Marlin Captain Takes a Holiday

The running joke puts a bus driver on a bus ride during his vacation. Known as a Bus Man's Holiday, we see similar examples of this all the time. I was blessed with that very thing fishing San Diego Bay this first day of April.

We started out fishing the same shallow flats that had produced well for us the day before on Ghost Shrimp. Edward, not really wanting to throw live bait, was first to get things started with a small Berkley Gulp! shrimp. Although the Yellow Fin Croaker and Bonefish seemed to ignore us, the Spotted Bay Bass were more than willing to play. That seemed fine with Ed And Oscar both, considering that is why they were here.

Ed first contacted me wanting to know how to catch Bay Bass in San Diego Bay. Being a Cabo Marlin Guide most of the year, he still calls Chula Vista his home, and likes to fish the bay. But, we don't troll Zukers on 8/0s. However Ed, and Oscar both, proved to be right at home with the little Quantum Catalyst spinning combos.

I showed them the usual tricks and most of the usual spots. We stuck mostly with Gulp baits, and lathered them with Uni-Butter. Mother Nature seemed to be playing an April Fool's Day joke on us - the day before was almost calm enough to pull a skier behind a kayak, yet today there were four foot waves, and 25mph winds. Whatcha gonna do?

Most of our spotties were on the 11-16 inch side. Nothing real big, so not a lot of pictures. Oscar did pose for a few more than Ed. Then again, he caught a few more fish than Ed. Also, there were more bites than hook ups for both. This happens a lot with newbies fishing finesse rigs in the chop. Looking back, we probably should have thrown more lead heads or grubs in the shallows than to deal with trying to long line deep stuff in the sloppy water. At least Ed and Oscar learned some tricks to try, and knowing the kinds of big game fish that these guys get folks on down in Cabo, I now have me a new Marlin connection. http://www.cabosanlucascharters.com/

Thank you for reading,

James