What's up y'all,
Just wanted to share this trip with everybody. I rarely post here because I predominately Bass fish at Casitas. So here is my first actual report on GB. I had the opportunity to fish aboard the Aloha Spirit yesterday with my buddy. I heard of Bass and Bonito in the reports the past few weeks, so I thought it's now or never...LoL
5AM rolls around and off to Santa Cruz. Game plan was to look for the Bass and Bones. If all else fails, Shawn tells us the Whitefish have been snapping. I don't care, I was out there...away from civilization and cell phones! Outside the harbor, we were greeted with a slight swell and a noticable wind. No pucker factor yet...
We started by looking for the Calicos around smugglers only to find 1 willing keeper. The birds were around though...more on this later.
Our second move ended up with no fish, but more birds.
We checked a third spot out only to find churned up, murky water. We saw a few breezers on top but they skated out in a hurry. They looked to be Bones or Barries...
Our 4th stop was a known Whitefish spot, somewhere around Sandstone. Shawn suggests squid on the dropper. I wasn't about to argue. Every fisherman lives for that bendo, no matter what fish is on the line. If you don't agree, why are you fishing? Seriously. I picked up the 2 really nice Whites on the first 2 drops, which were going to be the biggest of the day...the big one went like 5 pounds, the other being slightly smaller... at this point, all kinds of bottom critters were coming over the rail. Rockfish, small Sheephead, and Sculpin were being bagged. 10 minutes into the slayage, the cap yells "Boil! ". Then he nods at me, signaling to me "bust out your other rod dude"...LoL
That I did, I grabbed my newly aquired Calcutta TE200GT and started tossin the plastics.
I casted the swimmy as far as I could and during the sink, I got bumped. I engaged the reel, only to find my rod tip load up. A quick hookset and battle resulted on a nice Calico. Shook him off and re-casted. Again, I got bit on the sink! This time, what I was looking for. The line screaming off the reel...had to be a Bonie...sure enough, it was the biggest one I've ever tussled with. I tried bouncing the thing aboard but my line couldn't handle...*SNAP* POW*...oh well, that was FUN. Tied on another plastic and and game on again! This time, I had the sucker gaffed. At this point, people were tossing everything but the kitchen sink. Anything chrome was killin' em. One dude on the bow went 5 for 5 quick-like on a Krocodile. I even saw one guy get one on a large Kastmaster! I get to boat another Bonehead on my medium set-up, no chance for this fish. Then Shawn resets the drift. At this point, only the artifical guys were getting the surface fish. The live bait guys were getting chewed up by the birds.
This was the only buzzkill of the whole trip...we were WFO on the f'ing birds. Gulls, Pelicans, Cormorants...you name it and each of us on that boat that day caught at least 20 of each...LoL...I've never seen it this bad in the 16 years I've been fishin'...every chum bait we threw over pretty much got snatched up by these thieves...we had to fight through them ALL day to catch what we got. Then the Seals came through....what a joke. I'm not into violence and killing, but wouldn't this be an appropriate time to bring out the shotgun and go to town? A Hunting AND a Fishing trip all in one neat package...
Anyhow, after that first flurry...we hit another underwater rock for more bottom critters. My Avet wasn't getting any love, so I decided to use it on this set. The result: 2 fat Sculpin, easily my biggest ones. My buddy pulls up a nice Red and off we go back around towards Smugglers.
Here are a couple of the Bonito I was able to land...
With the current flowing, the Captain was hoping the Calicos would be on the chew. We worked the whole point of the Island for 2 straight hours, steadily picking away at the Calicos and Bones. Fearing of catching another mean azz bird, I continued to toss the plastics. I'm glad I did... while reeling in to re-cast, I got slammed and after a short battle, this log Barracuda was gaffed. It proved to be the Jackpot winner. Check out the dude in the background going bendo on the coffee-grinder! Priceless...!
After a move around to Scorpion, we still picked away at the Bonito and Bass, with the occasional Barrie...I ended the day with another Calico and another Bonito on the plastic.
Here's my catch at the end to the day. Look at the girth on that Whitefish! Certainly the biggest I've caught since the late 90's...
Here's a random shot of everybody's catch...fish everywhere
I caught almost everything on the plastics today. Strange, because I've never not catch anything on the finned live baits. But because of the relentless attack of the "Birds", I had to resort to the artificials. I learned a lot today fishing the swimmys, more so than in recent years. They were definetly on the "Bleeding Sardine" pattern by MC with a red or green leadhead. I got a Bone and that JP Cuda on the "Channel Island Chovy" FishTrap. I also got a Bonito on a Storm Anchovy(the bigger sized one). I also got a ton of short bites. With the wind, my key to getting bit was casting it way out there and letting it sink to the bottom. Then reel slowly until halfway in and let it sink all the way to the bottom again. Then I would reel it slowly back to the boat. I got hit on the sink, reeling in, and at the boat at any given point throughout the day. It was definetely fun fishing the Bass gear and 16lb Flourocarbon. I tried tossing the bigger surface irons earlier in the day, but no dice. I know this ain't no high caliber Tuna report but I wasn't about to drive to SD. Plus, the Aloha Spirit resides in my backyard. And my backyard is the Channel Islands.
What a fitting way to end my vacation
. Even though the birds and seals got in our way, we still managed a respectable catch between the 15 of us. The weather got windy on the way in. Again, nothing to cry about.
Sorry for the long report, but I do want to Thank the crew for a very relaxing trip. Shawn came through for each and every one of us this day and made sure each angler had fish to bring home, despite the unwanted visit of today's wildlife. Jerry cooked up awesome food, which is another reason I love fishing on these boats. Victor was very helpful and was everywhere catering to each individuals needs. I've been on this boat many times and it's always the same great service every time. If you ever get a chance to fish on the Aloha Spirit...DO IT!
Aloha Spirit 9/18 - 3 B's and much more...
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