From 39th Trip: Lobster Hooping on the Spectra

Jason and the lobsters…

From 39th Trip: Lobster Hooping on the Spectra

Worked this spot for two drops, got some crabs to go along with the 2 lobsters. Worked a few more spots in and around LB/LA harbors for some more crabs but no more love from the lobsters. Billy and his crew worked hard, dropping and having the guys pull. Dennis put together a great dinner of lasagna and bread. Got back to the dock right around 12:30. Even though we did not get lobsters for everyone, it was still a great night out on the water.

From 39th Trip: Lobster Hooping on the Spectra

Got another group together this past Sunday 7-18 on board the Spectra for a full day local trip. Got down to the dock around 5:30am with my son Jonathan loaded up the equipment. My cousin Jason and his dad Mark came out on this one along with Lanny who I purchase my sinkers from and Chris. Left the dock right around 6:00am and headed out to the bait barge to pick up some dines and small anchovies. Had some live squid left in the tanks as well. Headed out to the salmon grouper spot to fill up the bags before searching for the sand bass and cuda.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Got out to the spot and dropped on down, and hookups all around.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Dennis and one nice bocaccio.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Big one of the day.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

This first drop was one of the best first drops we’ve had at the hole. All big fish (lots of limits of 2 on the first drop) and we only did 2 more passes to come up just short of limits.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

2nd Pass.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Headed back in to the flats along with the fleet. Did not find much and tried a few different spots. No love on the sand bass or cuda in the morning. Found a rock while heading over to Izors and anchored up. Dino got a nice ling.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

I pulled up a nice sheephead. There were also some big fish down there, grabbing the bait and tearing you off. Probably big lings or sheephead.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Baby sculpin.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Dennis cooked up a great breakfast and lunch for us. Plain and dry burger for Jonathan.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

At one of our stops off Huntington Beach and the flats (along with the fleet) we had back to back hookups on nice sized bat rays. Pulled Rick all over the boat. My uncle Mark also hooked up on one.

We finally got a few sand bass and calicos on board on a rock we found. They were in the structure, and if you did not hook and get them out of the rocks you hung up and lost them.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Bass hookup!

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Did well on this spot, picking away at everything. Decided to stay out a little longer and anchor up with the fleet one last time. And the entire fleet was there. The Matt Walsh, Victory, Sport King, Native Sun, Enterprise, So Cal and a few others. Got in on a good spot and started chumming, got the cuda running some and hooked up on a few nice ones. If the bait swam towards the boat while fly-lining it was over, change and cast out again.

Jonathan and Ted on a big barracuda.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Called it a day around 5:30pm and headed back to the barn. Filled up a cooler with a mixed bag of bocaccio, rockfish, a few sculpin, a sheephead, a few sand bass and calicos, and a few nice sized barracuda.

From 35th Trip: Local Full Day on the Spectra

Everyone went home with a nice sack of fish. Billy, Ted and Dennis were great as always, going above and beyond and working hard to find the fish even though they were not all that cooperative. Got another twilight ready for next Monday, hopefully the sandies will be ready to play!

We had a chance to go out one more time this year before all the closures of bottom fishing and before I had to get back to work at the beginning of the year. So myself, my cousin Jason and my son Jonathan decided to go out on the Victory out of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach because they were running a kids ride free with one adult special. Saved me $55 taking Jonathan up. So we made a reservation for Monday and got down to the landing right after 5am.

Picked up our tickets and parking pass in the office and gathered up on gear from the car. Got right on the boat around 5:30 and got all our stuff stored away. Got Jonathan to work tagging and hanging our bags. (Side note, this was the first boat in a long time where we did not have to buy our bags. I gave Jonathan $5 to give to the deckhand for the bags and he said no, bags are free.) Only had 14 on the boat, half were regulars. Great group to fish with, friendly and we all had fun all day.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jonathan liked the galley on the Victory.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Got underway, Captain George said we were going to head out and try for some sheephead and other assorted bottom fish. Only dead frozen, the bait receivers did not have any fresh dead and only sardines that were a foot long. The weather was great all day, a little swell in the morning, and flat the whole day. We’ve been lucky the past few trips, beautiful weather.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Spent about 25 minutes getting out to the spot on the outside of the horseshoe, west of the oil rigs. Rigged up with a standard 2 hook dropper look, #1 hooks and 4oz of weight. We had stern spots, Jonathan was red 7, but we moved around the boat all day. Easier to fish the sides with the kids.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

First spot was slow, only one or two fish came over so we pulled anchor and moved. Next stop was slow but started to produce a little. I got the skunk off with a small Starry Rockfish.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jonathan got his stunk off with a sheephead.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

We started to pick away at the sheephead at this spot. The guys fishing with shrimp they brought were killing them, but the cut squid and squid heads were working as well. We also switched over to a sliding egg sinker with about a one foot leader. Worked much better than the dropper loop. I also switched over to a circle hook and started doing better as well.

The cook was great with Jonathan, he was fishing with shrimp and would have Jonathan bring them up. Here is one of the big ones. He ended up getting three with the cook.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jason with a nice sheephead.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

My bigger one on the day and Jonathan’s big one.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

We almost limited out at the spot on sheephead, ended up with a total of 70 on board for limit by the end of the day for 14 of us. Some sculpin, whitefish and perch came over at this spot as well. Some big males came over the rail all quality fish. Spent about 2 hours on the spot working away. Pulled anchor and went looking for some other species to fill the bags. Got lunch while we moved, cheeseburgers and grilled cheese. Moved over to the green buoy near the entrance to LA Harbor and anchored up.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

The perch were here, along with a few more sheephead and sculpin.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

More Blacksmith Perch

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

The pelicans were going after our catches as well

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

While at this stop we had another deja vu moment. Last week while we were out on the Native Sun (see report here) my friend Chauhan dropped one of my cousin Jason’s rods in the water. We’ll it happened again this week, only it was Jonathan’s turn. Jonathan had got caught up in the rocks and lost his rig. I also had the same issue, so I was rerigging up my rod, and Jason was doing Jonathan’s. Jason had him hold his rod, which was a Seeker with a Newell reel. We don’t know exactly what happened but someone fighting a big sheephead was moving along the rail and they asked Jonathan to step back and he just let go of the rod. In it went. The deckhand grabbed the gaff but not in time. I was just walking back when they told me. At first I thought it was someone elses rod, but I realized it was Jason’s. Damn another rod lost. Jason was not mad at him, neither was I. Accidents happen, no reason to get mad. Jonathan was upset, but we got him back into the day. One of the guys on the boat named John (who is also a teacher) let Jason use one of his setups and thinks he can get a good deal on a new setup for him (which I get to pay for, yaa!) but everything worked out. Two times in two weeks, I told Jason he should just keep going out, eventually he will get all his equipment replaced! Captain George was also great, he gave Jason a pass for another trip for next time at the end of the trip for the lost rod. THANKS!

After all that fun was over the bite was slowing down, just lots of perch going at everything. So Jason and I have an idea, we put a sabiki rig and a 3oz sinker on Jonathan’s little rod and drop it down. Boy did it work too good. First pull up he was fighting hard to get it up, and he had 5 blacksmith perch.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Now we already had some in the bags from all the other stops, and threw most back. My mother in law loves these cooked whole, but we can only eat so many. We dropped it back down 2 more times and let him fight them up. Second trip up he got 4 more blacksmith, and his first Spanish Mackerel, also known as a Jack Mackerel.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

While helping out Jonathan I got hit hard and another nice Sheephead

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Dropped down the sabiki rig one last time and brought up a full string of blacksmith and one other perch I need to figure out what it is.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Enough of that fun (and work) and we put Jonathan back on the dropper loop. Moved again a little more inshore at one last spot. Captain said they had pulled out some Sand and Calico bass the last time. Dropped down and got a good bite. Up came a nice sculpin.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jason got a nice surprise at this stop as well. A very beautiful Red Cabazon. The photos do not do the colors of this fish justice. Took a few and back home it went.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jason also got his last nice sheephead of the day at this stop.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jonathan got one more species for the day, a nice Treefish his first one ever.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Called it a day around 3:30ish or so. Weather stayed great all day, and over all it was one of our better days out on the water. Jackpot went to one of the regulars, nice big male sheephead.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jonathan with his bag of fish.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

My catch for the day

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Jason’s catch

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Great boat, crew and fellow anglers out there! Thanks again to the captain for working hard and hunting (and Jason thanks you again for the pass), the deckhand for helping everyone out and having to clean our fish at the dock (had a lot to clean), and to the cook for helping out with Jonathan. Loosing the rod did not make it a bad day, and I’ll take care of getting a new rod and reel for him here soon. They told us that the Victory is going in for dry dock here at the beginning of the year, but will be back in a few weeks. We look forward to getting out there again with them again.

Totals for the day

Sean
Sheephead 5 (Kept)
Sculpin 1 (Kept)
Starry Rockfish 1 (Kept)
Blacksmith Perch 5 (Kept)

Jonathan
Sheephead 5 (Kept)
Jack Mackerel 1 (Released)
Blacksmith Perch 20 (13 kept, 7 released)
Perch 1 (kept)
Treefish 1 (kept)

Jason
Sheephead 5 (Kept)
Red Cabazon 1 (released)
Blacksmith Perch 5 (2 kept, 3 released)

Landing Totals

3/4 Day

14 Anglers

1 Sand Bass 70 Sheephead 12 Whitefish 39 Rockfish 10 Sculpin 101 Perch

One last shot some of the perch cleaned (I did these at home) and some of all the nice sheephead steaks that got packed away and frozen for the next few weeks to come.

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

From 28th Trip: Victory 3/4 Day Trip

Finally got to get out on the water again this past Monday. Took a look around and did not see too many boats going out during the week so we decided to head back to Long Beach Sportfishing and the 3/4 day trip on the Native Sun. We had gone out back in September on a twilight sculpin run (view the post here) and had a good time.

Called in for the tickets on the Friday before and got the $43 dollar special and reserved 4 spots, one for myself, my son Jonathan, my cousin Jason and my friend Chauhan. Got down to the landing around 6:20, and we were the first ones in. They told us in the office they had 11 on the reservation list, and a total of 14 showed up. Boarded up and left right at 7am. Ah, nice light day for everyone.

Got my son to work right away putting up and tagging the bags.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Captain got on the horn, no live bait today, frozen squid and shallow bottom fishing off of Point Fermin working our way up the coast. So we had about a half an hour or so to kill till we got out. Got us all in on the jackpot, which only 8 of us was in for $5 each. Felt bad for about 4 of the people who went out, they were sick and in the galley the whole time, so only 10 of us fished. Got rigged up with a two hook dropper loop set up on all of our rigs, 3 and 4 oz sinkers and #2 and #2/0 hooks.

Jonathan with his number, red 15

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Very overcast and cool all day. No wind or current the whole day either, it was nice to have no wind in the afternoon and flat all day.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Pulled up to our first stop right past Point Fermin, right infront of the Korean Bell area. Got in near the kelp line between all the lobster traps, which were lined up all along the coast. We followed them the whole day as we moved north.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

First stop was slow (all of our stops were slow all day) but a few fish started coming up.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My cousin Jason got the skunk off first with a Gopher Rockfish

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

A few more rockfish came on board, and some short calico bass and we moved on north a little way. Made a total of about 6 moves in the morning heading north, farthest we go was to the Trump golf course.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

On the next stop I got my stunk off with a 13 inch Sand Bass that put up a good fight. Got to give it a kiss for good luck.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Jonathan got his skunk off as well with a short Calico Bass. First fish of the day made him smile. The deckhand was great with him through the day, and helped out my friend Chauhan as well.

Jonathan’s first fish of the day

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

I got a Gopher Rockfish as well at this stop. We just kept pecking away.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Right before we were pulling up on the spot Jonathan brought up his second fish of the day, a small Lizard Fish. Slimy little things. Amazing thing was he hooked it on a #2 hook.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Next stop Chauhan got his skunk off finally, short Sand Bass.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Jonathan then got his first rockfish ever. Copper Rockfish. Nice size fish for him on his light tackle.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We also caught about 10 mackerel that we released, mostly hooked towards the surface while checking for bait. Jonathan had a good time with them.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My cousin Jason got a nice Sand Bass at this stop as well. It was the biggest fish on the boat up to this point and was in the lead for the jackpot.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Chauhan with another short calico.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

I got hit hard at this spot, finally had something with some meat on it. After a nice fight I got my largest white fish of the year, and one of the bigger fish of the day on the boat.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My son and me with our catches.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Pulled anchor again and tried another spot. Chauhan got his big half moon perch of the day, one of the bigger ones I’ve seen in a while.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

After a few more fish we pulled anchor around 1pm and headed back to the entrance to Angles Gate and did some drift fishing. First drift was good getting about 6 or 7 whitefish on the boat. Jonathan lost one right at the boat then the mackerel came in.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Lunch!

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Tried a few more times drifting with no love so we headed out to the Horseshoe. It was slow there as well, same as the morning just picking away a little at a time. I got a Johnny Bass at the first stop. We had a few come on board earlier.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

I also snagged a Pacific Jack Mackerel at the stop as well. He went into the bait tank, I think someone tried using him as bait at the next stop.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We also caught Blacksmith Perch at all our stops. We ended up catching about 8 of them. At one stop I went to a small hook to catch some for my mother in law. She loves these, cooks them whole with just the head and guts cut out.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

My son caught on to doing his own bait this trip. All afternoon he took care of it himself. Proud of the little guy, he’s catching on. Now we need to teach him how to tie up his own tackle.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We moved spots one more time and something happened to my friend Chauhan that I had not see in a long long time. We had just finished dropping anchor and he went to cast out (don’t know why) next to my cousin. The next thing I know I see a splash and the rod and reel are sinking to the bottom. He is new to all this, and we think the reel backlashed on him and tied up his finger (he had a cut) and he just let go.

Now this was not his rod, it was my cousins. The deckhand saw it and ran with the gaff but it was long gone by then. The best part was Jason just laughed it off, saying that was the funniest f***ing thing he ever saw. I could tell Chauhan was upset, Jason just said it was fine because he was getting a new rod and reel now at the Fred Hall show in March! It was an older rod, with a Penn 310 reel on it. Jason did say if it was his Calcutta he would have dove in after it. Ah the stories we can tell now, and never let him live it down.

With all that fun over with someone on the other side of the boat brought up a big sheephead at this stop. We all looked at it and said there’s the jackpot. It was really slow at this stop, which would the last of the day. During the slow time one of the highlights of the trip happened. Jonathan was sitting on his crate (it gets him to stand over the rail better) with his rod in the water but sitting to his side and it went bendo. I grabed it and handed it off to him and he started to crank. Whatever it was it was big enough to pull his WalMart rod with 12lb test to its limit. Working it hard we saw color, Sheephead, male with color. He was very proud and called him mom to tell her from the boat.

Video of Jonathan fighting the sheephead.

Jonathan and his first sheepshead.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

One side of the sheephead was lighter than the other. Here it is from the other side.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Things slowed down again, one of two fish coming over the rail. One of the other anglers on the boat had brought a bag of shrimp from the market with him and put it in the bait tank. I had just lost another 4oz sinker in the rocks and went to a 2oz egg sinker and #2 hook to keep it simple and maybe hit up a sheephead for myself. Put a big shrimp on it and dropped it down. Soaked it for about 5 minutes and got hit hard and fast. Fought it up and it turned out to be a big sand bass.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Both of our bass.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We wrapped it up around 4ish and it was starting to get cold. Time for jackpot. Both my cousin and I expected the big sheephead someone else had caught was coming out, when we asked they said he was not in the jackpot. So it came down to my bass vs Jason’s bass.

No contest, and I got my second jackpot of the year (both winners were bass this year).

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

We had to check to see if Jonathan’s sheephead was in the running, his first jackpot he was in.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Jackpot was $40 so I gave it to the deckhand for helping Jonathan out today. Ended up with a good mix of fish to take home.

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Totals for today

Myself (Sean)
2 Sand Bass (Kept)
1 Johnny Bass (Kept)
1 Whitefish (Kept)
1 Calico Bass (Released)
4 Blacksmith Perch (Kept)
3 Mackerel (Released)
1 Jacksmelt (Kinda released)

Jonathan
1 Calico Rockfish (Kept)
1 Calico Bass (Released)
2 Blacksmith Perch (Kept)
1 Sheepshead (Kept)
6 Mackerel (Released)
1 Lizardfish (Released)

Jason
1 Sand Bass (Kept)
1 Gopher Rockfish (Kept)
2 Calico Bass (Released)
2 Blacksmith Perch (Kept)
3 Mackerel (Released)

Chauhan
1 Halfmoon Perch (Kept)
1 Johnny Bass (Kept)
1 Gopher Rockfish (gave away)
1 Sand Bass (Released)
1 Calico Bass (Released)
1 Blacksmith Perch (Released)
4 Mackerel (Released)

Only about 84 fish on the boat for 10 real anglers, like I said about 4 people were sick the whole time. The crew was good, the deckhand helped out alot and the captain tried hard to find fish, but they were just not biting. Water was cold in the bait tanks and with the cold front and storm moving in mixed with no wind or current I think we pulled out a good day. For those who stuck with it (like my son) it paid off. Chauhan learned to hold on to a rod no matter what, and Jason will get a new rod and reel out of it.

Last picture of the days kill

From 27th Trip: Native Sun 3/4 Day Trip 12/21

Final Totals from the landing…

After hitting up the Tide Change last week and having a great day, combined with a very busy first week of school on our campus (Thanks Sacramento) I needed to get out again. Dropped my cousin a line and we meet up for a twilight on Sunday night. Our luck had been good down at Long Beach Sportfishing and is just down the street from his house, so we decided to hit up the Native Sun for the first time.

Got down around 5:45pm and got to get in a long line. I guess everything hit at the same time, perfect storm. Lots of rental rods, 1 day licenses and other fun stuff for John to deal with. We were the easy ones, just two tickets.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Got on board and got out on time. Total of 55 on board. Luckly we got green 1 and 2 because I called it in early. Captain said we were going straight out and hunt the sculpin a few miles and we had frozen squid and anchovies on board. Like I said we had a lot of rentals on board, I would say more than half so the crew was busy with everyone. Set up with a reverse dropper loop with a 5oz skiner. I wanted to stay on the bottom tonight in one place if I could help it, didn’t help much, no matter what I did I got in more tangles tonight than any other trip I’ve been on. Looping the torpedo sinkers comes in handy, I must have retied about 8 times.

The weather was also great, a light wind and calm.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Got set up on the first spot right away. Not much action, a few fish coming on board, and no takers on the live anchovies. I went over to a strip of squid and got hit right away. Nice fighting fish, felt like a nice sand bass, and surprise! Sting Ray! First one in a long time.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Interesting way to start off the night. Spot was slow, got one short sculpin as well.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Captain gave up on the spot and as we started pulling anchor got another light hit. Small hookup, probably another small sculpin. Another surprise, sand dab! And a good size one too. (I have big hands). Threw him in the sack for the mother in law. I give all my fish to her that I keep, she had never had sand dab before. She had it for breakfast the next day. Good stuff.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Stopped on another spot out in deeper water (about 125 – 150 feet). More sculpin brought up, and 1 or 2 sand bass. Got a few more here. Jason got the skunk off as well and got a nice grade scuplin too.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

My biggest of the night.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Kisses…

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

All night the smaller fish were coming aboard, some nice ones as well but it was never wide open. Got another fish on this spot to add to my list of species for the night. Little starry rockfish.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Pulled anchor on this spot and tried one last time nearer to the outer rigs. The Enterprise and another boat came along for the ride as well and fished of our portside the rest of the night. Some of the bigger model sculpin came out of this spot. Here is Jason’s big brother and my little brother.

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

Called it a night around 11:30 and headed back in. Guess what won the jackpot, did you guess? A sculpin. Sculpin, sculpin everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, they are my favorite to eat and don’t mind fishing them, but they can be a problem when most people on the boat don’t know what they are. The deckhands were trying there best but fish were coming over the side and bounced off things. Both Jason and I pulled a bunch off for the guy next to use instead of getting one in the face. I felt bad for one guy, got a spine right in the palm of the hand.

More sculpin…

From 26th Trip: Twilight on the Native Sun

The main deckhand (sorry bad with names) sliced up a fresh sculpin on the way in and served it with wasabi and a type of soy sauce. To be honest I never had it raw, and it was damn good.

Total for the boat: 55 anglers with 2 Sand Bass 163 Sculpin

Cousin Jason’s Totals:
10 Sculpin (kept 3, release 7 shorts)

My Totals:
8 Sculpin (kept 3, release 5)
1 Sting Ray (released)
1 Starry Rockfish (released)
1 Sand Dab (kept)

Good trip overall, never hurts to get out on the water, even with 50 other people. The Native Sun is a big boat, plenty of room so it was not like it felt crowded. Nice crew as well. I do like that it leaves a bit later than Enterprise out of Long Beach Marina and comes back later for the twilight. I look forward to getting out there again with them.

With school starting for my son this coming Thursday, fallball baseball and my Fall 09 classes I teach starting in a few weeks I wanted to take Jonathan out on the boat one last time this summer. Decided on the Icon out of Long Beach Sportfishing again, did a good run last weekend (Read about it here) and hoped it would turn out the same. This time I called in for the 3 for 2 special early in the week and my cousin Jason joined us again. I also was trying out my other shirt from ApexPredator today as well. http://www.ap3xpr3dator.com/

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

Got down to the landing around 11:45 and picked up our passes. Looked like a lighter load today, around 35 or so. The morning run was much heavier. They came in on time and it did not go well for them. Only a handful of fish on plastics in the morning. No anchovies for bait today, only huge sardines. Here is a pic of what we had for bait.

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

Captain Shawn got on the horn as we left, slow slow morning a few calicos here and there on plastic. Basically good luck today with no bait that was worth anything. Oh wells, we win some and lose some. Luckily we has a bunch of plastic in the bags.

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

Nice thing was there was a bunch of kids on board for Jonathan to have friends and they had a great time all day with the great weather. Jonathan did not end up fishing much, just watching is new friends fish (thanks to their families they were great with Jonathan) and sitting in the galley.

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

To sum up the trip, about 5 moves around the horse shoe, no current, no birds, nada, nada nada at all. First 4 stops I got 1 bite and the guy next to me got one legal calico (it was his first time out so that was good). Maybe about 10 bass the whole day, and neither of us got skunked at least. On the last stop my cousin got 2 dinky mackerel and I got one short calico. When I hooked up Jonathan was in the galley and missed bringing it in. Oh wells.

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

Passed on the jackpot this time around and a 2lb calico won the whole thing.

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

I was happy to be out on the water before the hectic school/work schedule begins this week (It’s lots of fun with 4 kids in the house) and have had some great outings the last few weeks.

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

At least all the kids had a good time. (Look at the baby mac in the one kids hand, we had those mixed in with the sardines).

From 24th Trip: Slow Afternoon 1/2 Day on the Icon 8/16

Once again I would highly recommend Long Beach Sportfishing. Easy to get to, great crew (they tried hard on this run) and fun to go out with. They have some good specials going on right now from the looks of things in the office http://www.longbeachsportfishing.com/. The Icon is a good boat and has seen some years but like most of the other ships in the SoCal 1/2 day fleet she does her job well. Liked the new shirt that ApexPredator sent out to me, comfortable and I liked the color better than the other. My full review will be on my site under product reviews.

Final count for the day…

Jason:
Mackerel 2 (released)

Myself:

Calico Bass 1 (released)

One weird thing did happen to us, Jonathan put up his light spinning rod when we go on board and it disappeared. Both me and my cousin checked the whole boat a few times over and did not find it till the end of the trip, back up in the holder. It had been used by someone on the boat the whole time, reel was wet and it was tied up different than what usually do. It’s a beater walmart rod so it would not have killed me to lose it, but with all the rental rods on board it did not surprise us.