Saltwater Report

Name=Jeff

Date=8/9/99

Boat="San Diego"

Area=In-between Coronados & Mainland

Bait=Sardines, Blu/chrm iron

Water_Temp=

Captain=

Weather=Clear

Seas=Choppy

Report=Well, I was supposed to go albacore fishing today but when I heard the weather report, I decided to fish local instead. Heard the yellowtail bite was good on the 3/4 day boats out of S.D. so we headed down to Seaforth to get in on some of the action. Fishing was great, service was lousy. First the fishing. First fish was a hookup on the troll (by me) after that we stayed there and had solid action for the next three hours. I ended up with 5 yellowtail, 3 nice sand bass, including a fat 6-pounder, 2 barracuda and 1 bonito, yes a bonito. Strange, but it has been years since I have caught a bonito. Their disappearance was a hot topic among old-timers on the way back. Not only I did well, the entire boat was loaded with yellowtail. Final cout was 177 yellows and a bunch of bass and barracuda for 54 anglers. This has to be one of the best 3/4 day trips I have ever seen. Great fishing and nice variety. The yellows were all 10-15 pounders with one odd-ball 20 + pounder taken by an old lady. She did not enter the jackpot. Bummer!! It was great fun catching the yellows on the surface iron. It has been a long time since I have done it that way. Just awesome watching the water explode behind your jig as a hungry jack latches ont it. Hookup!! Yeaaaaaaah!!! The only bummer part was the deckhands seemed inexperienced and were not very helpfull. On my first fish, the guy missed with the gaff several times and even hit my line a couple of times. If I had lost the fish, no big deal but I would have been pissed if I lost my lucky rapala! Then he says "Oh just swing it over the rail" and walks off. While I admit, it is quite easy to swing a 10-pound jack over the rail with #40 test, this is not a practice I like doing on a crowded boat, especially with those big, rusty treble hooks dangling off that rapala. They even over-charged my friend John on his fish cleaning. He was kind enough to pay for mine and his together, 8 yellows and 6 sand bass (bonies and barries released). The guy charged him $38!! John says, "Wait, how many fish did you clean?" The guy says "I dunno, I cleaned so many fish today I can't remember." Instead of arguing further we just left without tipping them since they already included their "tip" into the price. Still a great day even with the bad service. Glad I didn't go tuna fishing. Heard it was rough out there and not very productive.

Rating=Excellent