Rail Time Bliss!

Gary Adams did it again!  He provided us with another spectacular trip.  I don't know how he does it.   

Details?  Gary raced us out of the harbor and got us to Catalina quickly so we could put in some fishing time before bed.  The fish decided to make us wait until the morning to bite but that was OK.  Andy and Jake spent the extra time making enough live squid for our two days of fishing.  It was a rocky night as we were anchored in the trough on the squid grounds.  No one slept well.

 

Early Friday morning, Brian put a big yellowtail on the boat.  That woke us up.  I don't remember who was next but by day's end we all had landed 30 pound class yellowtail - 20 fish in all up to 36 lbs.  and one 18 pound halibut. On one stop, Gary had us drop back baits into boiling fish and 4 of us connected at once.  All but 2 fish were jumbos.  Best grade of yellowtail I've ever seen. 

Andy made us a fabulous dinner of filet mignon, scalloped potatoes and Caesar salad and Gary anchored us in Two Harbors for a calm night's sleep.  We were exhausted and sleep came easy.

The smell of coffee early Saturday morning woke me just before Gary started the engines at 4 a.m.  I dozed a few minutes until I heard the anchor go down.  Gary was putting the rods out as I was getting up.  I put my hat, sun screen, and finger tape on, took my morning meds and before I could get my jacket on, my reel started screaming.  I grabbed my rod and brought in our first white seabass of the trip - a nice 22 pounder.

Andy and Jake woke everyone else up and we all fished hard.  We had 2 dropper loop rigs on the bow and two more in back plus a couple sliding sinker rigs working behind the boat.  Tom Carlisle was next.  His fish took off like a black seabass but it was a 44 pound white seabass that he finally got to the gaff.  His personal best.

Randy Sharon was next in line with a 29 inch fish.  Then Jeff connected to a tanker with a long rod but that's not a problem for Jeff.  He's used to pulling on tankers and made quick work of his 45 pound seabass!  Of course Steve caught his usual sheepshead keeping true to his nickname - Sheepshead Steve.  He also hooked calicos in every spot possible including a pectoral fin. 

Gary moved us around spots on the backside of the island and we picked up a few more yellowtail and Randy got another seabass - a 28 inch fish.  Just as we were running out of bait, we hit a school of biting yellowtail.  We fished until every last bait was gone and we drove away leaving the school to one of Gary's friends.

When the fish were lined up, we had another 10 yellowtail and 5 white seabass for the day - 30 yellowtail, 1 halibut and 5 seabass for two days fishing not including the hundreds of calico bass we caught and released.  How in the world does Gary manage to finish every trip with a bang?  He is the best Captain I've seen for fishing our local islands.  These were trophy fish caught at Catalina Island and on the 4th of July weekend! Thanks so much Gary and your terrific crew - Andy and Jake.