Our good friend John Olson sent us this picture and story of his personal best Yellowtail he caught last week, 7/16/2015.
We left the dock at 10pm headed to the bait receiver fortunately we got some quality sardines from nacho and off to catalina we go , with a brief siminar from Rey , game plan and basic instructions on tackle and gear , and with weather conditions and yellowtail fishing in our favor we were left with a genuine, excited, anticipation of our day at the island as we hit the bunks my last thoughts like everyones is are we going to have that epic day , the anticipation of your first fish of the day and last but not least praying and thanking God for getting to do what we love and enjoy ..3 am we arrive at the island we anchor up just off church rock and as anglers start filtering out of their bunks trying to get there bearings and wakeing up the day starts slow with 3 small yellows and acouple barracuda caught we pull anchor about 6 and star working around the back side of the island with slow picking style fishing working our way to the 3 v’s and back by about 3 we had managed about 55 fish and then as we were searching he metered some fish around a rocky area loc not sure but alittle ways from the 3 v’s towards the east end as we started chumming i dropped a fly lined dine back and before we stopped i was at least a 100 yards out i proceeded to retrieve my dine and bam my dine was ingulfed instantly and with 40lb line i could not stop this fish with as much drag as 40 lb could handle it was frutile the home guard rocked me and broke me off , i imediately grabbed another 40lb stick and through out a super hot dine and within 5 minutes im on again this fish at first was fight like a bonita and then he feels the hook and now as he takes me up the rail towards the bow the brute power of this fish tells me its a home guard as it comes close to the anchor rope i bear down and am able to stop him and get him straight up and down as i see color and with the short powerfull head jerks like a tuna the brute is gaffed and with a thud on the deck from its size the realization of my first thought is its obviously my biggest yellowtail ever but it was a true home guard trophy fish and to get a yellowtail over 40 lbs was a great feeling and accomplishment and it took over 40 years of fishing to get it. In the end it was the jackpot fish!
Total count for the day: yt 64 for 30 anglers with 20 fish in the 20 – 40 plus lb range. Tight lines
