What a great trip and fun company with Mtyhman, lptxguy, TD, Astrobeerman and Oddjob142 all from TKF.
The drive down the beach was as bad as ever with the ruts and bumps. Worst I've seen down there! We tried to find a smoother ride but got stuck almost immediately. Sorry for the foggy pics but my camera had some condensation on the lens from the A/C in the truck to the out side temps.
TD pulled us out with his Avalanche after it misbehaved but saved the day! TD is well prepared and has a million stories.
As we headed down the beach there must have been at least 75 wade fisherman chasing trout in the surf. Since it was a Wednesday I was surprised at the number of fisherman. While Mythman and TD were working on stuck issue I talked to a couple of them and found some VERY NICE stringers. They were using live croaker about the size of my pinky finger and several nice trout were strung. This was one of the smaller stringers I found but a really nice guy and good fisherman! Tried to take more pics but my camera malfunctioned!
We arrived at the launch site a bit latter than expected but the conditions were just about as good as it can get!
We rigged up!
Looking back at the launch site.
Our destination!
I trolled a large crank bait and a ribbon fish on the way out to the rigs and had no action. Finally saw some fish on the sonar at about 25' depth or so. Not a good sign.
Had a very good hookup when I first arrived at the rig on a butterfly jig but she came unbuttoned. I have no idea what it was but it was the only large fish that bit the entire day.
I found a few grunts on a sabiki rig and free lined them and Texas rigged them with no hookups. I did have some pup sharks pulling on them but after four grunts and little action I moved to another technique.
The butterfly jigs resulted in many excellent bites from the SMACKS that would cruise through but lost several due to the rope hooks and and the sharks that were stealing them. Landed a few but mine were no bigger than 20" or so. That was fun but I was hoping for some king fish.
The wind started picking up just a bit and some of the anglers were ready to head back. Mythman and I stayed awhile longer but didn't have any more action and leisurely trolled back to shore. Mike landed first and when I arrived was resting up from the long paddle back.
With conditions like these it was hard to leave!
It was so hot it took a couple of days to fully recover. Trips like these are so awesome that you can relive them in vivid detail for days afterwards. It's then you realize how special our time on the water has become. The people you meet, the fish you catch and the water you love. Awesome!
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