Graylight Fishing Adventure

Anglers:  Cathy Needlemman, Chartermaster; Fumio Ogoshi, Jim Carlisle, Steve and Jeff Chuang and me.

Boat & Crew:  Graylight out of Channel Islands owned and operated by Shawn Stewart with second Captain and deckhand, Sam

Trip:  Two days fishing the Channel Islands, unfortunately cut short to one day by a blown engine valve.

Fish Count:  Eight white seabass and one halibut.

Jim and I met Cathy at the Hampton Inn in Channel Islands Harbor around 3:30 pm Tuesday June 3, 2025.  Jim and I checked into our rooms at the hotel.  Cathy was already checked in.  Steve and Jeff were driving up later in the evening and Fumio planned to meet us at the harbor the next morning.

Cathy, Jim and I drove over to check out the harbor.  We were fortunate to see the Graylight come in from its trip and chat briefly with Sam who was running the boat for the day.  The fishing had been tough but there were options for the next day.  The three of us went for an early dinner then turned in for the night.

3:15 am Wednesday morning Jeff, Steve, Jim, Cathy and I met in the parking lot of the hotel, packed our gear in the cars and made the five-minute drive to Channel Islands Landing. We met Fumio in the parking lot.  Shawn and Sam had us on the boat, safety seminar done and on our way to Santa Rosa Island by 3:45 am.  We settled in for the 3-hour ride while Sam set up our gear to fish seabass upon arrival.  40 pound dropper loop rigs with 10 ounces of weight.

We arrived at the island around 6:30 am.   Sam had us bait up with live squid and stand at the rail ready to drop when Shawn found the fish.  Around 6:45 am Shawn found a school and said drop them.  We dropped and everyone hooked up but only three were landed.  This process was repeated two more times and by 7:20 am, we had 8 seabass on the deck with at least 4 others that managed to release themselves during the fight.  Wow!

Shawn moved the boat around looking for halibut since we had daily limits of seabass.  During the search, Sheepie managed to catch one halibut and I released 4 seabass.  Several other seabass had to be released as well.  There were a couple calicos, a shark and a bat ray.

Shawn worked around this island and Santa Cruz Island as well running into a few more seabass and miscellaneous other throwbacks but no more halibut.  We called it a day and were back at the dock around 4 pm.  

Traveling Position

Sam filleted our fish on the way in and brought our bags of fish to the top of the landing to split up.

We made a run to Ralphs for ice so we could ice down our fish.  A quick shower, dinner at Fresh Catch then to bed for me.

Next morning, we checked out of our hotel and were at the landing, all checked in at the office by 3:30 am.  All our gear was still on the boat from the previous day so we just jumped aboard and we were off.  About 40 minutes later Shawn stopped the boat because he felt an unusual vibration.  We turned around and idled back to the dock.  Fortunately, we didn’t need to be towed in.  Shawn was facing the decision whether to rebuild the engine or install a new one.  We heard later in the day that a new engine would be installed.

Being veteran anglers, we felt much worse for Shawn than we did about losing a fishing day.   Besides, we were all heading home with a seabass or two and Sheepie also had a halibut.  Shawn runs a great operation and the boat is a comfortable fishing platform. Sam did a good job taking care of us on deck and Chowder (Shawn’s dog) was great entertainment on board.  We look forward to our next trip on the Graylight in August.