Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Welcome! => Southern California Charters => Topic started by: sciaenops on April 22, 2021, 05:28:44 PM

Title: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: sciaenops on April 22, 2021, 05:28:44 PM
All-

Have 2 spots on charter that Sheridan and I put together.  Fishing on the Endeavor out of Ventura Harbor Sportfishing, departs Mon 5/3 10p, fishing Tue 5/4, returning ~6p.  Targeting wsb, rockfish/ling, calicos and/or whatever is active. Hoping NOT to fish deep (> 400') for extended period.

Cost is $225 with a max of 16 anglers, does not include food/drink, fish cleaning and/or crew tip.  Bring own bedding and face covering (COVID precautions still in effect) - no personal coolers on board.

Contact me at 310-595-0016 or keithmaruya@hotmail.com with full fare to book your spot!

Keith     
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bill B on April 22, 2021, 09:55:25 PM
Keith I just might be joining you....I will know in about an hour....can you hold me a spot for an hour?  Bill

Update:  Im in...the Boss said I could go  ;D
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: sciaenops on April 22, 2021, 10:38:58 PM
Gotcha, Bill.  Contact me for payment details. 
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Swami805 on April 23, 2021, 12:25:24 AM
Nice Bill, see you there
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bill B on April 23, 2021, 03:45:25 AM
Cool beans, paid for the trip, the Boss is looking for a hotel for Monday night so she can shop while I fish, I'm not sure what is going to be more expensive my trip or her shopping trip 🤔. Either way this is going to be my first trip after retiring the end of the month....I think I'm going to like retirement 😁. Bill
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Brewcrafter on April 23, 2021, 05:06:11 AM
Good luck guys! - john
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: foakes on April 23, 2021, 06:07:21 AM
I'm not sure what is going to be more expensive my trip or her shopping trip 🤔.

(3) guesses, Bill — last (2) don't count...😄😄😄

Have a great trip — and let Mrs. Bill buy whatever she wants — it is her time also.

Enjoy retirement!

Best, Fred

Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bryan Young on April 23, 2021, 07:47:02 AM
Sounds like fun. 
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Dominick on April 23, 2021, 07:05:21 PM
Hide her wallet before you go out on the boat.   ;D Happy retirement.  One time a thief stole my credit cards but I didn't report it.  The thief spent less than my wife.  Dominick
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: alantani on April 24, 2021, 04:10:31 AM
we're headed up to see lee next week.  it would be a pretty tough turn around.   :-\
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bill B on April 24, 2021, 04:10:01 PM
Quote from: Dominick on April 23, 2021, 07:05:21 PM
One time a thief stole my credit cards but I didn't report it.  The thief spent less than my wife.  Dominick
.  That just made me laugh out loud 🤣🤣🤣.

Good luck on the sage rats Alan.....Bill
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bill B on May 04, 2021, 12:56:11 AM
Headed out for Ventura Harbor now, reports of White Sea Bass in the area....not many but a guy can hope....Keith and Sheridan see you in a few hours.....Bill
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bryan Young on May 04, 2021, 01:11:30 AM
Tightlines Keith, Sheridan and Bill!!!
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bill B on May 05, 2021, 06:50:46 PM
A quick trip report,

Left the house Monday at 6:30 pm for the 2 hour drive to Ventura Harbor. A quick stop for a Subway sandwich, put me at the landing at 9:15 pm. People were starting to board the boat.  I unpacked my stuff and headed down the ramp.  The crew was there to bring the poles and tackle boxes aboard.  Once I got on, I stowed my bedding on my bunk and headed up for the safety briefing.  The last fisherman got caught in traffic and boarded at the last minute and we were off.

At the harbor mouth, I saw small bait fish jumping in the wake off the port side.  About 15 minutes later, dolphin were jumping in the wake off the starboard side.....a good omen?  Time will tell.  For now time to climb into the rack....the mattresses are comfortable on the Endeavor, but if you are over 6' tall may be a little tight....luckily I'm not 😁

Around 5:00 am I heard the boat slow down as the captain started searching the area around a squid boat that was trawling.  Shortly after that we stopped and dropped anchor.  Everyone that was up dropped down using a dropper loop, 8oz of lead and 5/0 hooks.  I wasn't in the water more then 5 minutes and Hook Up!  The drags were screaming on the Fathom 25NLD2.  As quick as that 25 yards of flouro carbon was in the water and the 65 lb braids was peeling out.  I increased the drag and was able to slow down the SEAL!  😡😡😡. Well the seal didn't want to give me back my dropped loop or the flouro.  The deckhand came over and busted him off for me......well that got kind of expensive, but no time to think about that.....pulled some 30 lb mono, tied another dropper loop, tied it directly to the braid, back in business.  Back in the water with whole squid and within 5 minutes another hook up!  Woohoo, set the hook, start peeling line out under drag and Zing POW broke off.  Well this time I only lost my hook. Another dropper loop and back in business.  

By this time it's wide open kaos.....the WSB Wolfpack was moving through and we had 4 people hooked up....the first WSB over the rail was a bruiser that took Sheridan around the boat.....more fish came over the rail with a liberal application of gaffing techniques, all these fish were big!  Ohhh heck!  Hook up number three (if you count the seal as one 😆) this one is pulling drag, so I advance the lever drag and stop him in his tracks, drop into low gear and grind him in, another application of gaffing techniques and my 1st WSB is on deck.  Things seem to calm down now, then the Wolfpack reappears, and bam....3 people are hooked up.....more big WSB hit the deck...classic pre-dawn bite, that was over by the time sun up and bright over the horizon.....we fished for a while longer but no one else wanted to come home for dinner....

We moved closer to the island for some shallow water fishing.....white fish, sheepshead, and blue bass were all coming over the rail....I ended up with 2 white fish and a chili pepper.....time to move to deeper water, sorry Keith, we have to fish deeper sometimes 😆. From then on a pretty steady diet of quality rock fish coming over the rail...the skipper did a good job of placing us over the rock piles, directing us to either side of the boat to get a good drift.  

Fish were being taken with cut squid, flat falls, soft plastic swim baits, jigs, you name it....we finished the trip with a high speed drift on the backside of Anacapa, which produced blue bass, but we were at our limit....time to return to port. The 3 hour cruise to port allowed everyone time to lay down and take a nap.....on the way in the deckhands performed the usual duty of filleting fish, I was intrigued watching the deckhand carve up the WSB....huge slabs of meat fitting 1 filet per 2 gallon zip lock bag.....

My WSB was estimated at 30 lbs, one of the smallest, the largest was probably 50+ 🤔.

The dock totals are as follows:
13 White Sea Bass
130 rock fish
35 white fish
2 sheepshead

Had a great trip, this over night trip, provided some good lessons for what's to come on my upcoming 3 day Avet chartered SOA drip in June.......Bill
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bill B on May 05, 2021, 06:53:12 PM
Additional photos.....Bill

Would somebody be able to help a brother out, not all of the photos are showing up.....
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Swami805 on May 05, 2021, 07:41:39 PM
Heck of a fun trip with some slob sea bass. Only 13 passengers for a boat that usually takes 30. Tons of room, great boat crew and skipper. Awesome boat burger too.  It was  windy and cloudy on the way out as dawn broke the wind back off, clouds vanished and it was calm as a lake, tee shirt weather.  Literally when we racked the rods the wind came up and the fog rolled in, perfect timing. 
A
Giant thanks and hats to Keith (Sciaenops) for putting the trip together. Simply outstanding in every way
Great fishing with you Bill,hope we can do it again soon
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Hardy Boy on May 05, 2021, 08:13:48 PM
Nice trip. Good job Bill ! I hope to get a WSB one of these days. You need really heavy gear to land a seal.

Cheers:

Todd
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Vintage Offshore Tackle on May 05, 2021, 09:13:13 PM
Congratulations Bill and Sheridan.  Sounds like one of those rare perfect trips in every respect.   Great decision to book that trip yesterday!  It's wonderful to be one of the guys who was there yesterday, instead of one of the guys who gets told that he should have been here yesterday.
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: sciaenops on May 05, 2021, 11:52:02 PM
Just another trip on the Endeavor with Capt. Tucker McCombs.  ;)  Story was well told by Bill and Sheridan, as the stars aligned with great weather, excellent fishing at times and fresh meat for all. I was only sorry my 2 carpool buds did not deck a ghost, but luckily others did more than their share so everybody took one home.

Typical, almost predictable wsb bite in 2 waves. Interestingly, the 2 guys fishing jigs -- Sheridan with his heavy white Tady, and his guest Steve Schrieken who was slow pitching -- I believe were among the select few who hooked multiple fish. We only had a very limited & intermittent supply of live squirts that the deckies jigged up in real time, otherwise boat limits would have been likely.

Had some comedic relief when skipper asked "deep or shallow rockfishing?" I have a running joke with him to never, EVER make me do those 500+ foot death drops. Well he took me a little too literally moving us into 100' whitefish grounds. After some re-negotiation, he relented and we hit some of his better rocks in 200-300', which is what I really meant by staying shallow. I think he was just messin w/me.
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Brewcrafter on May 06, 2021, 03:24:00 AM
Awesome report, that looks like a great trip!  Congrats guys! - john
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Bryan Young on May 06, 2021, 04:11:00 AM
Now that's a great trip!!!
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Swami805 on May 06, 2021, 04:34:39 AM
One other highlight was a group of blue whales, pretty rare sight these days, largest creatures on earth by far.
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: pjstevko on May 06, 2021, 07:24:11 PM
Looks like a great trip with quality fish for all!

One day i hope to catch a wsb but a yellowtail is still first on the list for the last 3 years....
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Gfish on May 06, 2021, 09:27:04 PM
Wow. Great trip. Great report Bill. What a mixed bag. Sounds like a great vessel to fish from. Seals, dolphins and BLUE whales!, to boot!
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: Jim Fujitani on May 08, 2021, 03:07:21 PM
Good report!!  Sounds like the guys that made the trip really had a great time on an ultra limited load overnighter!

WSB...  A great eating mild fish, one of only a few species that my wife will eat!!
Title: Re: 2 spots avail overnite fishing 5/4 out of Ventura
Post by: steelfish on May 12, 2021, 05:33:25 PM
grreat report Bill and Sheridan, looks like a one of those days when the plan ends as "planned".

SHeridan, you seems to have a lucky reel or lucky shirt or something, I have seen you catch the pig of the day few times already, that WSB was a real pig, good meals for many days, maybe even a taco Tuesday !!


*****************


update:
what a coincidence, I was checking a FB group of Slowpitching in north America and a guy posted (Sheridan's friend who was using the SPJ rod) a report there and some pics, I will share some of those pics here too.