North County Patriot Day
 

Got to camp with family and friends up at San Elijo over the weekend. Swinginfish came by Friday evening with the family for some good chit chat, fish tacos and all the fixins.

Perfect weather all weekend - some cloud cover in the am with a light breeze that kicked up just enough to blow the clouds out for the afternoon on the beach. I could see the "hotel" in LJ from our camp site and was planning to fish off of it Sunday - just a bit father north than usual. On Saturday my kids were searching for sand crabs so we could throw them out on my buddy's surf rig. Tough little guys to find for some reason, but my 10 year old came through with some nice ones - threw them out for a guitar fish and small shark. I didn't have the camera, but you should have seen the faces on the kids when that guitar fish came out of the water.

Took the yak out on Sunday morning early - launching right in front of Charlies restaurant. Met Mr Peach (Paul) and Marz (Kevin) at the launch and they gave me the lay of the land. Really nice to meet up with you guys and put a face to the name.

I punched through the minimal surf and headed out to the kelp - which I found is nothing like LJ, but a beautiful spot all the same. The short paddle out made it all the more enjoyable. Glassy conditions, very light winds, and an incredible sunrise.

http://www.bloodydecks.com/gallery/f...1watershot.jpg

Although bait was popping all over inside the surf line, I couldn't find much once past the surf. While Paul and Kevin worked on the inside kelp line I moved out into deeper water. I was having a real tough time making bait -Paul and Kevin explained that they rarely spend much time making bait up there and I was in the midst of finding out why they don't. Finally caught a tiny lizard fish that I was going to toss back, but decided I'd let him swim around the footwell for a while.

Since I couldn't find any other bait I stuck my little lizard fish on my bottom-fishing rig and threw out the sabiki once again. Almost immediatley I get picked up on the bottom and started pulling on what I thought was a big old grumpy bass. But half way up it stops fighting and I'm thinking ... and hoping ... it's - YES! :D My first Flatty was coming up from the deep. I had it on the wrong side of my yak, missed him with the first pass of the gaff and then screwed up when I broke the surface with its head. I'd loosened the drag since I knew something like that would happen so he very quickly made his way back down to the bottom. My heart was racing since I've been trying for one of these for months and, frankly, was scared of what would happen once on board (hearing all the stories of Butts going Richter on people). I rearranged the sabiki to the other side of the yak and moved the line around the bow so I could bring it up on the right side. The second time up everything went as planned. Gaffed my first real Butt ever from the yak just before 7 am. 8)

Mr. Peach came over and kindly took my otw pic and I paddled in with a big smile and a pretty dry landing.

http://www.bloodydecks.com/gallery/f...utt9-11-05.jpg

I'd definitely like to hit the north county a bit more often ... and once again, a BIG THANKS to Paul and Kevin for being so hospitable and open with the information.

Good luck all,
Arne

Arne.. that's what I am talking about!!! Nice going on that flatty!!
-Dennis

Nice!

so looks like you signed another contract with King Neptune,,
looks like nothing can evade the skills of
ARNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8)

Nice fish Arne... Congrats on your first! And you started it off with a very nice one at that :!:
Now stop it... we don't need you catching those 2 pointers! :wink:
Todd :D

It was our pleasure, Arne. Glad the pic came out. A real nice one for sure!

Mr_PeaCH - wannabe photo bitch :lol:

Likewise :D .

Thanks all - I'm no 2-point aficionado so I'm sure this won't be a regular thing. With me it's just a matter of right place, right time.

Q for Todd (or others): is the dark side always much thicker than the light side?

I do think lizard fish are worth keeping now. :)
Arne

"Q for Todd (or others): is the dark side always much thicker than the light side?"

A: Yep.

Arne – great meeting you. Again, nicely done. Congrats on a good looking fish (I think you were on the water all of about 30 minutes).

While you were out there wrestling that beast, I was inside performing catch and release on miniature lizard fish, looking for the macks. Apparently I should have kept the lizard fish – I finally found the macks but they all went relatively untouched (one of them got raked on the bottom at the end of the day but nothing stuck). Pretty much my worst day of fishing in years. Then again, beautiful day on the water.

Anyway, great job. See ya on the water.

-kvn

PS: not sure if you heard, but an hour or so after you left, someone nailed a nice YT flylining a Spanish just south of where we were.

Arne, your killing me. You must have scored some good karma points last year to go on a run like this...What are you, a Lawyer for the poor? :D Congrats!

Matt

did i miss the weight?

:roll:

Awesome story Arne, thanks!!!

Even better fish. 8)

You’re raising the bar real high…

And if I may add – with you and Andy, it’s more like “it's just a matter of always at the right place at the right time.”

Hey Matt - you'd be catching these things if you got out of the kitchen more often - to tell you the truth, your post a while back about losing a monster Butt in front of the pier because you'd set your drag too tight was what kept this one on for me - that post was running through my mind ... so when's the next non-club meeting!?!?!?

I don't want to give too much away, Rich, but it weighed more than 16# and less than 18#. A pretty fat one at 34 inches (I think).

Thanks for the kind replies.

Arne

The next Non-Club Meeting will coming up soon....The busy season is coming to an end which will give me more time to fish and set up fun things for the kayak community. Nice catch and I'm glad that my error could help you land that nice Barn Door!

TL-Matt

Holy crap Arne, I just put up a sticky on the years biggest slam and you snatch it up! Nice going............I will beat you :roll: I will! I will! It will be alot of fun trying to catch you now. Congrats, But head! :D

Yeah, Andy, great idea on the slam :roll: . Just one more thing for him to win. I actually thought I might have a shot since you, Arne, and Ken were missing H, but I guess not. Damn that Arne! :lol: Come on Ken, go get a big flattie to keep him honest! :P

Right place, right time Andy. 8)

Seriously, though, my money's on Gabe or Grego. I'm guessing Gabe's killing the rest of us. In a three fish race it's tough to beat the guys with big Butts. :D

I'm countin' on you Mr. Ice.

Arne

Arne,

Nice going. We spent the last week of August in the campground. Surf was up a little and no 2 point love, but plenty of bass. I had a first out there this summer-I hooked and landed a lobster on a plastic swim bait. I was thing Hali all the way up. Tough to release good food. What a great spot for the family. We have been on the north end 5 years in a row and hopefully we can do it again next year. I may be getting a little tired of hauling the boat up and down the stairs.
The kelp is quite a bit lower than it has been in the past years, but it's still there, just not the canopy that is usually from swamis to seaside reef-basically the length of the camground .
Nice job on the slam.

Dave

Nice flatty Arnie, I'm still waiting for a big one myself. I think C-Level caught them all though :lol: Did it flop a lot once gaffed? I gaffed a 26lber for a friend once and it went ape$hit! Some say to use nets whenever possible with flatties but I too like the gaff, I might use the Boga Grip too though, a fish will come off the gaff before it comes off the Grip. I guess I'll worry about it if/when I get the big one! Congrats again, TL, LD 8)