plumbertom
09-12-2008, 09:05 AM
I was invited to go along on a private charter trip on The Mirage out of Port Hueneme Wednesday night. No way I'm gonna pass this free trip.
Got to the port about 8:30pm and was the second person to arrive. I loaded my poles and tackle bag, then waited for everyone else to arrive.
Turns out there were only seven people going, none of which had their own gear. Even the person who chartered the boat was using rented gear.
We left port with a small load of 'dines with a few 'chovies mixed in and headed out to the inside of Santa Rosa Island,
I hit the bunk for the ride out, had one of the doubles all to myself.
About 4am I got up with the boat at anchor and the light over the side to try and get some live squid. We were visited by about 5 sea lions that were working our light foe all they were worth so we moved to get away from them. At the next stop there were only three but they kept the squid down and we couldn't jig but one for over an hour of trying.
So I fished for a while with frozen squid but got no takers one person caught a legal beri.
We moved out to another spot for a while and and the bite was on for all the good sized white fish you wanted, some 10lbs and larger.I got tired of catching them and told the crew to put out some fin bait so I could try for something else. They did so but told me that spot was predominately White fish. My first drop with a 'dine brought a hammering bite and produced a legal size ling cod. I also caught a couple of just short lings.
Moved again and we found a mix of nice Chuckle heads (copper rock fish) and reds (vermilion rock fish) and another legal ling for me along with a couple more shorts.
Another stop or two produced more rock fish, more whitefish and more short lings for me.
The very light load allowed the two deck hands to provide assistance to all the inexperienced anglers on board so tangles were kept at a minimum and all fish were rapidly dealt with.
Everybody was catching more fish than they had ever in their lives, I'm sure.
Boat count was 69 white fish, 1 barracuda, 1 sheep's head, 63 rock fish and 6 ling cod with a bunch of short lings released.
Sorry no photos, I forgot my camera.
Got to the port about 8:30pm and was the second person to arrive. I loaded my poles and tackle bag, then waited for everyone else to arrive.
Turns out there were only seven people going, none of which had their own gear. Even the person who chartered the boat was using rented gear.
We left port with a small load of 'dines with a few 'chovies mixed in and headed out to the inside of Santa Rosa Island,
I hit the bunk for the ride out, had one of the doubles all to myself.
About 4am I got up with the boat at anchor and the light over the side to try and get some live squid. We were visited by about 5 sea lions that were working our light foe all they were worth so we moved to get away from them. At the next stop there were only three but they kept the squid down and we couldn't jig but one for over an hour of trying.
So I fished for a while with frozen squid but got no takers one person caught a legal beri.
We moved out to another spot for a while and and the bite was on for all the good sized white fish you wanted, some 10lbs and larger.I got tired of catching them and told the crew to put out some fin bait so I could try for something else. They did so but told me that spot was predominately White fish. My first drop with a 'dine brought a hammering bite and produced a legal size ling cod. I also caught a couple of just short lings.
Moved again and we found a mix of nice Chuckle heads (copper rock fish) and reds (vermilion rock fish) and another legal ling for me along with a couple more shorts.
Another stop or two produced more rock fish, more whitefish and more short lings for me.
The very light load allowed the two deck hands to provide assistance to all the inexperienced anglers on board so tangles were kept at a minimum and all fish were rapidly dealt with.
Everybody was catching more fish than they had ever in their lives, I'm sure.
Boat count was 69 white fish, 1 barracuda, 1 sheep's head, 63 rock fish and 6 ling cod with a bunch of short lings released.
Sorry no photos, I forgot my camera.