the end of the day. At 7 pm we set the sea anchor at 30 45 / 117 10 and settled in for the evening. After dinner we had a show of small humbolts around the boat so we caught and cleaned 5 of them.
Thursday
After drifting 4 ½ miles during the night we continued northward without much action until about 10 am when a pick bite started that lasted most of the day. We finished up the day with 4 albacore, 10 YFT, 5 Dorado and 4 yellowtail. The largest of the albacore we felt weighted about 55 pounds. I have never seen one before that was within 15 pounds of this fish. At 6 pm we headed to Ensenada for the night.
Friday
Fueled the boat when Coral opened and headed north on a nice flat ocean and tied up at Harbor Island West at 1 pm. Total trip was 577 miles and we’re ready to go again on August 28
Yale
"Riley"
32' Blackman Sportfisher
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