BLUF: 9/30 - Late afternoon wide open YFT 32/48
Last minute cancelled camping trip gave me time to get my boat together, get it back in the water, and pull off a last minute trip on Saturday. Haven’t been in the water since late July and have been dying to get back out.
We decided to go for it in less than ideal weather reports. Left early for a decent ride out in the dark. Target area was San Clemente weather buoy area. After about 25 miles it starts to get really rough, going nearly directly uphill in the wind swell, and it only got harder the further we went. Found the fleet in the target area, trolled the area for only a few marks, and decided to pull up to a few others chumming together at 30/00 and gave it a good shot for only one 25 lb YFT. We stayed for a bit but could not get more to bite. Found other schools like this in the area that wouldn’t go too. Knowing the wind (and sometimes rain) was only forecasted to get worse, we wanted to work our way closer home, so we put out madmacs and started to make our way to the 43.
Half way there I had a feeling this was the wrong move and we kicked east a long the ridge below the 43. It’s now about 2 pm, feeling bummed about only one fish, beat up from the seas, and wet from the rain. I get a text on the Zoleo from a good buddy saying his friend got YFT limits for 3 only 6 mile NE from where we were, pulled in trollers and booked it there, and NO BOATS IN THE AREA! 🙌 Put out a 160 DTX and cedar plug daisy chain while we looked for marks. After about 15 mins, just as I notice a few marks - BAM!! The DTX is zinging!! Stop to fight and my buddy starts pulling in the cedar plug and gets picked up on the retrieve. Made quick work of the two 30ish lb YFT but couldn’t get the school to stick with the boat when trying to chum as we land those two.
At this point, two sporties heading home in the distance saw us fighting and made their way to us. We are trolling the area again and so are the two sporties. The condor hooks up and has nearly their whole boat bent soon after, so we set up off them and joined the fun. Absolutely epic YFT for the next two hours until we ran out of ice and bag space (and physical ability). By the time it was over the entire sport boat fleet was there all scoring on this insane school of fish. It has been years since I have had wide open YFT like that.
Big smiles and sore bodies all around, and a 38 mile ride home at 5:30 pm. Gilled and gutted on the way home, back to slip in the dark watching the moon rise that we saw set a long 15 hours ago. What a day.
Last minute cancelled camping trip gave me time to get my boat together, get it back in the water, and pull off a last minute trip on Saturday. Haven’t been in the water since late July and have been dying to get back out.
We decided to go for it in less than ideal weather reports. Left early for a decent ride out in the dark. Target area was San Clemente weather buoy area. After about 25 miles it starts to get really rough, going nearly directly uphill in the wind swell, and it only got harder the further we went. Found the fleet in the target area, trolled the area for only a few marks, and decided to pull up to a few others chumming together at 30/00 and gave it a good shot for only one 25 lb YFT. We stayed for a bit but could not get more to bite. Found other schools like this in the area that wouldn’t go too. Knowing the wind (and sometimes rain) was only forecasted to get worse, we wanted to work our way closer home, so we put out madmacs and started to make our way to the 43.
Half way there I had a feeling this was the wrong move and we kicked east a long the ridge below the 43. It’s now about 2 pm, feeling bummed about only one fish, beat up from the seas, and wet from the rain. I get a text on the Zoleo from a good buddy saying his friend got YFT limits for 3 only 6 mile NE from where we were, pulled in trollers and booked it there, and NO BOATS IN THE AREA! 🙌 Put out a 160 DTX and cedar plug daisy chain while we looked for marks. After about 15 mins, just as I notice a few marks - BAM!! The DTX is zinging!! Stop to fight and my buddy starts pulling in the cedar plug and gets picked up on the retrieve. Made quick work of the two 30ish lb YFT but couldn’t get the school to stick with the boat when trying to chum as we land those two.
At this point, two sporties heading home in the distance saw us fighting and made their way to us. We are trolling the area again and so are the two sporties. The condor hooks up and has nearly their whole boat bent soon after, so we set up off them and joined the fun. Absolutely epic YFT for the next two hours until we ran out of ice and bag space (and physical ability). By the time it was over the entire sport boat fleet was there all scoring on this insane school of fish. It has been years since I have had wide open YFT like that.
Big smiles and sore bodies all around, and a 38 mile ride home at 5:30 pm. Gilled and gutted on the way home, back to slip in the dark watching the moon rise that we saw set a long 15 hours ago. What a day.
