091811 Kelp Yellows

[low_blow]

A while back I won a free trip with Damien of J&J at the legends event raffle. I had been holding on to it all summer waiting for the offshore conditions to peak and fish to stack up on kelps. Well that never seemed to happen and I figured I better use it before things get any worse. I rounded up my dive buddies Mark and Mike as well as my brother for this trip. I discussed our options with Damien and we made a plan to hit the hidden to see if we could h&l a few bluefin and then hop in on kelps back up the line.
Well the bluefin were not in the biting mood and there were only about 5 boats fishing the area, which is a stark contrast to 2 weeks ago when there were what seemed like 100 boats in a 2 mile area. We gave it about an hour and decided to start heading back and look for kelps. We drove by a couple in cold(er) water and then found a nice SUV size kelp in 64 degree blue water.
I was first I the water and almost right away 4 yellowtail swam over to take a look at me. I signaled back to the boat that the fish were here and then focused on shooting one of these little suckers. I located the fish again, took aim and stoned the biggest one of the group. This was my first ever yellowtail and my first time stoning a fish. It was a pretty cool feeling to just swim over and grab the fish without any struggle. When I handed the fish up to the boat there was a mini fire drill going on since with everyone trying to get in before it was too late.
I’m not going to name names but the next thing I knew there was someone in the water with a mask, fins, gun, and blue Speedo hahaha. I reloaded my gun and started to look for the fish again. Sure enough the fish swam through again but this time they were keeping a little distance. I did a little finger wiggling which caused the fish to do a u-turn and I was able to shoot another one, but this time the shot didn’t stone the fish. I fought the fish back to the surface and brained it without incident. By this time everyone was in the water and the fish were even more untrusting. I had one other opportunity at the fish but I think I rushed the shot. I was a little too far away and missed.
Unfortunately that was all the chances we were going to get. There were several other paddies on the way back, but there was no one home. We stopped at the middle grounds and pukey to see if we could find another yellowtail that wanted to join us on the boat, but the viz was not great and no fish were seen. All in all I had a great time with some great friends.

I want to thank Damien, James & Joseph, and The Pistoleros for allowing this trip to happen.

[splocal]

Nice!!!!

[andy.cap]

Nice Wes!

[unkabonka]

Originally Posted by Wes Pierson

A while back I won a free trip with Damien of J&J at the legends event raffle. I had been holding on to it all summer waiting for the offshore conditions to peak and fish to stack up on kelps. Well that never seemed to happen and I figured I better use it before things get any worse. .

Seriously! congrats on the score. In the back of my mind i am still hoping to do a local OC paddy trip before the first real storm... but its pretty bleak out there on the kelps from what ive seen and heard.

[Shootin&Reelin]

Originally Posted by unkabonka

... but its pretty bleak out there on the kelps from what ive seen and heard.

Yea....On Saturday did a 100+....Nados...302...226...182...181....NADA

Plenty of kelps and bait...No one home

[NihilisticMisanthropist]

Originally Posted by Shootin&Reelin

Yea....On Saturday did a 100+....Nados...302...226...182...181....NADA

Plenty of kelps and bait...No one home

you gotta get way down there, between 425 and hidden bank

[JDoe]

Great write up Wes! Thanks for sharing.

So....who is the mystery speedo spearo?

[downdiver2]

Great write up. Nice Fish, the Gato Loco is a nice ride.



The 425 is too close backdoor to the nados, the hidden is more like it down to the lower 500

Originally Posted by NihilisticMisanthropist

you gotta get way down there, between 425 and hidden bank

[sciencemike]

Originally Posted by Wes Pierson

A while back I won a free trip with Damien of J&J at the legends event raffle. I had been holding on to it all summer waiting for the offshore conditions to peak and fish to stack up on kelps. Well that never seemed to happen and I figured I better use it before things get any worse. I rounded up my dive buddies Mark and Mike as well as my brother for this trip. I discussed our options with Damien and we made a plan to hit the hidden to see if we could h&l a few bluefin and then hop in on kelps back up the line.
Well the bluefin were not in the biting mood and there were only about 5 boats fishing the area, which is a stark contrast to 2 weeks ago when there were what seemed like 100 boats in a 2 mile area. We gave it about an hour and decided to start heading back and look for kelps. We drove by a couple in cold(er) water and then found a nice SUV size kelp in 64 degree blue water.
I was first I the water and almost right away 4 yellowtail swam over to take a look at me. I signaled back to the boat that the fish were here and then focused on shooting one of these little suckers. I located the fish again, took aim and stoned the biggest one of the group. This was my first ever yellowtail and my first time stoning a fish. It was a pretty cool feeling to just swim over and grab the fish without any struggle. When I handed the fish up to the boat there was a mini fire drill going on since with everyone trying to get in before it was too late.
I’m not going to name names but the next thing I knew there was someone in the water with a mask, fins, gun, and blue Speedo hahaha. I reloaded my gun and started to look for the fish again. Sure enough the fish swam through again but this time they were keeping a little distance. I did a little finger wiggling which caused the fish to do a u-turn and I was able to shoot another one, but this time the shot didn’t stone the fish. I fought the fish back to the surface and brained it without incident. By this time everyone was in the water and the fish were even more untrusting. I had one other opportunity at the fish but I think I rushed the shot. I was a little too far away and missed.
Unfortunately that was all the chances we were going to get. There were several other paddies on the way back, but there was no one home. We stopped at the middle grounds and pukey to see if we could find another yellowtail that wanted to join us on the boat, but the viz was not great and no fish were seen. All in all I had a great time with some great friends.

I want to thank Damien, James & Joseph, and The Pistoleros for allowing this trip to happen.

Nice Job Wes.

Wetsuit or not, I wasnt about to let Wes shoot all the yellows. So i tossed on my speedo and threw my mask over my neck and jumped into the water with my gun and fins. Unfortunately the fish were only interested in the wierdo with a bananna hamock until I got my gun mask cleared and gun loaded.

Thanks Mark, Dan, Wes and the Pistoleros, and especially a big thanks to Damien and J&J for donating your time and the trip. Damien took care of everything and was an amazing captain. Honestly a trip I will remember for a very long time. Ill throw some pics up later.