Bill: 2, Nemo: 0
While it doesn’t take much for me to stay up until three thirty in the morning, there isn’t much that will make wake up at three thirty. Deep sea fishing is now one of those things.
Growing up in the midwest, it’s a stable of any boy’s youth to go various fishing trips. However, lacking oceans, there’s no ocean fishing. It’s mainly nearby rivers, lakes & stocked ponds. Not that I’m complaining — I have very found memories for fishing trips. It’s just that it doesn’t even compare to fishing in saltwater.
I had my first saltwater trip on Thursday, thanks to the trip Craig planned. Beginner’s luck proved to rule the day, as I caught the first (and 2nd largest) catch of the day, and Brandon — also a beginner — had the second (and largest) catch of the day. (It must have been our special lures & jigs.)
My first catch was a 12 pound yellow tail. It’s incredible how much these guys fight. I think it took 30 minutes to to reel him in & get him into the boat, the whole time your pole bent in a tight U that the fishy would clearly love to yank into the ocean with him.
As you can see I was quite happy once the job was accomplished.
Later in the day, I caught a 6 pound bonito, although by afternoon they weren’t biting as much, so we left Catalina Island & headed back the long beach pier. It was a really, really long day, but definitely worth it.
The only problem was we had all this super fresh fish & I’m heading off to Vegas tomorrow. I think the solution next time will be to have a BBQ the day after to have friends come over & help devour our fishies.
September 16th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Some fishermen I know take their fresh catch to a butcher’s and have it prepared for freezing. Then they just pop it in their home freezer for use whenever.
Anyway, I don’t think it was the lures and jigs that brought you such luck…it was THE HAT!!
September 16th, 2006 at 10:00 am
That hat saved me! I bought it last minute, at the gear shop, right at the pier, on Brandon’s advice. I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t, the redness of my head would have resembled a baboon’s posterior.
Although granted, it does look like I was pluked out of a rice paddy.
September 16th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Pretty cool stuff. Surprised you didn’t let them go after you reeled them in if you weren’t going to keep them.
I will give $100 to your charity of choice if you wear that hat to work on the first day in your new gig.
September 16th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
A small correction. We did not go “deep sea” fishing. We went off-shore slatwater fishing. That is a great picture of you ‘Getting Bent.’ That’s the term often used when someone is hooked up and the pole is, well, bent.
Oh I hope you popped them in the freezer Billy, they will be fine when you get back, and if you don’t eat them, I will. Well the Yellowtail, the Bonito you can keep.
Barb, the fish are iced right after we catch them, then clean on the ride in. You get a bag of fillets (or how ever you want them cleaned) to take home and drop in the freezer. :)
Next trip will be more productive!