Cedros Island

We had the big-boat shift this morning and Capt. Joe took us out to the offshore reef where the 15-20lb yellows were hanging. We pulled in to a solid bird work and proceeded to slaughter the fish while drifting and chumming. With only a few guys on the big boat you could run down the rail and fire on boils or screw around with light line or whatever you wanted to do. My first fish was on a Shimano Torsa 20 with a tuna rod and a Salas CP-105. Since everyone else was hooked up at the same time I bounced it over the rail. Hilarious to boat flip a 17lb yellow!

After it became obvious that these yellowtail had brain damage and wanted to die we started screwing around with the experimental lures. I tossed out a D.A.M. saltwater style popper and a fish came crashing across a wave to eat it. The fish was hooked for about 20 seconds before it pulled off. Before I could say "bent out 2x strong hook" another fish ate the popper underwater and came to the boat. Pete put a Rapala Risto Rap on (balsa) and we both watched it get eaten at boat-side. He manhandled the fish to the gaff and the lure came back so destroyed that I know it will sit on his desk at Big Hammer for years to come. There was one hook point left out of the original six when it was gaffed.

The MS Slammer got a half-dozen bites for me but I only had one hook on it so they kept coming off. It was the kind of wide open fishing where you didn't care about the missed bites. Nico had some strikes on a Miki (striper lure) but they didn't stick either. Cal was trying to get bit on a spinnerbait but not having much luck hooking them. It seemed like they were going after the blades. I wound up gaffing people's fish and taking videos since there was no need to kill too many. We put about 50 fish in the RSW by the end of the melee. If everyone had yo-yo'd with 50lb we could have had 200. Great times.

For the mid-morning skiff run Nico and I swapped with Pete and his skiff partner Rob. Rob and I fished with Tim in some shallow coves and had a few nice bass but nothing major. The bite had definitely changed. We chased birds and found calicos and sandbass but no yellow. There were some brilliant green colored 4 pound calicos in the eel grass up on the beach. I caught a small halibut and a small seabass on this run to add to the variety. Nico and Pete had some 6lb bass during their run if I remember right.

The afternoon session found us back on the big boat making drifts through deeper kelp around birds. The fishing was picky but there were some nice bass caught. One fat 5 and a half pounder sucked in my CP-105 on a fast grind. The big yellows were showing but boat shy. Nico nailed the only one of the afternoon on the big boat on a chrome/blue Tady 45 after laying a great cast right to a boiling pod of fish. It was a 30lb class fish. That was the highlight of that run. Since the bite had dropped off we headed to Benitos.

WFO Yellows on the Q

Risto Rap Destruction

Bird work at Cedros

Eel Grass Bass

Nico with a 30 from the big boat

Nice bass on the CP-105 / Torium 20DC