NorCal Fishing BS

Finally bought my license today

Guy at West Marine said he heard of a few halibut by Oyster Point, but pretty dead over here. Asked what I was going for. Without skipping a beat, I said, “jack smelt and stingrays”. He looked at me funny. “I hope” I said. He just shook his head...

Heading out tonight boys!!

 

Good luck, Bret!

 

its finally at my house!



going to work on installing tomorrow. Getting excited now!

marking the new mounting location and man this sucker is YUGE!

 

skunked, but nice to get out and get the tackle wet

 

Well went out yesterday and placed 103rd out of 130 boats. We caught the one fish which weighed in officially at 1.64 lbs. had some bit issues that ended our day about 3 hours short. Learned a lot and had fun doing it. Now we get prepped for Oroville next month.

 

Mounted the Ulterra and positioned the finder to see if I like it there. Need a few more pieces to come in so I can run the wiring and plug it all in. All the cabling will be into the bow panel and be all hidden underneath.

 

i had to go crabbing today even though the wind and swell were pretty big. got to bring this dungeness and rock crab home for mama

 

friendly reminder to double check your crank stop/lock before leaving the ramp. My brother got lucky.



safety chain was attached, he left the ramp with boat on the trailer and the boat thankfully was far enough in the water that it just stayed there while he left the ramp with the crank and safety chain attached. No boat damage.

 

Dammnnnn. time for your brother to buy a lotto ticket

 

Went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered the humminbird ethernet port switch and cables. With lakemaster, i didnt want to only have it on the front finder and i didnt want to buy two. Even though its annoying how much humminbird charges for a simple switch, i think itll be the best in the end. Also i have this panel up front that is aged and now will have switches missing as i removed the original 3 pin foot pedal plug and will not need the 12/24 switch as the Ulterra will be 24v direct wired. Also this panel is fairly faded and starting to fatigue and become brittle. With the front nose panel removed i decided it was best to mock up my own out of 1/8" ABS and cut my own holes for the switches and items i will need now.

Original.

After i removed some things and the battery level gauge never worked right anyway.



I plan to have the footwell cable come out of the new panel with a grommet around the hole so i can slip in and extend if needed. For the most part the foot pedal will remain where it will stay centered up front, but i also use the boat for more than just bass fishing so that gives me the option to move it around if needed. I also didnt want the cable running over the top and down to flap around. I purchased a 24v battery gauge that will go into the new panel and i will carry over the livewell fill and the tilt for the rear motor. Ill take pics as i go and install this weekend to document it, im excited and this type of stuff is fun for me.

 

In preparation for Halibut season, bought a new rod and reel today

 

that would also be good for ice fishing

 

Got sick again mid-last week so I stayed inside as long as I could, but went out this morning to a new spot on my inflatable kayak to see if the delta bass had started biting.

A new spot and a cloudy, cold day meant I probably wouldn’t get much, but luckily I got into a few. It was extremely slow when I first got there and the tide was high, but within a couple of hours, I had gotten a few dinks out from some submerged timber. Found some areas with rock and out came some bigger ones, but nothing over a pound and a half today. In total, I probably caught 12-15, mostly dinks. Largemouth, spotted and smallmouth bass were all caught.

A couple screenshot photos from the GoPro of the better-sized ones:

 

Also to follow-up from a few months ago, I bought a Daiwa Crossfire 2500 (actually bought 2) for $15 on sale at sportsman’s warehouse to see what it could do, and I still can’t get over how much of a workhorse it is.

the drag isn't necessarily “butter-smooth” snd it’s definitely a little heavier, but I’ve used it extensively over these last few months and it’s done the job every time.

Definitely recommend for anyone on a budget or like me, wanted to have something to keep in the truck and not worry about losing/breaking it like my higher-priced shit.

 

Ran all my cables and added the new trolling motor, fish finder and ethernet connections to connect the two finders front to back. Also added a new rear transducer and relocated my rear fish finder to in front of my seat so i can view it easier as i navigated. I only seemed to get pics of the front but ill update the pics of the rear later this week. Now i just need to go test it out!

 

That photo in the middle with the wires gave me some quick morning anxiety again. Looks hella good when it's all buttoned up though. Looking like its ready to haul in some donkeys this year.

 

If anyone is looking, I've got a bow mounted Minn Kota 45lb thrust 12v trolling motor I'd part with for a steal. It came off the boat when I replaced it with my Terrova, it's basically brand new.

 

yeah it was a treat with everything everywhere. Cleaning it up was a pain with 800 cables in the way but its all tucked away and stowed nicely and coiled behind the front deck and under the storage doors. Its pretty crazy how boats can hide so much.

Also so weird that my previous Lowrance Elite 7 that i removed fish finder and the corresponding transducer was like 16" long and the new humminbird Down Imaging is maybe 6". Allows me to back it farther in closer to the fence too haha.

 

you know, cuz 'Frozen'

 

FYI guys - Bass Pro is having a fishing sale March 12 - Apr 1, according to the huge banner i saw last weekend



this Denver Bass Pro is Huge!!!