GlumaceFishing.com » Rockfish

35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra 7-18-10

Sean Glumace — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:53:43 +0000

Got another group together this past Sunday 7-18 on board the Spectra for a full day local trip. Got down to the dock around 5:30am with my son Jonathan loaded up the equipment. My cousin Jason and his dad Mark came out on this one along with Lanny who I purchase my sinkers from and Chris. Left the dock right around 6:00am and headed out to the bait barge to pick up some dines and small anchovies. Had some live squid left in the tanks as well. Headed out to the salmon grouper spot to fill up the bags before searching for the sand bass and cuda.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Got out to the spot and dropped on down, and hookups all around.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Dennis and one nice bocaccio.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Big one of the day.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

This first drop was one of the best first drops we’ve had at the hole. All big fish (lots of limits of 2 on the first drop) and we only did 2 more passes to come up just short of limits.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

2nd Pass.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Headed back in to the flats along with the fleet. Did not find much and tried a few different spots. No love on the sand bass or cuda in the morning. Found a rock while heading over to Izors and anchored up. Dino got a nice ling.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

I pulled up a nice sheephead. There were also some big fish down there, grabbing the bait and tearing you off. Probably big lings or sheephead.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Baby sculpin.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Dennis cooked up a great breakfast and lunch for us. Plain and dry burger for Jonathan.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

At one of our stops off Huntington Beach and the flats (along with the fleet) we had back to back hookups on nice sized bat rays. Pulled Rick all over the boat. My uncle Mark also hooked up on one.

We finally got a few sand bass and calicos on board on a rock we found. They were in the structure, and if you did not hook and get them out of the rocks you hung up and lost them.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Bass hookup!

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Did well on this spot, picking away at everything. Decided to stay out a little longer and anchor up with the fleet one last time. And the entire fleet was there. The Matt Walsh, Victory, Sport King, Native Sun, Enterprise, So Cal and a few others. Got in on a good spot and started chumming, got the cuda running some and hooked up on a few nice ones. If the bait swam towards the boat while fly-lining it was over, change and cast out again.

Jonathan and Ted on a big barracuda.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Called it a day around 5:30pm and headed back to the barn. Filled up a cooler with a mixed bag of bocaccio, rockfish, a few sculpin, a sheephead, a few sand bass and calicos, and a few nice sized barracuda.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Everyone went home with a nice sack of fish. Billy, Ted and Dennis were great as always, going above and beyond and working hard to find the fish even though they were not all that cooperative. Got another twilight ready for next Monday, hopefully the sandies will be ready to play!

31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Sean Glumace — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:30:18 +0000

After getting out 2 weeks ago with the large charter group (38 people, view the full report here) I did on the Tide Change to Catalina I was looking forward to my first trip out on the Spectra out of Spectra Sportfishing and get some me time fishing in. This was just a family fun trip, 1/2 day local rockfishing shake down cruise with a few of my friends and family that owner Billy Keleman put together for us. Other than my cousin Jason, son Jonathan and I everyone else was either new to fishing or had only a few trips out.

Got down to Pierpoint Landing and met up with everyone around 5:30am and got out of the dock right at 6:00pm.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

The Spectra is an impressive boat, with a ton of room on deck, big bait tanks and a full kitchen and bunks for everyone. She has a unique tower and stack, so she is not hard to miss when out on the water.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Billy and Ted were on board to help out and we hit up the bait barge for some scoops of sardines and small macs. I tried for some macs or tommy cod for Jonathan to play with but no love at the barge.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Bait looked great and we settled in for a ride out to a sweet spot that they have for rockfishing.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Billy took care of everyone’s rigs as we headed out. Large hooks on a dropper loop, some rods 2 hooks some 1 hook and an 8oz torpedo sinker. I got to fish with spectra for the first time rockfishing and let me tell you, I’m now a convert. I could tell the difference with the hit vs. the mono that I had on my rods. Most of the big fish came off the rods rigged up with spectra and very large hooks.

Got out to the spot and did the first drift. If you missed on the first drop you had to wait till we moved back and repositioned on it again. First fish up was Gus and a nice salmon grouper (bocaccio).

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

I lost one on this drift while bringing it up, but made up on the next drift. All these fish were big quailty salmon groupers, I would say all personal bests for this area. Billy and Ted worked hard putting us on these fish and it paid off.

Another nice fish.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Ready to drop when they say so…

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

My son Jonathan’s first salmon grouper, and a limit to boot on one drop!

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

On the second drift Gus hooked up on a beautiful red snapper, one of the bigger models I have seen locally in a long time.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Hook up!!

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Hook ups!!!

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

And the end result, happy camper!

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

First one ever…

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Owner Billy and a big boy…

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Some of these fish were almost as big as Jonathan.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Jonathan and Billy again…

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Kiss for good luck…

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Henry’s first salmon grouper.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Jason and I went down with some whole dead squid to see what we can pull up and he got his biggest for the day, 26 inches long.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

We got our limit in a few passes and packed it up to find some other fun.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Looking for more fish!

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Just to give you an idea of how big these guys were…

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

We tried a few more stops looking for reds and other rockfish but nothing panned out. The water temp was around 57 degrees so it was slow. Decided to head back in and hit Izor’s before calling it a day. All morning it was grey and overcast, but as flat as a lake. Got to Izor’s and it cleared up to blue skies. There were about 10 other boats out there with us as well.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

We tried a few spots anchored up but with no love. Got a few bites and Jonathan brought in the last fish of the day, a little rockfish.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

Called it a day around 1pm and headed back to the barn. Ted took care of the filleting and everyone went home with a nice bag of fish, plus some nice heads for fish soup.

From 31st Trip: Local Rockfishing on the Spectra 4/25/10

This was one of the best local rockfishing trips I’ve ever been on and I would like to thank Billy Keleman again for putting this little taste test together for my group. I look forward to booking 1/2 day and overnight trips to the island with him. He runs a top notch operation on a beautiful boat that is a great platform for a 6 pack trip, comfortable and tons of room! He will be running out of Long Beach through June 30th then moving the boat down to San Diego starting July 1st. You can find out more about the boat and how to charter it at http://www.spectrasportfishing.com.

Thanks again Billy for a great trip!

30th Trip: Catalina Charter on the Tide Change 4/11/10

Sean Glumace — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:58:24 +0000

The big day finally arrived on Sunday, April 11th 2010. It was time for the first GlumaceFishing.com charter of the year I put together and we had a full boat. I had been booking up seats for the past two months and had a total of 38 make it out on the trip. This was also the first time in a few years that my wife Hilda has come along on a trip, and it was the first trip for my daughter Katelyn and also my nephews. About 95% of the people on this trip had never been fishing before, or never fished on a boat, and over half were kids. We had a great group together that was ready to fish! I also had a photographer come along and take photos for everyone, lots of first fish ever on this trip!

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

The weather on Saturday was great, and conditions were good as well but the good conditions did not roll over to Sunday. I was hoping that the storm that was in the forecast would stay away and we would not have wind or rain. (Got everyone down to Long Beach Sportfishing before 5:30am for a 6am start time. Got everyone licenses and rental rods if they needed them and got on the board the Tide Change. Jeff was our captain with Chris in the galley. Kevin and Bobby the deckhands on board and we got out right on time. The plan was to go after rockfish off the west end of the island then go back on the front side to chase some bonita and anything else we could find. Most of the people hit the bunks or found a seat in the galley for the 2 hour or so ride over. The weather was ok, overcast and a bit cold but never that windy and it stayed flat most of the day. Everyone listened to me and took some type of sea sick medication so we only had a handful of people get a little sick on the trip.

We had all the bait on board, cured sardines and some bags of frozen squid. We did have some live squid in the tanks if we needed it as well. On the way over the deckhands rigged everyone up with a basic 2 hook dropper loop and 6-8oz torpedo sinker. I would like to thank Brett Rankin at Eagle Claw for sponsoring all the hooks on this trip and to Lanny at Lanny’s Sinker’s and Stuff for giving me a great deal on lead. We had more than I can ever use in a lifetime on this trip, and we were going to need it.

Most of the kids did not sleep on the way over and found the sardines to be fascinating.

Katelyn with a sardine.

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

Collin with one as well.

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

We saw a few whales that spouted on the way along with a few dolphins. After about two hours (and a lot of asking when we were going to fish) we made it around the west end of Catalina. For most on the boat it was the first time they ever where at the island, especially the west side and the back.

When are we going to fish!

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

Lots of bait!

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

We got set up in about 250′ of water and did our first drift that ended up being the best one of the day. Brought up 4 nice salmon grouper (Bocaccio) on this drift. First fish ever for a lot of people, I’ll let the photos tell the story…

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

This was one of the few stops where I got to fish as well. I ended up spending most of the day helping everyone. I did a lot of hooking up and handing off rods

Here is my salmon grouper of the day. I was the first to hook up and the last to bring it on board this trip. Right after I hooked it my brand new (new old stock) Penn Squidder 140 reversed on me and gave me a good knuckle breaker. The anti-reverse dog and or spring probably went out. So I put pressure with my one tumb on the line against the rod, put the tip down and started to crank away at 250′. Got em up though. Kinda sucks about the reel, it had just come out of the box and was the first time I ever used it. Good news was that was the only thing that went wrong the whole day!

Me with my bocaccio…

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

The water temperature the whole day was 57-58 degrees, so the fishing was not wide open but we picked away at the small rockfish. Some starry rockfish came up along with a whole assortment of other ones. We ended up doing another drift and lots of tangles. The crew did a great job re-rigging everyone up and helping everyone on the boat. A few small sculpin came up as well, so everyone got a lesson on what fish not to grab. We did end up anchoring up after a few drifts and kept picking away at the fish.

Some more rockfish and first fish photos…

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

Having fun

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

My wife with her first rockfish..

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

The biggest fish of the day came while we were anchored but did not count toward the jackpots ( we had a jackpot for the kids and adults). My nephew hooked up on something big and started cranking away, but got tangled up with about four other people half way up. Kevin the deckhand tried his best to untangle the mess, but had to cut everything off. So Kevin hand lined up a very nice sized sheephead. It was also my nephew’s first fish on the ocean (technically).

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

Some more first fish pictures and hookups…

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

Biggest fish of the day!

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

After about 2 1/2 hours of this we packed up and moved around to the front side looking for bonita and anything else. The captain took a gamble and went back to a spot east of Two Harbors that had produced the day before, and the ride over was about 50 minutes or so. The island was so green because of the rains we had a while back.

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

At the last stop we did run into some bonita, smaller models but they were there. The only problem was that the seals showed up in force and we only landed a handful of whole ones, I lost about 5 to the seals alone. The captain and I were flylining sardines off the stern and handing off the rods to the kids. They would not pump fast enough and we would end up with a head. We wrapped it up at this spot after we had trouble holding anchor with a wind that came up and headed in.

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

The jackpot was included in the charter price. I had a total of 4 spots for a private 1/2 day trip I am doing on the Spectra of Spectra Sportfishing out of Pierpoint Landing in a few weeks up for grabs (http://www.spectrasportfishing.com). 2 tickets for the adult jackpot and 2 tickets for the kids. I’d like to thank the Specta owner Billy Keleman for helping us out with the jackpot. Salmon groupers won both, and everyone who won was excited to come back out on the water with me in a few weeks.

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

Headed in and most people ended up taking a nap or relaxing on a nice ride back.

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

Everyone had a great time, while the fishing was not wide open and not big fish it was great for the majority of anglers that had never been out before. I hope that I got a lot of them hooked on fishing

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

It was a workout getting everything together for the trip, but it was well worth it to see the kids catch their first fish along with many of the adults.

I’d also like to thank everyone down at Long Beach Sportfishing including Jenifer in the office for helping out the last month or so booking everything up and especially the crew for being so patient and helpful with all the newbies on the boat. Thanks!!

While they are not great numbers, here are the final numbers for the day and in the end they did not matter much everyone had FUN! I am putting together 3 more charters in the months of May and June, so if you are interested contact me by email or phone.

1 Sheephead
2 Whitefish
4 Bocaccio
65 Rockfish
8 Bonito
2 Red Snapper

From 30th Trip: GlumaceFishing.com 4/10 Tide Change Charter

27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day 12/21

Sean Glumace — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:29:48 +0000

Finally got to get out on the water again this past Monday. Took a look around and did not see too many boats going out during the week so we decided to head back to Long Beach Sportfishing and the 3/4 day trip on the Native Sun. We had gone out back in September on a twilight sculpin run (view the post here) and had a good time.

Called in for the tickets on the Friday before and got the $43 dollar special and reserved 4 spots, one for myself, my son Jonathan, my cousin Jason and my friend Chauhan. Got down to the landing around 6:20, and we were the first ones in. They told us in the office they had 11 on the reservation list, and a total of 14 showed up. Boarded up and left right at 7am. Ah, nice light day for everyone.

Got my son to work right away putting up and tagging the bags.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Captain got on the horn, no live bait today, frozen squid and shallow bottom fishing off of Point Fermin working our way up the coast. So we had about a half an hour or so to kill till we got out. Got us all in on the jackpot, which only 8 of us was in for $5 each. Felt bad for about 4 of the people who went out, they were sick and in the galley the whole time, so only 10 of us fished. Got rigged up with a two hook dropper loop set up on all of our rigs, 3 and 4 oz sinkers and #2 and #2/0 hooks.

Jonathan with his number, red 15

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Very overcast and cool all day. No wind or current the whole day either, it was nice to have no wind in the afternoon and flat all day.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Pulled up to our first stop right past Point Fermin, right infront of the Korean Bell area. Got in near the kelp line between all the lobster traps, which were lined up all along the coast. We followed them the whole day as we moved north.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

First stop was slow (all of our stops were slow all day) but a few fish started coming up.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My cousin Jason got the skunk off first with a Gopher Rockfish

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

A few more rockfish came on board, and some short calico bass and we moved on north a little way. Made a total of about 6 moves in the morning heading north, farthest we go was to the Trump golf course.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

On the next stop I got my stunk off with a 13 inch Sand Bass that put up a good fight. Got to give it a kiss for good luck.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Jonathan got his skunk off as well with a short Calico Bass. First fish of the day made him smile. The deckhand was great with him through the day, and helped out my friend Chauhan as well.

Jonathan’s first fish of the day

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

I got a Gopher Rockfish as well at this stop. We just kept pecking away.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Right before we were pulling up on the spot Jonathan brought up his second fish of the day, a small Lizard Fish. Slimy little things. Amazing thing was he hooked it on a #2 hook.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Next stop Chauhan got his skunk off finally, short Sand Bass.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Jonathan then got his first rockfish ever. Copper Rockfish. Nice size fish for him on his light tackle.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We also caught about 10 mackerel that we released, mostly hooked towards the surface while checking for bait. Jonathan had a good time with them.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My cousin Jason got a nice Sand Bass at this stop as well. It was the biggest fish on the boat up to this point and was in the lead for the jackpot.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Chauhan with another short calico.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

I got hit hard at this spot, finally had something with some meat on it. After a nice fight I got my largest white fish of the year, and one of the bigger fish of the day on the boat.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My son and me with our catches.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Pulled anchor again and tried another spot. Chauhan got his big half moon perch of the day, one of the bigger ones I’ve seen in a while.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

After a few more fish we pulled anchor around 1pm and headed back to the entrance to Angles Gate and did some drift fishing. First drift was good getting about 6 or 7 whitefish on the boat. Jonathan lost one right at the boat then the mackerel came in.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Lunch!

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Tried a few more times drifting with no love so we headed out to the Horseshoe. It was slow there as well, same as the morning just picking away a little at a time. I got a Johnny Bass at the first stop. We had a few come on board earlier.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

I also snagged a Pacific Jack Mackerel at the stop as well. He went into the bait tank, I think someone tried using him as bait at the next stop.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We also caught Blacksmith Perch at all our stops. We ended up catching about 8 of them. At one stop I went to a small hook to catch some for my mother in law. She loves these, cooks them whole with just the head and guts cut out.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My son caught on to doing his own bait this trip. All afternoon he took care of it himself. Proud of the little guy, he’s catching on. Now we need to teach him how to tie up his own tackle.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We moved spots one more time and something happened to my friend Chauhan that I had not see in a long long time. We had just finished dropping anchor and he went to cast out (don’t know why) next to my cousin. The next thing I know I see a splash and the rod and reel are sinking to the bottom. He is new to all this, and we think the reel backlashed on him and tied up his finger (he had a cut) and he just let go.

Now this was not his rod, it was my cousins. The deckhand saw it and ran with the gaff but it was long gone by then. The best part was Jason just laughed it off, saying that was the funniest f***ing thing he ever saw. I could tell Chauhan was upset, Jason just said it was fine because he was getting a new rod and reel now at the Fred Hall show in March! It was an older rod, with a Penn 310 reel on it. Jason did say if it was his Calcutta he would have dove in after it. Ah the stories we can tell now, and never let him live it down.

With all that fun over with someone on the other side of the boat brought up a big sheephead at this stop. We all looked at it and said there’s the jackpot. It was really slow at this stop, which would the last of the day. During the slow time one of the highlights of the trip happened. Jonathan was sitting on his crate (it gets him to stand over the rail better) with his rod in the water but sitting to his side and it went bendo. I grabed it and handed it off to him and he started to crank. Whatever it was it was big enough to pull his WalMart rod with 12lb test to its limit. Working it hard we saw color, Sheephead, male with color. He was very proud and called him mom to tell her from the boat.

Video of Jonathan fighting the sheephead.

Jonathan and his first sheepshead.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

One side of the sheephead was lighter than the other. Here it is from the other side.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Things slowed down again, one of two fish coming over the rail. One of the other anglers on the boat had brought a bag of shrimp from the market with him and put it in the bait tank. I had just lost another 4oz sinker in the rocks and went to a 2oz egg sinker and #2 hook to keep it simple and maybe hit up a sheephead for myself. Put a big shrimp on it and dropped it down. Soaked it for about 5 minutes and got hit hard and fast. Fought it up and it turned out to be a big sand bass.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Both of our bass.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We wrapped it up around 4ish and it was starting to get cold. Time for jackpot. Both my cousin and I expected the big sheephead someone else had caught was coming out, when we asked they said he was not in the jackpot. So it came down to my bass vs Jason’s bass.

No contest, and I got my second jackpot of the year (both winners were bass this year).

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We had to check to see if Jonathan’s sheephead was in the running, his first jackpot he was in.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Jackpot was $40 so I gave it to the deckhand for helping Jonathan out today. Ended up with a good mix of fish to take home.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Totals for today

Myself (Sean)
2 Sand Bass (Kept)
1 Johnny Bass (Kept)
1 Whitefish (Kept)
1 Calico Bass (Released)
4 Blacksmith Perch (Kept)
3 Mackerel (Released)
1 Jacksmelt (Kinda released)

Jonathan
1 Calico Rockfish (Kept)
1 Calico Bass (Released)
2 Blacksmith Perch (Kept)
1 Sheepshead (Kept)
6 Mackerel (Released)
1 Lizardfish (Released)

Jason
1 Sand Bass (Kept)
1 Gopher Rockfish (Kept)
2 Calico Bass (Released)
2 Blacksmith Perch (Kept)
3 Mackerel (Released)

Chauhan
1 Halfmoon Perch (Kept)
1 Johnny Bass (Kept)
1 Gopher Rockfish (gave away)
1 Sand Bass (Released)
1 Calico Bass (Released)
1 Blacksmith Perch (Released)
4 Mackerel (Released)

Only about 84 fish on the boat for 10 real anglers, like I said about 4 people were sick the whole time. The crew was good, the deckhand helped out alot and the captain tried hard to find fish, but they were just not biting. Water was cold in the bait tanks and with the cold front and storm moving in mixed with no wind or current I think we pulled out a good day. For those who stuck with it (like my son) it paid off. Chauhan learned to hold on to a rod no matter what, and Jason will get a new rod and reel out of it.

Last picture of the days kill

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Final Totals from the landing…

Native Sun

3/4 Day

32 Halfmoon, 1 California Scorpionfish, 11 Barred Sand Bass, 15 Ocean Whitefish, 16 Rockfish, 7 California Sheephead, 2 Kelp Bass

23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon Trip on the Icon 8/8/09

Sean Glumace — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:41:39 +0000

I had planned to go out on the 3/4 day on the Enterprise out of Long Beach Marina Sportfishing with my cousin Jason, but my alarm did not go off in time and after a “Where are you” text that woke me up at 5:30am finally we decided to get a few more hours of sleep and hit an afternoon 1/2 day run. Decided to go out of a landing either of us had not been out of in a long time so called down to Long Beach Sportfishing at Berth 55. I also was trying out a new fishing shirt from Ap3xPr3dator today as well. http://www.ap3xpr3dator.com/

Got down to the landing around 11:45 and they took care of us in the office. Looked like a lite load all the way around, and the Icon was a bit late coming back in with a very light load (I counted about 14 or 15 on board). The morning bite was bad, only a handful of fish on the boat for everyone. Loaded up quick with a total of around 35 or so and we headed out.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Captain got on the horn and said the fishing was bad in the morning, but hopefully the afternoon bite would make up for it. We went straight out with bait left over from the morning to the fleet that was sitting off the green buoy outside Angels Gate. The Matt Walsh, Sport King and a bunch of other moo-moo’s were there, and a fleet of personal boats. Lots of birds and action in the water so we hoped for the best.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Dropped anchor and we rigged up with a dropper loop with 5oz torpedo sinker. Even with 5oz we were dragging a little on the bottom. Water was clean and the wind was not whipping up yet. Got a good hit and fish on. Thought it was a nice calico the way it was fighting but it ended up being a grumpy treefish. Biggest one I’ve ever got, his coloring was very dark as well, almost black.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

It set the tone for the day, quality fish for us coming aboard, but not in huge quantity. Few minutes later got another good hit and bring up a large sculpin. One of the larger ones I’ve ever caught on anchoives. Always a pretty fish, and one of the few fish I really like to eat.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

I farmed a few fish at this spot, the fish were just pecking at the baits, either pulling them off or leaving only half an anchovy but everyone around us was pulling up a few calicos, sandbass and barracuda as well. Ended up moving spots as the bite slowed down. Shawn our captain worked hard all day moving and finding fish to scrape up, it was never a huge wide open bite but fish came aboard all day long.

Next stop my cousin Jason finally stopped farming fish (he lost a few at the first stop) and pulled up a very nice sand bass then an equally big calico on the next cast. Both good looking fish with great coloring.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Jason also pulled in a few short barracuda on this stop off the bottom. I lost 3 as well getting bit off by them and loosing a few hooks. Only lost two 5oz sinkers today between the two of us.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

The whole time barracuda were coming on board on iron and off the bottom with anchovies. As the bite slowed down again on this spot we moved around the fleet and anchored on the west side of them. Once again the barracuda started coming on board again. We continued fishing the bottom with live bait. On this stop we kept getting pecked away at on the bottom. Try to set the hook then nothing, either bait gone or all torn up. I thought I had lost my bait again after some pecking and started to reel and wam, it started to pull back. No hard hook, just pull and go. Fought it up, knew it was a cuda from the fight and it was a big one. Got her gaffed and brought aboard.

Largest barracuda for me this year.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Same spot a few minutes later and my cousin gets hooked up the same way on the bottom. Another cuda gaffed and brought aboard.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

We both farmed a few more fish, all barracuda at this spot. Died off again and we moved one more time. Another drop down, and going up to a 6oz sinker and got another nice treefish. Not as big as the first, but pretty colors.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Jason also pulled up another bull sculpin on this stop.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Made one last stop for the day and the cuda were being pulled on board once again. Jason got in on the action with some iron and hooked 3 shorts (most missed by an inch or so). Not much going on at the bottom, got a few more small hits and we called it a day.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Came in second for the jackpot with my cuda. The winner was just a bigger model.

From 23rd Trip: 1/2 Day Afternoon on the Icon 8/8/09

Great day on the water out there. I would highly recommend Long Beach Sportfishing. Easy to get to, great crews and fun to go out with. They also had some good specials going on right now from the looks of things in the office http://www.longbeachsportfishing.com/. The Icon is a good boat and has seen some years but like most of the other ships in the SoCal 1/2 day fleet she does her job well.

Final count for the day, all large quality fish kept here.

Jason:
Barracuda: 1 kept, 5 released
Sand Bass: 1
Calico Bass: 1
Sculpin: 1

Myself:
Barracuda: 1
Tree Fish: 2
Sculpin: 1

Another great trip. Been lucky the last few times out, no big crowds and good fishing. The twilight boat was looking very crowded that night (big crowd when we got in), hope they did well. Liked the new shirt that Ap3xPr3dator sent out to me, comfortable and had a few people ask me about it on the boat. My full review will be on my site under product reviews. Got the first blood on it today with the cuda as well, not tuna, but still a good test.