Endeavor's Endeavor Succeeds!

Date:  June 24 – 26, 2025

Anglers:  Fumio Ogoshi, Butch Brown, Rodney Aoto, Jim Carlisle, Jan Howard, Shig Kondo, Steve Chaung, Paul Douglas, Kalani Douglas, Adel Rajab, David Dang, Dan Clause, Shannon Gallagher, Bill Sudden, Glenn Cantello and Whitney Uyeda our Chartermaster.

Boat and Crew:  Endeavor, owned and operated by Captain Tucker McCombs, Eric as second Captain with Rob in the Galley.  On deck were Eric, Joseph and Ethan.

Trip:  Two days fishing the Channel Islands specifically Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz.

Fish Count:  45 White Seabass, 21 Halibut, 65 Rockfish, 10 barracuda, 5 Calico Bass, 5 Sheepshead and 1 Lingcod.

I had been looking forward to this trip since last December’s trip was cancelled because I planned to bring Shig as my guest.  I was fortunate to have learned to fish from Shig when I joined a staff charter trip on his boat back in the early 90’s.  It was my first fishing trip.  I bought a rod and reel at Costco and got on the boat.  I am thankful for everything he taught me about fishing and bringing him fishing with me is a way I can thank him.  Shig doesn’t fish anymore so bringing him on this trip with me means a lot to him.

I left my house at 1 pm Tuesday afternoon, picked up Shig in Fountain Valley and drove to Ventura for Whitney’s two-day charter on the Endeavor.  We arrived very early (around 3:30 pm) to avoid the traffic.  We killed time by checking out the landing for Channel Islands Sportfishing, signing into our landing (Ventura Sportfishing) and getting a parking pass.

Jim arrived shortly after we did.  After he signed in, we all went over to Andrea’s for a seafood dinner including an order of their delicious giant onion rings to share.  We returned to Ventura Sportfishing to find Butch had arrived.  Gradually the rest of the anglers showed up.  Even Whitney was earlier than his normal.

The boat got in from its previous trip just before 7 pm.  After unloading, the boat went to the fuel dock to clean the boat, load bait, get fuel and to allow time for Tucker to shop for trip groceries. Around 8:30 pm the boat was ready so Tucker brought the boat back to its slip and invited us to board.  I am very thankful for the crew’s help getting my and everyone’s tackle, etc. on board. 

Once on board, bunks were selected, Tucker gave the safety speech and gave tackle suggestions.  We were heading to Santa Rosa Island to try for seabass and we needed 30-pound dropper loop outfits with 8-ounce sinkers for the morning.  I made sure Shig’s and my dropper loop outfits were set up properly and ready for the morning,  Everyone signed in for a jackpot of $10 per day with the proceeds going to crew and the winning anglers getting free fish cleaning.  I don't do jackpots but I donated my $20 instead then I hit the bunk. 

We had a bumpy ride out to the island and the weather was quite cool and overcast when we arrived.  I was up early having coffee when the engines turned down indicating we had reached our destination to try our luck at seabass.  I grabbed a live squid and baited my hook then went to the bow to fish.  Shig baited his hook and fished starboard stern.  Everyone else did the same – baiting up and selecting a spot along the rail to try their luck. 

Some anglers baited up with leadheads and flukes instead of squid and fished those employing the long cast, sink, jiggle, sink, jiggle method.  This may sound funny but its not.  You just have to watch Shannon to know that this method is very effective.  I only wish my hands would allow me to cast so I could try it.  I’ve lost the strength in my hands to grip the spool when casting.  I get some great birds nests though when I try. 

Fishing was slow for the day and we moved about the island and eventually fished all around Santa Cruz Island as well.  Since I fished in the bow, I didn’t have the ability to see or hear what was happening in the stern.  I do know that the only bite I had all day was a barracuda that destroyed my line.  

At day’s end, I learned that David had had a good day and handed off one of his seabass to Shig.  Shig was very happy.  Thanks David.  David is such a kind and generous man.  Shig had also caught a barracuda and was given two others to go with it. Before the trip, Shig had mentioned that he wanted to  bring home some barracuda because he couldn't find any in the fish market.  

If memory serves me well, Shannon, Fumio and Steve had a good day as well.  As to who caught what, I only know that I saw several seabass and big halibut in the kill box when I went to the stern to grab another bait. 

During the day Rob did a masterful job of feeding everyone.  Breakfast burritos or sandwiches, carnitas or beef tacos for lunch and New York steak for dinner with plenty snacks in between meals. 

I hit the bunk right after dinner as I was tired.  There were a number of anglers that stayed up fishing until Tucker started moving the boat back to Santa Rosa to start day two.  I understand I missed Whitney’s raffle but received my gift in the morning.  Thanks Whitney. 

I had just poured my morning coffee when the engines turned down so I headed to the rail.  Day two was still overcast but much warmer than the previous day.  The fishing was better for everyone as well.  We fished for seabass and halibut until the bite slowed down then Tucker took us out into deeper water to let us do an hour or so of rockfishing to top off the trip. 

I fished the bow again and still missed much of the who and what until the fish were spread out along the deck at days end. I did witness those fighting black seabass as they ended up in the bow to finish their battle.  Jim and Butch both ended up with blacks. 

I finally landed a seabass and when the deckhand asked my number, he said “I just put your number on another seabass.”  I hadn’t caught another so I looked down the rail and saw that tell tail grin on Sheepie’s face indicating he was my benefactor.  I landed a second seabass later and caught 1 red and 4 chuckleheads (but could only keep 2) for my trip. 

Shig had a good day.  He caught 3 big halibut, 1 seabass, 2 more barracuda, 2 reds, 2 chuckles, 1 calico and 1 lingcod.  When the fish were sorted, there were a total of 10 barracudas with Shig’s number on them.  

When Tucker called it a trip around 2:30 pm, we had 45 white seabass, 21 halibut, 65 rockfish, 5 sheepshead, 5 calico bass and 1 lingcod. 

Crew weighed up jackpot then processed all our fish on the way back to dock.  Shig kept changing his processing order while they worked.  He wanted collars, then he realized whole fish wouldn’t fit in his ice chest and my car is carpeted so trash bags of fish weren’t going to work so seabass and  halibuts needed to be filleted, barracudas gill and gutted.

Jackpot for both days was a 30 pound white seabass.  Fumio won for day 1 and Adel for day 2 taking all the glory back to Cypress with them.  Congratulations guys.

We were back at the landing by 7 pm with the problem of getting all the fish in the car. Both ice chests were jammed full and the bag of barracudas had to sit on top of Shig’s ice chest with the lid open.  On the way home, Shig told me he really had fun and that he was surprised at what a nice group of people were on the trip. 

We made it to Shig’s home by 9:30 pm and unloaded all his fish in his driveway.  I loved seeing the look on Shig’s wife’s face when she saw all the fish.  She was as happy as Shig was. This made the trip even more special for me. 

Thanks, Whitney, for putting this charter together and selecting such a great group of anglers.  I truly appreciate being included. A special thanks to Tucker and his crew for all their help and positive attitudes which made the Endeavor's Endeavor to find biting fish succeed!

The residual benefit from a fishing trip is the delicious meals created by the fresh fish we bring home.  Our first meal was steamed red.  Our second meal is sauteed rockcod with pasta and zucchini.  Following that will be seabass ceviche, sashimi, and sauteed halibut with mango salsa.

 

Steamed Red (Jan's)

  

Seafood Pasta with Halibut (Steve's)

Seabass and rockfish with onion and homegrown shishito pepper (Jeff's)

Spring on the Railtime!

Date:  Departure June11, fishing June 12 and 13, 2025.

Anglers:  Jeff Chuang (Chartermaster), Steve Chuang, Cathy Needleman, Jim Carlisle, Brian and me.

Boat & Crew:  Railtime, owned and operated by Gary Adams, with Jason Reese as second and crew member on deck.

Trip:  Two days fishing Catalina Island.

Fish Count:  10 halibut, 4 white seabass and 3 yellowtail.

Anglers and crew met up at Peter’s Landing and boarded the Railtime around 5:30 pm Wednesday.  We stowed our gear and put the food away as Gary headed the Railtime out of the harbor.  We made a stop to get bait from Nacho then headed towards the west end of Catalina.  Gary advised us to have our 40-pound dropper loop rigs ready to fish seabass when we arrived at the island.

Once we were rigged up, we settled down for a departure evening dinner of Pizza (courtesy of Jeff) and some sushi appetizers I picked up from Toyko Central. 

We arrived at Catalina before sundown and instantly deployed our dropper loops.  Unfortunately, the seabass weren’t hungry so Gary and Jason topped off the bait tanks with the squid that floated and surrounded the boat.  The squid racing around and the moon shining on the water made for a scenic evening.

When I awoke the next morning, we were anchored just outside two harbors and Gary was checking the dropper loop rigs that had been left out for the night.  Unfortunately, mine had been attacked by something that ripped off all my mono and part of the spectra so my outfit needed rerigging.  The other rods were rebaited and sent back down.

We fished this area until we all had had enough of the big beautiful barracudas that kept destroying our fishing lines.  Gary made a short move up the island and we tried again and had the same results. 

A little while later, Gary’s friend called us in to a spot on the backside of the island where he had found a school of biting seabass.  We managed to pull three seabass out of the area before the bite shut off.  Luckily, I caught one on pink leadhead.  Jeff and Steve also caught one each.

We spent the day fishing various spots on both sides of the island with the best bite being on big fat calico bass, all of which were released to let them reproduce.  The rest the day can be summed up as Bats, Blacks and Buts! 

Bats – Bat Rays; Blacks – Black Seabass; and Buts - Halibuts:  We all were tormented by either bat rays or black seabass while fishing for halibut and white seabass.  I managed to fight five bat rays myself and Jim had at least two black seabass he fought before we released them.  I lost count but I know there were quite a few more bat rays and black seabass caught and released throughout the day.  The lucky anglers were the ones that caught halibut instead.  Jim, Cathy, Brian and Jason caught two halibut each and Gary caught one.

Around 7 pm, we enjoyed a BBQ Chicken dinner (courtesy of Cathy) and ice cream bars for dessert (thanks Jim).  I called it a day right after dinner while everyone else resumed fishing.  Sometime after dinner, Gary and Jason topped off the tanks with more squid.

Day two was similar to but a bit slower than day one.  We still had our share of bats and blacks but Jeff added a big halibut and Jim a big white seabass to the count.  Steve, Cathy and I managed to catch one yellowtail each to round out our catch.

By the time we called it a trip and started towards home, we had fished our way all around the island and had a view of Avalon shrinking behind us.

The two hour trip back was spent processing fish.  Jason did a great job filleting our fish.  As Gary said, “they’re restaurant quality filets.”  Jeff and I helped by bagging the filets.   We share everything so on this trip we each took home two bags of halibut filets, 1 bag of white seabass filets and 1 bag of yellowtail filets.

Thanks to our chartermaster, Jeff, for all your work putting this charter together and including me.  And, as always, Gary did a superb job of keeping us safe, finding fish and always staying upbeat.  He’s a true professional.  Plus Gary makes sure we have a great crew member on deck and Jason Reese filled this position on the trip.  I'm so thankful for our “family and friends” vacation.

Just an interesting note about Jason.  Jason was a young crew member on the Shogun on November 20, 2000, when I caught a 600-pound black marlin at Roca Partida.  This fish is hanging in my living room waiting to fulfill its destiny as my coffin.  Good to fish with you again, Jason.

Once home, we all get to enjoy a variety of ways to eat our fish.  For me this time, we had yellowtail with a shrimp, avocado chive cream sauce, seabass ceviche followed by macadamia coconut crusted halibut with an Asian pesto.  

 

Until next trip, safe travels everyone.