Jackpot Jimmy
07-03-2011, 02:55 PM
After hearing Philip Friedman Outdoors was having an overnight charter on the Westerly, I though about it for a while and finally booked the trip with Captain Larry Moore and Captain Jeff Jones, the chartermasters on the trip. With these guys on the trip, I knew we were going to have a good time.
On Thursday night Jeff and Larry were giving a tuna seminar at the Hooters of Anaheim and it happened that my friend Bill Mozingo was also going on the trip, so we met him there and we left early to go to the boat, which is probably the easiest landing to get to as it is right at the end of the 710 freeway on Pico Avenue. There were already a few people milling around waiting to board the boat when we got there. But it wasn’t too long before we were called down to the boat.
The first thing I do when I board an overnight boat is stake claim to a bunk. The Westerly has around 20 bunks, with a couple reserved for the crew. Bunks were not a problem as this trip was limited to 16 people plus Jeff and Larry. They have one level of double bunks on the sides of the boat, and three levels of single bunks down the middle with bunks on both aisles. A single bunk is good enough for me so I took a middle level single bunk. With that done I unwrapped my rods and put them in the rod holders and set my tackle box down.
Our crew was fantastic on this trip. Captain Jon Ackley was at the helm, with Kyle, Todd, and Scott on deck, and Wayne was designated as “Boat Security” – at least that was on the sign above his bunk. There was also a very nice lady cooking for us on the trip, and I apologize but I forgot her name. But they definitely made us feel comfortable fishing on board the boat. Jon was very personable and even gave a personalized game plan/safety speech and explained to us that on board the Westerly, we are not numbers, we have names, and the crew plans to learn them. Meanwhile Jon was formulating a game plan for the trip, so I waited to rig up my rods for a while.
We left Berth 55 around 10pm and headed over to the LBBC bait receiver where we picked up some nice sardines and anchovies, along with some live squid of all sizes. While filling the tanks, Jon said our plan was to first head way up west to the Deep Hole to get on some good night time bass fishing, and throughout the day we would try for some seabass and more calicos and other stuff. This got me very excited because I had always wanted to fish a Spitfire Deep Hole trip out of Redondo but never got the chance. With bait loaded up and a game plan in view, I rigged up a few of my rods and hit the hay.
On the way up the line we stopped and topped off the tanks with some more live squid from LBBC’s bait boat. After that we continued up the line, and I made sure I got my rest as Jon highly suggested to all of us.
I woke up to the sound of the engine slowing down, and I got out of my bunk and grabbed a rod and waited for the anchor to drop. Once it was down, it was game on for the bass. Most of us fished sliding egg sinkers with a live squid, and the idea was to drop it down and once you got bit to let the fish run with it, but not too long as the spot we were fishing is very rocky. The calicos coming up were nice and there were also some nice sandies, rockfish, and short lingcod mixed in. I got a few bass including a nice sand bass and also lost a couple to the rocks. I had one in the rocks for a while that I tried in vain to get out. With calicos I notice that unlike their cousin, if you give them line they will usually swim out of the structure. But with this one I could not get it out of the hole it was first stuck in, so I had to break it off. Unfortunately this spot shut down as the sun came up, so we moved on to look for something better.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-37.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-34.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-30.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-59.jpg
In the early morning, the lack of current plagued us and it made it difficult to determine how the boat was going to lay on a spot. Even so we still had a little pick on the calicos and rockfish. But when the current started to pick up, it was game on for the seabass. There were about four kayakers and a squid boat around us that were just starting to get into the seabass. The squid boat got a couple and a couple kayakers were hooked up with the right kind. We were only hooking up into bat rays and a thresher shark which was lost at gaff, but then Bill Swift hooked up with what appeared to be the right kind, and lo and behold it was, and a nice 20 pound class seabass came on the boat!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-51.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-21.jpg
Then Todd was the next to hook up on the right kind, and this one was bigger. It took him up to the bow, and Jon was watching the fish circle up in the wheelhouse and coaching Todd while he fought the fish. It came to the surface and Kyle stuck it, and up came a 40 pound class seabass!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-47.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-Copy.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/017-19.jpg
After the excitement of having two seabass on the boat, we tried for more but the rest of what we hooked were bat rays. It gets the blood pumping but it would be nice to hook and fight the right kind.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-27.jpg
A while later after putting in an honest effort we moved on to fish some calicos. We tried a boiler rock and it was game on fishing with the live squid. If you casted it into the white water, it was an instant bite most of the time. If you hit bottom, you almost always got a cabezon, but most of them were short. It was cool nonetheless how they were stacked up in there by the boiler rock. We continued to have a nice pick on the calicos for a while but this bite petered out so we moved on, but there wasn’t much happening so Jon decided to make a long move down to Palos Verdes. I ordered and ate lunch and then grabbed a nap in my bunk. Most everyone else grabbed a nap too.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-34.jpg
After a couple hours we arrived at our destination and started fishing. The conditions down here were a bit funky but we had a pick at some sheephead and calicos in this area to wrap up the day. I fished a light slider with a live squid for most of the day but then I decided to go light and fish a dropper loop and a live squid on my bass rod. I managed to catch my target on this rig, a nice 3-1/2 pound sheephead!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/019-10.jpg
Then it was time to head for the barn. Bill Swift took the jackpot with his white seabass, which weighed about 24 pounds on the digital scale. Todd’s seabass weighed about 43 pounds. All in all it was not a bad day of fishing, putting in an honest effort on the seabass and having some awesome calico bass fishing. I had a great time aboard the Westerly, and I look forward to fishing on it again soon. Great times, great fishing!
On Thursday night Jeff and Larry were giving a tuna seminar at the Hooters of Anaheim and it happened that my friend Bill Mozingo was also going on the trip, so we met him there and we left early to go to the boat, which is probably the easiest landing to get to as it is right at the end of the 710 freeway on Pico Avenue. There were already a few people milling around waiting to board the boat when we got there. But it wasn’t too long before we were called down to the boat.
The first thing I do when I board an overnight boat is stake claim to a bunk. The Westerly has around 20 bunks, with a couple reserved for the crew. Bunks were not a problem as this trip was limited to 16 people plus Jeff and Larry. They have one level of double bunks on the sides of the boat, and three levels of single bunks down the middle with bunks on both aisles. A single bunk is good enough for me so I took a middle level single bunk. With that done I unwrapped my rods and put them in the rod holders and set my tackle box down.
Our crew was fantastic on this trip. Captain Jon Ackley was at the helm, with Kyle, Todd, and Scott on deck, and Wayne was designated as “Boat Security” – at least that was on the sign above his bunk. There was also a very nice lady cooking for us on the trip, and I apologize but I forgot her name. But they definitely made us feel comfortable fishing on board the boat. Jon was very personable and even gave a personalized game plan/safety speech and explained to us that on board the Westerly, we are not numbers, we have names, and the crew plans to learn them. Meanwhile Jon was formulating a game plan for the trip, so I waited to rig up my rods for a while.
We left Berth 55 around 10pm and headed over to the LBBC bait receiver where we picked up some nice sardines and anchovies, along with some live squid of all sizes. While filling the tanks, Jon said our plan was to first head way up west to the Deep Hole to get on some good night time bass fishing, and throughout the day we would try for some seabass and more calicos and other stuff. This got me very excited because I had always wanted to fish a Spitfire Deep Hole trip out of Redondo but never got the chance. With bait loaded up and a game plan in view, I rigged up a few of my rods and hit the hay.
On the way up the line we stopped and topped off the tanks with some more live squid from LBBC’s bait boat. After that we continued up the line, and I made sure I got my rest as Jon highly suggested to all of us.
I woke up to the sound of the engine slowing down, and I got out of my bunk and grabbed a rod and waited for the anchor to drop. Once it was down, it was game on for the bass. Most of us fished sliding egg sinkers with a live squid, and the idea was to drop it down and once you got bit to let the fish run with it, but not too long as the spot we were fishing is very rocky. The calicos coming up were nice and there were also some nice sandies, rockfish, and short lingcod mixed in. I got a few bass including a nice sand bass and also lost a couple to the rocks. I had one in the rocks for a while that I tried in vain to get out. With calicos I notice that unlike their cousin, if you give them line they will usually swim out of the structure. But with this one I could not get it out of the hole it was first stuck in, so I had to break it off. Unfortunately this spot shut down as the sun came up, so we moved on to look for something better.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-37.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-34.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-30.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-59.jpg
In the early morning, the lack of current plagued us and it made it difficult to determine how the boat was going to lay on a spot. Even so we still had a little pick on the calicos and rockfish. But when the current started to pick up, it was game on for the seabass. There were about four kayakers and a squid boat around us that were just starting to get into the seabass. The squid boat got a couple and a couple kayakers were hooked up with the right kind. We were only hooking up into bat rays and a thresher shark which was lost at gaff, but then Bill Swift hooked up with what appeared to be the right kind, and lo and behold it was, and a nice 20 pound class seabass came on the boat!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-51.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/016-21.jpg
Then Todd was the next to hook up on the right kind, and this one was bigger. It took him up to the bow, and Jon was watching the fish circle up in the wheelhouse and coaching Todd while he fought the fish. It came to the surface and Kyle stuck it, and up came a 40 pound class seabass!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-47.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/010-Copy.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/017-19.jpg
After the excitement of having two seabass on the boat, we tried for more but the rest of what we hooked were bat rays. It gets the blood pumping but it would be nice to hook and fight the right kind.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/015-27.jpg
A while later after putting in an honest effort we moved on to fish some calicos. We tried a boiler rock and it was game on fishing with the live squid. If you casted it into the white water, it was an instant bite most of the time. If you hit bottom, you almost always got a cabezon, but most of them were short. It was cool nonetheless how they were stacked up in there by the boiler rock. We continued to have a nice pick on the calicos for a while but this bite petered out so we moved on, but there wasn’t much happening so Jon decided to make a long move down to Palos Verdes. I ordered and ate lunch and then grabbed a nap in my bunk. Most everyone else grabbed a nap too.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-34.jpg
After a couple hours we arrived at our destination and started fishing. The conditions down here were a bit funky but we had a pick at some sheephead and calicos in this area to wrap up the day. I fished a light slider with a live squid for most of the day but then I decided to go light and fish a dropper loop and a live squid on my bass rod. I managed to catch my target on this rig, a nice 3-1/2 pound sheephead!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/019-10.jpg
Then it was time to head for the barn. Bill Swift took the jackpot with his white seabass, which weighed about 24 pounds on the digital scale. Todd’s seabass weighed about 43 pounds. All in all it was not a bad day of fishing, putting in an honest effort on the seabass and having some awesome calico bass fishing. I had a great time aboard the Westerly, and I look forward to fishing on it again soon. Great times, great fishing!