Mirage 7/7/2018
Our Mirage trip started out a little iffy. We had several last minute cancelations and the weather was on the questionable side with high winds and choppy seas. The only real difficulty we experienced was on our ride out to Santa Barbra Islands. For those old enough to remember, it was an “E-Ticket Ride.”
We arrived at the island about 4am and the crew was able to find squid. Our group began staggering out about 5:30 and we fished for the elusive white sea bass; none showed up. We headed out to the rock cod banks and they were cooperative. Not sure who caught the first fish, the fish were coming over the side instantaneously. We fished the cod bank until the boat had caught their limit of cod. All aboard went home with with a limit of rock fish. The rock cod were a nice size and we only threw back a few small ones.
We left the banks and again headed for a white sea bass area. Luck was with us! We caught 3 keepers and 1 throw back. The stop also produced one 30 pound halibut, 6 or seven under size barracuda, plus 3 bat rays. Two of the white sea bass were caught by our extra passengers who joined us. Paula Kunkel, our birthday girl, caught the other keeper white sea bass 11.4 pounds. Her hubby caught the short one by 2 inches. Other fish caught besides the halibut and barracuda, were sole and sand dabs,. The weather was nice, the wind and sea laid down for us, and we had a very pleasant day fishing.
The crew on the Mirage was great and the galley had the usual great selection of breakfast fare including a great breakfast burrito, plus a wide variety of hamburgers, The ride home was smooth; even the drive home had no traffic. The 4 extra people were great guys and super fishermen. Sorry that so many of you missed this trip.