Weather is warming up (even though it rained out of the blue today). Fred Hall Show this week in Long Beach!

Taka Tanaka is building two three Calstar rods for me which I'll release details and pics of in just a bit... I think I'm going to interview Taka as well, which should be a pleasure.

Two new Accurate Reels in the works - a 665 2 speed (see next newest post for upgrade), and a B2-50 2 speed... My birthday is coming up this month...... and the big fish may be starting their prowl.

Two new Dan Hernandez "Obamicons" created for your pleasure. These are great to use as avatars for your fishing forums such as Get Bent Sportfishing, or my personal fave (and fan favorite) BloodyDecks.com!

and

Enjoy!

Oh, and you can make your own by clicking here.

(Disclaimer: I can't complain too much, I mean half the world is freezing their asses off, and the water was like glass in Baja in January - see two posts back... but that don't help the itch none)

It's been raining. Ugly out. Non-stop. Freezing too (for us California pussies, at least). I hate running the fucking electric heater at home, but that's my only option since the central heating thermostat is out, and I don't really wanna ask my landlord to fix it since we don't plan on staying much longer. Screw asking for anything that might slow down getting my $1k deposit back. That's like some nice Tuna trip money, or some nice gear right there! Also because of this nasty overcast rain (that is supposed to clear out today, but who knows...), I haven't been out on the water at all... and I've gotta say - it's kinda killing me. Imagine if you will, each raindrop is just a needle that is digging into my soul, inch by slippery inch... I know, that's so fucking teen agnst/emo haha. Anyhow, that's why the reports have been slow to come - I'm not getting lazy on you! Hopefully I'll get out this Sunday (Saturday I'm hanging with the lady), and tear up some nice sand bass and get the rod bent and the line wet... Picked up a new Shimano 8' light-tip rod with fast action today too... I wanna test it's durability (and lifetime warranty), so I definitely hope to score and pull out the Mack Truck of the seas with it come the weekend.

Oh, on another note. Going to watch Friday the 13th (remake) at midnight on Thursday the 12th... should be pretty crazy. Wonder what the bass are like in Crystal Lake... hmm...

"Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind."

- Leonardo Da Vinci

That's Bobby "Weeds" there with a beautiful fish on the 'Big Game 90' (out of San Diego, CA). I met Bobby while serving time on the Constitution. He was initially quiet as hell (kinda like most everyone on those longer trips are at first), but warmed up quickly and started shooting the shit with the best of 'em in a matter of minutes. Bobby is from Huntington Beach, so it was easy to click with him and talk a little bit about the culture and our local scene...

We discussed the hard-headed HB cops, the up-to-no-good tourists that frequent Main Street late nights, good weed & strong drink, shitty titty bars, as well as our day jobs. Conversation swayed to and fro - from bitches that had burned us, to good places to eat, and eventually landed on the subject of fishing trips (because fuck, I mean we were on one at the time). He told me of a trip he had taken recently on the BG-90 - one where he had spent quite a few days out at sea, and with a limited load of anglers - maybe just 8 to 10 guys (lucky, right?).

During this Tuna hunt, and while on the rail working a big bastardo, Bobby "Weeds" was approached by another passenger (angler) who demanded that Bobby move, and that he was "in his spot." To be a little bit of a dick, Bobby took one look over each shoulder, and to his amazement - there was no one else near him on the starboard side of the stern... but Bobby moved anyhow, because he's just cool like that (cue Digable Planets '93 or whenever that single debuted)... Bobby's friend Donny (who Bobby described as a very tough and quite large sonofabitch) on the other hand, looked like he wanted to knock the dude's lights out for being so petty... But Bobby kept on - turned around, and walked to the other end of the boat...

Just then, Bobby heard it. A fat POP! in the air where he once stood, followed by a THUMP! which sounded like a sack of rice being dropped to the deck. Upon turning around Bobby saw that the guy who had hassled him not only 1 minute prior about his "spot" on the empty boat, was now laying face-up with his eyes rolled up in his skull on the deck. Immediately Bobby yelled at his friend Donny, "Why'd you hit him Donny? - he wasn't worth it!" Donny looked about as confused as Bobby, swearing up and down that he had not laid a finger on the guy!

The two looked down at the floor next to 'Mr. Space' and there lied a flapping flying fish with a bloody jaw. Apparently right after the jerk had told Bobby to get out of his space/number, the flying fish had jumped up out of the water, and struck the man with both the momentum of his flight as well as the boat traveling in the other direction. The fish hit him square in the face, and either startled him so bad that he fell straight back and knocked his head on the deck as hard as a whore gets slammed by an ex-con who's been in prison for 20 years, or it really did just hit him that hard! If Bobby had still been standing there, it would've been him... or would it have?

Either way, the guy was out cold. It was the perfect Rocky & Apollo double-KO, and people were crowded around him as his legs would give the occasional twitch, and the fish flapped furiously like his shrunken shadow (ego) by his side. The captain of the Big Game eventually had to bring down the smelling salts to wake him up, and that's about as far as I got with that story before I burst out in uncontrollable laughter with Bobby on that terrific evening. Listen, I'm not a sadist or someone who enjoys seeing folks get hurt, but given the circumstances, I am allowed to laugh at least a little bit, right?

Oh, and to make this even a little more disturbing, almost instantly people began to lose interest in the passed-out man and started feeling terribly sorry for the confused little flying fish. Nurture instinct... HMPH! *Pai Mei beard stroke*

"Karma's a bitch, and I ain't gon' do her sister." - Moi

Friday was finally here... The day I'd been waiting for for 2 weeks now (since i missed the trip last week)... I was stuck at a work function 'til late afternoon and it was raining to high hell in the City of Industry, where I was sent out on-conference for my day-job. As soon as we were released from the conference and I packed up all the shit I'd brought, I was on the I-5 South and headed straight for H&M Landing in San Diego where I was to jump aboard the Constitution. Captain Joe Phillips was hooking us up with another amazing deal at only $195 USD for the 1.5 day adventure to Punta Colonet - food and snacks included. I'd heard about the Constitution motto, Good Food, and Plenty of It, but didn't take it to seriously at first... that was until i showed up about 3 and half hours later - through friday traffic and was met with tasty party/snack platters and plenty of cold drink. As I checked in and was greeted by Captain Joe, I noticed that most of the 19 anglers set to board were already there, and had their rods in place, and dicks-in-hand - ready to get moving down south, where we were to fish giant reds and ugly blue-meat lings that would feel good in our round bellies. A couple of other guys showed up and we were off... Let me start out by saying that there were no cocksuckers onboard. Everyone seemed like mild-mannered good people, including the staff. Saw some BloodyDecks.com members as well - there was Jason, Martin, Bubba, and of course El Buso himself. After a short safety and "no heroin smuggling across the border" huddle, we were off to Colonet... and in good time.

I woke up Saturday morning at about 615am and the sea, to my amazement was looking gorgeous... I munched on a delicious breakfast burrito and drank two bottles of water. We were about an hour away from first dump-in, and i was still in awe at how gorgeous the conditions were... especially considering that all of my chump-friends that didn't wanna come out this weekend because of "foul weather," were getting pounded with buckets of rain back in Cali...

I'm not kidding when i say it was lake-flat out there. The lightweight 3oz Shimano Lucanus jig was on fire in the morning - pinks and whites, as well as bait-blues were knockin' 'em dead... I stayed fishing the Lucanus for a while in blue, hoping to hit some deep-ridge-riding elusive Yellowtails, but instead got some pretty nice fat reds... hey, life is still good, right baby? I looked around, and realized that the live sardines were mashing on the Lings left and right, and my main man Bobby "Weeds" had his bag full of 'em in a matter of minutes... Dude must've had the ugly gods on his side because I looked in his bag an hour or so later, and you couldn't close the top of the sack with a zip tie if you tried... everyone else seemed to be in the same boat (pun intended).

That's Brett (above); he had two fat Lings (same size) on that one line... this happened a couple more times... Captain Joe Phillips really put us on those ugly tasteys. On more than a few drops, i would hit bottom and immediate feel a strike, and then watch as my rod bent a bit. I would set the hook, wait a couple moments, and then watch as the rod literally bent in half! Upon seeing color, I realized I had two fat, gorgeous reds on one line (on sardine). I would drop her down again and wait for the 8 ounce sinker to hit bottom, and right away - thump... then... THUMP!!!! (big bend) - and up would come two deliciofresh salmon groupers on one line. This story kept playing over and over - filling our bags up really quickly with great freezer-meat, and giving us good time to talk some shit and share some nautical comaradery while onboard the Constitution. There were good times all around - people were laughing, making fun of the foul-hooked little guys, and just all around happy... there was no bitching to be heard, and no dirty looks, or "get out of my spots" to be found (which is very important to me on a trip where you're in close quarters for more than 5-8 hours). Just about 45 minutes into it, we had fat grab bags full of Lings, Reds, Whites, and Starries. We stayed in the same spot for a bit longer, then headed towards a big bait boil we saw under some diving birds. It looked like piranha-fever or like some wild shit was breaking out - temperamentally moving away from us, then methodically back towards our boat. The gulls were going ape shit too, so we were full-steam ahead towards the action... (excuse the no-pics here, i was too excited to be snapping away, and rigging up with some surface irons for the possible Bonito bite)... As we got in position for the boil to come to us, we realized that to our disappointment, they were all just big-ass Mackerel, but a few of us threw in anyhow, wanting to get some nice strip bait. At about 3rd cast, Brett (seen above with the Ling) got nailed by a little 3lb or 4lb Bonito. We brought her on board and I put my foot on her while they unhooked her. Then came the yelp and squawks (WTF, I didn't know they were so vocal?!) right before she was turned into bait for the big Reds. Brett later had a nice Bonito hookup on the troll (bigger this time), using a light blue and white Rapala with black markings... good shit.

We got to limits at just about the right time. As evening hit, we began fishing the choppier waters, and while it was still righteous, it was turning our arms into the Incredible Hulk on crack, and we had had the greatest time aboard the ship, it was now time for good rest and the delicious steak with baked potato and sweet corn meal that Joe (the cook) had cooked to perfection in the galley... Our second sacks were full of quality Reds and fat Mexican Reds, Lings, Groupers, Giant Whitefish, and Starry Eyes, and we were ready to sit our tired asses down for a some land lover meat.

Some beauties on deck before they harvested 'em all from below deck

Enough taco meat to start your own Rubio's

A great mix of starry eye, lings, and big reds

Can you spot the jackpot fish yet?

Nasty ol' gill rakers

Brett Kopitz of Sylmar, CA with a nice fat red

Jaws: How it was written aboard the Constitution on that fateful Saturday

Jackpot: "The Crocodile Hunter" - second Jackpot in a row I've lost to a lady!

In closing (and I know that this was long review/report, but also hope you've enjoyed reading), I have gotta say that the trip was a success in all facets. Being as I was one of the last on, and got side-tracked by the good food Joe the Cook had set aside in the galley for us upon entrance, I ended up sleeping in the submarine bunk, perpendicular to the point of the bow. Even then, I had a fucking awesome time: great crew, great deckhands (quick with the gaff and tangles), and an excellent Captain who knew where the hell the fish were... All of that on top of good people like Jason, Mac, Norm, Bubba, Paul, Brett, Bobby, and Martin (amongst others) made this a great warm-weather trip... and what's more is we're in the middle of gatdamn January!!! The consensus all around by the seasoned vets and good-timers was "yes, I would definitely fish the Constitution again - this boat has been great." Keep the good times a'comin...