I got home late Monday from fishing on the Pacific Islander and was starving.  I wanted something quick and easy and didn’t want to go to the store.  I had fresh fish, and checked the fridge to see what else I had.  This recipe is what I came up with.  Perfect, because it only takes about 15 minutes to put it together.  I warmed up some rice, steamed some veggies and boom…dinner.  I posted the above pic on Instagram and people seemed to like it, so here’s how you make it.

(Serves 1)

Just add fish

Ingredients

1 filet (I used lingcod, but any white meat fish would be good…rockfish, halibut, whitefish etc.)

1 tbsp of mango jam (if you can’t find mango, apricot jam or orange marmalade would probably be good too)

1/2 packet of red pepper flakes

1 tsp grated ginger

2 tbsp of sake

Making it

1. Salt and pepper the fish.  Melt a tab of butter in a pan on low heat and add the fish.

2. Brown one side and flip.  On the flip, add the mango jam, and red pepper flakes.  Grate the ginger on top of the fish (a microplaner is really nice to have to do this step).  Add the sake.

3. Let it cook thru while incorporating the ingredients with a spoon.

4. Let the sauce bubble up and reduce a little.  Serve.

That’s it.  Enjoy!

Salt and pepper

Brown one side and flip

Add mango jam and red pepper flakes

Grate on the ginger

Incorporate all the ingredients and reduce

 

 

Although I successfully scored my white seabass on the Aloha Spirit, I found myself still wanting to try and get myself a bigger one.  I had business in Santa Barbara on Wednesday of last week, so I decided to stay up north and fish on Thursday.  Thursday morning, I boarded the Seabiscuit to get after the ghosts again.  This was the boat where I finally succeeded in getting my seabass last year after 6 unsuccessful tries.  My buddy Scott met me at the landing.  Another angler I had recently met, Steve, was there with his buddy James.  The boat departed at 5am for a full day run.

Owner/Skipper Bob Valney was taking the day off, so 2nd Captain Matt Allport was at the wheel for our trip.  Scott was managing things on deck, and Evan was working the grill.  The boat was already tanked with live squid when we boarded.  Matt came out on deck to give the trip briefing and said we’d be starting the day down the beach, so be ready to fish in 30 minutes.

We got out to the spot, and we were in the same general area as we were last Wednesday on the Aloha Spirit.  I brought the same 3 rigs as last week, and started off the day fishing 40 with the high dropper loop.  We anchored up in a spot roughly 80 feet deep.  Matt said he saw a mark when we first got on it, but when it didn’t bite and he didn’t see anymore, he decided to make a move and head to the islands.

Not a wsb, but he’ll take it.

The move took an hour and a half, so I took advantage of the bunks and caught a little shuteye.  I woke up as the boat was slowing down.  We eased into the Smuggler’s Cove area on the southwestern side of Santa Cruz Island.  Unlike last week, there were only a handful of boats working the area.  We anchored up and almost immediately an angler to my right got bit.  I had to laugh.  He was telling us when we boarded that he had put in 9 trips already and was still fruitless in getting a seabass.  Oh well, a nice halibut wasn’t a bad consolation

It wasn’t long though before we started hooking into seabass.  We weren’t there 30 minutes and we already had 3 seabass and the hali onboard.  The bite was consistent, and I got bit during this run.  I was fishing on the stern and the fish took me just around the port corner.  I could tell it wasn’t a huge fish, but it had a few strong runs it.  This time I was prepared and my drag was set appropriately low.  After the third run, he was done and came in easily.  Scott stuck it and it hit the deck.  Another schoolie.  It was smaller than last week’s fish, maybe 13 or 14 lbs, but a seabass.  Scott and Steve both got bit as well during this run.  When the spot was fished out, it was just after 9am and we had 9 seabass and the hali.

We made a move and worked our way a bit further west.  We started a drift.  Most were fishing a dropper, but Capt. Matt threw a sliding sinker rig.  His line was well behind the boat when he got bit.  He furiously reeled to catch up to the fish.  His line tightened up when he caught up with it and he handed it off to an angler named Bill.  Bill fought it briefly before it came to color and was gaffed.  Another schoolie.  At that point, all of the fish were maybe 10-15 lbs.

Capt. Matt’s fish

Big flattie!

We continued to drift along when Evan, the cook, got bit.  He was next to me on the starboard side by the bait tank.  It took him awhile.  The fish took him down to the stern, and up the other side.  The fish was finally brought on deck up on the bow.  When they brought it back to the stern, I saw it.  Wow, it was significantly bigger than the other fish caught…low to mid-30′s was my guess.  Glad it wasn’t in jackpot.  We got a couple more seabass in the spot and were about to move on when an angler fishing the starboard side by the cabin got bit.  I was on the same side and watched as he followed the fish to within a few feet to my left.  I saw it come to color to see it was a large halibut.  Capt. Matt was at his side, stuck the fish and brought it over the rail.  It wasn’t long, but wow was it thick!

Capt. Matt coaches an angler

He caught this leopard shark

Schoolie for Salty

Scott’s 1st WSB ever

Steve was hot stick with 3 WSB

Mini arch at the east end of Santa Cruz

As it turns out, that run ended up being the last of it for the day.  We made our way back east and around to the north side of the island.  We stopped and picked for some random fish…rockfish, whitefish.  We made a final run back to Smuggler’s, but nothing happened and we headed for home.  The final count was 12 wsb and 2 halibut for 17 anglers (plus the leopard shark and the other random fish).  The second halibut ended up taking jackpot.  All in all, a very solid day on the water.  Thanks to Capt. Matt and the crew of the Seabiscuit for a good ride.  Tight lines!

Jackpot!

Round 2 – Change of venue

As I was licking my fishing wounds on Tuesday after Monday’s unsuccessful trip, I was checking out the schedule again on the CISCO’s site.  Wouldn’t you know it, there were 3 spots open on the Aloha Spirit for Wednesday’s ride.  I wavered.  Usually when I chase a bad trip with another one, the results aren’t good.  On the other hand, just like the on again / off again yellowtail bite at the Coronado Islands this year, I knew that the seabass were bound to go on the chew again.  I’d be kicking myself if they did and didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.  I called and got on.

I had a lot of time to think about seabass strategy on Monday’s trip and the wheels kept spinning Tuesday.  When I finally got my seabass last year on the Seabiscuit, I had gotten both fish on the dropper loop.  The first of my 2, I was the first down and got bit immediately as we got on the spot.  I decided I’d have the same dropper and sliding sinker rigs, and use the dropper to start on every spot.  If we decided to stay and anchor up, I’d use the sliding sinker to extend my fishing area…not just side to side in front of my spot, but up and down throughout the water column.  I had noticed Corey throwing out a 6x Jr in Scrambled Egg when we were anchored up on Monday’s ride…exploratory casts he could fit in between working.  It inspired me to bring a stiffer pole to throw smaller jigs as a 3rd, changeup rig.

Slight change in crew from Monday’s ride…Shawn was still driving, but Mike who is usually a deckhand on the Excel was filling in for Corey, and Pat was now working the galley.  As we got underway, Shawn said we would be headed down the beach instead of going out to the islands.  It would only be 30 minutes or so before we’d be fishing.  I was already setup, so I ordered a breakfast burrito and waited it out in the galley.

10am Scoreboard

Around 5:30 we dropped anchor on the spot.  Pretty crowded, but Shawn said there was good life below us.  I dropped in on the port/stern corner and almost immediately an angler on the other side got bit.  Bang biscuit!  I was happy to see it…we were already ahead of the game from Monday.  That bite kicked off a steady plunk.  It wasn’t long before I got bit myself, but my drag was set too tight.  The fish started to take me up the rail, and then it was gone.  In the Avet post from Friday, when I said there were times I wished I had a star drag…this was one of those times.  I could immediately tell it was too tight as soon as I got bit, but was too scared to try and adjust it mid-fight.  Lesson learned.  I adjusted it down and went back to work.  I at least had confidence that my presentation was good.  We continued to pick away at it and I got my second chance just before 10.  I was on the starboard side by the bait tank when I got bit and I followed it up to the side of the cabin.  Mike was next to me and checked my drag as I was fighting the fish.  Thumbs up.  The fish got in a good initial run, then came straight in.  Mike stuck it and I was on the board.  I was guessing it was only 16-18 lbs., but I was happy to have one in.  Plenty of day left to try and get a bigger one.

As the day progressed, we’d get 1 or 2 every hour or so, in between lulls of nothing.  I found a comfortable spot on the bow where I could sit while fishing and I chatted with Shawn about today’s ride vs. Monday’s.  He just wasn’t seeing any conditions on Monday that made him want to sit and wait it out.  Wednesday, we pretty much stayed anchored up in the same general area for the whole day.  We were on top of a squid nest, and he’d see marks passing through on a somewhat consistent basis, so we stayed put.

1st wsb of the year for me

I see color

Trip with Dad to remember

Saw this tug get 5!

Nice one!

Full cooler

Tag it and bag it, #17

1 of 3, he won JP with a 38lb-er

Seabass fishing reminds me a lot of salmon fishing back home in the Northwest.  Long periods of sitting and waiting, punctuated by a flurry of activity when you get a bite.  I remember sitting in a seabass seminar at Fred Hall once.  The captain was saying how the best seabass fisherman is a rodholder…meaning one of the biggest factors is just keeping your line wet and don’t mess with it too much.  His words were ringing in my head as I watched one particular angler.  He was continually changing setups and missing the moments when the fish would come through, and people got bit.  When you are fishing the sliding sinker rig, you need to be more active.  You can’t leave it on the bottom or you end up catching sharks and rays.  You also need to pay attention to where your line is going and it’s relation to the other anglers since there isn’t enough weight to hold it in place.  I fished it when Shawn said he was marking fish higher in the water column.  I fished the jig a little too, but mostly I stuck with the dropper to maximize my time in the water.

We ended up getting 17 wsb and a couple cuda for 22 anglers.  Not quite limits, but a good day of fishing.  I was glad I took advantage of getting on the boat.  I turned around and got on the Speed Twin for a twilight ride, but didn’t get bit.  We were in the same general area, but a little deeper than during the day.  Conditions were rougher.  The wind kicked up significantly and it got cold and bumpy.  Even then, the boat managed to put 2 seabass on the deck.  Long day for me, but I was happy.  Some of the saltiest anglers I know have yet to get a seabass or it’s been awhile.  It also didn’t take me 7 trips like last year to get mine.  Thank you to the captains and crews of the Aloha Spirit and Speed Twin for the opportunity to score this elusive fish.  Limit goes up to 3 on the Sunday the 16th.  Make your plans and book now.  Tight lines!

Angler Joe Stein with one of 2 fat wsb on the Speed Twin twilight ride

Two Sundays ago, the weekend was winding down with the kids and I was checking out the various landing sites.  Over the previous Memorial Day weekend, I had a fun trip on the Island Tak.  It was the inaugural white seabass trip of the year.  Good friends, decent fishing, but only one seabass for the trip and I wasn’t the one who caught it.  As I was looking through the Channel Islands schedule, I noticed how mysteriously there was now a 1 where it previously said SOLD OUT for Monday on the Aloha Spirit.  Must be a sign.  I immediately called.  Got the spot

When it comes to fishing seabass, Capt. Shawn Steward driving his boat the Aloha Spirit is considered one of the best rides.  For roughly the last month, I’ve re-posted a steady stream of big biscuit pictures to the facebook page from this boat.   It’s no surprise that the boat is currently booked up through the rest of June.  I felt very lucky to get on.  I got my gear together and got to bed.

Corey gives the trip briefing

The next morning I was at the landing by 4am and got on the boat for a 5am departure.  I was happy to find that we already had live squid onboard.  Shawn was at the wheel.  Corey was managing the deck, with Gage assisting, and Glenn was running the galley.  As we got underway, Corey gathered the 22 anglers on deck for the trip briefing.  Corey recommended 2 rigs…the standard waist high dropper loop, with a 6oz weight and a 4/0 or 5/0 hook.  The other rig was a sliding sinker (1/8 to 1/2 oz) to the hook.  He said to use the dropper if Shawn marked fish and we needed to drop down quickly to have a chance at them.  The sliding sinker rig was for when we were at anchor.  We’d be driving about an hour and a half and start fishing near the arch on the east end of Anacapa.  We would be spending the day in no more than 80-90 feet of water.

I brought 3 setups, a 20#, 30# and 40# rig.  I tied the high dropper on my 40 and the sliding sinker on the 30.  For the 20, I tied on a mint waxwing in case we ran into a boil of the smaller yellows that I’d been seeing pictures of.

Someone call a cab?

We got out to the spot and started to look around.  There were a couple boats out there, but not the parking lot that I expected.  We tried one drift, but it was non-productive.  Shawn wasn’t seeing anything and we moved on.  We drove along the south side of Anacapa through the MPA and slowed down as we got along the south end of Santa Cruz.  Ah…here’s the parking lot.  Most of the CISCO’s fleet as well as the other landings and several private boats were in this spot.  The gray light was melting into day as we started a drift.  I used my dropper rig.  The angler to my left hooked up pretty quickly, but it came in fast…smaller sheephead.  Shortly after, I got bit.  Nice pull, but not a seabass.  It was a short cabezon.

We moved again.  Shawn wanted to get out of the crowd.  We continued west and ended up just shy of the western tip of Santa Cruz.  Rosa was in view as we setup another drift.  Shawn came onto the intercom to say he was marking yellows.  Corey recommended going with the sliding sinker rig and I took the advice.  Couple of drifts producing only 1…guessing 12-13 lb. yellow.

Jackpot fish

Long story short, that yellowtail ended up being the highlight of the day.  From there we went back to the area by the arch.  Shawn said he saw fish this time, but no biters.  From there, we made a long run to the beach, close to Port Hueneme.  We anchored up, but no signs of life.  We did a little rockfishing to fill sacks, before giving it one more try to end the day.  Other than a barely legal halibut, nothing else to add on the scorecard.  Dang, big no show on seabass.  It was disappointing, but that’s how it goes with this fish.  I appreciated that Shawn tried to make something happen.  We drove all over the place, but it was what it was…that’s seabass fishing.

I was bummed though thinking that this ride may have been my best shot on the elusive ghosts for the year.  It wasn’t a total loss though, if I got another chance, I could take away some learnings from this ride to be even better prepared for the next trip…

1st tuna of 2013 (photo Richard Q. Marin)

Bluefin Tuna!

Boats on 1.5 and 2 day trips this weekend went offshore looking for tuna.  Last week, news of tuna at around 175 miles south sent them looking.  A lucky few scored the first bluefin tuna of the year.  The official first tuna of the year was taken by Ed Glinecki.  The bluefin tuna weighed 55 lbs., and was taken on the Old Glory out of H&M Landing.

Most of the boats at that range had limits or close to on yellowtail.  The fish were mostly your typical kelp paddy yellows…maybe 8-15 lbs, but you have to be excited about the numbers.

White Seabass Up North

Photo courtesy of Pacific Islander Sportfishing

Going into the weekend, the white seabass were the headline fish of the week.  The fishing was very good most of the week, culminating in a Friday bite where just about every boat in the northern fleet got their limit.  I got my first of the year on Wednesday, aboardfortune  the Aloha Spirit.

Unfortunately for the weekend anglers, the bite mostly shut down for the weekend.  I’m certain these fish are still around and those skippers up there will find them again.  The question is what day.  All you can do is go up and give yourself the opportunity.  It was nice to see that both the Mirage and Pacific Islander got a seabass on their outer island trips.  That’s a really good sign that things are starting to change over from the standard excellent bottomfishing we’re used to out there.

Island Exotics

Catalina turned back on this week.  Earlier last week, several boats got nice hits on yellowtail.  Over the weekend, the seabass bite picked.  The Freedom got 14 for 20 anglers on Saturday.  The Fortune got 1 yellowtail and 8 seabass for 19 anglers on Sunday at the island.  Tony Najafi had a big weekend aboard the Mardiosa catching his first white seabass in about 50 feet of water on a 1/4 oz sliding sinker rig.  He topped off the trip with a halibut for good measure.  Nice job Tony!

Tony with his 1st ever WSB (photo Lindsay Mancini)

Definitely opportunities to land exotics all up and down our Southern California coast.  Locally, the bass and barracuda fishing is turning on.  Get your gear together and make plans to get out there.  The season is definitely on.  Tight lines!

Last week after my Thursday cuda trip on the Enterprise, with the issues that I had in terms of gear, I wanted to resolve those issues in order to be fully prepared for this week’s seabass hunt.  Specifically, I needed to replace the clamp screws (one of which I had lost) for my trusty old MXL, it needed normal maintenance, and I had been wanting to update the handle to the newer style which I find much more comfortable.  My buddy Adrian lives close to the Avet factory and told me I should just drop in and they’d handle it for me.  I took his advice.

The Avet factory is located in Chatsworth and you can find all their information at the Avet Reels website.  Since I was going to drive up, I asked if I could meet their marketing manager, Scott Throop, and get a tour while my service was getting done.  Scott was very gracious and took the time to show me around and tell me the Avet story.

Avet Reels was founded by brothers Harry and Sarkis Alajayjyan.  They introduced their reels in March of 2002 at the Fred Hall Show.  The story really started 25 years back though.  Harry is a pilot and was an engineer in the aerospace industry that used to be such a big part of the SoCal industrial scene.  Harry’s company manufactured parts to spec for the big aerospace companies (like McDonnell Douglas).  Harry also has a passion for fishing though and he found a creative outlet in designing and engineering his reels.  The reels were an immediate success at the show and they haven’t looked back since.

Scott shows me a reel frame and the billet of aluminum it came from

Scott used to have his own rod company and his booth happened to be next to Avet’s at that 2002 Fred Hall Show.  Scott’s background is as a machinist and he and Harry immediately hit it off talking shop.  Scott liked building rods matching the guide wraps to the different colored Pac Bay reel seats.  Avet was the only reel manufacturer that made reels in matching colors and he found himself selling his rods with Avets as a combo.  The product collaboration led to him eventually joining Avet.

Scott took me out on the factory floor and showed me how the reels are made.  The process starts with raw rods of 6061 aircraft grade aluminum of varying diameters depending on the size of reel it’s going to be made into.  It’s a 6 step process from the raw rods of aluminum to a finished frame that is then ready for anodizing (color).  First the rods are cut into billets or “slugs” that are roughly the size of the frame.  The billet is then shaped on the outside and cored, openings are routered, screw taps are made etc.  Flat pieces are made in a similar process from bars of the raw material.  Each step is done in various high tech CNC machines allowing Avet to manufacture each piece to an exacting standard. The quality comes out in the final product being very durable and requiring little maintenance (as I can attest to firsthand).

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All but a very few pieces (small things like some springs and screws) are manufactured inhouse to produce 742 different reels (models, and then the different colors for each model).  The only outsourced process is the anodizing  where color is applied.  Unfortunately, when product comes back from anodizing, the color sometimes comes out inconsistent.  Rather than throw these pieces out, Scott had the bright idea of using them to make the 2 tone “blem” models you see at a discounted rate.  Scott hates the term blemish.  These reels are exactly the same, the color just didn’t come back an exact match.  ”Contrast is better than an almost match” he says.  Final assembly is then done by hand at Avet.

Avet chief Harry Alajayjyan

While we were out on the floor, we ran into Harry.  Scott introduced us and Harry was kind enough to give me some time.  I was curious to ask him about the new SXJ reel that was introduced at this year’s FHS.  Why that reel?  ”The SX is overkill for 90% of the local fishing we do.  A smaller diameter spool also has less drag which makes for longer casting and is better for fin bait when in free spool.  It’s also opened up a new market for us with the salmon fishermen in the Northwest.”  What’s coming up for Avet?  ”We’re excited about what’s happened with the SXJ in the Northwest, so we are introducing a levelwind which is something that our Northwest dealers are telling us the market up there is very excited about.”  I am too.  My daughter would love a pink Avet levelwind.  Would you ever do a star drag?  ”Actually, after we do the levelwind, a star drag is next up.  You’re actually the first ‘press’ we’ve told about it.”  That’s exciting (the reel, not my ‘scoop’).  I’ve found myself in situations where I wanted to adjust the drag in the middle of a fight, but was scared to even try.  An Avet star drag would be just the ticket.

By now my service was done.  Scott told me as we were walking back to his office that the SXJ has been tremendously well received.  It’s actually their best selling reel now.  I picked up my finished MXL.  Ah, much better.  Smooth and the new handle felt good.  It’s already battle tested and it works great.  Thank you Scott, Harry and Team Avet.  I’ve always felt that Avets were great reels and a tremendous value.  Seeing what they do and everything that goes into the final product, that feeling is even stronger.  Keep up the great work.  Tight lines!

The Alajayjyan family…product-testing

I sleep-fished to catch this fish, waking at 2 for a 4am ride

Well, it wasn’t the slob that I would consider Extra Salty…just a schoolie sized fish maybe 16-18 lbs., but I will definitely take it.  I caught it yesterday on the Aloha Spirit out of Channel Islands Sportfishing.  The white seabass is one of the most elusive fish that we catch here in Southern California, which earned it one of it’s nicknames, the Grey Ghost (aka wsb, seabiscuit or just biscuit for short).  It’s also one of the tastiest.  It has a firm, white meat that has almost a sweet quality to it.  I like to prepare it simply by just brushing it with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilling it, which is what me and the kids will be doing this weekend

White Seabass is #3 on my Top 10 of SoCal fish (salty ones).  Last year, it took 7 trips to cross this fish off.  This year only 3!  All that’s left now on the list is a ling cod…I can’t believe I haven’t caught one yet (caught one in January, but out of season), but it shouldn’t be hard.  Tuna, which are now about 175 miles out from San Diego (~ 3 day range), so just around the corner.  And then that damn sheephead.  I hope it doesn’t take until the last day of the season like last year to get a nice black and red specimen.  Stay tuned.

People are always asking me, “When did you start taking your kids out on the boats?”  It’s really not so much their age that is the biggest factor.  It has more to do with their experience level with fishing in general, and then the circumstances around the ride itself.  For example, Juliana caught her first fish at age 3.  It was a white croaker off the Venice Beach Pier on a sabiki rig.  So she’s been at it now for almost 4 years, but I’m not going to bring her on an overnight anytime soon.

Some of the things I look for are the length of the trip, what the actual hours of the ride will be, and the style of fishing that will be the dominant method of fishing for the day.  Half day trips are going to be your first option, but if you were to take a kid out during the first few days of barracuda season and you’ve got a bunch of people throwing iron…doesn’t really work.

I really like the halfies that have a later start for the kids…PM rides or when they do a late morning start.  Sunday, me and the kids rode on the Reel Fun out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing.  They are running 10am to 3pm which is a great, kid-friendly time.  If you were to see the count…8 Calico Bass 1 Sand Bass 2 Barracuda 107 Calico Bass Released 23 Sand Bass Released for 40 anglers…you might think, “Well that sucks.  Glad I didn’t go.”  Well, if you were only worried about bringing home meat, you’d  be right.  For me though, watching Juj have a great day on the water was priceless.  I setup a simple dropper loop on her rod (something light and size appropriate, but somewhat stiff), with a small circle hook (so she doesn’t have to set the hook) for the live anchovies we had.  I bait her hook, cast it for her and then she’s on her own.  She’s at a point now where if she isn’t bit fairly quickly, “Dad, I’m going to check my bait.”  Love it.  She caught a halibut, a sand bass, a cabezon, and 2 white seabass.  All shorts, but that didn’t matter.  She had a blast.

Happy to be getting salty

Beautiful 5 inch choves

Juj got first fish with this almost legal cabezon

Jake with one of Corey’s smaller slugs…anchovy-ish that he got hit on

One of 2 baby biscuits

Capt. Chris likes to work the productive kelp beds just off the beach.  It’s skinny water, so it wasn’t hard for her to reel up the fish.  Capt. Chris Pica and his crew do a great job with the kids.  She gets to see the various sealife that live in the kelp beds (the fish, sea lions, dolphins, birds).  Jake enjoys throwing different lures and swimbaits which we don’t normally get to do on a lot of our rides (he’s the product tester).  Great day.  I highly recommend it.  Tight lines!

VIDEO: Juj’s Halibut

Santa Monica Bay – MDR boats

Didn’t have time this week to get out a full trip report, but I got out on Spitfire Sportfishing on Sunday (May 26th) over the long weekend.  As I mentioned in the previous weekend’s trip report on the New Del Mar, lings were the thing.  Newly minted skipper (and longtime deckhand) John Corzell was at the helm.  Tip of the Salty cap to Capt. Couch as he was riding a hot streak of putting his customers on a great ling bite.  My buddy, Jimmy Bass, rode on Saturday and caught 3, including one over 14lb ling-o-saurus to take jackpot.  I rode Sunday and the boat got 20 lings!  Monday was good with another 17.  Then the fin bait ran out at the bait receiver and the lingcod disappeared from the count.

Everyone’s going to be watching the MDR count for barracuda, but who knows if they’ll show up in SMB this weekend or not.  Call to the landing and see if they’ve got sardines.  If they do, there’s a great chance you’ll hit a limited load ride and catch a fat ling.

Deckhand Chris Isaac with the biggest of 20 lings caught last Sunday

Tips For Barracuda Success

I fished on the Enterprise out of Long Beach Marina, with Capt. Andy Siratt yesterday (Thursday).  The cuda had just hit OC and Long Beach on Wednesday, and we went out to chase them again on Thursday.  I had some tackle issues.  In my rush to get my new jig stick on the water, I clamped on my Avet MXL to the new rod.  I’m not a big fan of the deckhand style wraps and having to use a clamp.  I’d rather have a reel seat and just tighten them on the normal way.  It’s faster and easier to change reels.  I also don’t like having that lump of metal resting against the inside of my wrist when I’m fighting a fish.  Well, long story short, I wasn’t able to use that rod most of the day and had to make do throwing a jig with my 30lb. bait stick.  I made do, but it wasn’t optimum.  Lessons learned on the water.  Now you can have the benefit of that experience…

1) Fish Heavy – minimum 30 lb test, 40lb test better with a Heavy or Extra Heavy rated rod.

These are big fish…some serious logs in the mix with 8-12lb. fish at the top end.  So why do you need 30 to catch a max 12lb fish?  For one, these are toothy fish and your line will get nicked up.  Fishing the heavier test gives you a fighting chance even if that happens.  Secondly, lots of sea lions are out there.  The faster you can horse that fish in and avoid a protracted fight, the better chance you have of avoiding the sea lions and successfully boating the fish.  Also, with the heavier line and heavy stick, you have the option of bouncing the fish.  When all the newbs get out there and everyone’s calling for the gaff…you’ll want to be able to bounce it.

2) Check your line often

See above…your line will get nicked often.  Every time you catch, in between spots or when you go to change jigs…take a moment to check your line.  Run your fingers from where you tie on up 3 feet or so.  If there is a rough spot or fraying, cut it off above that spot and re-tie.  You’ll feel like an idiot if you break off, lose a jig, and know you could’ve prevented it.

3) Use smaller, heavier jigs

The first fish I brought in, it spit out two 5 inch anchovies (damn, I wish we were getting that size for bait!).  I continued to see that size of bait getting spit up on the deck.  They’re keyed in on the smaller bait, so give them what they want.  They’re holding lower too.  You could fish surface iron, but it’ll take too long for it to drop down.  In the meantime, other people are getting bit and the sea lions are moving in.  Fish a bait that can get down quickly.  Megabaits, and small, but heavy iron (CP105 6x Jr etc.) are the ticket.

So there you go.  Good luck and enjoy!

Megabaits!

They’ve finally arrived

Three day weekend, so I got in a good fix…

Saturday: Island Tak

Now that I’ve managed to make a good hit on the yellowtail, I’ve turned my attention toward knocking down some of the other fish on my Top 10 list for the year.  Don’t get me wrong, any trip where I take home a yellow is a win.  If you have the time, I’ll tell you why I made it #1.  One of my fishing buddies was asking me the other day why I created the list.  I told him one reason is it’s just something to strive for and measure my personal performance against.  Another reason, is that I think a lot of us tend to find a type of fishing that we like, have success at and stick with it.  The fish on the list represent a lot of different styles.  The best place and ways to catch each varies.  The reason I like best is that the list encourages you to venture to other landings and utilize different styles of fishing.  If you can become proficient at catching each (and I’m far from it at this point), then you have truly become a complete Southern California angler (salty at least).

Some boats have started to venture offshore in search of tuna (#2 on the list), but it’s still early in the year for them (unless you go long range).  Of the fish left (tuna, wsb, lingcod, and that damn sheephead), white seabass is going to be the hardest to cross off, so I tried to get in on the bite going on up north in the Channel Islands.  In the week leading up to the trip, several boats had scored, with some limiting out.  Supposedly, the bite is best just before and just after the full moon.  The full moon was either Friday or Saturday night, so I didn’t know if that was going to hurt us.  We’d find out soon enough.

Friday night, I met up with fishing friends Adrian, Deborah and Cruz and boarded the Island Tak out of Channel Islands Sportfishing.  It’s a smaller boat (15 max load), but it seems like these smaller boats are the ticket on seabass.  Maybe they are quieter and can get into spots the bigger boats can’t?  Maybe it’s just less, more focused anglers?  We slept on the boat, and it departed at 4am with 11 anglers and the crew of 2, Capt. Steve and deckhand John.  We made squid a couple hours later when we got out to Santa Cruz Island.  The squid were pretty thick and we made short work of it.

Adrian’s barndoor kicked off the day

We started the first drift of the day in a spot that Capt. Steve said usually holds a halibut or 2.  We were in a little cove, just off the kelp line in about 6o feet of water.  Most fished the waist high, longish dropper loop setup that is the standard up there in the northern Channel Islands for targeting halibut and white seabass.  I did too using my 40lb rod and 6oz. of lead.  I went with a 5/0 Aki twist hook and a live squid.  Adrian was down the rail to my right.  It wasn’t long before I saw his line go bendo and line was zipping off his spool.  Once the initial run was done, Adrian started to gain line on him, punctuated by head shakes.  It seemed to be the right kind, and sure enough…nice hali just shy of 30 lbs.

Only the hali for that stop, and then we made a series of short moves in the same general area.  Mixed in with all the seabass in the week leading up, there was also a nice hit on yellowtail…a real oddity for this time of year, this far north.  Steve sonared a school and we made a try on them.  He recommended going with a small (1/8 to 1/4 oz) sliding sinker to the hook, but no takers.

We eventually settled into a spot in the kelp that kicked out some fish.  Not the target wsb, halibut or yellows, but a steady pick on whitefish, various rockfish, sheephead, calico bass, and a gang of blacksmith perch caught by Deborah.  It was getting close to being time and we made one more move.

Greg of SFV Saltwater Anglers with a nice bass

Don’t look now…AC with a nice sheepie

The Tak is a comfortable boat!

Adrian and Cruz yuck it up with their goats

Long story short, Adrian had the only biter and it was a nice 18 lb white seabass.  That was the day.  I didn’t think to ask during the day, but Adrian was using 3/0 hooks and fluoro to get his 2 big scores.  On a scratchy day (the whole landing count was only 1 wsb and 2 halibut), it made the difference.  Way to go Adrian.  I got my share of fish, but gave away most of it.  I wanted to go big or nothing and this time it was nothing.  It was still a great day on the water…beautiful day, good friends, decent fishing.  Thank you to Steve and John.  Tight lines!

AC was the hero of the day!