A Near Perfect Day!

Jim, Kenji and I carpooled to Ventura with Jim driving. We arrived around 5:30 p.m. and were able to load our gear on the boat early and go to dinner. Our Captain, Pat Cavanaugh joined us (as my guest). We opted for fish from one of the great restaurants lining the harbor.

This was our second charter this year on the Pacific Dawn with Pat Cavanaugh at the helm. Dustin was our second Captain, Jimmy Colborn was master of the galley, and Opie and Mike ruled the deck. Pat decided on a late departure in order to let the winds and seas die down before making the run across the channel to Santa Rosa Island. Jim handed everyone a package of Kenji Flies to use in the morning then we all hit the bunks.

Calm seas greeted us Friday morning as we stumbled on deck. Snagging squid was our first priority. Al Scow was the king of squid snagging that morning. He was on fire. As the sun came up we were dropping our squid down hoping the white seabass would come through chasing the squid. Our hopes were unfulfilled but I did get to tug on a 50 pound bat ray (successfully released) for a little exercise.



Pat moved the boat out to the rockfish grounds. This time we were fishing in 300 feet of water unlike our last trip when we fished 100 foot depths. Click on the following link to see where we were fishing:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=33.9326,-119.9984&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Heavier weights or jigs were needed to get down to the bottom. Al was still on fire and taught us all how to catch reds one and two at a time. I fished a jig and single Kenji Fly and by days end I had picked off a limit of reds and Johnnie Bass, one ling cod and a sole which I ate for lunch. Jim started slowly catching undesirable fish but caught up quickly catching lots of reds and aced Al out of jackpot with his 4.5 lb. red. Kenji silently filled his bag with more reds than he could keep but the other passengers were happy to have his extras.

After the boat limited on rockfish, Pat took us around the island to a place called Beechers to try for white seabass since someone caught one there earlier in the day. The wind had come up and the drift was fast. We gave it a good try but the fish were still a no-show. Pat called it a day. As we left for home Jimmy was still serving his pulled pork sandwiches, burgers or fish burgers (my choice). They were great!

Beechers

Crew filleted our fish while we napped on the way back to dock. Around 7:30 p.m. we all headed for home with ice chests filled with delicious fillets. Jim took the coastal route through Malibu again. Traffic wasn’t too bad and I was home by 10 p.m.

It was a near perfect day. What would make it perfect? Perhaps weather that permits fishing the shallow waters off San Miguel or a limit of white seabass to go with the rock fish. Perhaps we are just getting spoiled and it really was a perfect day!