Windy Seas but good Fishing!

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.

Sunset