LARRC on the Dawn

Great fishing May 26th with Captain Pat Cavanaugh and crew of Fernando, Mandog, Mike and Ritchie.  Flat calm seas all the way to Cruz, Rosa and Miguel. 

The seabass were a no-show but we had a wide open bite on baby sea lions at Rosa at least those of us awake early did.  We had no keeper fish before we reached San Miguel at 10:30 a.m. when we began catching big reds.  Tom, Jim and I fished the bow as usual. 

My first three fish were reds so my trip was made early.  We had very good fishing for reds and other rockfish.  Once we had limits, Pat moved the boat to shallow water and we fished plastics for lingcod.  I used an orange paddletail on a 2 ounce red leadhead and caught 5 lingcod, 3 reds, 2 chucklehead, a couple olive rockfish and a cabazon all on the same plastic.

We finished up with limits of lingcod and headed back to dock arriving around 8:30 p.m.  By the time we unloaded, iced down our fish it was nearly 9 pm.  I reached home just after midnight.

Kayak Fun 5-19-17!

I took a quick trip out of the harbor with Jack to make sure I can still handle my kayak.  I was pleasantly surprised that it all came back to me even though I hadn't been out since last fall. 

The weather was beautiful - sunny and barely a breath of wind.  The water temperature was 65 degrees and glassy calm.  We headed towards the pipeline.  Jack brought a package of frozen squid for each of us.  We also brought our sabiki rigs to try for mackerel. 

I had three new rods and reels that I got just for fishing in my kayak.  Two Penn Fathom 15NLD 2 Speed on Penn Carnage II Light/Medium Rods (12-30 pound) and one Penn Fathom 25NLD 2 Speed on Penn Carnage II Medium Rod (15-30).  One was set up as a halibut rig with 20# fluoro on 50# Spectra.  A second was set up with a sliding sinker on 30# fluoro tied to 50# Spectra.  The Fathom 25 was set up to flyline a mackerel on 40# fluoro. 

We were just a half mile out of the harbor when we decided to bait up.  I pinned a squid on my 20 pound halibut rig with a 3 ounce weight.  I traveled a few yards and got slammed by something big.  Head shakes at first then a long run.  I tried to tighten my drag but it didn't help.  I would get a few winds and the fish headed back to the bottom.  It was like trying to bring up a garage door.  Even dropping into low gear couldn't stop this fish.  My rod was bent nearly in half but nothing would stop this fish.   I sure wish I had been on 40#.  I was drug around, fighting this fish for over 30 minutes and only got it to come up once just enough for Jack to get a glimpse of it.  He believes it was a large halibut especially since a 33 pounder had been caught in the harbor the week before. 

It was fun until the line finally snapped.  Since I brace my rod on my left knee when I pull on a fish, my knee got pretty beat up.  Nicely bruised now. I switched to 40# for the rest the day.

We headed out to the barber poles.  When we got there, the current was screaming south.  It was very difficult to peddle with the current.  The wind came up too and that brought the chop on the water.  We decided to head back to the pipeline to fish but before we got there, the water was so rough we decided to call it a day.  We had traveled 7 miles and were ready to call it a day.

Rail Time Fun!

I got the opportunity to join Jeff's Rail Time two-day charter departing May 8th.  Jeff, Jim, Steve, Miguel, Brian and I met at the Fish Camp for dinner at 4:30.  After a nice fish dinner, we drove a short block to Peter's Landing in Huntington Harbor to board the Rail Time.  Captain Gary and crew members Andy and Jake welcomed us as we loaded our gear, selected bunks and settled in for a bumpy ride to the island.

Around midnight I awoke to the bright lights on the squid boat.  The crew was loading live squid by passing a scoop net between boats in very rough waters.  Miracle workers, they were.  Gary tucked the boat into a calm cove and we slept until 4 a.m. when he revved the engines and pulled anchor to reposition down the backside of Catalina Island to fish for white seabass.

It was 6:30 a.m. before we got a bite.  Jeff landed a white seabass then hooked and handed a second one to Miguel for his first ever seabass.  We moved up and down the island in choppy seas all day.  During our travels, Steve caught two seabass and fed another one to the sea lion.  Jake caught a small seabass too.  Early afternoon, Gary put us on some yellowtail that were up on the surface.  Four nice ones were landed by Steve, Jeff, Brian and Miguel.

Captain Gary Adams

We had some good action on small calicos, barracuda, and spotfin croaker.  Gary moved us back to our starting point for the day and Jim caught a seabass and so did Brian.  As for me, I sucked all day.  I caught a baby seabass, barracuda, calico bass, a leopard shark and got spooled on what we believe was a black seabass.  Plenty of action but no keepers.

Day one ended with 7 white seabass, 4 yellowtail, lots of calicos and loads of fun.  

Andy kept us well fed with breakfast sandwiches, lunch hamburgers and a lasagna dinner.  Miguel brought a couple bottles of a nice Pinot Noir to share.  Exhaustion from rough seas, mellow from wine and full from dinner sent us all into a deep sleep for the night.

Day two began at 4 a.m. again but this time the seas were calm.  Just after daylight, I hooked a white seabass.  Steve landed a fish then Jim landed another one that was the big one until Miguel landed a 41 pounder.  What a beauty.  Finally, I landed my second seabass for the trip.  Gary took us from cove to cove all day in calm seas and sunny skies looking for some biting game fish.  Other than a few calicos, they weren't cooperating.  We called is a trip and returned to dock by 5:30. 

We unloaded gear, split up the fish and headed home.  Everyone got two white seabass, half a yellowtail, ribs and collars from seabass and yellowtail.  That's what I call a spectacular trip.  Rail Time trips are the best!