Wow, what a whirlwind week last week. I left SoCal and was in New York Sunday through Friday. While I was gone…
I caught my first ever striped bass, and it was a big one…39 lbs. I was fishing with Capt. Paul Mandella of Maybe Tonight Charters in Bay Shore, NY. I will do a follow up or 2 this week with a Video and/or a Gear Report on what we used to catch this trophy linesider.
DVL pro guide, Mark Franco
As I was making my way back to SoCal on Friday, I was receiving multiple messages that the ‘cuda were back, but this time in Orange County and San Diego. (Hat tip to Newport Landing and the boys from the Daily Double with Point Loma for the heads up).
Then on Saturday, the kids were both recovering from being sick, and didn’t want to go all the way down to Dana Point for the Boat Show, so we did our casual “Let’s go to Bass Pro, watch the fish feeding and have lunch” Saturday. There we saw our friend Mark Franco do his striper seminar for Diamond Valley Lake (DVL for short). I know what you’re saying…”Lake Salty?” Well a) Mark cut his teeth fishing SoCal off Long Beach…that’s salty, and b) Jake, being the competitive alpha kid progeny of Salty, was kind of bummed that I was the first in the family to score a striper, so I’m going to try and hook up a trip soon with Mark to give the kid a chance to get his first linesider.
Saturday night, I bombed down to SD. The Dolphin saved me their last room, so I was able to get a good night’s sleep and go out fishing both runs with the Daily Double yesterday to chase the cuda. More on that trip later. Meanwhile, I got a report today that the Redondo Special scored just short of a boat limit on the elusive White Seabass (WSB) this morning. Also, I can’t quite give it up yet, but some interesting tuna news is about to surface.
Fishing season in SoCal is definitely in swing. Get out there and enjoy it. Tight lines!
at 2:28 pm
I’m so glad you were able to get on a big fish with Captain Paul! He’s a great guy that knows his fishing , for sure.
About the landlocked Stripers , give it a try. They don’t give up much to their saltwater cousins , except numbers. Out here I have better luck in October and November and they have a high mortality rate this time of year. It would be interesting to hear how they do out your way.
Can’t wait to see some more video! I’m kind of in a forced retirement right now when it comes to fishing 🙁
at 3:41 pm
Wait sec…forced retirement?!?! We need to chat buddy
at 3:26 pm
Wow, you were a busy boy. Nice Striper! And I thought my double-header this weekend in Dana and NPH was post-worthy… Too busy to write at the moment, but it will be interesting when it gets out there.
at 3:43 pm
Cool. Did you make it to the boat show? $1 beers 😉 How did it go out there? I want to fish either spot with you soon, so I can see how to do it on the yak.