Catalina and SBI weekend

[Gigafish]

No sour eagles, no sharks looks like a great day. One helluva dolphin stampede.

[steveooo]

Fun Trip. The crew of the Black Pearl worked hard, the company was good, and it’s not everyday you get the opportunity to fish Catalina and Santa Barbara Islands off the kayak on back to back days. The Black Pearl is a real fisherman’s fishing boat. You won’t get a private stateroom, you won’t get a 5 course meal with black-tie service. You will get a captain that loves to put you on fish, a crew that works their tail off, and the opportunity to fish destinations that otherwise are not reachable by kayaks. I gained mucho respect for the boat when we were scheduled to get home in the “evening” on Sunday night, and we didn’t even start loading the yaks up at SBI until about 6:30. I love a captain and crew that wants to get on the fish as bad as you do.

I went for “exotic or bust”, and I busted. Came home with a few rockfish bycatch, which were dinner tonight. Jackpot day 1 was a huge calico, the biggest I’ve ever seen in person. Day 2 jackpot was taken by Don, with his usual halibut. I swear, he must have a halibut whistle or something…

My camera is finally starting to crap out on me, so I only have a few pics that came out. Here are a few

The Pearl



MVC



theluckypig



Bellcon



Drake



Landwhale


Iceman



At Rest



On the move



I also got to see the Dolphin Stampede. I wish my camera had resolution slightly better than a potato.



Big thanks to Andy for putting these trips together. I can’t wait to hop on another one of these trips.

[lamb]

I like

[Tman]

Sounds like a fun trip, nice write up.

Great pics too, but who is that one guy, a Deadhead or a Parrothead?

Curious minds want to know...

[Divad]

Thanks for the write up & great pics!
Come on August! I can't wait to go!!!

[landwhale]

This moment alone was worth the price of admission, first saw them 1/2 mile away head in the other direction then turned in toward the island and headed in our direction. The sound was amazing the sight of them in one long parallel line head at us as the sound got louder I got out the camera and snapped these as the went by me on both sides.

As Steve I went to fish for something a little bigger than Bass so I used the heavy rigs and live bait and had a few chances but no hook up (still need work on my tech) Did a little





After the last move on Sunday I took some squid strips and went looking for some rock fish for the people back home

Found a drift from 50 to 28 ft and got on a roll, first a brown rock fish then the fattiest white fish I have ever seen then a sheepshead all on 8lb. After losing me last 1oz bullet head to the kelp switched to the 17lb setup and a 1/2 oz sled head and hooked a nice brown rock fish noticed there was a line hanging out of its mouth that was tied to a lead head in its throat. Last a hefty sculpin that I let go did not want to feel the pain.



Captain Rick and the crew worked hard and were awsome to us the food was good and always prepared fresh when you were ready to eat.

The environment was amazing

[mtnbykr2]

Great pics and great report, looks like it was way worth it