Graylight Found them!

Date:  June 2 and 3, 2026

Anglers:  Cathy Needleman, Jeff Chuang, Steve Chuang, Fumio Ogashi, Jim Carlisle and Jan Howard

Boat and Crew:  Graylight owned and operated by Shawn Stward with Second Captain Sam

Trip:  Two days fishing the Channel Islands

Catch:  16 white seabass (boat limits for two days) weighing 30 to 44 pounds each, 1 halibut and 1 cabezon

Trip Details:  We headed up to the Channel Islands with no expectations for catching game fish based on our trip the previous week.  Bait had been scarce and game fish of any kind even scarcer.  Imagine our surprise when we had 3 big seabass sitting on the deck by 6:15 am the first day followed by 5 more by day’s end.  Everyone caught at least one seabass plus we released 3.  Fumio added a nice halibut to the day’s catch. 

Day two produced 8 more big seabass before 7:30 am and Jim caught a cabezon to add to the catch.  When Shawn asked what we wanted to do after that, we realized we had been blessed with a beautiful catch and rather than be greedy, we chose to end our trip early and let Shawn and Sam attend to other boat duties and get home early too.                                                          

Rather than try to find enough adjectives to describe this trip, I’ll let the photos and Jim and Fumio’s words tell the story.  

Many thanks Cathy for everything you do for our group.  You are generous beyond words.  We are all so grateful to you and Shawn and Sam who made the trip such a success.

Where have all the Gamefish Gone?

Date:  May 28 to 30,2026

Anglers:  Jeff Chuang, Steve Chuang, Cathy Needleman, Randy Sharon, Jim Carlisle and Jan Howard

Boat and Crew:  Rail Time owned and operated by Gary Adams with Eric as his second and deckhand

Trip:  Two days fishing Catalina and San Clemente Island

Catch:  2 yellowtail, 18 calico bass plus many released fish including shovelnose shark, sheepshead, bat ray, whitefish, baby white seabass, black seabass, leopard shark, sand bass, yellowfin croaker, barracuda, blue perch, bonito and flounder

Trip Details:  Prior to our Thursday night departure, we had been advised by Gary to prepare for both island fishing and offshore bluefin tuna chasing.  When we arrived at the landing Gary informed us that the tuna had opted out of his plan (with the help of windy seas) and departed the area.  It was going to be island fishing only so we set up our seabass dropper loop rigs and 25# yellowtail/calico bass outfits.

First stop, as usual, was the bait barge where we picked up some big, 7-day cured sardines.  These sardines were some of the best I’ve ever seen.  Our next stop was Catalina to search for squid.  I slept through those efforts.  In the morning, I learned those efforts provided a tank full of sqid (mostly small “gumdrop squid Gary named them.) 

Throughout that day and the next, we fished many spots around Catalina moving to San Clemente Island and back to Catalina searching for seabass and yellowtail.  We found a big variety of smaller fish but only two yellowtail (including a 30 pounder which Gary showed who was boss), a smaller yellowtail caught by Jeff and 18 calico bass caught by everyone.

Gary and Eric were their usual cheerful and professional selves, making the trip a success even without big gamefish.  Gary commented that the islands were a bit wonky.  Perhaps it’s the impending Super El Nino being predicted. Perhaps the fish moved north to the Channel Islands or just to deeper water, who knows.

We had a great time despite the wonky islands.  We still enjoyed telling fishing stories, eating pizza, ribs, chicken, sandwiches, cookies and snack foods and just being together on the water.

Thanks to everyone for their participation and especially our Chartermaster Jeff and our Captain and crew – Gary and Eric.

Rail Time Season Opener!

Date:  May 11 – 13, 2026

Anglers:  Jeff Chuang, Steve Chuang, Cathy Needleman, Jim Carlisle, Rick Uribe and Jan Howard

Boat and Crew:  Rail Time owned and operated by Gary Adams with Jake and Eric as crew

Trip:  Two days fishing San Clemente Island

Catch:  10 yellowtail, 1 halibut, 12-15 calico bass plus many released fish including blue perch, sheepshead, whitefish, bonito, barracuda, 2 leopard sharks, Spanish mackerel and calico bass.

Trip Details:  The 2026 fishing season officially started with our departure at 8:30 pm May 11^th on the Rail Time.  The late departure was due to weather (trip moved up one day) and our Chartermaster’s evening return from an overseas business trip. 

Gary had us set up a dropper loop outfit and tweeker (25#, small hook) outfit for the morning.  Seas were a bit choppy leaving the harbor.  Weather was predicted to calm down over night.  Our first stop was at the bait receiver for a tank of sardines.  We were happy the sardines were available as recent information indicated both sardines and squid were hard to come by.  When I got up the next morning, we were at San Clemente Island and our second bait tank was filled with live squid.   

One by one we made our way to the rail grabbing coffee, bagels, etc. as we passed through the galley.  We fished our dropper loops at the first couple stops around the island hoping to find the seabass.  As we would soon learn, the seabass either were not at the island or were not in an eating mood.  Fortunately, the calico bass were plentiful and healthy so I decided to keep a couple and release the rest.   As the day progressed, others kept a couple bass to take home as well and Jeff landed our only halibut of the trip.

The weather was overcast but not cold and the seas were relatively calm.  In some coves we found decent currents and others no current at all.  By afternoon, we were all fishing our tweeker outfits or leadheads searching for yellowtail.  Jim was first to find the yellowtail and then he was second to find them. By days end, Cathy had landed  2 yellowtail, Jeff 1, Rick 1, Steve 1, Gary 1 and Jim landing a total of 4.  My contribution for the day was 1 leopard shark, released! 

Gary anchored us in a calm cove for our dinner of ribs and chicken followed by a birthday celebration for Jeff.  Happy Birthday Jeff! 

Day two was a repeat of day 1 without the yellowtail and halibut.  We fished until we ran out of bait around 2:30 pm.  Jake and Eric processed our fish and cleaned the boat while the rest of us slept or watched movies. 

This was a great start to the season.  Thanks to Cathy for dinner and breakfast, Steve for lunch, Jim for ice cream and snacks, Rick for pizzas and Jeff for snacks and organizing the trip.  As usual, Gary was great and Jake and Eric were wonderful handling deck duties.  Thanks guys.  I’m already looking forward to the next trip.