Once again the Big Hammer/Qualifier 105 Skiff Trip was an incredible experience. I set four personal bests including my largest calico bass at 8.5 pounds, white seabass at 40 pounds, sheepshead at 11 pounds, and a Calico/Sand Bass Hybrid at 3.5 pounds. Almost all of my fish were caught on 6 inch Big Hammer swimbaits including all of my new personal bests.

Saturday - May 29th:
The first day we tried fishing Geronimo Island and Sacramento Reef but the fish just didn't want to play. Just when I thought the day was going to be a complete bust captain Brian put the boat on rediculously wide open bite on a shallow reef. Most of the fish were Barred Sand Bass, Lingcod and rockfish but there were a few nice Calicos caught. The bite was so stupid that the fish were hitting tail-less baits and even bare jig heads! There were at least 3 or 4 fish caught that spit up the tails of someone else's swimbait. I pretty much stuck to Assalt Skirted Ringer Worms and was catching fish as fast as I could get the line in the water.

Sunday - May 30th - Cedros Island:
Because of colder conditions we skipped Benitos and went straight to Cedros Island. When we arrived the bass were already biting pretty good off of the big boat. There were a couple of yellowtail hooked but lost because of the light bass tackle being used (20 - 25 lb. test).

We had the late morning skiff run. We headed out off the point near the Salt Mine. The water was clear and beautiful. We picked at the bass pretty good and got to watch quite a few follower fish attacking the hooked fish. Bryan hooked a nice yellowtail and got it pretty close on 20 lb. test but it was eventually lost to the kelp. A little later we got to see a yellowtail follow Bryan's swimbait almost all the way up to the boat - only to stop and turn away just at the last minute - a bummer but very cool to see. There was tons of bait in the water and during our entire skiff run calico bass were boiling all over the place on the red pelagic crabs.

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Cedros Calico Bass - 6 inch Christmas Tree colored Big Hammer

After lunch on the Q-105 we went to hunt for yellowtail. They came up sparatically but never stayed on the surface very long. It turned into a very nice surface bite on calico bass and a few yellowtail were hooked and lost.

On our afternoon skiff run we learned that there was a couple of smaller white seabass near shore so we went to take a look. We found some nice "milky" white seabass conditions and started fishing. After catching a few calicos Bryan has about a 15 pound seabass follow his bait up to the skiff - then go right under the skiff. We looked but never saw it come out so Bryan started jigging his bait just off the side of the boat and sure enough the fish came flying out and nailed his bait. After a nice fight the fish was lost at the gaff. We continued to fish and Bryan and Josh caught a couple of legal seabass (10 pound class) and I lost one. We also caught a few nice Calicos including a 7 pounder caught by Josh.

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Josh's 7 lb. Cedros Calico - 6 inch Mackerel colored Big Hammer

Monday - May 31st - Natividad Island:
Early morning skiff run. We had some great bass fishing in the kelp. One of the highlights of the run was watching our skiff driver Cal nail a 50+ pound yellowtail. He got it in thick kelp on a 6 inch Larry Heron Special colored Big Hammer on 60 pound spectra line. The fish hit right next to the skiff and we all watched the whole thing. He stopped the fish quick and struggled with it in the kelp but after a few minutes had it to the surface (along with about 30 pounds of kelp). The first gaff attempt tore out but the second was to the head and the fish was in the skiff. I caught my personal best sheepshead at 11 pounds which also got caught in a bunch of kelp. After quite a long fight that included several attempts at letting the fish swim out of the snag it finally came loose. A nice fish but I was a little disappointed that it was not a Calico Bass.

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11 lb. Natividad Sheepshead - 6 inch Big Hammer

Late morning on the Q105. Another attempt at hunting yellowtail. They came up boiling a couple of times but no one could get them to stick. Josh hooked and lost one to the kelp.

Afternoon skiff run. Wide open fishing in the kelp for lots of 2 - 4 pound bass. I stuck to Assalt California Ringers in the Rock Lobster and Seafood Gumbo colors, Josh used 6 inch swimbaits and Bryan primarily used 5 inch swimbaits. We all caught tons of bass. After that bite slowed down a little we moved into some beautiful looking shoreline with lots of boilers and underwater rocks and had some of the best bass fishing so far on the trip. Lots of larger, stronger boiler fish (3 to 5 pounds). Nice clear water - like fishing in an aquarium. We had a blast pulling these strong fish off of the boilers on 6 inch Big Hammers. Keylime and Clear Red were the hot colors in tight.

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A nice set of Natividad Boiler Bass - 6 inch Clear Red and 7 inch Keylime Big Hammers

Tuesday - June 1st - San Benitos Island:
Early morning on the Q105. Chased yellowtail but still couldn't get them to stay on top. The skiffs were getting them pretty good. Finally started getting them on the Q. I lost two to Sea Lions. Bryan got the first Bonito I've seen caught on any of the skiff trips.

Late morning skiff run. This morning we had a record breaking skiff run on the yellowtail. We found them biting consistently just past the gap. We ended up with 18 yellowtail (previous skiff record was 17 fish set last year) and lost about the same amount to the kelp and rocks. About half the fish were caught on 5 and 6 inch Big Hammer swimbaits and the other half on surface iron. The fish were in the 25 - 35 pound range. It was absolute pandimonium.

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After lunch on the Q105. Some nice bass fishing from the big boat and a few Yellowtail mixed in. Josh had a huge (at least 50 lbs.) yellowtail follow his swimbait out of the kelp and eat it right there in front of several onlookers. He didn't set the hook right away but tried to lead it around to the back of the boat and away from the kelp. About half way down it realized it was hooked and bolted. It didn't take long to break his 25 lb. test.

On the late afternoon skiff run we started fishing some kelp off of some very nice looking boiler covered shoreline. It was wide open for about 10 minutes. Bass nailing the swimbaits almost before they even hit the water. Our skiff driver Tommy got a nice yellowtail. Once that slowed down we moved in close to the boilers. It seemed a bit sketchy to me but Tommy being a surfer definitely knows how to read water and get us in there. Josh starts off by pulling a big 7 pounder off of a boiler. We fished all around the boilers and caught a decent amount of nice fish. Not completely wide open but most of the fish were over 4 pounds and mean, hard fighting boiler bass. We came around one corner of a rock and I saw a perfect edge with a nice surge rolling over the top of it. I cast around the corner, timed it just so my bait would be coming over the "hump" of the rock when the water was up (it was dry when the water was down), and got picked up right there. The fish immediately dove into a deep spot in front of the boiler and almost rocked me right there. After a nice tug-o-war I landed my personal best calico at 8.5 lbs. on the Boga Grip.

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Josh's 7 lb. Benitos Boiler Bass

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My 8.5 lb. Benitos Boiler Bass - 6 inch Red Calico Hunter colored Big Hammer

Wednesday - June 2nd - Chester's Rocks:
Had the early morning skiff run. Started off near Chester's Rocks fishing the boilers for a slow pick on average sized bass. We moved around to some underwater boilers and kelp beds which didn't improve too much although Josh got a nice yellowtail in the kelp on Bass Gear and 65 lb. Power Pro. We got a message from the Q105 that they had pulled up on a kelp bed near a drop off, and had chummed up a pretty wide open bite on bass so we headed over and fished their chum line. After several nice bass I hook into something that's definitely not a bass on the 6 inch Mackerel colored Big Hammer. It was fighting very strangely for a yellowtail. On the Power Pro line the head shakes felt like they were practically going to tear my arms off. Josh thought for sure it was a white seabass by the way it was fighting and he was right. After an awesome fight I landed a nice white seabass. On the boat they measured it at 35 lbs. but later we discovered that the scale was off and using ratios (based on a 47 lb. yellowtail actually weighing 54 lbs.) we discovered that the fish was probably in the 40 lb. range.

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Chester's Rocks White Seabass - 6 inch Mackerel colored Big Hammer

On our afternoon skiff run we hit the jackpot. Went and fished some shoreline that had scattered rocky and sandy areas. It was all cast and wind fishing in about 6 - 10 feet of water and about as wide open as it can possibly get. Every cast was a fish and nearly every fish had follower fish trying to snatch the swimbait away from the hooked fish. Sometimes there were so many followers that it just looked like a huge big brown ball coming up with the fish. Average fish was probably 2 - 3 lbs. but we had a lot of 4 and 5 pounders. There were a few Sand Bass mixed in and I also caught a 3.5 lb. Calico/Sand Bass Hybrid. The bite lasted for about an hour and then slowed down a bit. It was still good fishing just not as rediculously wide as it was for our first hour.

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I was able to get on the last skiff run of the day. We basically did the same thing and still got the bass pretty good. Back on the big boat guys were on the rail catching bass one after the other.

Thursday - June 3rd - San Benitos Island:
We voted to go back to San Benitos Island for our last full day of skiff fishing. On the Q105 in the morning we found some yellowtail but they were holding close to the bottom and seemed to be the bigger ones. As soon as we'd get bit the fish would be in the rocks. It seemed nearly impossible to pull them up before they'd get in there. On one of the skiffs Earl (Duke) nailed a beautiful 50+ lb. white seabass on an iron.

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We started off our late morning skiff run with a wide open bite on nice (30 - 40 pound) yellowtail. Josh and Bryan were throwing jigs on 40 and 50 lb. mono and I was 6 inch swimbaits on my bass gear (Calcutta XFA815, Calcutta 400) with 65 lb. Power Pro. We all caught several yellowtail and even got some of the action on film. That Power Pro sure does cut through the kelp nicely when there's a big yellowtail on the other end.

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After lunch we fished bass from the Q105 and had a slow pick. Bryan got a nice 7 pounder on the 7 inch Steve's Shad colored Big Hammer.

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Bryan's 7 lb. Benitos Calico - 7 inch Steve's Shad colored Big Hammer

Our afternoon skiff run wasn't too productive although it was a nice "ride". We went to an area the previous run had gone to and found wide open boiler fishing. For Larry it was his best skiff run of the trip. For us it had completely died down. We were able to find a couple of fish but the scenery was spectacular.

Friday - June 4th - San Martin Island:
Very slow fishing at San Martin. None of the skiffs found very many fish. We circled the island for a handful of fish that included a nice long skinny 6 pounder caught by Bryan. The fish probably would've gone 7 or even 8 pounds if it had a belly. Just before we were called in I got a nice 14 lb. Halibut on the 5 inch Calico Hunter Big Hammer.

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San Martin Halibut - 5 inch Calico Hunter colored Big Hammer

Once again the accommodations were great, the crew was beyond excellent (I am still in dis-belief at how hard they work), the food seems to keep getting better every year, and I can not say enough about Captain Brian Sims - truly top-notch. Not only in his abilities to handle a craft like that and put you on fish but his good nature and fun attitude really make the entire trip a blast.

Compared to the previous years I would have to say that the bass fishing was about equal. We have had quite a few wide open bites in the past but I don't remember too many wide open boiler fishing type bites like we had this trip. Catching big bass in any situation is fun but there's nothing like pulling them off the boilers and inshore reefy areas. The yellowtail fishing wasn't as good on the big boat as it has been in the past but the skiff runs seemed to be a little better. This was the first year we have seen any sizable white seabass which was a nice addition. Personally, it was my best trip so far.

More pictures can be seen here (I will be adding pictures from other passengers as they are sent to me):
http://www.swimbait.com/gallery-skiff.htm

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Your picture of that 8.5lb calico is AWESOME. That's some of the best on the water ocean photography I've ever seen. I was smiling from ear to ear the whole time reading your report! :7

WOW. I cant even tell you how bad i want to go on next years trip. That is epic, like always.
great job, great post, and great pics
Daniel

Wow, awesome report. Makes me feel like I was there, oh yeah I was! If they could only see the video we shot.

Bryan aka the tackle destroyer

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH Brian your back!!!!!! Hopefully you dont remember you marked me for death. By the way nice trip and great fish. Id love to see that video.

yep, video is too sick. I didn't get many baits packed while watching the tv at big hammer today....

Have you guys ever thought about makin that Video public? I would dig on seeing some Big Hammer fishing done by the legends that I sit here and read about every day!!!

By the way, do any of you guys ever throw 5" hammers in the SB harbor, or do you mostly stay with 3"??.....

Great Pics and Post Pete!!!!

Bryan V.

We are working on getting some of the video footage on-line. I don't really know anything about it.

I typically use the 3 inch stuff in the shallow areas of the harbor but move to 4 and 5 inch baits when in shallow stuff isn't biting and they seem to want a "bottom bouncing" type of retrieve in deeper water. Also, when hunting the elusive bait receiver white seabass I typically use the 6 inch baits on 1.5 oz. heads.

Well Done Pete, pretty much sums it up! A trip like no other!
Still can't get over the power of those giant homeguard yellows, some were simply unstoppable.
I'll be watching my mailbox for that video footage, can't wait to see it on a TV screen! (software is ordered)
Did you get my emails with the photo's from my camera, I guess we've been having some email problems here at work?

Thanks Again!
Josh

Looks like it was a blast! Glad it was wide open at times and you scored scored some grumpy old bass.