Trip Report: Jake’s 1st Overnight

Lifetime Memory

As much as I enjoy our weekend outings when Jacob and Juliana are over, Jake and I have been wanting to push the envelope a little further and go longer.  It’s not just the opportunity to catch big fish, it’s the idea of sharing a special adventure between father and son.  It’s one of the reasons why our salmon trip last year was so special.  It’s the reason why I had something extra special to look forward to last week, even as I fished some of the hottest spots in Southern California.  Jake and I went out last weekend on his first overnighter.

Jake and I exchanged texts over the course of the week.  He told me he read, What To Bring On An Overnight Fishing Trip, and reviewed my previous trip reports on the boat we’d be riding, the Pacific Islander.  We were  both ready by the time I picked him up Saturday afternoon at his mom’s.

Ricky and Jake aboard the PI

After dinner at my house, we packed the car and headed up to Oxnard.  Shortly after 8pm, we made it to CISCO’s, checked in and boarded the boat.  From doing his homework, Jake recognized Capt. Steve, Amie, and Bryan.  There’s also a  new face on the PI, 13yr old “pinhead” Ricky.  This trip was only Ricky’s second one with this boat, but he said he’d already been working the Coroloma.  Ricky and Jake became fast friends.

The boat was already tanked with live squid.  After we got underway, Capt. Steve said we’d be heading out to Santa Rosa Island, where we’d start fishing around 4am and try for a couple hours to target white seabass and halibut.  From there, we’d head over to San Miguel for rockfishing where we’d end the day.  I set us up for tomorrow morning and we settled into our bunks.  The ride over was uneventful.

Jake’s game face

I woke up at 3:30am.  Jake was still asleep in his bunk.  I went up on deck to check things out.  It was still pitch black.  We were parked just off Santa Rosa Island, in about 80 feet of water.  People were getting ready and staking out their spots at the rail.  I got our gear together and was about to head down to wake up Jake when he joined me on deck.  Oh yeah, the kid had his game face on and was ready to fish.  We baited our hooks, dropped our lines and waited…and waited…and waited.  “Jake, I’m only going to give this an hour and go back to sleep if nothing is happening.”  “OK, Dad.”  It hit 4:30 and we went back to sleep.  I woke up at 6:30 to find Jake out at the rail.  “Good morning Dad.  You didn’t miss anything.  One guy got picked up by a mud marlin (bat ray), but that was it.”  I was about to join him when Capt. Steve said to reel ’em up as we were going to head out to San Miguel.

We got underway and I started to re-rig our poles for rockfishing.  Jake went into the galley and ordered us breakfast with Amie.  I finished up and joined him.  Shortly after we got our breakfast.  I noticed Jake wasn’t his customary self and was slow in eating his grub.  “You can finish mine if you like Dad.  I’m not really hungry.”  Hmmm.

Nice red Jake!

The sea was kind of rough…I’m guessing 8-10 ft swells.  Enough that Capt. Steve would occasionally have to slow down to manage the bigger ones.  Jake was looking queasy.  He’s never gotten seasick before.  As we entered the channel between the 2 islands, the waves kicked it up another notch.  Capt. Steve…”This isn’t working guys.  I’m going to go around to the backside to get out of this weather and we’re going to fish Rosa.”  Around 8:30 we stopped and started our first drift.  Nice big quality rockfish on that first drop.  Jake was down for maybe 2 minutes when he got whacked pretty good.  Reeling up he found a big chuckie on his top hook.  Next drop, a fat red on his bottom loop with the orange Lucanus on it.  Next drift…Jake chummed over the side.  “Oh buddy, you ok?”  “Yes Dad.  I’m going to go lie down and see if I feel better.”  Poor little guy 😦

Oh yeah, Jake is salty

Well, long story short, Jake took a little break.  He rallied though and came back looking refreshed.  Upon his return, the sun was out, the sea laid down, and he picked up 5 more quality fish before we called it a day.  I got my limit, but Jake’s 1st 2 were the big fish between the 2 of us.  Jackpot was taken by MDR regular Tom with the largest of 3 lings that he caught.  Despite his tummy problems, Jake said he had fun and couldn’t wait to try it again…I’ll take some insurance though and bring seasick pills.

Thanks so much to the crew of the PI.  Capt. Steve, Bryan and Jeff were great on deck.  Amie was super nice going off menu to make Jake some chicken soup and keeping him supplied with ice chips.  This dad appreciated your efforts very much.  Tight lines!

MDR in the house baby!