A Summer Day at the Coronado Islands - Take Time to Reflect
As the surface iron game continues to grow, I believe it is in the best interest of others to share the knowledge that we have learned throughout the years, whether it's from personal experience or other people. From here on out, we will be trying our best to provide you with educational content in the form of videos and blogs to assist you in your surface-iron journey.
Let's break this day down by time. I think it'll be fun!
5:45 am - Arrive at Shelter Islands boat ramp.
Brent snaps a quick epic photo of me waiting for Jeff to park the truck so we can head on out. In the meantime, I decided to snap some photos of the beautiful sunrise as well! Once Jeff got to the dock we had to show him the sick shots we got of his boat.
5:58 am - "Dropping the line back"
Now you may ask, "What do you mean by dropping the line back?" When you put on new line on your reel, most of the time, there is not enough tension on the line to be able to spool it on tightly especially if you put on the line by yourself at home.
Two things can happen if you do not pack on your line tightly. One, this can create a "bird's nest" or a tangle on your first cast if you are not careful. Two, you may not have added enough line to your reel. So a way to prevent these two problems is by over spooling your reel by 10-20 yards and dropping your line back behind the prop of the boat (about 100-150 yards back) with nothing tied to the end so you do not snag anything. Tighten up your drag, keep your rod tip low and begin to wind in your line evenly on your reel. Once you are done reeling it all in, you will see the true amount of line you have on your spool since it is now packed on tightly.
PS, your first cast of the day will be pure butter. Enjoy!
6:40 am - Pick your weapon
Just shy of the Coronado islands we stopped to test out some new jigs to see how they swam so we can pick and choose what our weapon of the day will be.
6:57 am - Arrived at South Island.
When we get to the islands the first thing we do is slow down, observe the area and see what we want to do. On this particular day, some birds were flying high above us in 50-60 feet of water so we decided to do a slow troll while I cast off the bow to see if I can get a reaction bite. Sure enough within 2 casts, we were doubled up on some barracudas. The barracudas continued to attack every bait and surface iron that hit the water but we knew that where there is barracuda there is usually some yellowtail.
7:27 am - Surface iron Yellowtail, what we all dream of.
After picking away at some barracuda, guess who decided to show up? Ahhh yes, Jurel! Jeff first got picked up on the slow troll and he saw two Yellowtails fighting over his bait so I immediately fired a Tady 45 behind the boat and hooked up instantly. Results? Doubles! So much damn fun!!
So stoked to put a bend on my Strictly 540! I pair mine with a Trinidad 20A and 40-pound Izorline XXX.
Who doesn't love a challenge? Gaffing your own fish is always fun!
PSSST... Rumor is some NEW jig sticks are on their way!
7:42 am - Another one on the troll.
These Yellowtails were small but still so much fun to catch, especially when you see them going crazy for your bait/surface iron!
7:54 am - Mas Jurel!
Staying consistent on our slow troll I continued to fire away at the bow until another yellowtail came by and ate the wrong bait!
8:10 am - "Anotha one" - Dj Khaled
We continued the drift until it was time to move.
11:00 am - The bite dies. SKR we go.
The bite slowed down due to a lack of current so we decided to keep working south towards the South Kelp Ridge. We metered a bunch of barracuda and a couple of yellowtail marks but they were not interested in what we had to offer. We decided to make a U-Turn and head back up to the Middle grounds.
The nap king, yeah that's me. Infamous for taking naps every trip to manifest surface iron-eating Yellowtail. Don't believe it? Ask Jeff Breton.
12:13 pm - Middle Grounds.
After seeing nothing past the islands we decided to work back up to the middle grounds where we have had great success in the past. Upon arriving at the spot, we began our slow drift with a sardine trolling behind the boat. 5 minutes in, we metered a small wolf pack of yellowtail under the boat, so I quickly ran to the bait tank and began to throw some chum around the boat.
Sure enough, the Yellowtail reacted to the bait and picked up one of our fly-lined sardines, Jeff is on.
12:15 pm - Fish on board.
The old trusty sealine and unknown rod were putting in work this trip!
12:22 pm - The drift continues.
The fish continued to stay glued to the boat, boiling all around. Sadly, they wanted nothing to do with the jigs I was throwing at their face :'(
On the other hand, Jeff got bit again on the fly line.
12:24pm - Fish on board x2
12:26 pm - The fish are just going crazy...
At this point, eating every sardine we threw at them was getting blasted. Jeff picked up another fresh dean', pitched it back, and was instantly bit.
Now you may ask, what about you? Oh you know, just being hard-headed about getting one on the jig. I had been casting multiple times on boils but they were just locked in on the bait at this point.
This is where I should have just picked up a bait rod and got in on the fun!
12:32 pm - Fish on board x3
12:36 pm - And just like that it's all over.
After a quick and intense 20 minutes, our drift came to an end and we did not have enough bait to keep the fish actively feeding so we decided to point it home and call it a day with a fish count of 6 California Yellowtail and a handful of Barracuda.
12:45 pm - Reflection.
I learned a lesson this day.
As we drove back in and headed for home I reflected on what I could have done better on the last drift of the day. I began to realize and remember that there are going to be days where the fish don't want anything to do with your surface iron and you have to go with what's working.
I love and I mean LOVE to fish the iron so the last thing I want to do is put my jig stick away. The rational person would have put their jig stick down, picked up a bait rod, and got in on the fun. If I would have done that I'm sure we could have had at least 2-3 more fish on the boat.
It is what it is though, I still had fun no matter what but it is always great to reflect on your mistakes so you don't make them again when you go out the next time.
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As always, thank you all so much for your endless support.
You are what keeps this small brand going.
Thank you,
Jared Saaib
PS: Thank you Brent Gamos for the epic visuals.