I've been a bit of a lurker here myself so I figured I owe you guys a quick report.
Malibu's added a new boat to their fleet, the Malibu Sportsman. The Sportsman is 48 foot classic wooden boat that sits nice & low on the water. The boat is run by Captain Forrest. He spent quite some time working under J.J. on the Apollo, and it shows. I had a good feeling about him from the get go. Turned out to be a real cool, down to earth cat.
10 anglers, including the Captain’s little brother and his mother. Fishing family...it really added that friendly family feel to the trip. We were on board & took off at 7am and he shared his safety speech, followed by the plan for the day. He was honest & told us he'd been catching dink Rockfish and planned to fill the sacks with dinks since there were some kids on board just to make sure everyone had some fun. He promised that if things went well quickly that we’d move into deeper waters for quality fish. He was real honest in letting us know that he didn’t have any particular coordinates collected as of yet and that he’s still getting to know the area. However, he sounded confident when he said, “I’ll get you on some fish!”
We headed to our first stop - BKR. I drop the Chartreuse Lucanus (with squid strips). I'm down there no more than 5 minutes when I feel the hit. I begin reeling in & out come a nice Rockfish. A few more fish are picked up & the bite dies as we drift past our structure. Capt. Asks that we pull up and re-sets for a 2nd drift, which produced a few more fish but nothing big for me…a baby Red or two.
So our Drift ends & we hit another spot. The same pattern continues throughout the day. Forrest rocks because he's not one who sits on a spot hoping the fish come to us. We spent no more than 10 minutes in non-producing spots.
I noticed that the Chartreuse Lucanus did much better than the orange, which got NO bites. Got tired for fishing it and rigged a double dropper loop with a 6 in. Gulp shad on one & a sacrificial cut up sardine. Drop down to what felt like 1000 ft. While carefully bouncing bottom I feel a nip & a tug. Could I have possibly set the hook on rocks? Nah..yeah…ugh.. Snag rule to me to let the line go slack & let the current release my rig, but my instinct said otherwise. I followed my instinct, let my rod go major BENDO to the point where I began turning my body out of rod’s reach in case it broke, which I truly thought it would. Why would I do such a careless thing? Cuz it was my Teramar & could get it replaced for free! Neither my rod nor my 30# braid gave. I feel the line snap, but still felt weight on it so I reeled my @$$ off. He must have been a good 250 ft. deep and to add to the punishment, the catch was a vertical one. My left forearm cramped up from holding the rod in place. I end up with a blister on my ring finger from the tiring grip while reeling. The fight & pain was worth it, as I end up with a fatty Salmon Grouper, who is tailed by a fatty red just as big. About 2 ft. from the top, the Red twitches snaps off, floating away and then disappearing into the abyss. Oh well, I’ve still got the Grouper. Not as yummy, but just as rewarding. Check my setup & it turns out I lost my 10 oz. sinker to the rocks. It! All good cuz I got the fish.
El-O Success-O!
Overall, the day ended with plenty of fish on the boat. Homie feel, great comradery, plenty of fishing space, nice weather. Couldn’t have gone better.
Finished the day by arriving to the pier & meeting up with my kids & wife, who were waiting for me at the surf. They took a shot or two as we arrived.
Hung out, played, wiped out on a wave or two & called it a day. We hop on the truck the kids have presents & hand made cards for me (along with a Burger King hat
).
Good Times!
The Anecdotes:
The care and attention that the crew paid was phenomenally impressive. Deckhands took time to deflate and educate how to deflate unwanted dink rockfish. I’d say that about 95% of released dinks made it to be caught another day.
15 fishing minutes left on the clock & Capt. Forrest asks if we’d like to continue Rockfishing or do quick Halibut drift. Majority vote went to Rockfishing.
We skunk out on our last drift. Captain says, “OK, since we got NO fish on our last drift, I’m willing to do re-do one more drift unless someone’s got to be back at the pier on time.” Nobody opposed and we fished another 20 minutes on a fairly good spot.
I got caught in the middle of a 4-man tangle. 2 undone and I’m still let tangled on one…really badly. I’m fishing braid, he’s got mono. The mono guy says, “here, let me cut this green line to make it easier.” Immediately both assisting deckhands jump & say, “NO!” before I can. They explain to him that braid line’s a heck of a lot more expensive than his and that they didn’t want to cut either of our lines. I was VERY relieved, as I was turned away when I heard him say that but hadn’t seen he had his pliers in hand. About 5 minutes later, they free us both successfully without needing to cut either line.
Attentiveness points!!!
The Fish Count:
2 Salmon Grouper (1 given away)
2 Sand Dab
1 Johnny Bass
7 Red (Vermillion) - mostly dinks & some released
2 Chuckleheads
The Gear:
8 ft. Teramar with Torium 14 with freshly spooled 30# braid.
8 ft. Calstar with Sealine-X 30HV with 30# mono.
7 ft. Clarus with Ambassadeur (newly upgraded Carbontex washers) with 30# braid. (Not used, as we did not do any patty hopping.)
The Pros:
Competent & friendly Captain
Friendly staff!
Free Gunny Sack & Fish Cleaning (Tips Encouraged)
Free live bait
Free Parking
The Cons:
It’s only a 1⁄2 day, no 3⁄4 days.
No Galley, No Food, No Drinks (Bring your own grub)
Linear Mode
