Weather - Scattered rain, cloudy, windy, T-60s
Moon Phase - Full moon
Locations: El Capitan, San Vicente, San Diego Bay, Mission Bay
Water Temps on Lakes: 58-64 degrees
Best Bait: Live shiners and live grunion
Who Went: Bobber John, Rick Everson, Salim Sawaya, Dunc
FRIDAY –
The
fishing Trio united in San Diego for a few days and man am I tired. We fished from sun up until past midnight for four
days straight. We barely ate, and sleep
was not a priority. It began on a
Friday. Rick was due to arrive at 11 PM,
but I had the day off and John and I hit El Capitan before Rick’s late arrival.
We found plenty of bass to play with and had
fun being on El Cap with the boat. No big
fish were caught, but enough 2-3 pounders to keep us happy.
FRIDAY NIGHT –
While
waiting on Rick to arrive, I just happened to see an article on the internet
about the 2018 Grunion run beginning tonight and going for the next 5
days. I told John about the Grunion and
how they are a small bait fish that spawn on the beaches of Southern California. It only happens at specific times of the year and we definitely needed
to check it out. I also remembered a
coworker telling me about a good spot to fish during the grunion run. The predatory fish come in and eat the grunion!
We made it to Dog Beach, in Ocean Beach about a half hour
before the grunion run was about to start.
We began fishing at the spot my coworker recommended and it didn’t take
long before the halibut hunter (a.k.a. Bobber John) hooked up with another nice
halibut that was almost keeper length.
We didn’t
have a measuring tape, so we let it go.
Soon after John caught the halibut, he was hooked up again with a nice corvina. He had the hot hand! Look at the teeth on that thing!
Unfortunately, I didn't catch anything, and
the grunion run was a total bust. However,
they said in the article that the first night of the grunion run is usually the worst, so we made
plans of returning and hunting more grunion.
We picked up Rick from the airport and headed back to my apartment.
SATURDAY –
For
the first day of trio fishing we explored a new lake. San Vicente is the biggest reservoir in San
Diego County and is known for producing some big bass. It’s a very deep clear lake with steep drop
offs, sunken trees, and moss everywhere. None of us have ever fished there, but with the boat
it sounded like a good option. The
weather was pretty poor in the morning and the forecast called for rain.
On one of the first casts of the morning,
Rick had a fish on and it was a 5-pound beauty!
What a way to start the day!
Shortly after, the weather let loose and it was an absolute downpour for
an hour. By the time it was done, we may
as well have jumped in a swimming pool we were so wet. We toughed it out and continued fishing, but then the wind started pounding on us. We
landed a few bass here and there, but it never did turn on.
Around noon we had a boat malfunction. The front trolling motor would not turn right.
Without the trolling motor and dealing with high winds, our fishing was done. We made our way into town and
found an AutoZone where we tore the motor apart and began fixing it. It took us until dark to get it functioning again.
SATURDAY NIGHT –
We made our way back to Dog Beach for day two of the grunion run. We tried fishing again right before the grunion were
supposed to arrive but didn’t have any luck. However, 15 minutes into the
grunion run I looked over and saw something shiny on the beach… Grunion!!! They started washing in like crazy and for
the next two hours we acted like kids chasing them all over the beach.
We followed them around and watched them do
their spawn thing. It’s so weird! The female digs her tail into the sand where
only her head is sticking out and lays her eggs. Then the males come surround her and
lay their sperm.
Then
they all flip off the beach back into the ocean. It was 2 AM before we made it back
home.
SUNDAY –
El
Capitan was the chosen spot, and our local buddy Salim Sawaya joined us on the
boat. We caught a ton of fish working
the shoreline reeds and points.
Just
before sunset we started fishing deep trying to locate some larger fish. We began catching a few and then Salim made a long cast to the shoreline using a Ned
Rig, and his rod went bendo! I could
immediately tell this was a nice fish and we all reeled in to help him land
it. It was a great way to end the day
with a big 6-pound largemouth bass! El
Cap produces again!
SUNDAY NIGHT –
We trailered the boat and went to dinner with
Salim. While eating we started getting
ideas about the grunion. We should catch
a bunch and use them the next day on the San Diego Bay! We said goodbye to Salim and made our way
back to Dog Beach. Right on cue the
grunion came to shore and even thicker than the night before.
We filled our brand new grunion jugs and prepped the live bait for a nights stay in my apartment.
MONDAY –
We
launched the boat out of Coronado after loading our two grunion jugs full of live grunion. We made our
way towards the mouth of the San Diego Bay after some research told us
that there were big halibut near the submarine base.
Research also said that you needed to be careful
not to float into Navy territory because they didn’t like fishing boats
interrupting their operations.
On arrival we spotted a military police boat and decided to
talk to them and find out where we could fish and where we couldn’t. They were very polite, but after we were done
talking with them we all looked at each other in disbelief. Basically, it sounded like there was nowhere
to fish in the entire bay! Ugh.
We motored out into the middle of the bay, which seemed like the only safe place to fish, but found ourselves dodging giant navy ships heading out to sea.
Then the smaller yet still big navy boats started rushing by nearly
swamping John’s bass boat. Add in the
gale force winds and it was probably the most stressful fishing I have ever
experienced. Luckily, on our first drift,
using live grunions, we started catching some fish. Eve’s was first with a halibut.
Bobber John followed it up with a nice sculpin that smiled for the camera.
We motored out into the middle of the bay, which seemed like the only safe place to fish, but found ourselves dodging giant navy ships heading out to sea.
Off in the distance we could see this monster navy ship
heading right at us, but we kept our drift and knew that eventually we would
need to move out of its way. It started
getting close and right when we decided to move, I had a
bite. I let it take line for a few
seconds and then set the hook, except the line kept ripping off my spool even
after the hook was set! Meanwhile, the
monster navy ship was starting to bear down on us! We kept our cool and watched as the line
started to disappear off my reel. I soon
realized that if we didn’t do something then I was going to run out of
line! The fish was running parallel to
the navy ship and John started the motor.
I told him we needed to follow the fish, or I was going to get
spooled. He hesitated as if he didn’t
believe me, but then I screamed at the top of my lungs GO NOW!!! He literally took off with seconds to
spare. I was down to a few wraps of line
on my spool. Craziest fishing experience
ever. Rick took this epic photo of me
fighting the fish at the bow just as the navy ship was approaching us, and I was almost out of fishing line.
We were so close that the people on the ship
were looking straight down on us.
Looking back, it was truly amazing!
We followed the fish with the boat and it kept running. After the longest fight of my life, I finally
started making some ground, but the fish was still running whenever he
wanted and almost emptying my reel. In
total it was about a 30-minute fight before we finally saw it. We all started screaming at the same time…
Shark! Swimming right below our boat was
a 6-foot soupfin shark.
I couldn’t
believe it, and now it was time to figure out how to land it. After walking him like a dog around the boat
about 30 times, the shark finally tired out enough for me to pull him close to the
surface and Rick was able to grab him by the tail and drag him aboard.
It was a fish of a lifetime and catching it on bass gear made it quite an adventure. I was able to hoist the monster up for a quick photo and then he was released and swam strongly back to the bottom of the bay. Best fight of my life!
It was a fish of a lifetime and catching it on bass gear made it quite an adventure. I was able to hoist the monster up for a quick photo and then he was released and swam strongly back to the bottom of the bay. Best fight of my life!
After the chaos was over we motored into the back of the bay
where we launched the boat. The wind was still whipping, but at least we weren’t fighting navy ships. We were sitting there
fishing and suddenly we heard that unmistakable sound that a whale makes when
they blow air… Phffffffft! We all immediately
turned around to see a giant gray whale surface about 200 ft from us. What the hell!? We all grabbed our phones to take a photo,
but it never resurfaced. I told my
buddies that I didn’t think that was normal to see a whale that far back in the
bay. Later that night I googled it and sure enough it was on the news. A gray whale had gotten lost in his migration
and accidentally went into the bay. Apparently,
this happens once in a while, but it’s rare.
What a crazy day on the ocean. Sharks,
whales, and monster navy ships trying to run us over. It was the most stressful yet coolest day of
fishing I have ever experienced!
MONDAY NIGHT –
We
were exhausted, but of course we had to do something. We took another recommendation from Salim and
hit a spot on Mission Bay from shore. We
fished late into the night, but no fish were caught.
This could have been the most exhausted I’ve ever been in my
life. I think I went to bed at 7 PM for
the next 3 nights in a row trying to catch up on sleep and energy. Work was miserable all week. It’s never a dull moment when the Trio unites
for four full days of fishing!
