Tom and Valerie Handzus were chartermasters for the FIB’ers Amigo trip #2 out of Ventura on Saturday, August 19th. The FIB’ers has chartered the Amigo in the past for over 25 years with Capt. Mike Thompson when they were running fishing trips out of Newport Landing. There were two other club members who joined Tom and Valerie (Rob Whittaker and Mike Kaneen) and 10 guest anglers, eight of which were from the Valley Christian Church in Chino.
Everyone boarded the Amigo Friday night anxiously awaiting to fish the spectacular Channel Islands for whatever species was biting well. We left the dock around 9:30 p.m. after Tom welcomed everyone and Valerie blessed the trip with an opening prayer. We bounced past Santa Cruz Island and got to the fishing grounds at Santa Rosa Island just before daybreak. There was a possibility of making some squid on our way but it appeared that the squid season at Channel Islands has dried up and the white seabass fishing is mostly done.
With three tanks of sardines and lots of frozen squid, everyone began fishing in deep water around 330 feet for rockcod and lingcod. The fish were plentiful and our gunny sacks began to fill quickly. It was here that a jackpot lingcod weighing 15.9 lbs. was caught by guest Shane Rails. Many larger lings were hooked and some managed to chew through heavy mono dropper loops rigs with their impressive mouth full of big teeth!! We moved several more times as we traveled East toward Ventura Harbor and caught more rockfish and over 100 Ocean Whitefish with some approaching 10 pounds!
Around 2:00 p.m. we started the long ride home. All the fish were pulled out of the brine tank and Valerie weighed the jackpot fish and took pictures. Colin the deckhand solo’d all the fish cleaning while Ginny in the galley made great sandwiches and cheeseburgers for us all. There was lots of time to take a nap, eat and chat with our new friends and tell a ton of fishing stories! Our ride home on the water was flat calm (we were told the best conditions of the summer).
We arrived back at the dock around 7:30 p.m. and Valerie thanked everyone and closed the trip with a prayer. All the bags of fish were handed out and everyone headed home.
An end to a great trip on the Amigo with good fishing, great weather and good times. Thanks again to Captain Ricky, second captain Steve, Ginny for the awesome food and assisting on deck along with Colin who did a great job taking care of everyone and their fish. We wish them great fishing days ahead for the rest of the season.
JACKPOT WINNER SHANE RAILS WITH A 15.9 LB LINGCOD
LANCE FERGUSON WITH A NICE ROCKFISH
BARRY CHEW WITH ANOTHER NICE LINGCOD
JAMES VIGNEAULT WITH A HUGE OCEAN WHITEFISH
YOUTH PASTOR TREVOR SCHULTE AND FIB’ER ROB WHITTAKER
FATHER AND SON, BILLY AND LANCE FERGUSON
FIB’ERS MIKE KANEEN AND TOM HANDZUS
JACKPOT WEIGH IN
AMIGO CAPTAIN RICKY
AMIGO 2ND CAPTAIN, STEVE
GINNY IN THE GALLEY
AMIGO DECKHAND – COLIN
FIB’ER CHARTERMASTERS VALERIE & TOM HANDZUS
BREAKTIME IN THE GALLEY