August 2, Santa Barbara fishing on the Stardust

Started by Bill B, July 29, 2021, 04:03:06 AM

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Bill B

All in all a good day......Sunday the four of us departed for Santa Barbara where we rented an AirBnB for the night.....the normal 2 1/2 hour trip took 4 due to heavy traffic.....got to the Bnb and the women went to get dinner, while Paul and myself discussed the next days fishing over a few beers.  Dinner arrived and after some conversation off to bed for a 0530 hrs wake up. I did make friends with the neighborhood cat, who showed up an hour after we arrived.  In the am we packed the car and made the 20 minute drive to the landing, checked in and proceeded down to the boat.  With the gear stored I rigged the poles.  My wife Lee and Debbie were going to use Penn320gti's, Paul selected a Jigmaster P21XN, and I took the Fathom 25NLD2.  All the rods were Penn Californian.....Everyone we're going to use shrimp flies on the trip, but due to lost tackle bare hooks became the norm.....bait was small anchovies and cut squid.....I should have taken a page from Alan's playbook and brought my own market squid 😖

After a 2 1/2 hour cruise up the coast, we made our first drop in about 260'. I think 2 fish came over the rail on that drop.  The next 2 drops were more of the same.....the skipper then turned the boat south for better fishing....drops 4,5,6, and 7 got progressively better, with our group pulling fish.  My friend Mike, and Sheridan (Swami805) started out pitching jigs, and we're batting 000....changing up to bait produced fish.  All our drops were in excess of 200' and the grade of fish were on the smaller size....at least 2 short lings came over the rail, Sheridan got 1.  It appeared to me we were fishing small rock piles, as when my sinker hit the bottom it was soft mud then drifting over the rock pile.  By about 1500 hrs we made the cruise south and back to port.  The weather was great, swells 1-2 feet.  Since we hugged the coast wind was not an issue at all.  The morning breakfast burrito was good as always, and the afternoon burgers were great too....Paul went back for seconds on all 👍

As we were boarding, I saw a large number of rental rods going down, probably more than 12 with 27 paying customers, so I knew we had a lot of new fisherman on board.  This proved true, with tangles all around...I still don't know how I can get tangled with some at the stern when I was at the bow 🧐. We were using 16 oz sinkers and staying straight up and down.  The deckhands were running all day. 

All took home sacks of fish, dutifully filet by the deckhands, and packaged for the freezer when we got home.  Paul and Debbie had a great time, already planning on their next trip, my wife admitted fishing is not her thing.....on the plus side no one got sick or terribly sunburned.  Bill

P.S. Pictures to follow as they are sent to me, so here are a few that I have on hand. 

It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

Swami805

Beautiful weather and tour of the coast by pt conception, the fishing wasn't very good, lots of fish that wouldn't bite. Found a couple spots that bit late in the day but not very well.  Lots of small junk fish. Skipper kept us out late and gave it a shot.  Just one of those days.  Still the best bacon cheeseburger on the water. I managed to not touch a piece of bait and stuck to jigs and got a few.  
Do what you can with that you have where you are

Bill B

#17
A few more pictures....
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

steelfish

Bill, looks like a nice fishing day, next time you will get the big ones.



@ Sheridan, compa, did you used the Slowpitch blanks that your buddy sells?
how did you liked them?

The Baja Guy

Swami805

Alex I used 2 that I built with blanks and parts from him. Worked great. Had one mystery fish that pulled line and put a good bend in it so I see the potential. Fish came off half way up ,felt like a hitch hiker. Fun way to fish that's for sure
Do what you can with that you have where you are

Brewcrafter

Bill that looks like a great trip with some great folks and I know you worked hard on having everything dialed with the gear, so I'm thinking that was a big win for a weekend away!  Glad everyone got some filets to bring home, nothing beats grilled rockfish for tacos! - john