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View Full Version : Port Hueneme - 5/28/07



jplee3
05-28-2007, 09:21 PM
Went up to PH with several buddies for the first time and also for my first time on a fishing boat! I was so stoked and have been waiting almost 2 months for the experience! Glad to say that it was WELL worth the anguishing wait! Today was off the hook - they really weren't kidding about the action up there. Everyone was catching rock fish left and right. The jackpot winner was either a huge salmon grouper or at least a 10-15lb ling, which were BOTH caught by the same guy. So it was basically no contest. Being a first-timer, and not much of a gambler, I opted out of the jackpot.
Anyway, I maxed out on my limit, but only caught a couple chilipepper rockfish and the rest vermillion rockfish; I believe... so not much variety. My largest was a 4.5lber. There were a couple of 'dinks' in there too, which I got at first and kept (had NO Idea what to expect!), but towards the end we were pulling in 2-3lb average sized fish. It was real nice. The thing that helped me out was my "3-pt shot range" [read: hooking up two fish on the reel-in]. Bwahahahahaaha. I got double hookups like 3 times! Each time with rockfish progressively larger! The very last drop I almost skunked but decided to drop my line back down to the bottom and ended up reeling in the double. It was fun! My arms are KILLING me. Back, shoulders, chest, etc as well. I have welts around my stomach from not having a fight belt and having weak arms. Hahahahaha.
On the second to last drop, I farmed what I think was a lingcod... possibly doubled with a rockfish - it felt like I was trying to reel in a NET. But lines got tied up real bad and after reeling up I found my bait on both hooks missing as well as BOTH hooks being bent out of shape, ESPECIALLY the bottom one (circle hooks). I also felt quite a bit of head-shaking on that one, which is why I think it may have been a ling :evil: :x \ :(
Everyone else who was tied up with me reeled in a fish too! :twisted: Grrrrr...
Anyway, I was using a double dropper loop setup the whole time. I wanted to max out on the rocks before trying something else. But it took me the whole time to finally max out. Hehe... man, I can't believe how deep we were fishing too. It must have been at least 400ft. It seemed like line never stopped free spooling.

All fish were caught on squid strips. They had anchovies but I didn't try. They didn't seem to want ppl to use chovies for some reason, and didn't put any into the live wells. I felt weird reaching into the big bait well too, so I just didn't use any. On the farmed fish I think was a ling, I had a strip of rockfish and piece of squid on the hook (and after farming it, the hook was bent pretty well too)

Oh yea! Also saw tons of schools of dolphins swimming with the boats.

Anyway, enough talking and onto the pictures!

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4343-2/img_1528.jpg
Weight Watchers - a great way to lose weight... Bait watchers - a great way to lose bait

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4350-2/img_1530.jpg
Chovies

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4353-3/img_1532.jpg
Leaving port

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4377-3/img_1548.jpg
A couple of bigger ones I pulled out. Sorry! No action pics!

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4380-3/img_1549.jpg
One of my friends with a couple nice ones

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4383-2/img_1550.jpg
The group of us (one missing)

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4392-3/img_1553.jpg
Another buddy with his catch

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4374-6/img_1547.jpg
Jackpot winner. I think he got upset at me because I almost took an anchovy he picked out and put into the live well. I didn't know any better - I didn't see him throw it in there, and when I walked over, there were a couple swimming around, so I thought it was open for taking. Oh well, at least he won the jackpot 8)

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4395-2/img_1556.jpg
Sean (? Shawn? Jon? hahaha...) cleaning/gutting/filleting fish. Very nice guy. The entire crew of the Erna-B are extremely nice, helpful, and knowledgeable.

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4401-2/img_1558.jpg
This seagull was getting real close. Along with 50000000 other buddies. Good thing I had my hat on :)

http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4416-2/dsc_9225.jpg
http://jermdawg.com/gallery/d/4443-2/dsc_9214.jpg
The final catch. I'm satisfied :D :D :D

BTW: I have no idea how to store the larger fish. There's no room in my freezer! UGH

Oz
05-28-2007, 09:37 PM
wtg jplee :D sounds like u had a great day on the bottom critters.

if that one guy was gonna get upset over a bait, he is a putz. there are plenty chovies and dines in the tanks :lol:

congrats again.

jplee3
05-28-2007, 10:06 PM
wtg jplee :D sounds like u had a great day on the bottom critters.

if that one guy was gonna get upset over a bait, he is a putz. there are plenty chovies and dines in the tanks :lol:

congrats again.

Hehe, thanks osiito. Sorry you had to work today! I had a wonderful time out there! Especially for my first time! I couldn't ask for more!

BTW, some side-effects I'm starting to feel come on:
slight headaches, feeling like I'm still on a rocking boat, and major rockfish thumb! In addition to poking my thumb [probably the most times EVER] by fins, gill plates, and salmon grouper teeth :twisted: Maybe it's a good thing I didn't catch any lings :D :D :D
Oh yea, we also saw someone pull up a fatty sole or huge sand dab. That sure looked like good eatin. But the ling fillets were thick and hearty. Man, I want to catch a ling so bad now!!!

JapanRon
05-28-2007, 11:24 PM
Hi jplee3,

Great job on the report and pics. Look forward to hearing more from you and the gang.

Glad your virgin experience was so good!

Oh ya. If that guys was fishing out his own primo bait and you grabbed it .......then I guess he could be pissed but ........ if the deck was giving him special service ... and he gets bent when you scarf one .... up his !! That sort of thing is an old deck/deadhead game.

JapanRon

Oz
05-28-2007, 11:59 PM
welcome man..its all good i was on the spitfire the day b4 so i got some fishin in.

:lol: its a good thing u didnt or u woulda got serious bit or something :lol: that fish is crazy hisses at u...it was hillarious when i heard that come a fish :lol:

probally was a hali...how big was it???

jplee3
05-29-2007, 07:24 AM
Thanks guys!
japanron, I'm thinking the guy must be a regular or has been on that boat before. He definitely was chatting it up with the crew. And I'm sure even more so after winning the jackpot uncontested. Hahaha... it's all good though, I guess some people are just serious about winning their jackpot. I know I would have tried harder [and failed miserably] if I entered myself in.

osiito, it really didn't look like a halibut. It was just a lot flatter and wider. It looked like a huge potato chip (sand dab... hahaha). Also, I don't think it was 22"

Oh yea, I forgot to also mention that the skipper made a ton of moves. We moved *at least* 8 times getting in 1 or 2 at most drops each time. I was getting frustrated at first because I dropped on two consecutive drops and reeled in nothing. But I realized that they're probably doing it to take pressure off the fish and probably many other good reasons.

Ohhh, and now I remember why my arms are probably sorer than they should be. Something's wrong with my reel (Penn 500 Jigmaster) - the spool seems offset or something so when reeling in fish, sometimes it gets stuck. I had to keep playing with the brake to help it not get stuck, as well as tilting the reel to the left when I wound in. It was REALLY annoying the entire time. I had it matched on a SUPER stout and short rod too. So I couldn't really feel bites well and I had trouble winding in. ARGGGHH! I had the reel serviced at Young's Tackle beforehand and he said it should be okay after fixing it, but with some uncertainty. He had to replace the spool cause the old one was dented or something, so we thought that was the main issue, but I guess it's something else. I'm not sure what the problem is...

ghetto dad
05-29-2007, 12:27 PM
YOU MIGHT HAVE LINE CAUGHT UP INSIDE YOUR REEL...GREAT REPORT AND PICS MAN!!! THANKS!!

Funjunkie74
05-29-2007, 12:39 PM
What # test line were you using?
And were you guiding the line back on to the spool as you were reeling in? (Sorry, I know they're newbie questions. No offense.)

I have an Abu 6000 that I can't use light line on because it wants to snag line and get it caught between the small space between the spool and the frame. Very annoying!! Especially because it has a level wind (the little guide that goes side to side) and still manages to get caught in there!!

Otherwise, you may have completely tweeked the frame??

jplee3
05-29-2007, 12:48 PM
What # test line were you using?
And were you guiding the line back on to the spool as you were reeling in? (Sorry, I know they're newbie questions. No offense.)

I have an Abu 6000 that I can't use light line on because it wants to snag line and get it caught between the small space between the spool and the frame. Very annoying!! Especially because it has a level wind (the little guide that goes side to side) and still manages to get caught in there!!

Otherwise, you may have completely tweeked the frame??

Lol... No problem. I consider myself a noob. I had 40lb on there. No backing - Robin said it's not worth it to put backing on the reel as it may end up costing as much as the reel itself! Hahahaha.... you know, regarding the "guiding line" principle, I didn't know about that until one of the deckhands scolded my buddy (also using a Penn 500 but new to fishing) telling him to guide the line on. I didn't say anything and started guiding line from that point... bwahahahaha. Of course, this is the first time I actually used those reels, so it's all good.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure line didn't get caught up in anything too. That's happened several times with my Daiwa 153h and the line has gotten severed a few times but I digress. I think something's just up with the Penn - Robin says there might be some frame damage, but he'll have to check it out again.
You didn't by any chance sabotage my reel, did you? :D :D :D
Haha, imagine if I had gone on that Shogun trip and used that reel!? It would have been game over.

4g63power
05-29-2007, 07:25 PM
those are some nice reds..looks like you guys had a great time on your first moo moo trip..they probably didnt want you guys to use chovies cause of salmon groupers..they love chovies and boat will hit the limit on those in a minute :lol: and captain and deckies no likey it..you will catch your first ling soon...thanks for the report

jplee3
05-29-2007, 09:23 PM
those are some nice reds..looks like you guys had a great time on your first moo moo trip..they probably didnt want you guys to use chovies cause of salmon groupers..they love chovies and boat will hit the limit on those in a minute :lol: and captain and deckies no likey it..you will catch your first ling soon...thanks for the report


Ohhh yea, they mentioned exactly what you said about salmon grouper. Are those considered part of the 10 fish limit? Or could I take one home with 10 'rockfish' ? Is it considered to be a rockfish?

ghetto dad
05-30-2007, 07:00 AM
its a rockfish..so its part of your 10 fish limit........

Red Drum
05-30-2007, 01:40 PM
Nice bunch of Reds. Thanks for the report and pics.

brezm
05-31-2007, 09:54 AM
Nice report, what boat were you on?

ghetto dad
05-31-2007, 10:35 AM
THAT MUST BE THE ERNA B....THAT DECKHAND IS OLD SCHOOL COOL....I HAVE GOT TO SAY ONE THING ABOUT HIM THOUGH...HE IS THE BEST FILLETER I HAVE SEEN....AND IM NOT TALKING ABOUT SPEED, IM TALKING ABOUT QUALITY...I GOT MY SACK-O-ROCKS HOME AFTER A TRIP UP THERE EXPECTING TO HAVE TO STILL CUT OUT A FEW MISSED RIBS...NOT ONE, I MEAN, NOT ONE!!!! IT WAS GREAT.....PEACE

jplee3
05-31-2007, 10:35 AM
Nice report, what boat were you on?

Totally forgot to mention! I was on the Erna-B

jplee3
05-31-2007, 11:03 AM
THAT MUST BE THE ERNA B....THAT DECKHAND IS OLD SCHOOL COOL....I HAVE GOT TO SAY ONE THING ABOUT HIM THOUGH...HE IS THE BEST FILLETER I HAVE SEEN....AND IM NOT TALKING ABOUT SPEED, IM TALKING ABOUT QUALITY...I GOT MY SACK-O-ROCKS HOME AFTER A TRIP UP THERE EXPECTING TO HAVE TO STILL CUT OUT A FEW MISSED RIBS...NOT ONE, I MEAN, NOT ONE!!!! IT WAS GREAT.....PEACE

Hehe, seriously those guys ARE old school. Well, they are older guys. But it gives you reassurance because you trust they know what they're doing. Even though not everyone maxed out, the fish were QUALITY fish in terms of size and being clean and fresh. And we all still had a really great time. So the way I see it, these guys really are about quality more than anything. Yea, you know, I should have just asked him to fillet the bigger fish for me at least, and just to gut and gill the smaller ones. I put myself to work filleting those suckers two nights ago. And there are MANY bones in. ARGHGHGHGHGHGH... :oops: :roll:
Then again, I wanted to take more pics of the fish after getting back home, so it's all good. And for some ridiculous reason, I thought I could steam, broil or grill all those fish whole so as to not waste precious meat. Then as I was trying to figure out how to do that, it dawned on me that I don't have a big enough pot or pan to do such a thing; nor do I have the room in my freezer for WHOLE fish! On top of that, I hear rockfish meat spoils faster. I ended up putting the fillets in those foodsaver vacuum seal bags - that gadget is super handy!