Ok fellazzzz….I had been waiting for this trip, trying for weeks to get everyone together to fish and share a few brews….It was tough, people on, people off…Anyway…got to the landing around 7:30pm and already saw some peeps starting off the tailgating festivities…It was not much longer till everyone starting filtering in and all of the sudden we had 28 on the boat…Not all Get Bent crew but mostly….Skippers wife had a medical emergency so we were running a bit behind schedule…Ok by me….just more time at the bar right next door!!!!!

We board the boat and honestly, we were having so much fun that I have no idea where the time went. We all got signed in and rigged up and continued the party while we got underway to the Cortez…Hit the receiver and jigged for some Macks. A lot of us chilled on the top deck and chatted and some hit the sack. Went to bed well after midnight and I must say…I had one of the best times I’ve had in a long time. It was so awesome to get to fish with my son....

Woke up to Grease conditions and HOT temperatures….very little breeze and by 7:30 am I was already building up a sweat….The water was pretty dirty and green and did not look too promising, but we anchored up on a high spot in about 90 feet of water where the Captain metered some fish and got started….Some on the dropper loop, and some fly-lining and the rest, including myself, tossed the iron….. Was not long till we hear the first “Fresh one” and it is a huge grade of Bonito…Decent enough that we could not tell right away if they were yellows or bones by the way they were pulling….We pulled the hook and looked around….




Anyway the iron and fly lined Sardines were getting bit pretty well so the 2nd ticket Joel came down to toss one out….Was a few seconds and he and Tanner were hooked on the iron and headed for the bow fast…Tanners took him straight into the rocks, but he did not want to give up…He wrestled that fish for about 20 minutes or so before he gave up and broke it off….Joel lands his and we have our first Yellow on the boat…probably around 17 pounds.

Couple more people bit and rocked…I tell ya…Yellowtail know how to free themselves and they have the power to do so…If you couldn’t pull those fish out of the danger zone right away then might as well say goodbye!!! Hot and sweaty conditions calls for only one thing!!!!




We continued all day to pick at the Bones and those fishing the dropper loops were getting a decent pick on the rockfish…Sheephead, whitefish, Johnny bass, sculpin and starries…quite the variety! There were a couple of times when the Bones went wide and it was like every cast…They are really fun to catch, especially when they are good sized like that…



We released most and kept some for hooping bait…One guy fishing a dropper loop gets bit and we soon realize that this was the right kind…After a quick battle the second Yellow was on the boat. That would be the only two Yellows that we would get off the Cortez…We found a nice place to anchor up in for the night and got ready for dinner. Some played poker, some kept fishing until the bitter end..(me)….and some hit the sack.

Captain Obymako came down and gave us the game plan for the morning…We were gonna head to Catalina and fish the Farnsworth in the morning for a bit before heading in! I tell you, this guy would chase fish till he ran out of fuel if he could….We watched and fished as the sun set marking the end of an awesome day.

The moon rose over the water, huge and orange…Trippy…We had our crack at hooping with no success…We did catch some small crabs, but quickly threw them back because Fred was eating them right off the rail and Ana was having a freakin caniption fit over it….Once he got a reaction it was on….I caught a small sheephead and Deckhand John cut the eyeball out for Fred…He put it in his mouth, walked up the Ana and you may have heard the screaming from the shore…she was so grossed out!!!

Anyway some poker and off to bed for me…

Next morning we awoke to the sun rising over Catalina Island….It was beautiful…

We quickly dropped down on the edge of the ridge and tried our luck, but conditions were not in our favor…uphill, downhill, swinging like crazy….We gave it a solid effort then called it a day.




The ride home was an adventure to say the least….We put out a few trolling rods…why not? Nothing else to do on the way home…Anyway the guys decided to participate in a few pranks on me…All in good fun, but to no avail…First a gunny sack down my line which missed the jig thanks to Rooster153’s weighted jig heads!!!! Then Jeff Dalton calls me to the bow to ask about one of Tanner’s rods while the guys rig up a yellowtail carcass on a snap swivel and attached it to my line…I came around the corner just in time to see the rod lift up into the air, then fall back down…Rooster advises me to check it and everyone is bummed to realize the line snapped when it reached my jig and so attempt number two failed….Tanner ended up getting me an hour later by attaching a 12oz torpedo sinker to a snap swivel and loosening up my drag…..That one got me running cause all the pranksters were with me on the top deck and I thought Tanner was still playing poker…..Good Freakin times!!! The smoke from the fires was stretching all the way across the sky to the Island…we could smell it strong…



Got the crew together for a group shot…



What an awesome group of people! I must admit they are the whole reason I try and get us all together to fish as a group…Whether the fishing is great, ok, or just so-so…it is always a good time to be out on the water with such a great group of individuals. Really, I have made friends for life on these boats!