BONITA!!!

Gus with Bonita

Every so often here in the western end of the Santa Barbara Channel we get a shot at a few bonita.  Last fall, while Gus and I were out on the Te-Ca-Te trying to scratch up a few rockfish for dinner, we spotted fish boiling a few hundred yards away.  We ran over just in time to see a couple of bonita go airborne before the school went down.  We started fan casting the area trying to find the school.  On my fifth or sixth cast a dozen or so nice bonita came charging in after my plastic.  I made another quick cast and was instantly hooked up.  On Gus' next retrieve we both watched as a bonita inhaled his bait a couple feet off the tip of his rod.  It was an incredible rush.  After 10 or more laps around the Te-Ca-Te (our 12' Achilles inflatable) we both landed our fish and went home to make sushi.

2007 Lobster Opener

Catching your own lobster dinner can be a hard work.  Here are a few photos of our haul after the 2007 lobster opener.  It was Greg's first time doing lobster.  He never knew being wet, cold, tired, and sore could be so much fun.  The sun began to rise as we made our last few pulls of the night.  I looked over to see Greg's smiling face as he watched our hard earned catch crawling around on the deck of the Te-Ca-Te.

6lb bug

Greg with lobster

Greg and I playing with our food

Don't like rockfish,... lighten up!

Rockfish are often under appreciated or overlooked.  With the right conditions and properly matched tackle, rockfish can be heaps of fun.  This baccocio (14lbs) and vermillion (8lbs) were caught off Big Sur, California.  When favorable conditions allow for a slower drift rate I prefer to fish large 7"-12" swimbaits on a 20lb calico bass setups.  Fishing the swimbaits is a lot more involved than fishing with cut bait and the lighter setup allows for a challenging fight.  It makes things a little more "skilly" and a lot more enjoyable.  Both these fish were caught on a 4oz leadhead with a white 9" swimbaits.  If I am fishing shallower water (50'-200') I prefer to fish a Calstar 900XL paired with a Trinidad 12 filled with 50lb braid.

Southern California Striped Bass?!

While growing up on the beach I spent many hours checking the surf with a fishing rod in my hands.  The summer of 2001 was an especially good year for corbina.  One morning, during my early morning ritual, I got ripped by something much larger than your typical corbina.  The fish picked up my sand crab and made a screaming run parallel to the beach.  It was immediately apparent that I was going to get spooled so I started running down the beach after the fish.  My favorite 4lb ultralight rod was absolutely no help as I hopelessly tried to turn the fish.  After a brisk 100 yard run the fish found a rip, turned and started heading out to sea.  I watched as my spool got smaller and smaller.  With only a few wraps left on that tiny piece of aluminum I began to wade out after the fish.  After a few minutes in chest deep water I was able to turn the fish and gain some line back.  It was now twenty or so minutes into the fight and I was finally able to get a look at the fish.  A swell began to crest in its evolution into a wave just as the fish made a darting run across the face of the swell.  It was a striped bass!  The fish took one more good run before I was able to get her near the beach again.  A set wave came in and with a well timed effort I was able bring the striper up onto the sand.  The fish tipped the scale at 15.6 pounds.

First Big Flatty

At the age of fourteen I started working on the sportfishing boats out of Channel Islands Harbor.  To the right is a photo of my first 30+ pound halibut caught at Santa Rosa Island, circa 1996.