White Seabass Endeavor Pays Off!

Jim Carlisle and I arrived early to Ventura Harbor hoping to enjoy a leisurely dinner before departing fishing on the Endeavor.  We found the harbor crowded with people enjoying the nice weather and at least an hour wait for a seat at all the restaurants.  Jim Googled up a recommendation for a restaurant in town, Lure.  A short drive later we found a parking spot a couple blocks from the restaurant and walked the rest of the way.

A block in the center of town was cordoned off for pedestrians and contained two live bands, one at each end of the block.  We found the restaurant and were fortunate to find two seats at the bar.  I had the local white seabass and Jim had the Cioppino.  The food was good and I would definitely go back when I’m in Ventura again.

We met up with Cathy, Steve and Jeff at Ventura Landing for a 9 pm departure on the Endeavor.  After signing in we boarded.  Captain Tucker said we would fish San Miguel Island in the morning for white seabass.  The tanks already had sardines and anchovies but no squid so the first stop was along the coast south of the landing.  The squid floated and crew (Johnnie, Jeremy, Sean and Justin) loaded the tanks plus 6 bushel baskets of squid; then we were on our way.

I got up at 3 am just before the engines turned down.  After a few minutes of searching Tucker anchored the boat and said to put out our 30 pound dropper loops.  We fished into the grey light tormented by sealions thrashing our line.  The barracuda took over from the sealions as it got light.  It was frustrating having to rerig gear.  Finally Steve got bit with a real fish – a 39 pound seabass! The fish came up dead.  Tucker was thrilled as he said it only took 5 islands to find them.  He was referring to our trip 2 weeks previous to this one where we searched four islands for seabass.

Steve switched to his Newell reel and hooked another seabass immediately.  This one was 42 pounds!  We were all excited and expected them to start biting for us all.  I hooked a fish and was sure it was a seabass but it turned out to be a soupfin shark.  Unfortunately, all I caught was sealions, whitefish, sheepshead, barracuda, and soupfin sharks.

Mid morning Tucker said we were going to do some rock cod fishing then return to halibut drifts and set up for seabass at sundown.  The rock cod fishing was spectacular in shallow water (less than 100 feet). Everyone caught limits – I caught 12 reds but could only keep 10, plus blue bass, chuckles and sugar bass.  I think I released more fish than I kept.

I was fishing the bow when I heard a commotion in the stern.  Then I head someone say “it must be a record skulpin.”  Jim’s fish weighed 4 1/2  pounds which would have been the IGFA and California State record if submitted.

The halibut drift produced two halibut but the sundown fishing for seabass failed to produce. We decided to stay at Miguel and try for seabass the next day rather than race out to San Nicolas and fish for yellowtail and possibly bluefin.  Alex served us a delicious tri-tip with roasted potatoes and steamed veggies for dinner.  The seas were calm and provided us with a good nights sleep.

I was up at 3:30 the next morning. It was cold and misty.  I had my cereal and coffee but waited to fish.  Justin and Sean had fished off and on all night getting thrashed by the sealions.  None of us fished until grey light.  Even so, our results were the same!  We caught sealions, barracuda, whitefish, sheepshead and soupfin sharks.

Tucker worked very hard trying cove after cove looking for biting seabass at Miguel and Rosa and finally we fished Santa Cruz Island for calico bass where the sun finally came out. We caught a few bass then it was time to head home with an arrival time of 6:30 pm. 

Crew pulled fish out of the hold and processed them for us on the way back to dock.  The seagulls enjoyed the ride.  At dock, crew helped us with our gear and brought our fish to the top of the landing.  I picked up a couple bags of ice while Jim grabbed our bags of fish.

It was another fun and productive trip even if our produce wasn’t seabass.  Our catch was some of the tastier critters in the sea.  Tucker and his crew did a great job and they were fun to fish with and I can never thank Cathy enough for her generosity.

I shared my catch with Shig.  He was thrilled to receive whole reds that he could steam.  I understand his joy because I steamed a red myself.