I know this is late, but it's better than never.

Last Friday we headed out to San Clemente Island for a Mothership trip on the Sea Horse out of Dana Wharf. The group was mostly from the Dana Point Kayak Mafia, but they let a couple of us non-member, non-FnD paddlers go too. Bill Hogan (Hogan's Big Game Bait and Tackle) and his daughter Steff we're there too, as they did almost all the work for setting up this charter. Plus, a few of the kids that hang out at Hogan's also came along.

As I've fished the Horse quite a few times at SCI and many times inshore, I was really stoked on the boat selection. I've know Tyler (the captain) about 7yrs, since he was a pin-head; and Ben (the 2nd Ticket) for about the same amount of time. So, after we left the dock at 9pm all the anglers sat around talk'n fish. Once most of the gang went below I went up to the wheelhouse to keep Ben company for the long ride out to the Island. It was a little breezy and there was a little bit of wind swell and some long period south too. Ben and I had a good time catching up and talking about everything under the sun, meanwhile conditions deteriorated. The wind swell doubled in size (to about 5') and the breeze cranked up to 20-30knots and a few gust even stronger. Made for a rough trip out, and I know most of the guys down below caught few if any Z's. Tyler even woke up and came out of the coffin to see what was going on. Sure this wasn't Perfect Storm type of stuff, but it wasn't a harbor cruise either. Anyways, we tucked up in Pyramid (with every other boat out there) around 3:30am and I went down to sleep until sunrise.

Woke up to snotty conditions around 5am. But, Hogan was cooking his "Gut Buster" breakfast sandwiches, so life was looking pretty good. BTW, these sandwiches are truly devastating, and usually reserved for crew members (I had a few in my DH days). Take a thick sausage patty, two eggs, a huge hashbrown, a couple slices of cheese and toss it all in a bagel. Makes for good paddling fuel, and we would need it.

The wind was coming straight down the sides of the island, but Pyramid was not looking good, so we went back around the channel side to try and find some fish. We finally launched into windy, but beautiful conditions along a stretch of rocky beach with some boilers. I was first in and had my first fish on in short order. It was a solid legal, caught on an Assalt Ringer Worm (curly tailed) in smoke/red flake on a 3/8 Sledhead. Next fish was within 10 minutes (same Assalt), and it was just legal. Didn't see another until an hour later, just before we headed back to Pyramid. Got the last one (a 14" chunker) off a boiler on an oxblood Shaker worm. Big event for this stop was when Michael (from FKP Fishing) missed his yak getting off the ladder and ended up in the drink. "Splash", did manage to get back in his yak though, and later in the day got his new nickname upgraded to "Sir Splash" when he took JP with a 12.5# halibut.

So after getting blown off this spot, we went back to Pyramid. Word on the radio was that it had cleaned up a lot. We passed another sportboat with 4 YT hanging, but that was all I heard about for YT or WSB for that day. We anchored up in about 35' right in the middle of the beach. Once in the water I headed for the kelp to the south, while most everyone else headed towards the beach. Turned out the south swell was a little too much for 'but fishing, so we all ended up in the kelp and off the boilers eventually. So, while John (Quietman) spanked fish on the Frenzy I worked the kelp for a while. Tossed all my normal kelp stuff for a couple shortbiters. Decided to join John in tighter (over scattered hard bottom) and got my first fish for this stop. It was 2#+ calico, taken on a 5" Big Hammer clear w/red flake, on a 3/4oz triangle head. For a while a picked away at cookie cutters and shorts (misc. Shakers and 5" Hammers) as I worked my way into the boiler area.

I really took my time moving in tight since the south swell had such a long period. It made it hard to know just how tight you could get. Well I finally figured it out and started tossing onto a nice chain of boilers. I was getting short bit a lot on the Shakers, so I switched back the 5" clear w/red flake BH. Figured I'd make them commit, or leave me alone. Well it worked, a couple casts later I had one on with some shoulders. Made me glad I was using 20#. After netting it my adrenaline was pumping, and I got on my new VHF to claim a "solid 6". Well as I paddled back to the Horse (which thankfully had followed us as we worked our way south) the stupid fish began to shrink. By the time I got to the boat I was thinking maybe it was a 5. I think it ended up going 4.5#. The crew tanked that one and I headed back to my last spot. This started another nice pick on decent bass. Then I ran out of BH's with red in them. The rest of the days fishing for me was a very slow pick.

My days total was around 20 or 25 legals and about 10 shorts (all were calicos). I ended up back at the boat for lunch (Hogan made killer Italian sausage sandwiches) and decided to just stay on the boat. I was content. I had been dreaming about huge bass and lots of them. While that didn't happen I sure I had a good time fishing, and would go back in a heartbeat. The trip reminded me of why I like calico fishing so much. Plus, I got to meet a bunch of fun guys who love to fish. I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of stuff, but this thing is too long anyways.

Amish Ed

You Can't Catch it again if
it's Dead!