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

Report by Neil Nichey
Aww man! Were we stoked for this trip or what? Dead Of Summer, wide open fishing up and down the whole coast. 18 FIB’ers boarded Todd Meyer’s Voyager out of Seaforth Landing for an overnight fishing trip. After baiting up and getting a tank of 4-6” nicely cured sardines we were off, and headed South past the Coronado’s down about 60 miles just south of Ensenada.

After an always anxious night sleep we had trollers out at grey light, and we were paddy hopping. On our first rotation we found a pod of dolphin; as we breezed through all the trollers went off, and we landed a bunch of 15# Yellowfin Tuna. Try as we may we couldn’t keep them at the boat with our bait offerings. We were able to catch back up with the pod, and get a couple more jig strikes throughout the day on the same grade of Tuna.
Most of our day was paddy hopping, the paddies were really few and far between, but when we found them all of them would be loaded with 10-15# Yellowtail and Dorado. These were great fighting, sporting fish. All the Dodo’s had great color and were very acrobatic. We would slide onto a paddy, and the fish would charge the boat, and they were chewing everything!!! Fish were landed on bait, surface iron, flatfalls, jerkbaits, and coltsnipers. The melee was so fun to watch. We sure do have a great club. We work well together. I’ve never seen an open party trip where we had 10+ fish on at one time and everyone actually worked together to land fish.
As the sun started to fade, so did the bite, and we headed back to the barn, everyone smiling and laughing as we shared stories of the day and our anticipations for the rest of the season. Todd runs a tight ship, and with Casey as his Second, Chuck running the deck and RJ running the galley, we were well taken care of.

Below is a report about the trip by Valerie Handzus
Tom and I finally got to Ventura Harbor Friday after fighting traffic for 3 1/2 hours all the way from Orange County to Ventura Harbor. Before boarding the Amigo for an overnight fishing trip, some of us enjoyed a nice seafood dinner at a restaurant right at the landing.
We left the harbor around 10:00 p.m. with everyone eager to get their gear ready for a hopeful fishing day. One by one everyone retired to their bunk as we were scheduled to start fishing for bait in the morning around 3-4 a.m.
On our way out to Santa Cruz Island we hit some wind chop and swells in the channel which made laying still in our bunks a little difficult and on the way the boat experienced a little engine trouble but the captain managed to quickly address the situation and get us underway.
We got to the fishing grounds at O-dark-thirty and first tried to catch squid and mackeral for bait with little success. No squid showed but we did managed to get about 30 mackeral in the tank. As gray light appeared, everyone tried their luck at catching a whiteseabass. They made a great showing at the island the week before but it looked like we might have just missed the hot bite by a few days as we were unable to get any to come around the Amigo. Before the captain decided to make a short move, one of our club members did manage to entice a nice 50-70 lb. black seabass out of it’s hole and caused a little excitement for all. It was released and sent back to it’s home.
Wind conditions and rough water kept the captain from making it to one of his planned fishing spots so we moved to an alternate rockcod fishing hole that produced around 30 rockfish. Around 9:30 a.m. the captain decided to make another move. Unfortunately, while doing so, the boat blew one of it’s engines and caused us to abort our fishing trip early and head back to the landing. We slowly made it back on one engine and arrived at the dock around 2:00 p.m.
Thank you Captain Ricky for all your effort and for getting all of us back safely, and to Ginny the cook who made us a great breakfast, and to the crew Antonio, Collin and Steve for all your hard work. Although our trip was cut short, we still had a great time enjoying our fellowship and fishing together. I hope the old saying “better luck next time” holds true because the FIB’ers have another trip scheduled on the Amigo again in August.

Thanks to Val for writing such a complete summary of our Amigo trip. To add just a few more details: Ron Withers won the jack-pot with a 4.1 pound Salmon Grouper a close second was Manny Moumdjian with a 4.0 Red Snapper. Jim Kiech was the one who provided the excitement with the black sea-bass. The Amigo owner met us at the dock and promised us a full refund for our trip. Please be have patience with our club as we sort out the refunds.
Your Charter Master,
Ken Kunkel

Report by Kenneth Kunkle
We had a great trip again with a wonderful group of young people. We left the dock about 7am under cloud cover, picked-up a load of bait, and were off in search of fish. It did not take long until we found some very cooperative bass and mackerel. Most of the bass were of the 12 to 13 inch variety, but several keepers were caught. Some of the mackerel were of keeper size and were kept and cleaned to provide for fish tacos for our fishermen. The weather was overcast with calm seas. It was great to see the excitement on the fishermen’s faces all trip long. We caught fish until it was time to return and Mr. Sun paid us a visit. Thanks to Julie, Valerie, Paula and Neil and especially the crew on the Aggressor for all their help assisting our anglers with respect and patience during our fishing adventure. Special thanks goes out to the Friends of Rollo organization for their financial assistance with this trip.

Our trip aboard the Sum Fun started bright and early at 5:00 AM the day before Father’s Day. 26 FIB’ers all arrived on time, got checked in and got acquainted with some new and some old friends. The captain and crew quickly filled the tanks with beautiful Anchovies from the bait recievers. Captain Brain Wooley decided that we would spend the first part of the day looking offshore for kelp patties. We looked hard, but only found whales. Afterwards, we ended up off San Onofre anchored up just off the kelp line. We immediately started to pick off smallish Calico Bass. Unfortunately, as quickly as the bite started, it fell off as a giant Sealion came in an put the kabosh on the bite. Then we moved south to another kelp line where the same thing developed – a decent pick on the bass, then a visit from a Sealion. We continued this routine well past the Barn Kelp before working our way back up. The seas were nice and it was sunny out with a trickle of current pulling some of the kelp below the surface. At one stop, 2 Trigger fish were caught within seconds of each other. The biggest one was by Ed Waites which tipped the scales at 4#’s. Ed’s Trigger fish turned out to be the jackpot for the trip.

The largest Calico Bass of the trip was caught by Mark Montgomery – 2.3#’s

Mike Ricigliano caught the largest Sandbass – 2.3#’s

One of the coolest catches on this trip was made by Ron Withers Sr. who caught this Spotted Bay Bass along one of the kelp lines miles and miles away from any harbor entrance.

We made our way in at around 4:30 and arrived back at Dana Point Harbor by 5PM. All in all, it was nice day of fishing the local kelp lines. New friends were made, and one group had 3 generations on the boat – Isaac, Jayson and Dorian Quimby.

We had a great trip planned aboard The Fury out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing, Dana Point, CA. All 27 angers arrived on time to get an update from Captain Rick. He said that the wind event from earlier in the week was over, but the fishing below the boarder we mediocre at best, and that the spots he’d like to fish at San Clemente Island looked like they were going to be closed by the Navy, so he thought our best shot at tuna would be to stay close to home and then make a decision from there depending on what we saw. The crew loaded the boat with a mix of small & large sardines and small Mackerel – Nothing cooler than a captain who get’s down from his wheelhouse to crowd and scoop the bait; that was cool to see! The decision was made to anchor up off Salt Creek and allow everyone to get some sleep before heading out to the inner banks for the gray-light bite. We were the first ones on the spots, but the morning started off slow. The skies were beautiful, and seas were calm, but the bite took a while to develop. Well after sunrise, the captain and crew started to see small spots of tuna breaking the surface with Terns marking the spots. We slid into several spots, and started to have the fish boiling around the boat. At first they were only eating the chum, but after a few frustrating stops, the fish started to cooperate. We started to catch Yellowfin tuna in the 10-30 pound range, but they were very picky eaters! It really helped to have light line (15#) tied to a 15# Flurocarbon leader, a small #4 hook and the liveliest/smallest Sardine you could catch. It also helped to change your bait every couple minutes, and to be able to get your bait away from the boat as far as possible – the fish were constantly boiling around the boat, but they rarely came to the corner and bit every bait with a hook in it. It seemed like they were being very selective at times, and after the bites died down, we found ourselves driving away from fish in hopes of finding a school that would bite better. Right at about 11, with around 15 YFT on the boat, the captain was tired of all the other boats dog piling on us, so we ventured off on our own to find schools of fish that would bite better. We drove through an amazing pod of dolphin, doing what dolphin do, and putting on a really cool show for us. Soon we found what were looking for – Tern birds dipping and diving on a school of feeding tuna. Each time we would slide into a new area of breezing fish, marked by Terns, lots of people would get hooked up. We continued to do this for the rest of the day, and by the afternoon, the YFT schools turned into Bluefin Tuna schools – not the jumbos they caught on the last trip, but fun 12-20 pound models. The bites died down at around 4:00, but Captain Rick kept moving around looking for more schools of fish. Not much was caught after that but were rewarded with a beautiful sunset, a steak dinner with all the fixings, and a calm ride back in. We were within 30 miles of Dana Point the entire day, but the fishing was great – it was really cool to be catching tuna in sight of the coast, with a great view of Catalina and San Clemente Islands with a great bunch of friends! I think we are going to try to book this trip again next year!

Neil Richey with a Horn Shark he caught while anchored up at Salt Creek.

Jackpot fish was caught by Mike Barnes – 30# YFT

We had 57 Yellowfin Tuna and 7 Bluefin Tuna for the day

Check out our Facebook page for some great videos from this trip

FIB’ers extended 3/4 day trip Friday, Sept. 23rd aboard The Clemente out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing. We boarded the boat early, about 4:30AM, and headed to the bait barge with a mix of small chovies and some quality sardines at about 5am as we headed out with 24 anglers the captain discussed the possibilities about the Yellowfin tuna bite. It had slowed down a little and that it was going to be bumpy – the weather called for small craft warnings. The tuna grounds where we were headed to were between the 181 and the 43 about 4-5 hrs away. We arrived at about 9am and we metered fish and chased bird schools. Our best opportunity was at about 10:30-11:00. We were able to get the fish to the boat for a little bit but they didn’t want to cooperate. We stopped again, and 1 fish was hooked and landed on a sardine by John Olson at about 11:30. He said he was, “In the right place at the right time with a hot sardine!” We kept chasing bird schools with no luck. Then a pod of porpoise were spotted by the Captain. He said that some tuna were being caught under them, so we tried to get in front of them a couple times, but they were moving quickly, so no luck again. The seas calmed down for us nicely! We ended with 1 tuna @12.8 lbs for the day. The Captain called it a day at about 3:30 and we headed for the barn. We arrived at the docks at 7. They left early, went long and stayed late for us. Unfortunately the fish just didn’t cooperate for us. I know we’ll catch them next time! Cheers to the captain and crew for trying their best to put us on the fish!

(below)John Olson with the only fish landed on the trip. Congratulations John!!!

The Good Old Days
Everybody has heard about the good old days. Well the FIB’ers just fished what will be the good old days. Everyone was there on time, good job! We boarded the Voyager at 9:00 PM. At the bait receiver we pick up a good load of 3-5 sardines. Captain Todd had the timing down just right, so we arrived at the fishing grounds just in time to start fishing, about 4:30 am. It was a smooth ride out. We started with Flat Falls and dropper loops. No bites until gray light, the first bite was on a fly lined bait. About the same time a dropper loop sardine was picked up. The first two fish were cookie cutters, about 75lbs. Most FIB’ers switched to the fly line baits. We did not start up the engines until it was time to go back to port. Many, many personal best were caught.. Two new club records were set. Frank Ciccarelli with a Bluefin tuna of 90lbs and Floyd Spangler with a Yellowfin tuna of 94lbs, also the jackpot winner. According to the long-time FIB’ers, this the best quality trip so far. Casey, with her new Captains license, was great in the galley and on deck. Jason on deck did a great job. Captain Todd again was on fish and on the deck as the best cheer leader possible. Smooth ride home with well deserved naps for most. Never know when this going happen, so you need to be there.
-Fly for the Fibers

Floyd Spangler’s jackpot YFT: 94 pounds!

Frank Ciccarelli’s new club record BFT: 90 pounds!