moore_rb
Stay Thirsty My Friends
My friend Mark's son (Mark Jr.) just graduated high school, and is an avid fisherman, so the prospect of a RP deep sea trip seemed like the perfect graduation gift.
Plus, my friend Trent and I have been working hellish hours over the past month (60-80 hour weeks), so a weekend without any work related obligations could not go to waste. So, we hooked up the boat and headed south.
We arrived in RP at noon Sat, gassed up the boat and went straight to the Marina. The seas were up, and with the need to conserve gas for the long weekend ahead, we decided to get out of the wind by hitting Cholla Bay for some light tackle action. Mark Jr had a blast and caught more fish in 2 hours than he could have imagined.
We met up with Shawno and Dave over dinner Sat night and talked about plans for Sunday. My original plan was to fish the line of reefs on the 210 heading, but those guys were heading to Lobos, and Jeff Boyd was planning to drive "Reel Hammered" to Lobos over the water to meet them, and since Art was also planning to head toward Desemboque, we had a whole fleet heading south, so we decided to run as Jeff's buddy boat.
But the weather had other plans. Sunday morning was still really rocky, and faced with four wet, pounding hours of running, we turned tail toward the 15 mile reef and executed plan A instead.
We fished the 15, 16-210, 21, 22, and 23 mile reefs all day, and all we could scrape up were mainly Calicos and triggers. We did manage to nail about 30 Gold Spot bass mid-day, but none of our large live baits got hit. The drift was really fast early in the day, but steadily slowed as the seas laid down in the afternoon.
At 4pm, I finally decided to make the 10 mile run to the spot where I have always pulled at least one Pinto on previous trips, but with the slow action of the day, I was expecting my streak to come to an end.
Wrong- at 5:45pm, the pole with the live sand bass that I was bumping bottom with doubled over. I though the sinker had snagged the rocks, but when I went to free it it started pulling back, so I belted up and started cranking. You guessed it, it was a monster Pinto.
With the sun setting fast, we turned east and made 32mph on smooth seas back to port. We met up with Jeff at the Marina, and they had bailed out on Lobos as well due to the swells. Jeff weighed my Pinto and it tipped the scales at 30 pounds. He said my fish would have won the Mother's Day tournament. Oh well, I'm a month late. Art also nailed a large Pinto, but also blew a head gasket and ran most of the day on one engine (always nice to have a spare)
Met up again with Dave and Shawn for dinner, and they got blown out at Lobos, but Shawn said he was going to hit Lobos again on Monday. The waves were back up on Monday morning coming out of the SW, so we decided to run on the line toward Caballo, Island, etc.
The fishing on Monday was a replay of Sunday- fast North to South drifts produced little more than smaller reef fish, while the large baits did not get touched, and Trent and I wore ourselves out yo-yo'ing jigs and scampis all day.
Then, at 6:30pm, it was like someone threw a switch and the action turned red-hot for the next 90 minutes. Trent stuck a 50 pound Gulf Grouper, then 20 minutes later he hung a 20 pound Sardinero that he handed off to Mark Jr to bring to gaff. 30 minutes later, Mark Sr hooked into the big fish of the trip. We never saw it before it ground through the leader and broke off, but the way it pulled drag it had to be a monster Baya.
With the sun setting fast, and faced with a long bumpy ride back, we started cleaning the boat and stowing the gear, but we left one bait pole in the water while we worked. Good idea. Just as the sun was setting, another 15 pound Pinto took the bait, giving Mark Sr the chance to make sure everyone got to boat a quality fish.
With dark skies, 3 foot beam seas, and a 30 mile run back, I was not thinking about fuel economy, so I turned toward port, dug in both trim tabs, and laid the hammers down. Surpisingly, we stayed dry, and were able to make 28mph the whole way back- Lots of pitching and rolling, but otherwise a descent ride in. We got into Port about 9pm, and were STARVING, so I called over to Capone's, and Jose' said he would keep the kitchen open until we got there.
I CAN"T STRESS ENOUGH HOW AWESOME Dave and the whole Capone's gang treat us every time we go there, and Jose's seafood dishes are phenomenal. we ate a bucket of fried blue crab, blackened grouper, grilled barred pargo, it was all FANTASTIC.
We never saw Shawn Monday night, but we heard he had big grouper nailing jigs all day in Lobos, and he successfully boated a pair of 70 pounders.
Tuesday morning, as is always the case, the seas were flat calm, but we had to go, so we loaded up and headed north feeling great that we had given Mark Junior a memorable deep sea fishing trip to celebrate his graduation, while Trent and I agreed that this was definitely one of the best trips we've had in the 2 years that we've been boat fishing RP's waters.
It was great seeing Art, Shawno, Dave, Jeff, Rick Hammer, Dennis, Arturo and Salvador at the Marina, and as an added bonus, today the boat is clean, covered, and stowed without giving me a laundry list of stuff that needs attention- it ran tip-top all weekend.
Plus, my friend Trent and I have been working hellish hours over the past month (60-80 hour weeks), so a weekend without any work related obligations could not go to waste. So, we hooked up the boat and headed south.
We arrived in RP at noon Sat, gassed up the boat and went straight to the Marina. The seas were up, and with the need to conserve gas for the long weekend ahead, we decided to get out of the wind by hitting Cholla Bay for some light tackle action. Mark Jr had a blast and caught more fish in 2 hours than he could have imagined.
We met up with Shawno and Dave over dinner Sat night and talked about plans for Sunday. My original plan was to fish the line of reefs on the 210 heading, but those guys were heading to Lobos, and Jeff Boyd was planning to drive "Reel Hammered" to Lobos over the water to meet them, and since Art was also planning to head toward Desemboque, we had a whole fleet heading south, so we decided to run as Jeff's buddy boat.
But the weather had other plans. Sunday morning was still really rocky, and faced with four wet, pounding hours of running, we turned tail toward the 15 mile reef and executed plan A instead.
We fished the 15, 16-210, 21, 22, and 23 mile reefs all day, and all we could scrape up were mainly Calicos and triggers. We did manage to nail about 30 Gold Spot bass mid-day, but none of our large live baits got hit. The drift was really fast early in the day, but steadily slowed as the seas laid down in the afternoon.
At 4pm, I finally decided to make the 10 mile run to the spot where I have always pulled at least one Pinto on previous trips, but with the slow action of the day, I was expecting my streak to come to an end.
Wrong- at 5:45pm, the pole with the live sand bass that I was bumping bottom with doubled over. I though the sinker had snagged the rocks, but when I went to free it it started pulling back, so I belted up and started cranking. You guessed it, it was a monster Pinto.
With the sun setting fast, we turned east and made 32mph on smooth seas back to port. We met up with Jeff at the Marina, and they had bailed out on Lobos as well due to the swells. Jeff weighed my Pinto and it tipped the scales at 30 pounds. He said my fish would have won the Mother's Day tournament. Oh well, I'm a month late. Art also nailed a large Pinto, but also blew a head gasket and ran most of the day on one engine (always nice to have a spare)
Met up again with Dave and Shawn for dinner, and they got blown out at Lobos, but Shawn said he was going to hit Lobos again on Monday. The waves were back up on Monday morning coming out of the SW, so we decided to run on the line toward Caballo, Island, etc.
The fishing on Monday was a replay of Sunday- fast North to South drifts produced little more than smaller reef fish, while the large baits did not get touched, and Trent and I wore ourselves out yo-yo'ing jigs and scampis all day.
Then, at 6:30pm, it was like someone threw a switch and the action turned red-hot for the next 90 minutes. Trent stuck a 50 pound Gulf Grouper, then 20 minutes later he hung a 20 pound Sardinero that he handed off to Mark Jr to bring to gaff. 30 minutes later, Mark Sr hooked into the big fish of the trip. We never saw it before it ground through the leader and broke off, but the way it pulled drag it had to be a monster Baya.
With the sun setting fast, and faced with a long bumpy ride back, we started cleaning the boat and stowing the gear, but we left one bait pole in the water while we worked. Good idea. Just as the sun was setting, another 15 pound Pinto took the bait, giving Mark Sr the chance to make sure everyone got to boat a quality fish.
With dark skies, 3 foot beam seas, and a 30 mile run back, I was not thinking about fuel economy, so I turned toward port, dug in both trim tabs, and laid the hammers down. Surpisingly, we stayed dry, and were able to make 28mph the whole way back- Lots of pitching and rolling, but otherwise a descent ride in. We got into Port about 9pm, and were STARVING, so I called over to Capone's, and Jose' said he would keep the kitchen open until we got there.
I CAN"T STRESS ENOUGH HOW AWESOME Dave and the whole Capone's gang treat us every time we go there, and Jose's seafood dishes are phenomenal. we ate a bucket of fried blue crab, blackened grouper, grilled barred pargo, it was all FANTASTIC.
We never saw Shawn Monday night, but we heard he had big grouper nailing jigs all day in Lobos, and he successfully boated a pair of 70 pounders.
Tuesday morning, as is always the case, the seas were flat calm, but we had to go, so we loaded up and headed north feeling great that we had given Mark Junior a memorable deep sea fishing trip to celebrate his graduation, while Trent and I agreed that this was definitely one of the best trips we've had in the 2 years that we've been boat fishing RP's waters.
It was great seeing Art, Shawno, Dave, Jeff, Rick Hammer, Dennis, Arturo and Salvador at the Marina, and as an added bonus, today the boat is clean, covered, and stowed without giving me a laundry list of stuff that needs attention- it ran tip-top all weekend.
