Reds, Flats and Calicos

On our last Rail Time fishing trip, we were discussing our desire for some fresh rock fish especially vermillion rock fish (reds).  Steve suggested we book a trip on the Blackfish out of Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach to go rock fishing.  We all thought that would be a great idea, so Steve booked us an all day trip for June 4th.

Steve, Jeff, Cathy, Jim and I met at the landing at 3:30 am Tuesday.  Mitch, Owner and Captain of the Blackfish, and his crew member, Michael, were waiting for us.    The Blackfish is a 35-foot Cabo with flybridge.  Mitch and Michael helped us board and suggested we set up a dropper loop and a sliding sinker outfit to use when we get to San Clemente Island.

After stopping at the bait receiver and loading one bait tank with big, beautiful squid and the other tank with gorgeous, lively sardines, we were on our way.   We settled in the salon for the two-and-a-half-hour trip.  Some of us napped and some of us enjoyed pastries Steve brought for breakfast.

When we arrived at the island, the sun was already up.  The island looked peaceful and the waters around it were calm.  It was chilly when we started fishing.  My dropper loop was deployed starboard adjacent to the wheelhouse.  We fished sliders and leadheads behind the boat with no current to speak of.  No bites until my dropper loop rod went off.  Michael grabbed it and handed it to me.  It was a nice, legal sized halibut with the hook deep in its mouth.  Mitch had to beat its head three times before it held still enough for Michael to get the hook out.

Mitch had just installed a new bait tank with a bait insert. It was fantastic.  The bait swam freely and were quite easy to catch when choosing one.  I think it’s the best one I’ve ever used.  He also has a fish finder screen on the back of the boat which allows us to see where the fish are.

Steve was fishing the bow when he hooked and landed another nice halibut.  Cathy hooked something big that took off running before it spit the hook.  We think that was another big halibut. We caught several nice calicos that we kept and many shorts that we released.   Mid-morning Mitch suggested we take a break and go catch some Reds.

Mitch made a short move to deeper water (470 feet).  Our rods were rigged with two hook gagnions baited with live squid.  It took 16 ounces of weight to get to the bottom.  I was using Kenji flies on my gagnion instead of bare hooks.  As soon as Mitch had the boat in position, he said “drop them down.”  As soon as we hit bottom, the fish bit.  Everyone brought up two large (6 to 8 pound) vermillion rock fish (Reds). It only took 20 minutes for us to catch full limits of Reds for all 7 of us on the boat.  I even caught 4 starry rock fish too.

We fished a few other spots along the island catching more calico bass. We made one other drift in 250 feet of water catching a couple sheepshead and white fish.  Around 2:30 in the afternoon Mitch made a move to Catalina Island.  We used the travel time to eat lunch – delicious sandwiches brought by Steve.  Thanks Steve.

The conditions when we arrived at Catalina were perfect.  Clean water, good current and boiling bass and yellowtail.  Unfortunately, the yellowtail just wouldn’t bite but the calicos did.  It was a great way to end the trip.  

Mike pulled all the fish out of the hold to fillet on the way home.  We had more fish than we thought.  We each ended up with 4 bags of fish – one each of halibut, calico bass, reds and miscellaneous rockfish. 

Jeff, Steve and I also took home one gill and gutted whole red for steaming. We arrived back at the landing by 5:45 pm and were on our way home by 6:00 pm. 

Many thanks to Steve for setting up this trip and special thanks to Mitch an Michael for their expertise and hard work.  We will enjoy our catch for days. 

Here's photos of our first nights meals.  The reds were spectacular!