Liberty 1 1/2 Day Trip (and then some) 11-15-2008

[Sea Hag]

Well, once again, with the weather looking great for the weekend, I found myself optimistic about the prospects of a good bite at Cortez Bank. I heard through an acquaintance at another site the Liberty was going Friday night. Knowing Captain Greg Obymako is a tenacious fish hunter, I grabbed a spot, and talked fishing buddy KennyMac into joining me!

I got to the landing and checked in, and met up with people in person that I'd only talked to on-line. It was wonderful to finally meet some of these great anglers in person! When all 28 were present and the boat was stocked, we boarded and headed for the bait dock. Captain Greg and the crew went through introductions, safety speech and game plan on the way. Our crew would be Captain Greg, with Joel as second, "Sergeant" Dave and John on deck, and Chris and Bo in the galley. Grabbing a quick glimpse of some big ‘dines as they started loading them up, and knowing we'd be mid-morning before we got to the banks, I hit the sack.

The crossing was flat calm, and I didn't wake up until close to 8:00 AM, with us still on the run. I started rigging, ordered breakfast, and waited anxiously with the rest for our arrival at the bank.

"... are we there yet? ... are we there yet? ... are we there yet?"

Finally we arrived and dropped anchor! With a diverse group, some were fishing iron, some dropper loop, some fly-lining... And fly-lining a big sardine, I had one of the early hook ups, but within a few seconds, I knew it was a bonito. A good warm up, I decided, but I told Dave I didn't really want it, so they chunked it up for bait. Within a few minutes, fellow angler Tony, fishing with a chunk of bonito on a dropper loop hooked up and landed the first yellowtail of the day! (That fish would be JP!)

Well, of course, with a yellowtail on the boards, we stuck it out there... for a little while. But Captain Greg is not one to park for very long if there's no action. With only some rock fish biting and an occasional bonito, we moved... and moved... and moved. There wasn't a whisper of a breeze... clear blue sky... and it was getting warm. Mid-November, and I'm wishing I had some shorts and sandals!! I could have never imagined....! When one of the anglers hooked and landed another yellowtail we hung there for a while, but no more would bite. We may have lost a few here and there, or just some big bonito. But we ended the day with two yellowtail, and a bunch of rock fish and others, mostly by-catch. Everyone was pretty much set on the bigger game fish.

Dinner consisted of some really tasty marinated chicken breast, on a bun or plate, with a green salad and the chef's own chicken and herbed rice creation. Captain Greg set out his lobster traps while we were eating and after, with no takers on those. The crew surveyed the passengers on any great need to be home early, and with no one requesting an early arrival, Capt. Greg set plans to make some morning detours on the way in. I turned in early.

I heard the engines slowing while it was still dark and got up, to find our early morning destination was Farnsworth Bank! I re-rigged my heavier gear with a dropper loop and for fly-lining, and waited. Others drifted up, we dropped anchor with just a hint of red on the horizon. We fished there for a while, moving several times. But there was no one home. At about 8:30 AM, Capt. Greg called it a trip, and we headed in. We pulled into the docks at Long Beach Sportfishing right around noon.

Everyone pretty much spent their time targeting yellowtail. We ended up with 2 of them, and a pretty decent by-catch to go with it. Along with the yellows, we got 2 nice lingcod, 3 big cabezon, 75 sculpin, 51 Whitefish, 63 Sand Bass, 150 Rockfish, and 16 Sheephead.

On top of that, we had a really great group of anglers, and everyone had a lot of fun!

We'd like to thank the Captains and Crew of the Liberty for another great trip, and also Steve and his helpful staff at Long Beach Sportfishing, for going out of their way to help put this trip together for us!

We did catch a few fish.











Fred still doesn't quite have this figgerred out...





The weather was beautiful!!







OH! And a special "THANKS" to Captain "Midnight", who appologized for getting us in so late, and gave EVERYONE a pass to come back on another trip!!

[PADavid]

Nice report - you mean the boat actually provided you with dinner as part of the trip?

If you do not mind, what is the cost for this trip

[Sea Hag]

Some trips out here meals are included. This one was not.

The trip was $210 (normally) however one of the gals on the trip worked with the landing office and the captain to get a special rate for their group (associated with another fishing website). So the fare ended up being $175 for those of us in that website group.

Breakfast and lunch are generally around $5-6. I think dinner was $15. I'm not exactly sure because there's waters and sodas added in there as well, but I think that was about what it came to.

The fishing wasn't what we had hoped for. I think the last high pressure system that passed through here pretty much ended what was an extended late fall bite here. We had some fabulous fall fishing out here this year... which almost makes up for our horrible spring! : )

[PADavid]

That is a deal! Here, an 8 hour open boat trp is around $110.00 and that is just inshore fishing for flounder and the like. An offshore open boat (head boat) is around $300.00. No sleeping quarters and certainly no food except what you bring

[Sea Hag]

The Liberty is 85 feet long and 23 feet wide. Down stairs they have 32 bunks, in sort of one big room. (actually I think there's more, but some of them are pretty high up so I don't think they count those... they'd be pretty hard to get to, especially in rough seas!! ) They're stacked 4 high, and its just a narrow bunk with a mat, pillow and blanket.

Most of the boats of that style run overnight and up to 2.5 or 3 day trips. They have a galley with a cook, and seating for a few anglers. Breakfast is generally some form of eggs, with bacon, ham or sausage and potatoes, either as a burrito, sandwich or plate. Lunch is also available for order, they do excellent burgers on most of the boats, or you can get a chicken sandwich and other stuff depending on the boats. Most of these type boats dinner is fairly basic, but pretty decent.

The long range boats running out of San Diego have staterooms and gourmet cooks.

You really have to go overnight or longer here to get into any really good fishing. The day boats occassionally get some bigger fish, but it's pretty uncommon.