Rail Time Fun

I was lucky to get to fish on the Rail Time this week.  We departed Wednesday night and headed straight for Catalina to pick up squid. While fishing for squid, Jake and Andy scooped 7 big flying fish.  We were excited!  If we got to fish for the bluefin, we were prepared.  As if that wasn't enough, we had a small swordfish swimming around the boat in the lights.  I watched for a while but I was exhausted so I crashed.  I was awakened at 4:30 the next morning when Gary (owner and Captain) said "time to get up as we'll be fishing in 20 minutes.  To my surprise, we were at San Nicolas Island.

We scrambled out of our bunks, grabbed some coffee and got our seabass outfit ready to fish.  Gary set us up in an area close to the Fortune which was the boat that had 62 seabass the previous day.  Fishing was slower than the previous day but we still managed 6 seabass and 11 yellowtail plus a wide open bite on 15 to 20 pound sheepshead!  We also had our share of black seabass, all released.  Beautiful fish.

The following day, fishing slowed to nearly a stop.  We had a few calicos, sheepshead and one nice yellowtail Steve caught at Catalina on our way home.

Great group of people to fish with - Jeff and his brother "Sheepshead Steve", Mark Fujimoto, Jim, and Steve Smith.  Andy did another outstanding job cooking and he helped Jake on deck.

Another fun trip thanks to Gary, Jake, Andy and of course Jeff - a great chartermaster.

Outrider Dream!

Cathy Needleman's charter on the Outrider July 9 & 10 was an incredible fishing adventure.  A dream trip from beginning to end.

We, (Mike, Marta, Fatima  and I) had dinner at the landing restaurant before I boarded the boat and they headed home with my truck.  The food was excellent.  Worth returning.

Fatima and Marta

We boarded the Outrider at 22nd Street Landing at 9 pm July 8th.  Our Captain, Tucker, said we were headed to Catalina first to pick up squid from one of the light boats then continue to Santa Barbara Island for quality yellowtail and seabass.  Justin (Tucker's brother) would be cooking for us; Brian was our second Captain and Cody was on deck.

I set up my tackle as directed - one 40 pound outfit rigged with a fluorocarbon dropper loop, 5/0 Aki Twist hook and 8 ounce sinker on my Penn 12T.  Second outfit - 40 pound Berkley fluorocarbon with a 1/4 ounce slider and 5/0 Aki Twist hook.  Then I hit the bunk.   

I got up around 5 am Monday morning and checked the deck.  Nothing happening yet.  I had my cereal and coffee, put on sunscreen, flex taped my fingers and got out my hand towel.  Then I put two squids on my dropper loop rig and let it down to the bottom.  It wasn't long until the yellows started biting.  These weren't the scrawny firecrackers from last year - they were the 30 pound models and they kicked my butt.  It wasn't long until I realized this was going to be a good day for me.

Cathy's other guests, Bob and Erik, were less lucky than Cathy and I were.  We fished hard all day with Tucker occasionally moving the boat from spot to spot.  Around 8 pm we called it a day.  Among the yellowtail, I pulled out two white seabass and one 20 pound halibut.  Cathy managed one of those halibuts too.  At day's end, Erik and Bob each had two yellowtail, Cathy had 3 yellowtail and 1 halibut and I had 4 yellowtail, 2 white seabass and 1 halibut that produced 13 pounds of filets.  What a day!

Cathy donated one of her yellowtail for our dinner. Justin did a great job cooking the yellowtail to perfection.  After dinner I hit the bunk.  I slept well for around 6 hours.

I got up at 4:30 am.  Brian and Cathy were up and two dropper loop rods were sitting in the corner rod holders.  At 5 pm Cathy's rod went off.  I quickly put my dropper loop set-up out and got bit immediately.  We both landed our seabass and Brian woke the rest the crew, Bob and Erik.  I rushed Bob to get his rod and I baited him up and he dropped his bait down and hooked up.  I hooked another fish and handed it off to 8 year old Brooklyn. She landed hers and by then Cathy had landed 6 seabass, Erik and Bob 2 seabass each of their own.  Then the yellows arrived.  We landed a few yellows (big yellows) before the bite slowed.  It wasn't even 8 am.

Cathy asked what I thought about going home early.  I was all for it since I had more fish than I wanted to take home.  Bob and Erik concurred.  I think Tucker might have wanted to stay longer.  As it was, it took Cody until we reached the harbor to finish filleting all our fish.  I had 5 yellows, 4 seabass and 1 halibut.  Cathy had 5 yellows, 6 seabass, and 2 halibut and the guys had 4 yellows and 2 seabass each.  Great day of fishing and we were headed home early.  ETA 12:00 noon.

I called Mike and told him to pick me up early and bring a couple more coolers.  We stopped at Shig's on the way home and gave him 3 yellows and 2 seabass.  When we got home, I managed to process all the fish and make a white seabass with dill Beurre Blanc sauce for dinner.  Marta and Fatima (our Spanish Granddaughters) loved it.

Thanks goes to Cathy for the invite to her Charter and to Tucker and his outstanding crew.  This was a trip to equal the bluefin trip on the Outrider last year.