Endeavor Sept 10th Report

[theswimmer]

You know how sometimes you start out on trip and somehow it  becomes an adventure?

Well here we go.....
Left our place at 7 am Wednesday in a haze of smoke from the Rough fire 30 miles away.
Miss Mari and Sean, the 4 yo grandson in tow.
I had work to do in The Morro Bay area so I got dropped at the job site while Mari and the kid went to the Strand.
Done with work  by 3pm , job site foreman dropped me at the beach , we played in the Big Pond swimming and building sandcastles until about 5:30
when the grandson declared that he was  "Sausted".
Head for our room at The Sundown Inn ,http://www.yelp.com/biz/sundown-inn-morro-bay
Showers for all and a nap for Sean while I rigged for the next day.
Take out food from Thai Bounty , and in bed by 9 pm.

Up at O dark 30 and down to the landing we go.
You know everyone is a fisherman when you get to the boat an hour and 15 minutes early and almost everybody is already there.
A couple of different groups, half the boat was a group from Bob's Bait in Bakersfield with the ringleader being a gal who works there.
Group 2 was 6 or 7  guys who were ex Navy pilots etc. with the oldest at 91 being a real gentleman named Phil.
A couple of other solos from the area and yours truly filled out the load at 26 fishing.

Capt. Brad Leage , Miss Tabbie (also a skipper) ,Deck boss Danny and Sean from The Fiesta filled out the crew.
We headed north on time into about a 3-4 foot swell that was 8-10 feet apart. The ride smoothed out the further north we went.
We motored for about 90 minutes at 18-19 knots. The Endeavor is fast! Brad has had her up to about 25 with a light load.
Started fishing in about 140 feet of water and the first hookup is a double ling! So it kind of goes like this , back and forth, Reds , Jonny Blues, Olives ,Grassies,
And then it stops.
We move and fish , reset the drift and fish but not much is coming up.
On the 4th drift the guy next to me hooks a nice ling, as he brings it up to the surface I see a HUGE white flash coming up underneath the Ling.
I am thinking 'What the heck is that a Marlin?
Until I see the dorsal fin break the surface looking like a half a sheet of plywood cut on a 45 degree angle.
Some one up front shouts "Great White!"
Son of a Biscuit that is a huge shark!
Mr. Taxman grabs his Ling and leisurely swims across the bow and heads back for the deep.
This all took less than 1 minute from start to finish. By the time I started the GoPro he was gone.
7 people of the Bob's Bait group were fishing the bow and everyone estimated the shark to be in the 15-16 foot range and I would agree !
Capt. Brad was fishing the back so he missed it and his comment was "No wonder the fish stopped biting."

So we moved out into deeper water and start fishing again with the same sort of start, Big Lings and a good variety of rockfish, Olives , Blacks , Vermilion,
Canarys throw em back! , I catch a nice keeper Ling and then a short.
After a hour or so we move back in shallow , I catch another nice ling and a couple of nice Reds and I hear one of the Bakersfield ladies exclaim,
"What the heck is that?!"
I look to the stern and one of the Navy guys has landed about a 4 foot Wolf Eel!

I'm thinking to myself 'What in the world is going come up next?'
I keep catching blues and about this time one of the old guys brings up a double Cabazon, good size as well.
I catch another short ling and by this time most folks are getting close to limits of rocks and a few have limits of Lings.
Deck Boss Danny starts cooking burgers and I realize how hungry I am.

Out comes the PB&J and a cold Coors from the ice chest and I'm back to fishing.
I feel a light strike and then nothing, I decide to let things marinate while I eat.

The Danny  burger is Huge , at least a 1/2  lb with all the trimmings.

I feel a big tug on my pole and I reel up a very nice ling that promptly spits the small black rockcod I had hooked right at the boat.
Son of a Biscuit #2 !
We all keep fishing at about 2 everyone has rock limits and a lot have Ling limits.
Capt. Brad calls "Reel em up." and we head back to the Rock.

As we are going in I see Brad put a feather out on an Old 6' glass roller and a 4/0 Senator and I ask What he is doing.
"Folks have been catching Bonito around the area and when they are here so are other bigger fish."
Well I imitate him and grab one of my big feathers and send it out.
15 minutes later I catch and release one of the biggest of the seagulls that was following us in!
Had to be at least 1-1.5 lb.
What a day....
Thanks again to Brad and his crew. Brad works very hard to get you on the fish.
Spotless ,clean, fast boat. Great food, ice cold beer, and another trip that became an adventure!

[theswimmer]

First pic is Phil 91 years old , a real gentleman with his jackpot ling and Deck Boss Danny.
Second is Ed with second place.
Third is Rick with a Wolf Eel. Rick is 6 foot 6 inch's , just for scale.
Fourth is me with my first Ling of the day.

[theswimmer]

The Rock

[bluefish69]

Over here on the proper coast we call them Wolf Fish. They mate for life & live in holes that they dig in the clay. We are not able to keep them & must be returned unharmed. Before the closure I have been told they are great eating. I never have caught any.

Mike

[RowdyW]

Great detailed report! 

[theswimmer]

Over here on the proper coast we call them Wolf Fish. They mate for life & live in holes that they dig in the clay. We are not able to keep them & must be returned unharmed. Before the closure I have been told they are great eating. I never have caught any.

Mike

I had heard about them being protected out east.
I asked Brad about them and he said they are not endangered here in the west.
The party boats will see 1-2 a week just in the Morro area.
And yes he said they are fine eating.

[broschro]

Awesome report try re sizing your pics before you post.Happens to me all the time.

[David Hall]

Very nice day on the water.

[theswimmer]

Very nice day on the water.

It was.
David  I think  you fish the same area , Local knowledge is king . Capt Brad  has fished our coast for 40 years . When someone knows the reefs and rock piles  I always catch more fish .