A San Clemente Island fish story

[Bill McIntyre]

I've heard of a few very nice fish taken lately, but we don't get any reports on the board. I really don't blame these folks for their silence, since some of the spots could get very crowded. But when Jeff, Dam, and I set out for San Clemente Island at dawn, we resolved to write a report (if we could get a fish).

You can't trust NOAA. The forecast was as good as it gets, but we got the shit beaten out of us and took three hours to get there. With the days getting short, its hard to make a one-day trip to the island unless you are willing to run in the dark.

Our first stop was at spot were I almost always live boat it, and with a high wind and rough surface, I decided to do that. Jeff and Dam jumped in. They were fairly close to each other on a dive when a big school of small yellowtail came by, then turned and went between them. They both tracked fish until they realized that they were aiming at each other. At times like that, its good to have dive buddies who have taken a yellowtail before and don't get target fixation.

Having failed to get the guys to shoot each other, the school split up and Jeff shot one. Nothing huge, but a fish in the boat.

We moved on to another high spot, and again I elected to refrain from dropping the anchor. It was blowing like hell and very rough, and its hard for divers to keep each other in sight when its like that.

Pretty soon, Dam popped up shouting that he needed a second shot, and I was glad we were live boating as there was no way he could have gotten Jeff's attention. I ran over to Jeff, and saw that his gun was floating on the surface and he was pulling in a fish. It turned out to be a big bonito. I had him hand me fish and gun, he got on the swimstep, and I ran him over to Dam and handed him his smaller gun.

It turned out Dam had taken fish preservation to a new level. In his attempt to avoid damaging flesh, he shot a 27 pound yellowtail through the dorsal fin. He saw the shaft go over the fish's back and thought he had missed, but then his reel started running off line, so he let it go. The fish was absolutely not hurt a bit, so it was rather frisky. Jeff finally ran it down and got a second shot in it though. Its hard for me to believe that this fish didn't tear off.

I decided that maybe we could anchor at this place after all so that the skipper might get a shot, but we let out a hell of a lot of scope so that the boat wouldn't go off on its own in that high wind. I swam up to the reef, and it was absolutely beautiful, with clear blue water and lots of blacksmith and blue perch, but no yellowtail. After a while I saw both guys back in the boat, so I headed back too. It turned out that the reason they were in the boat was because they had shot yellowtail. As I was almost back down current to the boat, I met them heading out again, but I was lazy and got in the boat.

They didn't see any more, but wait until you see Dam's video of the one he got earlier. When Jeff and I saw it, all we could say is "oh shit." He has rigged up a home-made mount for his camera on the butt of his 50" hybrid, and you see this nice yellowtail swimming through the blue water in front of him, and then he stones it. I think you'll say "oh shit" too.

As a compromise to the old man, we moved on to a kelp bed where I have taken some white sea bass, but was schooled by yellowtail outside the kelp last week, but we didn't see either kind.

Next stop was another high spot. I was hesitant to anchor, but we did with lots of scope. Jeff sat it out. I swam up to the area where the bait was, gave it a while, and then went back to the boat. We looked for Dam and finally spotted him way the hell up current. I guess I should have followed him, because he came back with an "oh shit squared" video. A huge school of big yellowtail comes buy in blue water. He finally picks out one to shoot, pulls the trigger, has a lot of line pulled off the reel, and then it tears off. I'm telling you this story because he said he wouldn't post that video because it was embarrassing, but now you know, so he has no excuse. You need to see this school of fish, and he needs to show them to you if he ever wants another ride on my boat.

Finally, we moved back to that spot where we started with the smart fish that tried to get them to shoot each other. This is a spot where I hate to anchor even on nice days because I've hung the anchor in the rocks there before, but I decided to do it so I could get in on the action. I should have known better. The bait was almost all gone and we didn't see any fish. And then when I tried to leave, the anchor was hung in the rocks. Dam volunteered to try it, but with the high wind keeping tension on the line and the boat heaving up and down on swells, I thought it was too dangerous, so I used the pony bottle to retrieve it.

This put us behind schedule so that instead of getting home at sunset, we got home way after dark. And then of course the GPS failed about 15 miles out. There are so many other lights along the coast near Dana Point that it makes it very hard to pick out the navigational lights on buoys and the breakwater, but we finally limped in without hitting the crowd hoop-netting for lobster.

Tomorrow morning, Dam is leaving for a two-day trip on Richard Balta's boat. Saturday is just for fun, but Sunday is the Neptune's meet. Dam is not entered in that meet, and its probably just as well. All the old salts will have a chance.

Dam said he doubts he will be able to edit and post that video tonight. If he doesn't, then we will have to wait until Monday to see it. If you have his phone number, I urge you to call him and keep him awake until he completes his obligations.

[Bill McIntyre]

I just realized that I never posted the link to the video from this trip.

YouTube - Yellowtail spearfishing at San Clemente...

[Old Man Dave]

Great story and great vid. Nice one Bill.

Dave.

[BatRay]

Very nice story as always, Bill.

[blaiz]

Awesome video Bill!

[Amphibious]

great vid Bill!

[BatRay]

It's a surprisingly suspenseful video, too. I was fascinated, because the speargun could have shot at any number of those fish. He picked good ones, though. Great hunting and great camera work.

[dgpoling]

Great Video: New to the sport and starving for information and examples, and you do a great job of putting valuable information and interesting stories/media on the message board.

[Bill McIntyre]

Thanks.

I notice you're from San Clemente too. If you'd like to come by some time and look at equipment and hear lies, let me know. I live in Shorecliffs up the hill from the DMV.

[dgpoling]

Hilarious. I live in shorecliffs as well. I will send you an email at your cox address, maybe I can drive up in the golf cart and get some tips.

Thanks for the invitation.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by dgpoling

Hilarious. I live in shorecliffs as well. I will send you an email at your cox address, maybe I can drive up in the golf cart and get some tips.

Thanks for the invitation.

Jesus!

What a small word indeed. A word wide web site with a very small representation from California in general, and here we are neighbors.

[jtkwest]

how are yellowtail to eat? do they serve in restaurants? in florida, we call yellowtail snapper " yellowtail" interesting. cool video. we call dorado "dolphin" here.,(many a tourist has been horrified to see flipper on the menu" LOL) how big is "big" with those fish? those look like about 25lbs,(the ones you guys shot) nice . its cool you guys get to shoot big fish that actually school up. most of our big stuff rolls in small groups of two or three. or alone.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by jtkwest

how are yellowtail to eat? do they serve in restaurants? in florida, we call yellowtail snapper " yellowtail" interesting. cool video. we call dorado "dolphin" here.,(many a tourist has been horrified to see flipper on the menu" LOL) how big is "big" with those fish? those look like about 25lbs,(the ones you guys shot) nice . its cool you guys get to shoot big fish that actually school up. most of our big stuff rolls in small groups of two or three. or alone.

I'm not crazy about them, but a lot of people love them. They are offered in sushi and sashimi in the sushi bars.

Anything over 30 pounds is considered big in California, although I've heard of fish to around 70 pounds taken. They take much bigger fish down off of Baja. The New North American record of 87.6 pounds was taken by Brandon Whalers last August in Baja.

IBSRC yellowtail North American record, spearfishing

In New Zealand they call them kingfish, and they get over 100 pounds. The spearfishing record is 105.2 pounds.

[Don Paul]

Nice video Bill, Yellowtai and bluefin are my all around favorite fish to eat.
Cheers, Don

[Bill McIntyre]

Just in case there is any doubt- I didn't take the video. Dam took it.