The tide and wind gods didn’t seem to want a good day of fishing. After days of nice weather and strong tides, we were looking at a small tide and fog. Busy schedules limited us to just Saturday morning, so we decided to give it a try.
In about 1/4 mile visibility just after sunrise, we made our way out the channel. As we got near the entrance, we started to see the big rollers. The water itself was calm with very little wind, but there were some big swells from a storm out there somewhere. As we made it past the channel entrance, visibility improved to over a mile, so we headed for the kelp.
Since the water surface was smooth, it was like driving through rolling hills. We got to the spot from the last good trip. The current was moving the other way and the water did not look too good. We didn’t see too much.
We moved to another spot a little further south and got two small Calicos. Still, the water wasn’t too good and there wasn’t much life. The water was about 60.5-61 degrees.
We moved again. This time we headed out a little to what we would see on the fish finder along the lobster buoy chain. The pots seemed to be set long the 100′ depth line. We saw some fish on the meter. We headed for another way point I had entered from a local chart I bought. It turned out to be where the kelp formed a natural dog-leg. It also seemed to be where to currents merged. Water temperature jumped up to 63 and we started to meter a lot of fish.
One look over the side of the boat and we saw a huge school of mackerel. We put the Krockadiles on again and got a few. I snagged up on some kelp which kept me busy for a while. Then, when I was free, I got a bonito on my next cast. We found the fabled bonito. Once a regular species in the area, there haven’t been many for the past 5-10 years.
We did a bunch of drifts in the area. Every time we ran into the bonito, we would have a couple good hook-ups. It was fun. The waves started to get to Andy, so we headed into the bay around 10.
After 3 hours we had about 20 fish. 6 bonito, 6 calico and a bunch of barracuda. It was fun.
The ride to the bay was pretty quick. We went much further than I initially thought (thanks to the fog). We were still back in the breakwater in about 15 minutes. Not bad. I am getting more and more confidence in the boat. She is serving us well.
We finished the day making a couple of drifts in the bay. It was a different world. Calm wind, sunny, dead calm and very relaxing. We didn’t get anything, but it was very pleasant.
So another good day. The key water temperature seemed to be in the 62+ range.