We had some cool temps this morning and some wind to deal with inshore, but overall it was a very nice Memorial Saturday. The West OC ramp was surprisingly quiet thanks to the wind, but by most accounts the ocean was calmer than expected and there was a good bite on the sea bass.
Captain Chris Mizurak of the Angler reported a steady pick of sea bass on today’s trip with small fish to weed through, but a good catch for most folks by the end of the day. There were even some flounder that ended up in the net too.
Rich Daiker and Will Schindler had a nice day on the south jetty with a limit of bluefish.
Anglers fishing on board the Tortuga out of Bahia Marina have had plenty of luck with throwback sized fish with some nice keepers hitting the dock as well.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star found the ocean to be calmer than expected today and the fish bit too.
Though I’d given clients a stern weather warning at the dock, even offered a chance to get off owing forecasted strong westerlies mid-day, everyone chose to go. We tied her loose into the calmest of calms, a calm I didn’t think would last.
Arya, Angelina & Chris deployed a twenty block reef unit at Capt. Bob’s Memorial Reef Group (again.) It landed between the easterly barge and nearby tug (again) as I’d wanted.
We pressed on.
On our way off to today’s fishing grounds, forecast west winds began to increase. By the time we started fishing windspeed was 15.2 knots. At 8:50 it was 19.4 knts.
Uh Oh..
Fishing was quite good. But, given forecasts, I had serious doubts we might stay the whole day.
Then, at about 9:45 the wind fell out to 13.6 knots – our fresh set of building westerly seas instantly began to fall out, the ocean becoming calmer by the moment.
Fishing remained steady: catching was excellent, catching keepers fair until smalls started to bite the bottom off the boat.
Worked.
A half hour having gone by, winds again picked up to 18.2 knots. I thought sure this was the beginning of a wind with teeth; that we’d soon see a bit more of mother nature’s wrath than anyone would care for.
I’d about swear ol’man Murphy (commander of jelly side down shenanigans) has been doing the forecasting this past week. Five days have now have had quite different outcomes than predicted.
And from 10:30 on this day, a day with gusts to 25 predicted, winds fell out below ten knots and the ocean grew calm.
That’s the second time this week guys I know have weather canceled (sensibly given the forecasts they were looking at) and the day came beautiful.
I’ve done it too.
Fiscally painful, promise.
The best part of the bite over, we still had flurries of fish into early afternoon.
At 12:45 the wind fell below 5 knots – this when windfinder cautioned hellfire & damnation.
Had an anchor plowing today – dagoned rock wedged in it. Looked like the soft ‘hard bottom’ that some of our natural reefs grow on (and, before 1975, an awful lot more reef grew on) but it is indeed rock. How on earth a hard rock can be embedded with seemingly fresh shell is beyond me. A geologist out there?
About 9 miles out and closing; with west winds at last starting to increase; Joey hollers, “Hey Capt, what’s that?”
He’d spotted a pair of turtle-chokers (mylar balloons) falling from the sky – we picked em up.
Chuck was high hook and had not one challenger come pool weigh-in.
All told? A nice calm day that wasn’t supposed to be.
Cheers,
Monty
Kristen and I on the flounders in this YouTube vid!
We had some cool temps this morning and some wind to deal with inshore, but overall it was a very nice Memorial Saturday. The West OC ramp was surprisingly quiet thanks to the wind, but by… READ MORE
Crab Pie Ingredients 1 Pound jumbo lump crab meat 2 Deep Dish Pie Crusts (this recipe will make 2 pies) 1/4 cup of diced onion (or shallots) 8 oz of Swiss cheese 2 Tablespoons flour 3… READ MORE
