Graylight Pre-season Trip

Date:  April 14, 2026

Anglers:  Jim Carlisle and Jan Howard

Boat and Crew:  Graylight owned and operated by Captain Shawn Steward and second Captain Sam.

Trip:  One day fishing Anacapa Island

Fish Catch:  20 rockfish, 2 halibut and 1 lingcod

Trip Details:  Cathy Needleman booked this trip for the April 1 rockfish season opener inviting our normal group of Jeff and Steve Chang, Fumio Ogoshi, Jim Carlisle, Matt Needleman and me to join her.  Unfortunately, Jeff, Steve, and Fumio were unavailable, so Cathy suggested I invite Jason Fleck.  Jason was excited to join us.  As the date for the trip approached, Cathy realized the trip date conflicted with Passover and neither she nor Matt would be available. Rather than cancel the trip, Cathy insisted the three of us go anyway and made me trip coordinator.

Our next issue was the weather.  The closer we got to the trip date, the worse the weather got.  While Shawn was studying the weather to determine if we would be able to make it out, his Captain for this trip, Sam, fractured his foot so the trip was rescheduled for April 14.  Unfortunately, then Jason was unable to get off work.  That left a two-pack - Jim and me.

As the new date approached, the weather fluctuated until Shawn said he thought we could make it out and said to be at the boat by 5 am.  Jim and I left his house the day before around 1:30 in the afternoon and made it to Oxnard in time to check in to the Hampton Inn before 4 pm.  After checking-in, we headed out to pick up sandwiches for us and the crew.  Jim brought breakfast burritos for everyone from home.  While we were eating dinner at Sea Fresh, Shawn texted saying we would leave at 6 am instead of 5 in order for the winds to come down a little. 

Tuesday morning, April 14th, we loaded our gear in the car, checked out of the hotel and met the boat and crew at Channel Islands Sportfishing.  We signed in, boarded the boat then we were off.  Jim and I settled ourselves down below in the forward V-Bunk for the ride.  The trip was a little bumpy but not too bad and 45 minutes later we were at the east end of Anacapa Island. 

We spent the first couple hours looking for mackerel for bait.  We picked up a couple of large mackerel but not the size nor quantity we wanted.  Shawn said the bait receiver is empty and the bait guys have had a hard time locating any sardines or squid.  Weather was too rough to go to most of the rockfish spots so we fished around the east end of the island in calm water.  It was like being in the eye of a hurricane.

Sam set us up with their new electric reals, a couple hooks with frozen squid and we made a few drops in spots from 300 to 600 feet.  We managed to catch 6 reds, some bankies and widow rockfish to round out our bag limits.  Next Shawn set us up on a deep lingcod spot.  Jim and I both hooked a ling.  I sure was glad I was using an electric reel because that ling fought all the way up.  Just after I landed mine, Jim lost his at the surface as it was just gripping the bait and not hooked. 

We had plenty of fish to take home at this point so it was time to explore.  Shawn and Sam had been wanting to try for black cod.  Jim and I were eager to accommodate as we had fished for black cod in Alaska and loved fishing for and eating them.  Our first drop fell short as there wasn’t enough line to reach the bottom at 1,800 feet.  Shawn moved us around to a couple other spots shallower – 900 to 1,300 feet.  We tried squid and strips of mackerel.  We caught a couple of rockfish but no blackcod.  Perhaps we’ll get to fish for them again next trip.  Sam said he’ll try to get more info from the commercial guys about how they are catching them. 

We did a little more bait fishing and put a few in the tank. Next we checked out the halibut spot and as soon as Jim got his bait to the bottom, he hooked a big halibut and landed it in short order.  I just couldn’t hook one of my own so when Shawn hooked one on a leadhead and split tail fluke, he handed it to me to reel in.   

 

Around 3:30 pm, we called it a trip.  Weather was beautiful and even a bit warm by then.  Sam made quick work of fileting our catch and cleaning the boat before we got back to dock.  We unloaded our gear and grabbed our ice chests out of the car while Sam brought the fish to the top of the landing.  We split the fish up and Jim grabbed some ice for us and iced down our fish while I changed into cooler clothes for the drive home.

 

Graylight is a great sportfishing operation.  Everyone is professional, knowledgeable and have positive attitudes even when weather, bait or fishing is less than ideal.   Much thanks to Shawn and his second Captain, Sam, for a wonderful trip!  And many, many thanks to Cathy for sending us on this trip.  We are very grateful.