Nine pound Calico

[quietman]

...Actually it only weighed 8 pounds and 14 ounces on my Rapala Digital Scale...but give me a little time and it will forever be "the nine pound calico I caught"


Quietman with 8 pound 14 ounce Calico, caught on Frenzy. Released.

I decided to stay in local today, but to also try a new place and look for the WSB that are being caught and shot. It was a chilly morning but a beautiful day with a very nice drop in the tide.


Yanni slow trolling a deano...

I first trolled the areas I have caught big WSB in before, using the rapala CD-14 that has been working in purple and mackeral. No joy.

So about 9:30am I switched gears and changed to trolling Frenzys in Chrome/Perch and Black/Gold. After searching the color, the current and the depth, I found 'em, and they wuz bitin'!


Caught lots of these, and bigger...

I ended up with a dozen Calicos including the Big Guy in the picture. As big as he is, I caught a bigger one a few weeks ago, but had no camera and no scale with me, figures...

The waves where the bite was going off looked like "hawaii five-O ... I'm talking overhead swell, and when they broke, double overhead barrels! You had to *want* these fish!

I also caught several grumpy sandbass, all on the gold frenzy, the calicos wanted the perch/chrome today. I wrecked three frenzys, they just aren't up to catching bigger saltwater fish, and I caught quite a few between 3 and 5 pounds. I also saved a frenzy with my nifty lure-squid retriever that Cucomonga Keith gave me a while back. It has saved me probably close to $100 over the past months...



In fact all my GPS marks I made today were on the spots that kicked out the biggies, and that was pretty much all I caught. A couple were maybe 2 pound "shakers".


Yanni immediately got this guy when I "guided" him...

Yanni and Vye came within about 1/2 mile, but Vye had to quit. I went over to Yanni, finally and told him to "follow me." He did and immediately got bit on the live sardines he and Vye were fishing. These guys should get radios, they missed most of the bite...

I left him there, happy.

The pattern today was my new favorite one again, that has rewarded me with trip after trip with 10 or more nicer-sized bass. Finding the marks and the color-break and slow trolling cranks in between the kelp stringers, and between the rocky areas.


ran across two free-divers looking for the WSB...

All my bass released. I was happy I had my camera and my digital scale, and won't forget again...I am definitely going to visit these guys again, maybe in March
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quietman

www.kayakfishingpro.com

[Deemo]

That's a really nice fish Don Q

If you were fishing where I think you were fishing, you are right about the surf being dangerous to kayakers.

For twenty minutes it can be flat as a lake and then it's The Pipeline.

I've never really seen good visibility for diving there, was it any good today?

BTW, you need a new camera because in your first picture the background is all blurry.

[yakwad]

How was the wind in doheny area? Newport was blowin pretty strong.

[Wingspan]

Great fish Quietman. I've caught some pretty big halibuts before but that eight... or nine pound calico is what it's all about. I recomend the squid retriever to anyone that fishes heavily vegetated structures or dense areas. I misplaced mine a while back (bought it cheap at the Fred Hall show last year!) but I made one from scratch and it is even more effective. Again, great bass.

Wingspan
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The accounts of my death are greatly exaggerated.

[Absinthe_minded]