Graylight Adventure!

Date:  July 21 and 22, 2026

Anglers:  Cathy Needleman, Jeff and Steve Chuang, Jason Fleck and Jan Howard

Boat and Crew:  Graylight owned and operated by  Shawn Stewart, Second Captain Sam and Julian on deck

Trip:  Twp Days fishing Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands

Catch:  24 white seabass, 2 halibut, 6 yellowtail, 20 rockfish, 5 bonito, 5 plus calico bass and released sheepshead and whitefish.

Trip Details:

We all checked in to the Hampton Inn Channel Islands Hotel Monday evening prior to our 3:30 am Tuesday morning departure from Channel Islands Harbor.  We signed the manifest, boarded the Graylight, stowed our tackle and food then settled in for the 2 hour ride to Santa Rosa Island.  Shawn planned to stop along the way for fresh squid.   

Cathy and I chose bean bags on deck to settle in for the ride while the guys slept in the v-bunk down below.  Shawn woke me when we got to the island and had me move so they could retrieve the buckets of squid being handed over from a light boat  We were almost to the fishing grounds so I stayed up. 

The weather was surprisingly warm and the seas flat calm.  We started fishing on one side of the island then when that slowed down we went around to the other side and finished catching our limit of white seabass for the boat plus 2 halibut, 14 calicos and released many other fish as well.  We caught fish on 40-pound dropper loops, sliding sinkers and leadheads.  Everyone got in on the action including the crew.

We were so busy catching fish, we neglected to eat our lunch until the catching slowed.  Cathy brought deli sandwiches for us all and they were delicious.  Chowder agreed as he made sure he was available for any scraps. 

Sam and Julien processed our fish on the way back to dock while the rest of us rested.  We got back around 4:30, grabbed our ice chests out of our cars and met Sam at the top of the landing where he handed us bags and bags of filets.  Not everyone wanted their equal share of filets, so we gave the extra to Jason who was quite happy to take the filets until he realized his ice chests were inadequate.  Ultimately, he bought a couple more ice chests to handle the excess.  

We all made our way to Ralphs to load up on ice to properly chill and preserve our catch.  When we got to our hotel, we had to bring our ice chests full of fish into our room.  My ice chest had wheels but I could barely pull my ice chest to my room.

We cleaned up and met at 6:00 pm at the Trade Winds for dinner.  We enjoyed our dinner reminiscing about the day. Thanks Sheepie for picked up the tab for dinner.  Pleasantly exhausted, we turned in for the night and set our alarms so we would be at the boat by 3:45 in the morning.

We checked out of our room before heading to the landing the next morning.  When we boarded the boat, Shawn let us know the weather had changed and the predicted 40 knots of wind would keep us from fishing where we fished the previous day. We were fine with that as we did not want to keep any more fish.  We planned to catch and release our fish and hopefully get in early.

We had a wonderful day casting the A-Rig, jigs and fishing the normal gear.  Jason caught two at a time on the A-Rig.  We also spent an hour or so fishing for reds and we managed to catch our limit.  So much for our catch and release day.  We ended up catching 6 yellowtail, a sheepshead, 20 rockfish, 5 bonito and more calico bass.  We decided to call it a trip early to beat the weather and hopefully get home early.

Sam and Julian processed fish again on our way to dock.  The trip back was bumpy.  It was good that we headed in early.

What a great trip.  Not only did we catch lots of fish but we had lots of fun too.  Many thanks to Shawn, Sam and Julian.  What a superb team on the Graylight.  I really enjoyed the trip and the chance to have Jason and Shawn reminisce about previous trips.  It brought back many memories for me as well. 

Cathy, you deserve my greatest thanks for organizing and inviting us to share this wonderful adventure with you.

A River of Bluefin Tuna!

Date:  June 15 to 17, 2026

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

Boat and Crew:  Rail Time owned and operated by Gary Adams with second Captain Eric

Trip:  Two day trip fishing Catalina and San Clemente Islands and offshore

Catch:  8 yellowtail, 9 bluefin tuna, 1 yellowfin tuna.  Fish released included triggerfish, opaleye, calico bass and a bat ray

Trip Details:  We departed Peter’s Landing around 5:30 pm Wednesday evening and headed straight to Nacho’s Bait Barge to load up on big, lively squid.  From there, we expected to head towards Catalina for flyers then the bluefin grounds.  Unfortunately, Gary said the wind came up and the fish moved so now we are heading to San Nickolas Island where some small seabass and yellowtail had been caught recently.

We set up our tackle then celebrated Sheepie’s Birthday with a spectacularly adorned cake honoring Sheepies expertise in catching sheepshead.  We enjoyed a pizza dinner then I climbed in my bunk.  I went to sleep expecting to awake in the morning at San Nickolas Island.   Instead, I awoke at midnight at San Clemente Island with bright squid boat lights in my eyes and Fumio yelling, “Jan, you’re bit!”  I ran barefoot onto the back deck and grabbed my rod and was lucky to land a nice yellowtail.  Jeff also hooked and landed a big yellowtail before they quit biting.  It was a nice wake up call although a bit early.  

While waiting for the fish to bite, we were treated to millions of stars in a clear sky with warm air surrounding us like a blanket.  The ocean was alive with squid, and bait of all kinds.  We frequently see unusual fish in the waters around the boat at night too.  This trip it was this transparent Twin Tail Salp or per Wikipedia a "Thetys Vagina".  

Fumio stayed up watching and rebating the rods while the rest of us went back to sleep.

 

Around 4 am I heard a commotion and raced to the back deck to find Fumio holding my rod and shaking his head.  When I asked what happened, he explained that Cathy’s rod on the bow got bit and the fish broke the butt end of her rod off sending the rest of her rod and reel overboard.  Then Fumio grabbed my rod, which was moving strangely, and reeled up my line and the other part of Cathy’s rod with her reel on it came up too.   

 

That was the beginning of the bite and the onslaught of boats crowding around to get in on the bite.  Jim, Cathy, Fumio and I each landed a yellowtail and Steve fought two fish but he was still practicing the release skills he honed on the Endeavor.

Gary started the engines and we moved cove to cove looking for more biting fish.  By mid morning, Gary said it was time to continue our journey to San Nicolas Island.  We all had lunch and settled in our bunks for a nap. We barely settled in when Eric came down and said, “Set up your 30# outfits with a small hook!  We’re going bluefin fishing.”

The weather was calmer and warmer offshore than it had been around the island which made it enjoyable searching for fish.  Gary lectured us that we would not catch a fish if we tried to fish line heavier than 30# so I put away my 50# outfit. 

Gary would have us bait up our hooks and stand ready to drop back right after Eric chummed the area and Gary pulled the engines out of gear.  I think Jeff hooked up first and I wasn’t far behind.  Jeff landed a nice bluefin around 40 to 50 pounds.  Mine was a nice 25 to 30 pounder.  We repeated the process until the fish quit biting.  Gary kept saying the meter showed a river of fish and he couldn’t understand why they quit biting.  We didn’t complain though because we had caught our share.  Jeff and I caught 3 bluefin each, Jim caught 2, Steve 1 and Cathy caught a yellowfin tuna.

A River of Bluefin

Gary headed back to Catalina where Fumio proceeded to catch a couple big triggerfish (evidence of El Nino), an opal eye and another yellowtail.  I got to release a nice bat ray before Gary called it a trip.

Eric fileted our fish and Jeff, Steve and I bagged filets as we travelled back to the landing concluding another spectacular trip aboard the Rail Time.  I don’t know how Gary does it but he manages to put together great trips just about every time he takes us out.  And much thanks to Eric for his help and professional filet work providing us with beautiful filets to take home.

 

 

Gray Ghosts and Yellowtail for the 4th!

Date:  June 30 to July 2, 2026

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

Boat and Crew:  Rail Time owned and operated by Gary Adams with second Captains Eric and Jake

Trip:  Two days fishing Catalina Island and Santa Barbara Island

Catch:  8 white seabass to 40 pounds and 11 yellowtail to 38 pounds

Trip Details:  Day one we fished Catalina Island where we caught our white seabass.  I managed to bring my first fish to the boat only to have a big sealion break its neck and leave me with half a head dangling on the gaff.  Fortunately, I managed to land 3 others including a 40 pounder.  We rounded out our catch with a total of 8 seabass plus one yellowtail before heading to Santa Barbara Island.

 

Santa Barbara Island had equally good fishing.  Everyone caught at least one yellowtail with Fumio nailing 3 and Cathy 2.  When our count reached 11 yellowtail, we decided we had enough fish to take home and turned our spot over to the Freedom.

 

We spent most the night in a quiet cove at SBI then Gary moved the boat back to Catalina to spend a morning of catch and release before heading back to dock early.  I enjoyed Fumio’s description of our trip: 

 

 

And this photo has a story all its own.  If you know - you know!

Many thanks again to Gary, Jake and Eric for their expertise and professionalism and Jeff for organizing these charters, Cathy for ribs and chicken and the rest the gang for keeping us fed and hydrated during our fishing adventures!  Until next time - safe travels!

Farnsworth Bank and SCI Yellows!

Date:  Junes 24 and 25, 2026

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

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

Trip:  Two days fishing Catalina and San Clemente Islands

Catch:  13 yellowtail, 2 white seabass, 1 halibut, 1 calico bass plus many released fish which included small calicos, 1 beautiful leopard shark, bat rays, sheepshead, small white seabass, white fish, blue perch, yellowfin croaker, barracuda, etc.

Trip Details: Our trip began with a 5:30 pm departure from dock with instructions from Gary to set up our dropper loop and sliding sinker/leadhead outfit with nothing less than 40-pound test line.  Gary’s previous trip had heavy casualties of big seabass and yellowtail on lighter lines.  While setting up our tackle, we made a stop at the bait receiver.  Nacho had squid and sardines for us to fill our bait tanks.  That meant Gary and Eric could get some sleep instead of making bait.  Thanks to Rick, we had pizza to munch on for our dinner before hitting the bunks.

The next morning, Gary started up the engines around 5:30 to 6 am which was later than usual.  We were at Catalina Island and the search for game fish was on.  The search ended around noon when we reached the notorious Farnsworth Bank.  I’d been there before and remember well the sounds of fishing lines breaking when the big homeguard yellowtail cut themselves off on the sharp rocky pinnacles along the bottom of the sea.  I never had the opportunity to see one of those fish caught.  I certainly never landed any I hooked. 

Brian hooked up first and actually landed his 32-pound Farnsworth Yellowtail but not without the yellow giving Brian a run for his money.  Then Brian hooked another one and landed that one too even though he tried to hand it off to someone else.  Then I hooked a smaller one but just as tough.  With Gary’s help getting my fish to the bow, I was able to land a yellowtail at Farnsworth Bank!  Incredible surprise to me.  There was one other fish hooked but it managed to get away.  We were 3 for 4!  About as good as it gets at Farnsworth. The bite slowed then and Gary decided to make the run to Clemente.

Gary’s friend, John, arrived after us.  He anchored close to us in what turned out to be the seabass spot and started catching fish.  Unfortunately, the fish ignored our baits.  It was difficult to be sitting right next to the boat catching fish while we weren’t.  By days end, Cathy captured a white seabass and Brian landed a halibut while the rest of us released small calico bass, bat rays, sheepshead, mackerel, and a leopard shark.

We reset our gear for the next day and enjoyed our dinner of ribs and chicken  before hitting the bunks.  Gary reset the boat a couple of times so we would be ready for the morning bite.  I awoke several times with light from the squid boats shining in my eyes.  We were anchored on a squid nest.

I was up before 4 am having my coffee.  All our dropper loops were deployed waiting for a bite.  Gary came down, checked the lines then asked me to let him know if we got bit.  It was another hour or so before anything happened.  By then Jeff and Jim were up and on deck when my rod went off followed by the rest of the rods.  I grabbed my rod and started fighting the fish while Gary and Eric went to the bow with someone else’s fish.   My fish made a turn heading to the stern and by the time I got there the fish was going straight under the boat from the stern to the bow and nailed me to the back of the boat so I couldn’t move.  I yelled for help, but my calls went unanswered.  All I could do was wait for the fish to break me off, which he did.  I put my rod down and grabbed the next rod that had a fish on it and that fish did the same thing.  What a humbling experience. Jim told me later that both stern corner rods got bit the same time as mine and he thinks they joined my fish under the boat and "assisted" in the release of my fish.

Once the bite slowed, a couple more fish were landed and Jim even sent a fish over to the Thunderbird to add to their count.  When the waters calmed, Jim had landed two yellowtail, Cathy landed 3, Rick landed 3 yellowtail and 1 seabass, Jeff landed 2 yellowtail.  What total chaos it had been.  Eric said he only had time to put one sock on before his boots and race to the bow to help.

Once the bite was over, Gary took us searching for seabass or yellowtail around the island however he now said we could fish with any weight line we wanted.  Since we had 13 yellowtail, 2 seabass and 1 halibut in the hold, we could afford to lose fish now. 

We tried several other spots that looked very good but our catching time was over. Eric filleted our fish on the way home.  Jeff and I helped bag the filets.  We made good time and backed into the slip at Peter’s Landing around 5 pm. 

Thanks again to Gary for another uncredible trip and to Eric for all his help and support on deck.  I’m very appreciative of Jeff’s organization of these charters and the help I get from my fellow anglers.  I look forward to the next adventure.