We departed late Sunday evening on our last Los Angeles Rod and Reel Club charter our of Ventura on the Pacific Dawn. We boarded the boat and Captain Pat Cavanaugh informed us that we were waiting for the wind to come down before heading out of the harbor (probably around midnight). Meanwhile we rigged our gear and visited with friends. Pat’s 12 year old son and Maddog (Mike) tried the pedaling surfboards. It was fun to watch.
Ryan and Mike Pedaling Surfboards
Sunrise
It was a rough channel crossing with plenty of airborn out-of-bunk moments, however, when we awoke we were at Santa Rosa Island and ready to try for white seabass. That lasted thirty minutes until the baby seals found us and Pat said to go have breakfast because we were heading to San Miguel Island – a 2 hour move.
The wind was still blowing 20 knots but the drift wasn’t too fast so it was very fishable. We began in shallow water (75 feet) and worked our way to deeper waters (200 feet) and back to the shallows. The fishing was very good first for blue bass on every drop then the reds started to bite. Jim Carlisle was bringing two big reds up at a time while I was catching and releasing the blue bass. Eventually I began to catch big chuckleheads and I mean big ones. Then the Johnnie Bass chased the chuckles away from my line and these were big Johnnie Bass. By days end, I finally got my limit of nice reds.
Tom Carlisle won the jackpot with a nice lingcod, one of about 4 caught for the day. Opie and Mike filleted the fish. We had a 6 hour ride back to the landing so most of us took a long nap until time to pay our tabs and drive home.
Ryan and Mike filleting fish
Whitney and Opie
As we said goodbyes, the crew was loading their stairs on the boat and readying it for the trip to San Diego as this was their last trip in Ventura for the season. The trip south is around 18 hours and the Pacific Dawn expected to be there on Tuesday afternoon in time to get ready for their first tuna charter Wednesday night.
I was on the Let’s Talk Hook-Up kayak mothership trip co-sponsored by Fastlane Kayaks aboard the Islander out of San Diego (http://www.islander-charters.com/). The boat departed Wednesday evening so I arrived early afternoon to jostle for a parking space which turned out to be unnecessary. Most of the long-range boats were at dock and the landing and parking lot was quite empty for mid June – a testament to the economy’s affect on the Sportfishing Industry.
Boats docked at Fisherman's Landing
Fastlane Kayaks provided Hobie Mirage Drive (http://www.hobiecat.com/kayaking/index.html) Kayaks for most of the passengers to use and the rest of us brought our own. We numbered 24 of which a dozen had never fished from a kayak and/or never been in a kayak. Three of the passengers opted to free dive/spear fish instead of kayak fishing. It is truly amazing to see the Islander load 22 kayaks with bait tanks and all the assorted gear on the back of the boat. My little Hobie Sportfish was the smallest kayak on board at a mere 9 feet in length. Just my size.
Islander fully loaded with 24 Kayaks
We encountered lake-like conditions for the 60 mile crossing to San Clemente Island. We awoke to the smell of coffee at 5:30 in the morning as the Captain (John Conniff) was positioning the boat to anchor in Pyramid Cove on the west end of the island. Chef Rick was serving Eggs Benedict for breakfast (my favorite) but I was in too much of a hurry to stop and eat. I quickly loaded gear on my kayak (bait tank, rod holders, fish finder, pedals, net, gaff, rods, tackle, etc.), put on my floatation vest with Spot Satellite Messenger and camera in its’ pockets, grabbed my marine radio and was ready to go. The crew lowered my kayak into the water and I stepped off the swim step into my kayak. A quick tour around the boat to prime the bait tank then I nestled the Yak next to the Port Stern of the Islander while the Captain filled my bait tank with well cured live sardines and anchovies. Time to fish.
A couple of guys beat me into the water and hooked a couple of yellowtail immediately. The smaller 12 pounder was landed while the larger one buried himself in the kelp then broke the line to the dismay of the angler. Then the yellowtail disappeared for the day. Anglers experienced in fishing the boiler rocks did quite well on the larger bass as did the spear fishermen. I learned later that Jarred (our host from Fastlane Kayaks) put his pedals in backwards so he could pedal backwards away from the boiler rocks allowing him to get in close. Ingenious! I fished inside the kelp for some good action as well. Landing these fish was another story especially if you were fishing straight mono instead of a one foot shot of mono tied to spectra (called a kelp cutter rig). The kelp cutter rig is the only way to get these fish out of the kelp. It’s strange to feel the spectra cutting through the kelp until the fish pops out the top.
One of my Calicos
Kelp Beds at Pyramid Cove
The scenery was spectacular as was the Islander’s operation. We fished Pyramid Cove all morning. We were instructed to work our way north and the boat would move mid-morning and pick us up at the other end of the cove. Around two in the afternoon the wind came up and all the kayaks were loaded on deck and John moved the boat to the front side of the Island.
I decided to dropper loop (bounce ball) for halibut/seabass the rest of the afternoon. It was so calm we could fish right on shore if we wanted.
I fished the sand edge where it met the structure (rocks/kelp) in 10 to 25 feet of crystal clear water. The brilliant orange Garibaldi were flitting in and out of the kelp like fire flies in the night. I hadn’t seen a garibaldi since I quit diving in the 70’s.
Spot Satellite Messenger's locates spots fished
Front side of the Island in the early afternoon
The launching operation
Me and my Hobie
The Islander as seen from my kayak
Late Afternoon on the water
If you are looking for a “Fish Tale” here it is. I was slow trolling a live sardine on my dropper loop and thought I snagged the bottom. I pulled on the line and it came loose too easily then I checked my fish finder to see that I was on a sandy bottom. When I got my bait back, it was deeply scored with teeth marks – I had yanked it out of a halibut’s mouth. I quickly sent a live sardine back down and was slammed instantly but this time I let him chew on it a bit then put my real in gear and wound tight then set the hook. Got him! I took my time bringing him in as I didn’t want to pull the hook and I knew my line wouldn’t break because I was using a short piece of 30# Berkley Fluorocarbon tied to 50# Spiderwire Stealth Camo Braid.
When the halibut surfaced, I knew it was big enough to be legal so I grabbed my gaff. I slowly angled the fish to the port side of my kayak and reached under the fish with the gaff and yanked up – got him. Now I needed to get the game clip in him before he jumped off the gaff. I opened the clip and slid it up through the gills and out the mouth and closed the clip. I did it. Fish on board! The clip was tethered to my kayak by a nylon cord with a metal clip connection (purchased). I lowered the fish into the water and he came to life and began to beat the side of the kayak until he broke the connection on the tether. My heart sank as the fish drifted down 20 feet and lay there on the bottom the blue handle of the game clip clearly visible hanging out its mouth.
Now I seriously considered diving for the fish for all of 3 seconds then regretted not taking a photo before lowering the fish in the water. I was heart broken. Then I thought about the divers on the trip and radioed the boat. About 5 minutes later the Captain showed up in his diving gear. When we looked back down, the fish was gone. John looked around for about 20 minutes without success so he decided to continue free diving for a while since he was already suited up. I had a couple more short bites that afternoon but that was it for the day.
I got back on the boat at 7 pm that evening and the Captain informed me that my halibut was in the hold. He said he found it swimming around (game clip and all) quite a distance down the beach nearly an hour later so he shot him with his spear gun. Now that is what I call customer service! I told John that it was his fish now and that I just wanted a photo, but as you can guess – he refused to keep the halibut so I doubled my tip to the crew.
The Halibut
The Game Clip that was in the Halibut
At the end of the day, my fish finder told me I had traveled 20 miles in my 13 hours on the water. I had missed breakfast and the Pasta Putanesca lunch but I wasn’t going to miss dinner – New York Steaks. They were delicious and I was hungry. After dinner Craig held a big raffle (as the Let’s Talk Hook-Up host) and gave away various tackle items including Berkley line, a rod and a reel. Then the crew pulled the fish out of the hold and weighed them up for Jackpot. Only one contender, the yellowtail as I hadn’t entered the contest. Both fish were right around 12 pounds with the yellowtail tipping the scale a hair more than my halibut.
The Raffle
We traveled back to San Diego in the same lake-like conditions arriving at Fisherman’s Landing at 6:30 am.
We unloaded our gear while crew unloaded the kayaks. I rinsed my kayak down at the landing then threw it back on the roof of my car and lashed it down for the ride back to Dana Point Kayak Center where I store it. Definitely a fun trip and if the fish had really been biting, it could have been spectacular. We faced the typical “you should have been here yesterday when the big yellows and seabass were biting” or “you should have been there the next day when the seabass went off big time.” I’m just happy with the trip we had and my husband loved the fresh halibut dinner last night.
By the way, when I got home I made a new tether for the game clip out of heavy nylon cord tied to the clip – no metal connections.
