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I met Lal at his house in Cerritos at 4:15 am. Picked up some tasty, breakfast steak, and cheese burritos at Carls, before launching out of Huntington Harbor. Cleared the harbor by 5:20 am, beginning our day at Izor?s reef.
There was little wind, with a bit of a lump, and overcast skies. The water temp was 62.2 degrees at Izors, and the meter showed some good signs of fish below. Unfortunately the bass were unwilling biters, with the exception of these couple of 2 to 3 lb. Sand Bass.
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After an hour of mostly futile attempts at catching bass, we continued on our journey to Newport Beach, knowing that on Sat. the Barracuda went ballistic! We arrived on the scene to a dozen or more boats, birds making desperate dives on the bait being pushed to the surface by the enormous school of Barries! Barracuda were jumping clear out of the water everywhere, and our jigs were quickly placed into service, with instant hook up on 5 to 8 lb. logs!
We quickly boated 4 good size Barracuda, released another half dozen and within 15 minutes it was over. The fish sunk out, the birds scattered and so did the fleet of about 40 boats, including six sporties. It was mass pandemonium for such a short period of time, with boats racing ahead to the bird schools diving on the bait being ravaged by leaping barracuda. The disappointment for those arriving late was obvious, and even after it was done, another 10 to 15 boats appeared from all directions, including more sport boats.
Lal and myself with some first of the year Barracuda.
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We hung around for about an hour, hoping for a repeat performance, no such luck. Talked to a private boater later in the afternoon, and the fish never returned, to their knowledge. We began fishing the pipe, and picked off a few more bass. Returned to Izors and picked some more bass, found a honey hole and released the remainder of our 40 bass day, with 3 lbs. being the top weight.
We called it at 1:45 pm. It was a fun day and th wind was not a factor. Surprisingly water temps dropped down to 61.6 in the afternoon at Izors. It was 63.3 in Newport Beach.
Thanks again Lal, it was an exhilarating 15 minutes winding on the Barracuda, something that pulls back a little bit more than most of the bass we caught. Now we need to add some tail to the counts.
Hook up! Cory
There was little wind, with a bit of a lump, and overcast skies. The water temp was 62.2 degrees at Izors, and the meter showed some good signs of fish below. Unfortunately the bass were unwilling biters, with the exception of these couple of 2 to 3 lb. Sand Bass.
After an hour of mostly futile attempts at catching bass, we continued on our journey to Newport Beach, knowing that on Sat. the Barracuda went ballistic! We arrived on the scene to a dozen or more boats, birds making desperate dives on the bait being pushed to the surface by the enormous school of Barries! Barracuda were jumping clear out of the water everywhere, and our jigs were quickly placed into service, with instant hook up on 5 to 8 lb. logs!
We quickly boated 4 good size Barracuda, released another half dozen and within 15 minutes it was over. The fish sunk out, the birds scattered and so did the fleet of about 40 boats, including six sporties. It was mass pandemonium for such a short period of time, with boats racing ahead to the bird schools diving on the bait being ravaged by leaping barracuda. The disappointment for those arriving late was obvious, and even after it was done, another 10 to 15 boats appeared from all directions, including more sport boats.
Lal and myself with some first of the year Barracuda.
We hung around for about an hour, hoping for a repeat performance, no such luck. Talked to a private boater later in the afternoon, and the fish never returned, to their knowledge. We began fishing the pipe, and picked off a few more bass. Returned to Izors and picked some more bass, found a honey hole and released the remainder of our 40 bass day, with 3 lbs. being the top weight.
We called it at 1:45 pm. It was a fun day and th wind was not a factor. Surprisingly water temps dropped down to 61.6 in the afternoon at Izors. It was 63.3 in Newport Beach.
Thanks again Lal, it was an exhilarating 15 minutes winding on the Barracuda, something that pulls back a little bit more than most of the bass we caught. Now we need to add some tail to the counts.
Hook up! Cory
