Fishing in December

Jim and I drove to Ventura on Friday, December 5, 2014 to board the Pacific Dawn for a day of rock fishing with the LA Rod and Reel Club. After circumnavigating heavy traffic on the 101, we arrived around 5 pm. The boat was in. We put a tackle box on the boat then went to dinner at the Rhum Line restaurant next door to the landing. The fried calamari was outstanding as was the clam chowder and shrimp salad.

Our Captain, Pat Cavanaugh, and crew arrived around 7 pm and we loaded our gear. Weather was predicted to be 5 to 10 knots of wind the following day. We departed around 9 pm. Pat's second was Mandog Nickerson and Anna anchored the galley. On deck we had Ricky, Fernando and Mike. Club members included Reza Malekzadeh (Chartermaster) and his father, Jerry Wissman, Roland Reesby, Jim and Tom Carlisle, Eric Rogger, Stan Richstone, Ger Steinberg, Al Scow, Frank Polak, Jack and Eric Alquist, Berry Cohen and Andy.

While we slept, the crew scooped live squid at Santa Rosa Island then headed the boat to the inside of San Miguel Island. Around 6 am it was light enough to fish. Jim, Tom, Rolland and I fished the bow. As Pat was searching for the right spot, the porpoise showed up to play under the bow.

Pat got us set up and said "Let them go." First drop, I caught two nice reds so my trip was made. The seas were flat calm and the sun warmed the air as it got higher in the sky. By mid morning, it was shirt sleeve weather and sunscreen was needed. We fished in waters 170 feet deep. Pat's plan was to catch all our rock fish then head in shallow and fish for lingcod. We had all the rock fish we needed by noon.

Unfortunately, we had no wind whatsoever and very little current so shallow water fishing for lings just didn't work out at San Miguel. Then a pod of killer whales showed up and killed and ate a sea lion then corralled two baby sea lions and were teaching their young how to hunt. We watched and photographed the event for a while. Fascinating!

    To see a video of the Killer Whales,  Ctrl  Left Click here } Killer Whales 

Then Pat told us that we were making a 45 minute move to Santa Rosa Island to fish for our lingcod. That proved to be the key. We fished until 3:15 pm and caught full limits of lingcod (2 per person) to go with our limits of rockfish.  It was probably the best day of fishing I've had up there considering how great the weather and fishing was plus the fun of fishing with club members.

Anna kept us well fed all day long with breakfast burritos in the morning, chicken burritos for lunch and fish tacos for dinner. All her food was excellent.

We didn't get back to dock until 9 pm but we didn't care. It had been a perfect day on the water.

 

The day after our great trip, everyone had lots of fresh fish for Sunday dinner. Our dinner included Red Sashimi and a steamed Red (chinese style) both hubby's favorites which is why my trip was made with my first drop.