Fishing trip to Chase Sand Bass and Calico

As fishing trips go its pretty reasonable.

Since I had never done this before I figured to call H&M Landing and ask a few questions. The guy I talked to on the phone was all business. A little short even. Almost rudde when I aksed what I should bring. No big deal it was late int he day. who knows how long he had been working.

The day we arrived things went fairly smooth. I handed over my credit card, and we received four rental rods and our fishing licenses.

The rental rods were adequate. They were spooled with what looked like about 30 pound mono. The Penn Reels mounted on the rods were very durable, but with little adjustment. Later in the day I discovered I could pitch with one if I had too.

Other than not knowing what was going on and how things work it was a pretty good trip. The crew were on the spot most of the time to help with line tangles and rigging. Since we didn't catch many fish I'ld have to say they were pretty quick to help with landing fish as well. The chummed a lot of live bait out into areas we fished in order to try and build a bite.

I did get a little frustrated as I spent more time untangling lines than fishing for the first couple hours. I may call them and ask what the slowest day of the week is if I go out on a trip like this again. After it was too late I figured out some other techniques that would have helped. I couldn't really cast out witht he rigs we were using, but I discovered witha little practice I could pitch pretty far. Then I would just let it sink back towards the boat. Whne it started getting close to the boat I would crank in my line before the inexperienced kids on either shoulder coud tangle my line up with theirs. I bet if I had discovered that technique earlier I would have caught more fish by the simple virtue of being able to keep my line in the water longer. Next time I'll know. I may just bring a couple flippin sticks for just this application. It did take a little practice with those big Penn reels. It took a dozen back lashes before I got a good feel for thumbing the spool to pitch with them. My hard practiced bass fishing skills definitely helped.

We spent half our time trying to find some sandbass with no luck. The skipper, Brian, claimed they were down there but they just wouldn't bite. Later we headed in a little closer and fished for some kelp bass or "Calico" bass. Whne we set down to fish for Calicos Patti nailed on right off the bat, and several other people boated one or two fish.

The had us fishing deep with one ounce rubber core sinkers. I watched one of the crew helping a kid catch some fish. He had no weight tied on, and he was casting a live sardine way out from the boat, and working it back slow like a jerk bait. In short order he helped that kid catch 5 or so calico bass. I think They just had us fishing with weights to avoid the inevitable untangleable bird's nests that would have sprang into existance if nearly sixty anglers had tried to cast or pitch light lines at the same time. I didn't say anyhting, but it became quickly obvious that the deeper catches were the exception. I started fishing shallower, and thats when I started learning to pitch with a reel that is very inadequate for the application. I didn't go weightless because I just didn't have the practice time to master it, but I did start fishing away from the boat a little bit. WHile picking one of my back lashses I nailed my first fish. A 24 inch baracuda. I didn't measure it, but the deck hand was quick to throw it back so I figured it for shorter than the 18 inch minimum. Shortly afterward I nailed my second and last fish. A small calico bass. I picked it up shallow on a pitch out away from the boat as well. That was it for me. A few minutes later The weighed anchor and headed in.

I'm not sure I have the temperament for shoulder to shoulder fishing on a regular basis, but it was a good time. For the four of us, it cost less than about $200 for a half day trip including two adult licenses, breakfast and drinks, four rod rentals, having our two fish cleaned for us. On a day whent hey really nail the fish it would definitely be worth it. Take your own rods, and apply a little fishing experince to maximize your catching and it wuld be a good deal even on a slow day.

For those who can afford to go out on a smaller boat with more personal attention and more personal fishing room I imagine it could be a phenomenal experience. I may try going the price of a siz pack charter next time out to see how that goes.

One thing I saw that I had mixed feelings about where the anglers in small personal baots who were following us. They were basically taking advantage of the hotter fishing area created by all the live bait we were tossing out along with all the live chum tossed out by the crew.

It was obvious the crew was offended by the tailgaiters when one deck hand started throwing a casting iron out in the direction of one boat that was getting particularly close. The angler quickly moved his boat out a little further. I can understand that, but I can also see the benefit of following a head boat that is actively chumming the water with tons of live bait.

MY biggest and strongest complaint though was the number of people on board who smoked. Wow! I couldn't escape the cigarette and cigar smoke most of the day. Both crew and passengers.