Report by, Jayson Quimby
At 11AM on June 23, eight FIB’ers assembled on the docks of 22nd street landing in San Pedro ready for a reverse 1.5 day charter aboard the Outrider.
Anticipation ran high at the sight of tanks filled with live squid, and the upcoming full moon, but we lowered our hopes, because a cold patch of ugly green water had killed the White Seabass bite for the days preceding the trip. The captains for the trip were Paul and Jim. The deckhand was Manny and the owner, John Pittman, would be holding down the galley.
We made it to the front side of Catalina in what seemed like no time at all, and we were fishing by about 3:00PM. After resetting the anchor on our first spot, and only catching mackerel, Captain Paul determined the conditions were not the same as he found there a few days prior when they hooked a couple of nice WSB, so he decided to head west to check out a couple more spots on the front side of the island. Poor WSB conditions prevailed at each of the front side spots, so we made our way to the famous West Cove on the backside of the island. Again, we were greeted by tons of mackerel, but not the best WSB conditions. We continued to work our way down the backside of the island, stopping at “known” WSB haunts, but finding nothing but mackerel. A little after 6:30 or so we came around a corner and spotted a private boat anchored up in what looked like excellent WSB conditions. It didn’t take long for us to realize that the owner of the boat was a friend of Tom and Val’s who works at Performance tackle, and Captain Paul decided to give the spot a shot.
After setting the anchor, we watched the other boat catch a couple nice WSB, but we had not gotten bit yet, so Captain Paul decided to pull the anchor and set up a little below them. All the while, anticipation was building rapidly, because we watched the guys in the skiff catch a couple more WSB. After a quick steak dinner, the first to get bit by the “right kind” was Walt Galen! The most interesting thing was that Walt was fishing the bow of the boat. While Walt fought his fish he instructed us on where he had cast and that his bait was on the bottom. Immediately, I put on a heavier sliding sinker and cast my live squid in the direction Walt pointed out. Almost immediately after my bait hit the bottom, I felt it get picked up by a fish and I prayed, “Lord, please don’t let this be another Mackerel. Pease let this be the right kind!” As the line coming off my reel began to pick up speed, I counted to 6, put the reel in gear, turned the handle as fast as I could, and gently lifted the rod. Immediately my fast-action 8 foot rod went bendo and 50 pound spectra was ripping out of my reel; after seeing Walt’s 33pound WSB hit the deck,
I knew my prayer was answered and after a nice hard battle and a trip around the boat, my 38 pound WSB was brought to color, and Manny made a perfect gaff shot bringing 38 pounds of fun aboard the Outrider.
By this time, it was getting dark and nearly everyone aboard was fishing the bow and picking away at the big WSB. When one fish broke off, we were all reminded that these fish do have teeth and that it is imperative to retie your hook above the chafe their teeth put in your line when you catch one. The bite lasted until just after 9:30, and when the dust cleared, 12 beautiful WSB, ranging from 20-38 pounds were put on ice.
Since the limit is now three fish per day, we all had hopes of catching more WSB during the morning tidal swing and everyone went to sleep around 11:00 with the idea of waking up at 3:00 AM for what we hoped would be a classic “In the Gray” bite. I decided to stay awake and soak squid, because I know that a WSB bite will develop at the craziest times, and it is rare when someone can predict it. I figured since I was the charter master on the trip, it was my responsibility to test the waters all night, and if a bite developed, I could finish out my limit with the rails completely void of anglers, and then wake everyone up………Not really! Honestly, I knew we stood a great chance of the fish biting in the middle of the night, and I did not want our boat to miss out on what could be the WSB bite of a lifetime. Well, staying up all night is not easy, but for my troubles, I was able to pull on a huge Bat Ray for about 20 minutes. It was huge and very tough to subdue. At times I even used the rail to help me put more pressure on it. 3AM rolled around, then 4AM, and by 4:30AM all of us were at the rail casting out our baits with high hopes of the big WSB turning on again, but all we caught was Mackerel. With inside information that the WSB bit there the morning before, coupled with more inside information that none of the other boats were catching WSB, Captain Paul made the decision to stay put and wait the bite out. We figured we were in the right spot because over and over again, sport boats such as the Dreamer, Ultra, and Pacific Quest would pull in and out, but no WSB were caught during The Gray; only Mackerel, small Calico Bass, and perch.
Around 8AM Floyd caught a nice WSB and our hopes were renewed again, that a bite would develop, but we stayed on the spot until 2PM, and we never hooked another legal WSB. We went through a ton of bait and were even given a couple passes by the Big Game 90. Our baits were constantly being ripped off by the Mackerel and perch, causing us to reel our lines in, put another squid on, and send it back out into the zone.
We were all a little disappointed a bite never developed again for us, but we counted ourselves blessed to have caught the 13 WSB that we did, and we posted up the best results for that day!
No one went home without fresh WSB to put on the BBQ the next day. We enjoyed every aspect about the Outrider. The crew was very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. The food was delicious. The bunks are spacious and clean, and with the limited load, the boat fishes a lot more like a private skiff, than a 50’ charter boat. I am looking forward to the FIB’ers chartering the boat again next year! Thank you Lord for a wonderful trip!
