I woke up at 6:00 a.m., bought breakfast and a cup of coffee. I head down to Dana Point around 8:30 a.m. I got there, launched at 8:45 a.m. nice weather riding up to 40 mph. I found a good kelp pad and went in, started fishing and dropped some bait, about 5 minutes later a big bite pulled my fishing rod down. So I set hook FISH ON!!!!!!! it kept on pulling down my rod "WHAT THE F!!!!" took me 15 minutes. Finally it stopped and once I reeled it up, in my mind I thought it was a huge sheephead but it wasn't it was a big CALICO BASS. In my life, I never caught such a big calico.





Man was that tiring, I had to catch my breathe.
Take 5-10 minute break enjoying the view. Then continued fishing, suddenly another bite, this time it was okay pullled a couple of times and reeled it up. It was a sheephead.




Not bad, I was really happy, I found a honey hole. Took about 30 minutes there was another bite.


In total I caught 1 big calico and 4 sheepheads. Happy ride home and of course I enjoyed my fish taco, this is it.

Nice Calico Alan. Wow the water looked calm; I was working while you were fishing.

What bait were you using when the Calico bit?

Who was taking the pics? You couldn't have done those yourself.

I used shrimp and one of the special guest took the picture.

Great report, great pics, beautiful fish. Very jealous of a Tuesday trip.

Did you navigate IN the Kelp or keep to the edge to avoid kelp in the intake?

Cedric

Babaloo wrote:Great report, great pics, beautiful fish. Very jealous of a Tuesday trip.

Did you navigate IN the Kelp or keep to the edge to avoid kelp in the intake?

Cedric

I went IN the kelp.

You are my hero!
I am staking out the calendar for my first trip of the year.

WOW!!!

Good job on that pig calico Allan.
And as usual you killed the sheephead.

Joe

alanhighhand wrote:

Babaloo wrote:Great report, great pics, beautiful fish. Very jealous of a Tuesday trip.

Did you navigate IN the Kelp or keep to the edge to avoid kelp in the intake?

Cedric

I went IN the kelp.

How do you avoid getting kelp in the intake when you go into the beds? Any special kelp bed navigational tips?

How do you avoid getting kelp in the intake when you go into the beds? Any special kelp bed navigational tips?

I see a paddle in the photo.

MejorPain wrote:

How do you avoid getting kelp in the intake when you go into the beds? Any special kelp bed navigational tips?

I see a paddle in the photo.

Good eyes Mike; I didn't see the paddle at first.

I don't know how Allan carries his paddle but they are simple to carry along with a couple of mounts. I used double sided automotive trim tape and a set of plastic oar holders from West Marine and I have a 140cm kayak paddle along all the time just in case. I don't use it much but they do not bother my feet at all. It is kind of like having a security blanket and you can use it in the kelp when needed.
These work perfect as a secure paddle holder and have a nice surface for double sided tape mounting:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=42891&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10105&subdeptNum=10397&classNum=11113