Overnight Trip on Chubasco III Six Pack - 5/16/09

[Sea Hag]

I grabbed a spot early when a weekend charter was posted up on the 976-Tuna Charter list. With the weather looking great for the weekend, I found myself optimistic about the prospects of a good bite at Catalina. On Friday night, we had a light load of 4 anglers; me, Big Gabe and Betty, and their son-in-law Gene. We headed out with Captain Daryl at the wheel, and second Captain Jeff. We departed about 10:00 PM and picked up sardines, and then met up with the light boat later for some squid.

I tied on a couple of lead heads, and managed to get in a few winks. Not a bad ride over in a smaller boat, it was a little lumpy with a bit of wind in the middle of the channel, but the wind had died down by the time we dropped anchor in a small cove at Catalina, at about 3:00 AM. Got up, on deck, soaking some squid. We hooked a few calicos, all small, but at least there were signs of some life.


We made a few moves to some other coves, but by gray light, still no action. About 7:00 AM we pulled in and anchored at a spot that looked especially promising. Captain Daryl had us in close, between two boiler rocks with a small beach in between. The water was milk stained, and a nice blue-green. We’d been sitting there for 30 minutes or so, soaking squid on lead heads or sliders. Cap. Daryl said they’d caught some halibut in that spot, so I re-rigged a reverse dropper and threw a couple of squid. The perch were getting a bit annoying by then, so I hooked a sardine and tossed it toward the beach, between the two boiler rocks. The sinker had barely hit bottom when I got picked up!

Capt. Darryl was ready with a gaff when I got it to color. A nice little white seabass, he decided it was better to net it. It measure just a bit over an inch too short... and was released.

We hung out there a little longer, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else home. We moved from spot to spot, with some good picks at the calico in a couple of places, but lots of short fish. Not a lot of water movement today. We had very little wind, nice calm seas, and over cast most all day, with just a little sun at the end. All in all, fishing was a little slow.

We called it a day and headed in. Jeff filleted the handful of fish we had, and it was a nice smooth ride back in.

We’d like to thank Captain Daryl, who never gave up looking. The Chubasco III 6 pack Yacht is located at Berth 55 Landing in the Port of Long Beach, 555 Pico Avenue Long Beach CA 90802.







My little seabass



Gene with a nice sheephead, and Captain Daryl.

[Mutt]

Nice looks like you still had a lot of fun even with the fishing a bit slow. Thanks for sharing.