Newport 4/3

Salty Walty · 04-03-2008, 03:27 PM

I had 2 Tuna on the boat before we left the dock, Tuna Tom and the little Tuna. The seas were not quite what the forecast said but we made the best of it. It was the little Tunas first time across the Bar and he was pretty excited. We worked our way South stopping on a few good looking areas. The bite was a lot slower than it had been. We managed to scratch up a fish or two a drift but nothing of real size or consistent action. We had a few small flurries but otherwise it was pretty slow. It did not help that our hook up to landing ratio was pretty low. The fish were not really taking the jigs really well. The water temp was 47.6 down over a degree from yesterday might have made them a little lethargic. Little Tuna ended up with the biggest ling of the day and a very nice copper rockfish. Total for the day was 5 lings and a handful of rockfish. Crabbing was a little disappointing with only 4.

Talked with Ken and he was getting a few but not as wide open as he had hoped.
Met Aaron/Tippet at the dock nice to put a face to the name.

Bluefinn · 04-03-2008, 06:42 PM

Nice that you got Walter bummer about the crabs though.Were the pots full of crab with only 4 keepers?Or just skimpy.Grat job to little Tuna on the nice ling.We are eating fresh ling again tonite.HMMMMM good

retaliate · 04-03-2008, 07:45 PM

Pretty much same story for us, Charlotte was not her usual fish catching self, a slight case of Sea Sickness, which is rare for her, I'm usually the one that gets sick, We ended with 2 Small lings 25", & 27", a 24" cabezone, 11 Rockfish, & 6 Crab, altho not a great day, it still feels good to finally get out again.

tippet · 04-03-2008, 09:13 PM

Okay - Ill chime in here. I took an employee of mine out who had never fished on the ocean before. Left the dock sometime between 0800 and 0900. At the first fishing stop, about half way down to Seal Rock he hung up and I handed him a rig to tie on. He said "I dont think I can do that" and when I looked at him I saw he had turned green (so Charlotte wasnt the only one).

We stuck it out long enough to get our 4 lings (between 24 and 36 inches) but never caught a single rockfish. I fished Sunday and the rockfish bite was decent. On Monday it was a bit tougher but still catching them, and today (albeit only 2 hours of fishing) not a bite.

On a positive note, Im loving the new boat and now have 4 days out there building confidence for longer runs this summer.

Aaron

Back at the dock by noon. When I got home I checked the data from the Stonewall buoy and it matched the predictions but it felt a little rougher where we were inshore.

Tip-Sea · 04-03-2008, 09:55 PM

With my boat still getting some floor repair we hit the south jetty today. Walked all the way to the tip. Brought home 5 sea bass, had a couple undersize lings, and lost about 6 trying to get them up the rocks. A little windy but good to get a little salt in the face.

Medics-R-US · 04-03-2008, 10:09 PM

Good job and glad to hear you got a little guy out there on the salt today.

Salty Walty · 04-03-2008, 10:40 PM

I can't say enough about how the little Tuna did. Tom got some very good photos of him and hope that he gets a chance to post them. I took a look at some of the jigs I was using and noticed that the tails were trashed and most of the fish that were caught were barely hooked in lips. The ones we caught earlier this week had the jig half way in their mouth or inhaled. The strikes were not as ferocious and were much more subtle, slight taps and the jig stopping were the norm. I am thinking that the change in water temp might have had something to do with this. The PIT Tagging boats catch was down this week, so don't feel too bad about your results.

HiTekRdNek · 04-04-2008, 07:50 AM

Wow, That's great that Tom got Lil Tuna out.
And you guys got some fish too!
Glad evryone got a little something out of the day.
Thanks for the report.

retaliate · 04-04-2008, 08:36 AM

When I got home I checked the data from the Stonewall buoy and it matched the predictions but it felt a little rougher where we were inshore.[/quote]

Yeah! Thats what I thought too.

We stuck it out til after 3pm, trying to get a few more Crab, but that was a waste of time, it took a extra hour to find our last Crab trap, went by it 4 times before we found it.

diamond back · 04-04-2008, 11:15 AM

Spent some time last night doing the rest of the boat preparation for a possible venture to Newport this weekend- However, the predication has changed since the begining of the week- there is always next weekend? I hope!!!!

Congratulations to all who did "battle" this past week.

fishboys · 04-05-2008, 11:17 AM

Salty, I will always try to take a few dozon herring with me when bottom fishing, to add a small chunk to my shrimp flies if needed. Sometimes it's not needed but sometimes it turns a few fish day into limits for the boat.