I'll guess you could say it started off with a bang! As Stinkymatt like's to phrase it: bring your cooler because they're practically giving Yellowtail and White Sea Bass away! Right, Stinkymatt?
I'm not sure if any of the O.C. tribe mentioned, actually got into the action, but eventually their day will come. Just keep at it guys! As is typically the case, when the pressure's off early and the confidence is flowing---good things tend to happen. I'm not sure if it's the simple boost in one's faith, or if the confidence sends some kind of electric shock down the line to the fish, but I'm a big believer in momentum. Hopefully you guys that are still trying to knock down that first trophy fish, will one day find this out for yourselves; the first fish is always the hardest. I have the same thoughts myself, but I simply look at it from a daily perspective instead of a fiscal point of view
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Having caught Yellowtail and White Sea Bass in the first few days of the month put the WCW pressure on the back burner. Which, of course, meant that they were practically jumping out of the water and landing in the kayak. Good times with little effort were abundant. This combined with great conditions overall and an empty ocean for the most part. All thanks to a flare up of Coronado Island/ Rockpile fish showing a little promise; siphoning the power boat fleet South. A huge blessing to those of us who prefer to pursue fish via plastic.
Being that my camera broke a couple of days prior and fishing by myself here, I got to use the automatic photo feature on the Go Pro camera. It's a pretty slick feature; that allows you to burn three photos a second while not holding the camera. The days of asking someone to take a photo are now a thing of the past. The photos turned out fairly well if you asked me.
Did I mention that when you have already caught White Sea Bass and Yellowtail that good things happen? Some of these things were big, too. Here's the fish that allowed me to only catch and release White Sea Bass the rest of the month. A 55" blimp of a fish that weighed 56 lbs 13 oz. This fish kind of had a small head for her size, but the body of a sixty pound fish. None the less, it was love at first sight for me and she saved the lives of many with her ultimate sacrifice.
So, as far as the competition was concerned, being locked and loaded with the more challenging Pelagic species in the first five days of the month---left me with three weeks to catch a ten pound pancake of a Flounder. A pancake worth 80 points mind you (10 pound Halibut=30 points+ a 50 point slam bonus!). Being that I already had a nice location holding Halibut at the time I was able to focus on work that next week. How hard could catching a 10 lb Halibut be? Just drag around some healthy live baits on the bottom of the ocean, right? Maybe break out my $300 Spotted Bay Bass set-up that's covered in dust and toss some plastics? Troll those crank baits over the weed lines in San Diego Bay that hold plenty of pancakes? Alas, no; I'm a stubborn Mule at times and only wanted a larger model. Which kind of proved to be my downfall in the end.
I told myself that I had plenty of time and would only fish the Ocean, in the spots that have held Monster Halibut in previous years. Whether that be some kelp lanes, sandy flats to the North, drop off current holes, sandstone structure areas adjacent to intermittent patches of juvenile kelp---you name it. I just didn't want to harvest a pancake out of the Bay; in filthy water, that I have no interest in eating the fish in the first place from. Perhaps a seemingly generous offering, of fresh caught Halibut filets to the neighbor with the annoying, barking dog?
Alas, it wasn't meant to be, though. My search for monster Halibut in previously holding jaunts was dry for the most part. Oh, well, these spots were holding fish. From Black Sea Bass to wide open Shark and Ling Cod bites. Pretty much everything in the ocean, but Halibut was biting while I was in pursuit of them. In my spots adjacent to kelp, I had schools of Yellowtail slowly cruise by---and I'm sure I was the only Monkey in La Jolla fishing a dropper-loop Sardine on the bottom these particular days. One day I passed a full on foamer of breaking fish, big violent crashing fish, within jig-stick range---that I passed on! I was kind of losing it at this point and felt like the entire ocean was teasing me! I was headed to a tiny way-point on my GPS, that merely produced a couple of raked baits a few days prior. Being the only clues I had found from my previous search, this was the only hot information I had to go on. It was approaching the perfect portion of the tide for this little spot and as hard as it was to do so, I was committed to this tiny bit of information. While I watched this foamer erupt on the surface, I saw a guy in a kayak approach and instantly go bendo! Followed by a skiff roll up and do the same; then watched as another skiff joined the party. As embarrassed as I am to even admit doing this, I'll chalk this up to my own form of therapy by admitting it publicly. I suppose the internet is good for something after all. My name is Josh Pruitt and I was focused on the evil flat fish commonly known as Halibut at the time. So much so, that I was passing school after school of Yellowtail in silent resignation without even reaching for my jig-stick or fly-lining a bait. Whew---I feel better already!
A regular client of mine was nice enough to snap me back to reality on Thursday by saying, "If you go fishing for Halibut, again, when your seeing school after school of Yellowtail---you're just stupid! Being a regular that I've shared a few celebratory beers with before, I wasn't offended in the least by his remark. While I knew he selfishly wanted to use my hawk eyes to pick off school after school for him---I had to agree with him 100% as I gave up the Halibut search yesterday; to go pull on some surface-iron Yellowtail, again. After all, it was probably more fun than landing a big flattie anyway. I felt that if I simply put in the time for a trophy Halibut, it would happen. Keep searching and piecing the puzzle together, right? How long can someone search without little more than a raked bait, though? Well, as stubborn as I am, I think I've found my limit.
Good luck to all of you in pursuit of the slam this month. The surf looks fun the next few days so I know what I'll be doing. It certainly won't be fishing for Halibut!
