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We started out friday evening, loading our gear with talk of some pretty rough weather out at Clemente, and a possiblity of having to go to Catalina instead, we waited for the last NOAA report and the expirience and knowledge of the Islander briefed us on the itinarary, got the green light and we were off to San Clemente, a little rough on the way out, but once in the bunk, the next thing I know it's 5:30...grey lite and we are at the island, a little overcast but the water looks great.
Unfortunately I didn't get to have a great looking breakfast as my boat was one of the first off the rack and I didn't want to hold anyone up, as everyone was as excited as I was to get started, grabbed a piece of fruit
and a cup of joe and I was in the water by about 6:30am, paddling to some of the most beautiful rocky cliffs and caverns I have seen in a long time.
As the Islander crew unloaded more yaks I got a scoop of nice sardines and I started over to the rocks for some calico action, I was greated to the island by a first cast Cabazon that went about 20 inches on the
plastic and thought this will be a good day, it was...
I fished the area for about an hour and heard Ful-rac call over the radio after I had asked how he was doing...not wanting to be obviious he was trying to hint to me to get my a$$ over to where he was in some fishy water, he already had one of his FIVE halibut, I didn't really get the hint but I went over to the area, dropped a dine down and started drifting, I don't remember how long it was, not that long and ended up with my PB
hali, yes the GoPro was on and, I am sure it will be the comedy of the week, as I tryed everything to farm this big butt, was not pretty but I
got it in after the gaff ripped out, it took off again for another run and I had another shot at it and it stuck.
The next hali came up, with less OPERATER ERROR, I hailed the support boat for a pick up, and let me tell you when I say support, I mean support, I have been on many boats, the captain and crew of the Islander are second to none...they came out and picked up my second PB halibut.
That would be the last hali for me for the day, but I was exstatic about the catch.
As the day progressed, Tony called over the radio for 4 more times for the biggest limit of some of the biggest halibut I have ever seen anyone catch in one day.
Islander moved a few times during the day to keep us all on fish the best they could, and the afternoon brought a pretty wide open calico bite for me which translated into just about every cast on the Sexy smelt hammer. I stopped counting at 15, I kept a few good ones for din din.
After getting off the water at about 8ish we settled in for a great dinner
fixed for us by the great cook on the boat...it was indeed the best yak fishing trip I have ever had to date and definately recomend it to all of you.
For those of you anxiously waiting for the next one coming up, get ready for a great trip, the Islander will not disappoint.
Thanks to all hands on the Islander for a trip of a life time, thanks to Ful-rac for lookin out for me with the info, can't wait till next time....b
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