My family and I have been fishing with COA for many years and we have had some pretty incredible days on the water.  However, last Thursday (July 28) may have been our best day ever.

After making some bait, my daughter (Kaitlyn) and I headed out to an area a few miles above the airport.  We immediately ran into some boiling yellowtail and threw out the Tady 45’s.  We each hooked up on our first casts and it was game on for the next three and a half hours.  Our captain (Jose) was outstanding as always and kept a constant eye out for the next spot of fish that popped up.  We even caught a few of the ones that follow the sharks around.  All fish were caught on surface iron in mint/white, blue/white or scrambled egg.  By around 10:30 we took a pause after catching a total of 25 yellows.  They ranged in size from about 20 t Add Form o 35 pounds, with Kaitlyn catching the big fish of the day at 42 pounds.

Although we could have scratched out a few more fish, we decided to make the run over to Isla Natividad for some of their legendary calico fishing.  We fished the kelp and it was absolutely incredible. I’m used to seeing a bass or two following in the bass on my line, but here there were times when we had 15-25 followers!!  I have never seen anything like it.  There was even one time when I lifted my plastic a foot out of the water and had two calicos jump out of the water to eat it!!  At this point, we were looking through our tackle box to find something they wouldn’t bite.  We had no success with that search.  We also caught some miscellaneous other fish, including a 14lb sheepshead.   After around two and a half hours, we had over 150 bass. 

HOWEVER, our three friends were fishing in another boat and had been in the same area since about 7am.  Their captain had a clicker on board and was keeping a count of all fish that came over the rail.  Fish lost at the boat did not count.  They stopped fishing at 2pm with a count of 456 bass!!!  I am not making this up!!!

Just another day in paradise.

 

Tom & Kaitlyn Wilkens