San Miguel REDS!

We had our second Los Angeles Rod and Reel Club charter on the Pacific Dawn Monday May 7th. Great group of anglers (including club regulars Jim and Tom Carlisle, Al Scow, Ger Steinberg, and Roland Reesby) were on board when we departed Ventura Sportfishing's docks around 10 p.m, Sunday night. Pat Cavanaugh (the boat's owner and captain) ran the trip with Mandog (Mike Nickerson) as his second. Mike recently got his captain's license and was making the transition from deck to wheelhouse. Glenn was our Galley chef, Mo was on deck assisted by a guest appearance from Bill Cavanaugh.

Pat and the crew spent some time during the night trying to snag squid with no luck. When we got up in the morning we were just leaving Santa Rosa Island on our way to the inside of San Miguel.

Pat set us up in about 300 feet of water for our first drift around 7 a.m. It was a slow drift that started producing beautiful, big REDS (Vermillion Rock Fish). Tom, Jim, Roland and I fished the bow. Tom was fishing a jig, Jim, Roland and I were fishing Kenji flies with a strip of squid. They all worked.

We made a few drifts in the area until our sacks quickly started filling up. Pat decided to let us do some shallow water fishing where we picked up some nice lings. I switched to a 2 ounce leadhead and an old orange, flat-tailed plastic and nailed my last fish of the trip - a nice 12 to 15# ling cod.

Glenn kept us fed with fried rice and eggs for breakfast and fish or club sandwiches for lunch. Mo and Bill filleted our fish while we napped. We arrived back at dock around 8 p.m., unloaded our gear, packed our fish in ice chests and headed home. Another great trip in the books on the Pacific Dawn

Although the trip is over, the pleasure of the trip continues as we have fresh fish for the next few days dinners. Tonight we will have sashimi and steamed RED in our house. Tomorrow we'll have some of that nice ling cod. YUM!

Irvine Lake

Jim Carlisle and I made a quick excursion last Friday to Irvine Lake for a little trout fishing. We asked around about what had been working during the week. We were advised to either troll a flicker shad in Fire Tiger or Black and Silver, or, if everyone is stopped in one place, stop and fish bait. As for bait - Gulp Trout Bait in Rainbow Color on 4# fluorocarbon with a #16 hook was recommended.

 

We got to the Lake just as the gates were opening at 6 a.m. We drove across the road between the kids pond and the main lake then parked close to a boat ramp. We lifted our kayaks off the top of our vehicles, loaded them with gear and launched in ankle deep mud - Yuk! I'm used to sliding my kayak off a floating dock in Dana Point Harbor. Jim says I'm spoiled. I don't see anything wrong with that?

 

We trolled the west side of the lake all the way to the damn and back. Not a nibble. We noticed a group of boats stopped in one area so we stopped and dropped our bait rigs in. Jim was bit first then I got bit. We got a couple of small rainbow trout. Everyone around us had nice stringers of fish. One guy was on his cell phone bragging about already having 7 fish just as he got bit again.

After another 45 minutes without a bite, we started trolling again looking for another spot. We split directions and I went towards the damn and Jim headed the opposite direction still along the West shore. I got nothing! I headed back to find Jim and he was hooked up working on another fish right where we caught the first fish. I put one bait rod in and tried casting a jig with another. I got a bite on the jig but it dropped off. That was it for me. Jim caught a couple more fish on bait for a total of 4 for the day.

We peddled around by the damn then along the east side of the lake before calling it a day at 1 p.m. We loaded our kayaks back on our vehicles and left. I dropped my kayak back at Dana Point Jet Ski and Kayak Center where I store it before heading home.