Long Beach Fishing

We finally picked out a new outfit for the Okuma truck and trailer.  It was long overdue since we've updated our logo a couple times over the past few years.  But we finally got it done.

The Expedition is all cleaned up and the Parker 1801 looks pretty good as well.  

We have been out a couple of times over the past couple weeks doing some filming and "Product Testing" on some upcoming gear.  Can't really give any sneak peaks that stuff at this point, but there will be more to come.

On Friday I took out a couple of old friends for a run down to Long Beach harbor to work the wall a little bit, and do a couple of drifts for halibut.  We were right on top of the "Super Blood Blue Moon" which made fishing a little difficult.  We had about an 8' swing in tide, which is awesome, but the fish just didn't want to cooperate.  We decided to fish only artificials for the day. We thru Savage Gear baits like teh TPE Shrimp, Sand Eels, and the new 3D Baitfish.  I did manage one pretty nice Sand Bass inside at one of the oil rigs, but of course, didn't get a picture of it. Oh well.  We drifted around for a few short bites, and managed more short bites on both the inside and outside of the wall.  We even made a run to one of the outside oil islands for nada.

Heck, we had mid 80's weather while the rest of the country is freezing.  I guess we can't complain too much.

Until next time!
Dave

Prado Running Gun

Here is a short article that I wrote and was recently published in Western Outdoor News in California.  I love to shoot competitively, and and PRG gives everyone that chance.

As the holidays pass, and the thermometer has finally dropped back into the normal range, a lot of people feel that their outdoor activity options are limited.  If you are a fisherman, you might be out throwing big baits at big fish. If you are a gun guy like myself, you might be getting a little tired of heading to the range to shoot at static paper targets week after week.  If so, this is a great time to get involved with some fun match shooting with a club at a local range. 

I’ve been shooting for what seems my entire life.  Over the past couple of years, I have been getting more and more involved with my local club called Prado Running Gun out of Prado Olympic Shooting Park in Chino Hills California.  Conveniently located off of the 91 and 71 freeways, this park offers a wide variety of shooting options for the local enthusiast.  Whether its Skeet or Trap, or long guns and hand guns, they have a variety of options for you, as well as a nice pro shop for all of your ammo and gear needs.  One day a while back, I was looking at local flyers and postings in the pro shop and saw something about Prado Running Gun.  For more information on Prado Olympic Shooting Park, please visit www.shootprado.com.

Prado Running Gun is a fun club that holds monthly matches for all experience levels.  The matches are held on the first Sunday of every month and are a great opportunity to hone your skills, and meet some great fellow enthusiasts drawing from 60-100+ competitors at each event. 

These matches are a lot of fun, and a great way to learn some valuable skills.  Each match opens with a new shooter orientation.  If you are new to shooting, or new to match events, this is the perfect opportunity to learn the rules, and to give you an overview of what is ahead.   Once you are through your orientation, you will be put into a squad, or you can join a squad with your friends.  Each squad has a variety of skill levels.  From very beginner, to expert.  You’ll see everything from right out of the box production model pistols, to some very high tech, high dollar, competition firearms.  Some matches even include shotgun and AR style divisions.

Most of the matches are set up in to five or six stages.  Each stage has a different set of objectives and target arrangements.    Some stages will have as many as 20 targets, ranging from static steel, to paper, to pop ups.  These are all fun and engaging, and it is a great experience to watch how other shooters tackle each of these scenarios differently.  You’ll be prone, kneeling, standing, bent over, and even have some hands up, hostage type scenarios.  On an average Sunday match, you may have the opportunity to fire off close to 200 rounds in a fun, exciting atmosphere.  Much better than standing at a range at 10 yards firing at the same silhouette.  Everyone I have encountered have been very supportive, offer encouragement, and give advice if you’d like.  If you happen to be at the range on one of these weekends, swing on by and check it out.  These are a great group of gun enthusiasts, and you might just make a couple of new friends.   The best part, a match only costs $30 for the day.  Considering this is about the same price as a range fee, it is well worth the experience you will gain from the different scenarios.

Prado Running Gun also now offers a Wednesday Night Steel match the last Wednesday of every month.  These are an evening event shooting into the dark.  They usually start at about 4pm and run through around 8pm.  During these winter months, you are definitely shooting into the dark hours.  It is a lot of fun, and a great way to experience a whole new sense of adventure. For more information on Prado Running Gun, and the monthly matches, please visit www.prg-ipsc.com/site/

Once you get through a match or two, and realize that you are really enjoying yourself, another fun way to be involved is to join the USPSA- United States Practical Shooting Association.  The USPSA is a great way to find other clubs, events, and matches in your area.  When you register for your events with your USPSA number, you will receive a classification after you shoot a classifier.  This classification is how you are ranked at different events, and amongst your peers out in the field.  It is a fun way to help you build upon your skill level.  The more you shoot, the better, and more comfortable you will be with your firearm.  For more information on the United States Practical Shooting Association, please visit WWW.USPSA.ORG.

Running again!!!

After two full years of battling a torn meniscus, and plantar fasciitis, I finally had a comfortable run. It was a short two miler, but a run none the less.  Hopefully many more to come.  I miss it dang it.  I mean, spin class is fun and all, but the outdoors is what really drives me.

Chino Hills Trail Run Series 2016

Its now been a few months, okay a year, since I've ran an organized event. I've been nursing a torn meniscus and it's been a slow process. I was feeling strong back in November, but had a little setback while running in Maui. Anyhow, after a couple months of slow training, decided to go for it.
I went ahead and signed up for the Chino Hills Trail Run Series 10k. What a great event.

 

 

When I signed up there was literally one spot left, so I took it. The event happened to be right smack at the end of the Fred Hall Long Beach show. This is a long week of on your feet, fishing show experience. Good times, but exhausting.

With a nice relaxing 8am start, all of the racers were lined up and ready to go.  The Hoka's were laced up tight and ready to go.  In the 10k, I believe there were about 80-90 of us.  Nice and small group.

The race is set in Chino Hills in Soutthern California. The course is run on dirt trails and fire roads in the hills. With about 1,700 feet of elevation change, it was also a bit of a challenge.

About a mile and a half in, you make a hard right and head up the vertical. It was pretty steep and ended up being a walk for the most part.  Once at the top you run along the ridge with the canyon down to your left and views of Yorba Linda, and on clear days, views all the way to San Clemente Island. After a while running the ridge you make a left and head down a tight single track back down to the main trail. From there, mostly downhill all the way back to the finish at the Discovery Center.

Once crossing the finish line we were greeted with a nice metal. All in all it was a fun run with lots of great people. It seemed really well organized and well run.  My goal for the run was 1:30, but I managed 1:34, so not too bad after being out of the loop for a bit.

The event runs a 10k and 1/2 marathon on the same day.  Later in the year there is a full marathon and 50k I believe on the same day.  We'll see how the year pans out, but maybe the full or 50 will be in my future.  Or maybe not.

Happy Running!

Okuma Excel Trip

Been a little while since I've posted.  Torn meniscus has been hampering my running.  The #fishing part has been going strong though! 
I had the opportunity to be the charter master for the recent Okuma charter aboard the luxury sport boat, the Excel.  Good trip with a great crew.  We went chasing the big Bluefin that were around, but only found cookie cutter 40-50lb models.  Here is one of them.

 

 

 

It was a great trip.  Even some Short Billed Spearfish came on board.  And wouldn't you know it, I even made the Western Outdoor News.

Slowly getting back into the running thing.  Been in absolutely pain.  Time to suck it up and get back out there.

Tight lines!

Vashon Ultra Marathon Weekend

This weekend is the Vashon Ultra Marathon weekend.  For some reason, this sounded like a good idea when I signed up a couple of months ago.

Wish me luck!

Okuma Sponsored 2.5 day Tuna trip in May

What started off as a 2.5 day coastal trip for Ling Cod and the possibility at some yellowtail, turned into an absolute epic trip for VERY early season offshore pelagics.  After hearing a report a week earlier that the Sportfishing boat, The Eclipse, got into some unexpected yellowfin tuna, our trip aboard the Tribute filled up fast.  With a limited load of 28 passengers, this spacious vessel out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego, was the place to be. Once the reports hit, the boat filled fast. 
When we all arrived down at the boat after work on Friday afternoon, we arrived to overcast skies.  That in itself didn't damper any of the thoughts of tuna and yellowtail that were filling the anglers minds.

Sunset at the bait receiver.

While anglers were getting signed in up at the landing, we took the boat on over and got her filled up with primed sardines, anchovies, and mackerel.

Getting a tank full of primed Sardines, Chovie, and Makeral was key.

Scoop after scoop of cured, primed bait came over the rail.  This was really good looking stuff too!

A nice full scoop of Dines coming over the rail.

Back at the dock, anglers were lined up and ready to get on board and start the journey. As the team of anglers was boarding the Tribute, they were greeted by Dave Brown, Promotional and Events Manager for Okuma and Savage Gear.  He was in the galley handing out swag for the trip.

Hats, Beanies, Rod Wraps, Stickers, T-Shirts were all on tap for the Swag.

 

The time came to shove off, and off we went.  After hearing the reports the plan was to make the long trip down to fish offshore day one, and if it didn't look good, we'd head inside and fish coastal or islands for yellowtail.

Tribute ready to shove off.

The boat departed about 9pm and off we went.  We had about a 160 mile run south to start to get into the fishing zone.  Along the way we saw plenty of sea life.  Dolphin, Porpoise, and even a huge pod of Sperm Whales were sited.  We all got a some rest that first night and when we woke up, well, we still had quite a ways to go.  We were getting some reports of early fish from boats that had gotten down to the zone earlier, and it sounded really good.  We were all getting really excited. 
We dropped the trollers back mid day, and started the official trolling rotation shortly after that.  About 3pm, we found what we were looking for.  A nice pod of dolphin that were holding Yellowfin.  Yellowfin...this is May right?  Crazy!  From that jig strike we only got a couple fish.  No bait fish came up.  Captain Mike Pritchard made the choice to pull the trollers so that we can get on down to the zone and not be stopped by 1 and 2 fish jig strikes.  This was a great call.  Once we got down into the zone it went crazy.  Fish were spotted all around.  Deep sonar marks, breaking fish, etc.

Deep Bend Andros on a Makaira rod.

Jake holding up a nice Bluefin caught on the Andros.

Day one went on and we ended up with a pretty impressive count of about 35 various tuna and a handful of yellowtail.

Days 1 complete.

After fishing was through, we all headed in for a delicious meal prepared by Tommy.

Galley.  Tommy did some excellent work.

The first dinner was pork roast.  It looked and everyone said it tasted absolutely delicious.  You couldn't even get these guys to look up for a picture they were so focused.

Reflecting on the days fishing over some grub. 

After the amount of fish we saw around the area, capt Mike made the decision to stay in the same spot.  We put out the sea anchor and drifted the area until dawn. 
When the sun finally came up, we started fishing.  We trolled around a bit for jig strikes that came fairly regularly.  Some jig strikes would turn into a 10-20 fish stop.  The decks were getting pretty bloody, and the fish hold was filling.

Bloody Decks!

On occasion, we would stop on some deep meter marks.  The Bluefin would come up charging the boat.  Some of these stops went on for a good while. 

Big Bluefin putting on the hurt.

Andros getting it done again.

After getting a few fish in the box, it was time to have a little fun.  I got some fish on bait and some fish on the slide with Savage Gear Sand Eels. It was time to take out the Komodo 350's and put a whoopin' on some Bluefin.

Okuma's Dave Brown (The Running Fisherman) with a nice Bluefin caught on the low profile Komodo 350

The fishing just went on and on.  We took every second of that extended trip to take advantage of MAY tuna fishing.  It was incredible.

Cortez 5 and Cedros Coastal Rod making easy work of this tuna.

I had some raffles, gave away some prizes, and even had a contest.  Biggest fish caught on one of the Okuma set ups won a new Cedros Coastal Rod.  Lots of anglers tried out the gear, and from what they said, we even have a couple of converts. 
Here are two winners of the Cedros Coastal rods.

Lucky Winners

After stretching it out as long as we could, Captain Mike made the call that it was time to start the 17 hour journey home.  But...after two days of looking, we found our first kelp patty.  And wouldn't you know, it ended up being a stop for right around 60 yellowtail. 
Once all of the gear was packed up, anglers cleaned up and headed to dinner.  Chef Tommy had a delicious Tri-Tip dinner ready for everyone. 

Tommy back there doing what he does.

Concentration.

It was a great trip all around.  The crew of the Tribute really takes good care of you.  From keeping the boat clean, to the care they take in processing your catch.  Not to mention Captain Mike Pritchard for going the extra distance getting us down on the fish. 
I mean hey, this is May still right?  Crazy!

For more information on upcoming Okuma and Savage Gear sponsored trips aboard the Tribute, visit www.tributesportfishing.com.



Next week, the Vashon Ultramarathon.  31 miles of bliss.  Or blisters.  Not sure which.


Happy Fishing!