Redondo Special March 11, 2010

[fish_sauce]

Got a call from NP Landing the day before, informing me that my overnighter trip to the islands have been canceled. I quickly made reservations on the Tradition out of Redondo to take advantage of their two-for-one deal. Called in, it was confirmed the boat was a definite “go” with more than ten heads…

Woke up at 3:00AM, pack my things, drove from I.E. to pick up a buddy from OC and got to the landing by 5:00AM. To our surprise, nobody was there to open up! The boat canceled supposedly from the night before... I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get a call back prior to us driving there…we reluctantly opted to jump on the ½ day boat…but decided to do it anyway.

Beautiful day on the water, lightly choppy, mild winds, but overall a lot better than what we expected. Boat departed a little late, and skipper wanted to try a few “new” spots. Our first two drops produced a few barber poles on cut squid, but action didn’t start for me til the third and forth drop with sardines…and the bite slowly tapered off by 11:00am. Our last couple of drops were meager pickings, I had a good contending Chucklehead for the jackpot…but an old patron beat me by a mile with a nice Red. Crew was awesome: very helpful and attentive. Ended the day with four decent sized barber poles and one chucklehead.

On a side note, a friend of mine likes to believe that within every fisherman, there lies an inherent masochist. Someone who actually enjoys enduring the pains of waking up early, lugging around a bunch of gear (some of which may be quite expensive I may add), braving adverse conditions, all for a chance of a bite. And then there’s the task of actually bringing up the fish. I however, delight in the thought that we are all optimistic hunters instead; mainly trying to make best of what little free time we have...sometimes we may just get rewarded with a wide open bite that stays in our memories forever!

Until next time guys, I will be gearing up for the coming season and daydreaming about that wide open bite! :Cool:

Andrew

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii79/quandary01/P3090042.jpg

[steelhead]

That sucks that the first boat didn't call you back to let you know. I'd cross that one off my list of boats next time. Good job on making the best of it, looking to get out there and wet a line on the big water this weekend myself. Its been too long

[murrieta angler]

Sorry to hear that Fish_Sauce,
It happened to me not to long ago for the same boat. It also happened at 22nd Street landing. I am kinda getting fed up with L.A. fishing scene.
If you want to head up to Ventura County one of these days, shoot me a P.M. It will save us both money and time, since we can use fast lane.
Robert

[JapanRon]

Hi fish_sauce,

Understand the Tradition and crew are solid.

As obviously you gave them your phone number, the boat may have made a last minute decision to cancel due to weather ... ops but wait a minute ... the Redondo Special went out !! 1/2 or 3/4-day boats can fish just about anywhere they wish .... by agreement. So what's the deal the boat called somebody or didn't call the landing? I get the impression you got no call. Hope you asked for an answer then told them the distance you traveled and expense incurred on a 'sure thing' and that that requires they comp half the trip on the 1/2-day boat. Too much of this sort of crap going on to let it just pass with an ..... Ho Hum ... Oh Well !! This sort of thing is NOT, I repeat NOT part of the fishing experience.

Plan to visit this landing in the near future ..... they pull that on me and ..... not only will I not go on the boat they dish up, but after hearing thier answer, I'll make a two-page report specificlly detailing such general behavior of landings / boats !!

Ya, we're idiots ... we're willing to travel a couple of hours and spend $100 in expense just to be able to ride a 1/2-day boat we may have never heard of or whatever floats and they (landings) can dig up in a hurry or worse yet ..... planned to use all along. I can just here the argument now ... 'it's your turn to take the combined patrons of the two runs on your boat' ! 'Oh no it isn't' !! ha ha ha

The best one can do to protect oneself is to call the landing just before it closes, as well as give them and tell them specifically that the number is your CELL PHONE number ...... so there's no 'gee I called your home but ....... ' Oh ya, almost forgot, half the landings close before their stated closing time so you better call a little before that time or you'll get the ol' Press .... for ..... ha ha ha

Great to hear of the excellent service of the boat. Understand that the 'on-deck' service on the Tradition is first rate too. It ain't neccessarily their doing on the boat scheduling / availability !!

In closing ..... WTG on a nice bunch of fish to take home. Appreciate the post and the info.

Await your next trip and report. Maybe the Tradition will make themselves available next time when they're online with a minimum required load of reservations. Oh by the way .... I've already heard the one about 'the 10-angler party canceled their reservations at the last minute'. :)

JapanRon

[Newfishsmell]

Sounds like you made the most out of it fish_sauce , good report ...

[victor101]

Ive had a few issues with the management at Redondo. Its one of the things that keeps me away from fishing Redondo boats as much as I would like to. I hope someone buys the landing soon and turns things around.

Good job getting out there anyway and getting some local rockfish. Nice Report!

Robert is right about the landings up north...its worth the drive. especially during rockfish season. They get good quality up there.

[Hawkeye]

Fish_sauce, sorry to hear about your Redondo sportsfishing experience but you are not the only one who had issues with them and I couldn’t agree more with what Victor said.

It takes me little over hour to get to the lot of the landings and I had three separate incidents I will show up to the landing only to be told that the boat is not going out.

And other problem I had with them is their so called “coupon book” where you buy a block of fishing trips for a special price which is not that special in reality. They don’t tell you off right off the bat that sometimes they won’t honor those coupons if on a given you are there and they only have a minimum amount of people to go out fishing they will refuse to take the coupon.

These days I usually go fishing up north to Ventura area also, so far I have been pleased with Captn Hooks, they actually call you the fairly early in the evening the day before if the trip cancels. Rockfishing has been great up there and lingcod was really hot last season so it should be the same come April 1.

[fish_sauce]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Robert, I'm definitely interested in venturing up north this year, let me know when your next trip is, and perhaps if our schedules coincide, then i'd be glad to join ya!

JapanRon, you voiced my sentiment pretty precisely! =) But it was my day off, and my buddy had just gotten back from his service in Iraq, so i was more concerned with getting him on some action as oppose to spending my morning bickering over something that already happened. And i totally agree with you...the Tradition is a solid boat...it's not the crew's fault if there are issues that need resolving in the office itself...

Victor101, Hawkeye, Captain Hooks is definitely a must this year. Tried to make reservations for the rockfish opener, but they were booked. I can't wait to jump on a ling cod run later in the season!

[Liteliner]

I've got turned away before like that before aswell... They gave me the option of jumpin on the 1/2 day though!!! Tried to catch the spitfire but they had 40 guys on the boat already... Ended up driving 40 miles back home...:Crying:

You still got on some fish so thats always good. Thanks for the report.

[pacerpacer8]

so whos the best to charter i would like to go on a overnighter or full day