Around the World in Two Days!

Six excited anglers boarded the Rail Time June 18, 2024, along with Captain Gary and his fabulous crew of Jake and Andy.  Jeff put this charter together which included his brother, Steve, the Carlisle brothers, Jim and Tom, Fumio Ogoshi and me.  First stop – bait receiver for a few scoops of sardines then a fast trip to Catalina Island to fish for white seabass.  On the way we feasted on Pizza for dinner courtesy of Fumio.  Thanks Fumio.

Once at the island, we deployed dropper loops etc. for seabass.  We only had frozen squid however Fumio somehow made it look like live squid enticing two big seabass to suck them down ending with them on the Rail Time deck.  The rest of us failed in our efforts. Then we headed down the island to make squid.  I was exhausted and hit the bunk.  I missed the entire bait making ritual

Next morning, Gary was up early to bait up our dropper loop outfits and set them out. We gradually made our way out on deck grabbing some coffee on the way.  It was after daybreak when Fumio put another seabass on deck.  He ended up catching 4 for the day.  Not to be outdone, Jeff put 6 of his own on deck. It took the rest of us a while to catch on to their methods – an orange leadhead (Dino made).  Eventually we all got in on the action with Tom getting 3, Steve catching 2 and Jake, Jim and I catching 1 each.  These fish were big, mostly 25 to 36 pounders and strong enough to break my top guide and bend 2 others on my rod.

 

We needed to make a move as we had boat limits of seabass so we turned the spot over to Gary’s friend John and went looking for yellowtail.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find any willing to bite.  It was around 10:30 in the morning so we made the long move to San Clemente Island to find the yellows.

 

San Clemente Island was beautiful and quiet in comparison to our last trip here.  Gary had us set up in different spots throughout the day picking up 2 halibut (Fumio’s and mine) some calicos, blue perch, sheepshead, and eels until Jeff landed a 32-pound yellowtail.  Jim then caught another big yellowtail and just like that—the bite was over.

 

Jake and Andy, wisely, filleted our fish while we were in calm waters waiting for the cove to open for the night.

 

We settled into Pyramid cove for a lasagna, ziti and salad dinner and, hopefully, to top off our tanks with more squid.  The dinner was delicious (thanks Jeff) and our ice cream desserts were wonderful (thanks Jim).

I hit the bunk right after dinner and missed the squid making again; however, my fellow anglers provided me with the evidence of a successful venture.  Apparently, this was the place to get your squid as we weren’t the only boat making squid there.

 

Gary set up the boat on the spot where Jeff and Jim caught their yellowtail for the morning bite.  Numerous boats were anchored in the cove waiting for the yellowtail to bite.  We could hear when other boats landed a yellowtail from the cheering anglers.   Eventually Jeff caught a nice yellowtail which made him winner of the Around the World award for the trip – catching Yellowtail, white seabass, halibut and calico bass!

The wind came up more and more as the day passed.  Gary decided to let us drift for halibut before going home.  That proved successful for Tom especially as he landed 3 halibut.  I caught a baby halibut then it was time to return home.

 

It was a rougher than usual ride but we still reached dock by 6 pm.  After offloading our tackle, Jake brought our filets up for us to sort.  We said our “thank you's” and “good byes” and headed home content with our good fortune.