Sportfishing Report for November 9, 2014
Whoppers:
Paul Belgum from Santa Paula CA, caught a 13lb White Seabass on the Cobra full day trip. This lone croaker was caught on the Cobra with captain John Sudac at the helm. Several anglers hooked up to Yellows but Paul landed this lost WSB mixed in with Yellows.
Tony Gutierrez from Ventura CA, caught a 28lb Yellowtail while fishing with Captain John Fuqua on the Sea Jay. This was a live bait fish on a sliding rig. Type of bait unspecified.
John Storrer from Santa Barbara CA, caught a 18lb Lingcod while fishing with captain Mike Riddell on the Erna B. This was a private charter that wanted to go bottom fishing and John just so happened to be the charter master. John said he caught the jackpot Ling on a Salas PL68 Orange and Yellow that he had just purchased from our landing tackle shop that morning.
Joseph Wademan from Las Vegas NV, caught a 24lb Yellowtail while fishing with captain John Sudac aboard the Cobra. It was a full day trip targeting yellows and Joe was able to hook this fish after casting a blue and white Salas 7X lure.
Again, just when we thought the Yellowtail bite was over they pop back up at the end of the week to keep hope alive. No big hauls this week but some good quality fish and many seen on the sonar, schooling fish still on the bait grounds! The full day boats like the Sea Jay, Cobra and Aloha Spirit have had the best luck most recently. This past Thursday aboard the Sea Jay, Tony Gutierrez caught probably the largest Yellowtail of the week weighing in at 28lbs.
For the better part of the week our boats went bottom fishing. The Aloha Spirit started running its Monday “lingcod specials” again and had great success on the first trip. They not only had limits of lingcod for 22 anglers but limits of some serious quality red snapper and other assorted rockfish species. Captain Shawn Steward of the Aloha Spirit found a stone outside Santa Cruz Island putting out, dare I say, “Miguel Quality” reds! Other boats like the Erna B, Cobra and Sea Jay have been loading up on nice rockfish at a few spots they found on they’re own. The local Islands and coastal bite are still good, much better than previous years at this point of the season.
On the outer island front, big reds and ling cod dominate the counts yet again. We ended up having excellent conditions, meaning the winds were down and swell was minimal. Early week saw overcast and fog, while later in the week and into the weekend had bright sunny skies. The overnight “fleet” on the weekends have been running full speed. This past Friday night we had 4 overnight boats full and heading to San Miguel and San Nicolas Islands. We would have had 5 overnight trips that evening but we had already booked and sold out the Coral Sea that Saturday morning running a full day trip for Yellows. In the future, especially toward the end of this month and the next “holiday time”, expect to see all 5 overnight boats on the books and running. The Mirage and Pacific Islander will be taking care of the week day outer island runs, while on the weekend we will also have the Ranger 85, Coral Sea and Seabiscuit available. With that said keep an eye on the schedule because the Ranger 85 will be throwing in some 2-day trips to really load up the freezer for the off-season/holidays. Tackle recommendations remain the same as previous weeks, but be sure to ask the office representative when booking your trip just in case.
In summary.. if you don’t hook up to a nice Yellowtail this week, chances are your still going to bring home a big bag of tasty fillets. This is why the Northern Channel Islands are so popular with anglers this time of year.
For upcoming trips, check out the schedule here.
