Loking on the Freedom's last trip of 2012,..

[Mischief]

Since the Rock fish season is coming to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to spend the last weekend of 2012 doing some bottom fishing...first on my tube at the Concrete Jungle and then on the Freedom out of 22nd street landing. The weather these last couple of days have been a trip! So I wasn't really sure how this was all gonna play out. But luckily everything fell into place and bad weather or not...we're going fishing!
During the week I since the kids our on their school vacation I managed to sneek away while the wife was busy with them to head out to the Jungle for a quick run in and run out loking trip! Picked up my buddy Jesse, got some subway and were on the water quick! Kicked over through some very cold waters! Good thing I was wearing neoprene waders! My legs would have cramped up fast. Now at the spot the fishing wasn't so hot. Guess the fish take some days off for the holidays as well. I busted out a Pearl bug with a 3/4 lead head to do some bottom bouncing to tap the sleeping fish right on the head! Seemed to work since I hit the biggest fish there! Slammed me good and fought for a quick second, but I had a 20# fluro leader with braid backing...it was hooked good and came up without really putting a fight in the end. Got that on video as well. Snapped some pics and back in the drink it went. Spent the rest of the day targeting the jetty for some spotties with no luck at all. Called it a day not so soon after,..
On Friday Bugman called me up saying the Freedom is going out for an overnighter to Catalina first during the day and then Santa Barbara island the following the day! Damn, told him let's do it! Got my bottom fishing gear out and cleaned up. Got some ganion rigs set up, fresh line on the reels...I was good to go. But soon as saturday morning came that's when the real problems started happening! A storm rolled in, wasn't sure about the trip after if it was going or not! Steve talked me into it last minute and I shot down to the landing. Boat didn't leave at 11 as expected but around noon. Been a while since I've been on the Freedom. But it was the same as before, clean, great crew...awesome Captain and I knew this was gonna be one hell of a trip.
We got to Catalina I wanna say around 3 or 4. Anchored up near some kelp to do some calico fishing. Which was actually quite good! Seen some toads pulled out of there! Now, I tried to throw every plastic at them but wasn't even getting a nibble. So I gave that up, put on a lead head and pinned a whole squid. That was what the checkers wanted to chew on! Finally got me some, of course all released LOL Told the guys the problem with being a catch and release guy was that I actually catch and release the bass I catch. Guys laughed at me but oh well, We're gonna fill our bags up tomorrow with rock fish. Oh, the weather at Catalina...good conditions! Soon as night sweeped in the rain came! We all huddled up in the galley for a movie...which was "Ted" LOL All I gotta say is you guys gotta watch it and don't let your kids see it! Hilarious,..
Now while it was raining Steve cooked up a great dinner! Beef and broccoli with rice. Very good! Hit the spot right away. Thought after that I was gonna hit the bunk but the boat had other plans. Now Capt. Tommy was moving the boat around from hole to hole looking for some live squid! The lights were pulled down, squid jigs were dropped but hole after hole not a damn thing was coming up. He finally made the move to the other side of the island, on a hunch the squid will be there. Mostly everyone had gone to bed for the rest of the night. Only a couple of us were still sticking it out looking for 'em. Finally we got to the spot, stopped the boat and waited...not for long! Within minutes they came up, huge swarm of them! Everyone came out running throwing on their slacks to fill up the tanks with live squid! It was awesome to watch the Freedom make bait for the last trip of 2012, just awesome,..
Finally the tanks were full and the gear was stowed away. Off to my bunk I went. Ready for SB in the morning. Now I still had my alarm set like if I was gonna be fishing at the jungle in the morning. So the 4:45am alarm went off! Damn it! Probably woke everyone up LOL It left me there awaken knowing its still dark as hell out there, maybe I should try to go back to sleep. Then I remembered we also caught some mackeral at the Island. Maybe I should try to do a little shark fishing? Well that didn't work out while I was thinking about it, heard the dogs barking out there! Forget it, went back to sleep!
I could feel the Aurora coming up, got out of my bunk ready for the morning. Watched the sun rise on the last Sunday of the year. Shine on SB island. First spot we came upon I dropped a a double loop rig with two hooks with two very live squid! We weren't fishing very deep so I got to the bottom quick! With in minutes I got slammed, let the fish run around til I felt the other squid get hit! Boom! Had to fish on! Reeled them up...One nice fat Red and a ling! The ling was a barely legal but on this trip I was hoping to hook bigger ones so I released it back in the drink. The Red too...Can't keep anything that looks like a Cowcod. I know...gay. Now SB was slow, we were picking at the fish here and there. Moving from spot to spot. Lots of short Cabs and sculpins were biting. a nice ling was caught by Chloe, got that on vid. Some perch too. Also the swell was up! Seen some huge ones out there, had the boat rocking good at times. Now I don't get sea sick much but when a boat is a rocking and the fishing is slow...Lok dog will get a little queasy LOL I would at times just stop fishing and sit at the bow worried I was gonna puke. Of course I didn't let anyone know how I felt, we had only about 9 people fishing that was including the crew.
So I stuck it out, Capt. finally moved over to the other side at the island to see if the fish were hungry over there. Dropped down again, once it hit bottom the fish hit my bait! Slammed me good, got in the rocks, thought I was gonna have to break it off. The deckhand Sal told me to freespool it, finally the fish got itself out and I managed to pull him up...nice fat sheephead! oh yea, love catching these fish. Into the bag he went and I went on with the same routine getting hooked up every time I dropped a bait in the water. Funny thing, when I start to catch fish like crazy my sea sickness goes away! so awesome, we finally hit the right spot that put lots of fish on the deck...got ling limits but no dragon size catches. Oh well, always next season. We moved one more time but over to Catalina to hit a hot spot, to get the guys some reds since we had to keep releasing them at SB. But soon as we came upon the west upon the wind was blowing and the seas were angry. We couldn't drift on that rock long enough for our rigs to reach the bottom in time. Just kept pulling up sand dabs. Finally the sun started to set and the Freedom headed back home.
Just wanna thank my buddy Steve "Bugman" Duncan and Capt. Tommy lee of Freedom Sportfishing for taking me out on the boats last trip of 2012, thanks to Sal and Joe for the help and good company. Grats on Chloe on catching that nice ling too. Sorry about cutting the report off but the new year is just hours away, hope you all had a great 2012! I wasn't able to hook any pelagics this year but I have a feeling next year will be different ;) Thanks again for reading this report! Hope you like the video and pics...til next year...Tight lines, sharp hooks and hold fast,.. \m/

http://youtu.be/PPCFBIR7lYQ

The Bugman,..



Goats,..



Moonlight and squid,..



Joe with a nice rockfish,..



Good bye, 2012,.. \m/

[TUNAVIC]

That was an excellent video,really enjoyed it,saw two of my favorite things on an overnight trip,steaming grill in the galley,and floating squirts!
I 've known Tommy Lee,since he was about 15yrs old and a great deck hand,and glad to see he's grown into a man and a great Skipper-Captain,you guys did great. Thanks for the vid,and detailed report.

Cya Tuna Vic

[Cadillyak]

Top notch report lok dog. Way to round out the year!

[JapanRon]

Hi Mischief,

Great write up, pics, and vi-d-0 !!

Appreciate the the no small effort !! Went over it twice !!

JapanRon

[BabyKiller]

This was a pretty awesome report to read. The pictures are rad too. Wtg!