Oct. 27-31 Pacific Voyager 5 day report by Dave Shill:
Epic, Epic, Epic! Limits, Limits, Limits. That in a nutshell is the best description we can give for this trip. From the first day on, for 12 FIBers and friends, it was limit style fishing at every stop beginning with dorado on the first day, then yellowtail, bass and rockfish on the second day, then more yellowtail, bass, and rockfish on the third day. The forth day we went back outside for a bigger grade of dorado and small yellowfin tuna. We had boat jugged with limits by noon. We shut’er down and turned toward home, put out the wahoo rigs, and in less than an hour a 50# ‘hoo was put on the deck by Rick Dyer, a new club record. In addition to the non-stop fishing, we had perfect weather the whole time other than a little bit of swell on the first day. Each day and each stop we left biting fish, calling in other sportboats in the area. Capt. Mark Oronoz, chef Jeff and crew again gave us outstanding customer service and delicious cuisine. Our gracious God and Father surely poured out His abundance on us, and we thank Him for it! We also ask that He would continue to bless Capt. Mark and crew, and to bless the FIBers Christian Fishing Club.
Archive for the ‘Fish Reports’ Category
5 Day Charter on the Pacific Voyager
Wednesday, November 12th, 2014September Charter 2014
Tuesday, October 21st, 2014Fishing report from 1.5 day charter on the Voyager:by Andrew Gomez
With such an amazing season leading up to this trip expectations were high, almost as high at the fish counts that keep seeming to grow each week. The local bite was on fire and due to that, our Capt made the call to fish in between Catalina and San Clemente, instead of making the charge to Mexican waters. This resulted in a little bit later of a start for us. We didn’t end up leaving the landing till about 10:30pm. There was also a long line for bait, and we almost got stuck with only large Mackerel to use for bait, but Capt Todd worked his magic and scored us some beautiful sardines to keep our spirits up. We started plunking for Tuna about 6:30 – 7am. Todd would run up and down the ridges of a trench searching for Tuna schools and once we found one we would start to steadily pull in fish. The first spot we hit in the morning started off biting really well. Not a lot of topwater action, but if you let your bait run for a few minuets you were sure to get bit. Average grade of fish was 17-20lb range. After that spot we decided to head closer to the island to see if we could get into a Yellowtail bite, but sadly it never panned out. We trolled up and down the island, stopping a few times to fish schools under the boat, but nothing bit like the morning. After that we headed back out to the ridge to find more schools of Yellowfin, and we landed a few more throughout the day and even had some really big Hammerhead Sharks swim around the boat looking for an easy meal. Rich got the big fish of the trip with a 31.2 lb Yellowfin and Julie got a solid 14.6 lb Dorado. All and all it was a fun trip, morning started off great, but the action tapered off as the day went on, and once the wind started to come up around 4-5pm it really shut down the bite. Huge thanks to Capt Todd and his crew for always making the club feel welcome on the boat, and they always do their best to keep us on fish.
July 30 Juniors 1/2 Day Trip
Friday, August 15th, 2014Report by Floyd Spangler
Everyone was on time, the jr’s did a great job of getting the adults there on time. The Nautilus left the dock right at 6:00. We had a meeting in the galley as we motored out to the bait barge. The first order of business was the usual safety and boat talk. Then, a first for the jrs., We had a birthday party, not for one, but three people, with cup cakes for all. After we sang happy birthday, we got to eat cupcakes. Next, the boat loaded a fine bunch of pinhead anchovies. The boat then headed up the coast. We were looking for half-day tuna, i.e. bonita. We found a small school and the jrs enjoyed catching “tuna”. We spent the rest of the time fishing for small bass and other bottom grabbers. We had our raffle and closing prayer on the way in. A big thanks to the crew and captains at Newport Landing. May God continue to bless the Fibers.
SWBA Olive Crest Pro-Am Tournament Fundraiser
Wednesday, July 30th, 2014If you didn’t catch this show on Fox Sports West, here it is for you to enjoy. Watch carefully, and you will see some FIB’ers helping to raise over $153,000 for Olive Crest!
1.5 Day “Voyager” Charter – July 9
Wednesday, July 16th, 2014With reports of some of the best fishing in years, I was excited to get ready for the FIBers first trip of the year.
I am very slow in getting ready so I started a week in advance. Off to Sports Chalet for some fresh line 30# and 50# P-Line. My other reels are filled with Spectra. Now matching reels to rods, why leave any at home? I took 5 but still left 2 of my favorite outfits at home. Ok now it’s time to add the Fluorocarbon to the Spectra. Did I remember how to do it? With the help of my IPad I was soon tying the TonyPena knot. Now it was time to check out the tackle box. The big thing was to find some number 2 size hooks as we will be fishing with anchovies and not sardines as we have done for the last several years.
As I am now ready it was time to call all 15 FIBers and give them the info and find everyone a ride down to Seaforth Landing. I had called Todd Myer, the skipper of the Voyager and he said that we could leave at 7:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm. With the idea that we could get to the bait barge earlier than the other boats and get some of the best baits. So the group all showed up at 6:00 pm and we were off by 7:10 pm. My wife earlier said that it would be nice to place mints on everyone’s pillows. So I bought Ande mints and Julie made up name cards with the FIBers logo on it, and I got on the boat earlier and everyone got 2 mints and their name tag on their bunk.
As the boat was leaving the harbor, Todd gave us an idea of what to do for the next day. He said to use a number 2 hook. That most of the fish were being caught on the troll and maybe try Mega bait, iron, plastic and live baits. The key was to get in the water as soon as the trolling lines went off.
In the morning Casey(the cook) made a nice breakfast, we ate as the trolling lines were going off. Most of the time we would only pick 1 or 2 fish after the trolling fish were brought in, so everyone was sure to keep their trolling spot. From 6:00 am to 11:00 am we had about 20 fish on board. At 11:00 I was using a Megabait, dropping down about 200 ft as Todd would say that he is marking the fish deep. On my retrieve I got hooked up to a nice fish. I fought it as I went twice around the boat. After about 30 minutes I saw the fish at deep color, and about 5 minutes after that my line broke. My body was all spent, my strength was gone and so was my jackpot fish (well maybe).
From noon to 4:00 pm it slowed down to just a few troll fish.
God gave us a nice treat as we were all looking on the water for fish, we saw a Fin Whale. It is the second largest whale being beat out by the Blue Whale which is larger.
The first time the whale jumped straight out of the water head first then right back down. The second time was a nice jump with the side of the whale showing then it was gone.
From about 5:00 pm things started to pick up. We were getting as many as 3 hook ups on the trolling lines and a few more fresh ones. Most of the fish to this time had been Yellowfin. But now as we went by some kelp patties we had started to get more Yellowtail. By this time everyone on the boat had at least 2 fish each. At times now we had 4 or 5 people hook up at the same time. Over the last few hours Todd was seeing a lot of schools of fish everywhere, so we all fished really hard.
It was great to see Bob Bennett out on the water again with the FIBers.
Chuck Wheeler was all smiles as he landed the only Dorado, a very fine 16#6oz fish
Rene Atilano had a nice 17#11oz yellowtail.
Mike Kaneen at the end of the evening landed a yellow fin at 18#110z to claim the jackpot.
Merrilee had a yellowfin at 14#12oz.
Our youngest angler on our trip was Luke Vanderyacht at 10 years old. He was very excited to be fishing and with a little help from Grandpa (Ken Kunkel) they accounted for 10 fish. Luke’s big fish was 15#4oz.
Our totals for the trip where 80 yellow fin, 19 yellow tail and 1 dorado.
God blessed us all with a great trip, thank you everyone for making my job as Charter Master an easy one. It was truly a blessing to be with you all, some old friends and new faces, new friends. Rick
Calico Coastal June 28, 2014
Tuesday, July 15th, 2014Written by, Jayson Quimby I would like to conclude by thanking God for blessing us with great fishing, safety, and fellowship during our three tournaments this year. If you are considering coming out, but you are not sure where to start, please feel free to talk to me, and I’d be happy to share what I know, and even spend some time on the water with you to help you get headed in the right direction. You can email me: fibersfishingclub@yahoo.com
Our third and final tournament of the year did not disappoint. While we only had five teams compete this time, the catching was really good, and all had a great time! It was based out of Long Beach and teams could travel as far south as Newport and as far north as Malaga Cove, where Palos Verdes meets the sand near Redondo to catch their 3-fish limit of Calico Bass. The weather was very nice, and the Calico Bass bit really well for most teams. Most teams opted to fish the Long Beach Breakwater and the many spots along Palos Verdes. One of the fun things about fishing is you never know what you’re going to catch. Jerry Bent started the morning off with a nice Sand Bass; the only problem was that it was a Calico only tournament.
Another comical thing that happens when Calico Bass fishing with more than one hook on your lure is that sometimes you catch more than one fish at a time. This actually happened a couple times throughout the day!
One of the most exciting things we witnessed was a Kayaker being pulled along by a very big fish outside the kelp line, but we never saw him land it as our attention shifted to the inside of us as Dave Belden, and his three boys worked together to land the big fish of the tournament. We heard them hooting and hollering as the fish entangled itself in the kelp, but eventually the big girl was netted and pushed well beyond the 7 pound mark set for the Megabass sidepot. While the fish looked small from where we were when Dave proudly hoisted the big fish up, she weighed 7.37# on the tournament scale at the weigh in.
As it always does, no matter how many hours we give ourselves, the weigh in deadline quickly arrived, and we all rendezvoused at 1:00 to see how we did.
In third place, with a three-fish limit weighing 7.58# was Eric and Jerry Bent.
Finishing in 2nd place with 12.14# was David Belden and his sons, Micah, Jarod, and Nathaniel.{Picture Unavailable} The Beldens also took home the coveted “MegaBass” sidepot!
Narrowly squeezing out the Beldens was Neil Richie, Dan Ross and Jayson Quimby. Our best three Calicos weighed 12.87#.
I look forward to more fun events next year.
June 25th 1/2 Day Juniors Trip
Monday, July 14th, 2014It was a gooden. The Jrs got their olders there on time. Good job Jrs. We left the dock 6:01 am. Cruised the harbor on the way to the bait receiver. The club was on the Nautilus for this trip. Captain Paul was in the wheelhouse and Jason on deck and Mike in the galley. The bait for day was pinhead anchovies and squid. A good combination. We had our greeting and prayer as we were loading bait. Captain Paul suggested heading up the coast to look for bass. On the way up the coast the breakfast burritos were as tasty as ever The boat made its way up to an area off Bolsa Chica. We anchored over a rocky bottom area. There were only a few biters here, but they tuned out to be the big fish for the day. After a slow pick, we moved down to the pipe off H.B. The calico bass really turned on. We could see them boiling on the anchovies bait. All the Jrs had a chance to pull on a number of fish. Most of the fish were about 12-13.5 inches. But on light gear, they were a lot of fun. A few short barries were hooked and released. The next move was to a group of stones about 200 yards above the Newport jetty. Captain Paul said he had never seen the stones bite so well. As we entered the harbor we had our traditional raffle. A good time was had by all. The big fish for the day were a 3lb 2oz calico caught by Logan Shill, a 2lb 5oz sand bass caught by Andrew Soderberg and Joe Cameron with a 1lb 3oz rock fish. Thanks dads and sponsors for getting the Jrs out fishing. May God continue to bless the club.
Report by Floyd Spangler
Long Beach “All 3″ Tournament
Thursday, May 29th, 2014The sun rose over Long Beach on May 25 and 9 FIB’er teams were in the hunt for big bass and halibut. Our events allow teams to drive to the spot they want to start their day at before the beginning of the tournament with a “lines in” time of 5AM. Some teams started in the harbor in search of Spotted Bay Bass, and others chose to start on the Federal Breakwater or on one of their favorite rock piles out at Izor’s Reef in hopes that they wouldn’t need that fourth fish in their limit because of the brutes they intended to catch before the first rays of light danced upon the water and shut the bite off. In this tournament, you could weigh four fish in your limit only if you had a Spotted Bay Bass in there. Four teams brought a Spottie to the scales and three of those teams placed Frist, Second, and Third, so having that Spottie in there proved to be the key to one of the top spots. With the help of Brant McGlothlin, we were able to move the weigh in to the Long Dock at the Long Beach Yacht Club, and man, what a nice upgrade that was compared to using the “public dock” in front of Khoury’s Restaurant!! Thankfully, all the teams made it to the weigh in on time, but unfortunately, one team member was in the hospital having a hook removed. {At 4:45, on the way to our first spot in the inner Long Beach Harbor, Neil Richie accidentally buried a treble hook into his calf. We tried to remove it, but it was buried, and we decided it was best that a professional remove it with the added benefit of anesthesia and sterile tools. We dropped him off at the dock around 10, but he didn’t leave the hospital until after 7PM}
Nearly all the teams weighed a decent limit, but one team really hit a grand slam. On their first spot of the morning they landed a nearly 3 pound Spotted Bay Bass, and book ended it with a nearly 8 pound Calico Bass for the win! Congratulations to Andrew and Art Gomez: their 4-fish limit weighed an impressive 13.52 pounds! Not only did they win the tournament, but their big Calico won them the Megabass sidepot!
Holding down second place, for the second time this year was Jayson Quimby, Dave Belden, and Neil Richie: Our 4-fish limit weighed 11.66 pounds. When we dropped off Neil, we had a decent 4-fish limit in the livewell, but we knew we would need more to be competitive with this crowd, so we made he decision to go back to the inner harbor, and we were able to cull out our Spottie with a bigger one and cull out two of our Calicos with larger Sandbass.
Coming in a very close third were Jerry and Eric Bent: their 4-fish limit weighed 13.53 Pounds. Eric said he caught his Spottie on some ripwrap outside the harbor, and on a 7 inch swimbait…WOW, that doesn’t happen everyday.Congrats!!
No shortage of smiles were had by all as each team weighed their fish.
Maynard, John and Ed with a nice bag that earned them 4th place: 9.88 pounds.
Rounding out 5th place were Jim and Rich with a nice limit: 8.64 Pounds.
Jim also won the Halibut sidepot with this nice 9.28 pounder! 
Taking CPR to whole new heights, Dave Shill made all of us laugh trying to resuscitate a nice Calico that died on him. 
We are so thankful that God blessed us with another great day of fishing and catching! Our final tournament of the year will be on June 28 with the same boundaries, but a different format – CALICOS ONLY – We hope to see you there!
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Ron Withers is on the Fish!!
Wednesday, May 21st, 2014My wife Anna and I headed out on our second annual birthday tradition to camp on her birthday. Our destination of choice Faria County Park in Ventura County. My family and I have been camping here literally my whole life.This is where I learned to fish since I was old enough to hold a rod and reel. Anna is recovering from recent surgery and wanted a place to do nothing but rest and relax this combined with her new birthday tradition made for the perfect opportunity. Anna and I arrived on Wednesday 05/14/14 in the evening and got settled in to our 30 foot Fleetwood Prowler. Yeah to some this isn’t camping but who says you can’t camp in style?! I didn’t spend hours on end fishing but I would play the tides, making bait in the morning during minus tide and fished the last two hours of incoming tide. Over the next few days I ended up with a variety of fish, barred surf perch, buttermouth perch, brown rockfish, kelp wrasse and cabazon. As a boy and young man my dream was to pull jumbo cabazon out of the surf. Sure I managed a little one now and then, but rarely did I get an eater size. Well now that I am a little longer in the tooth I had picked up on a few things during all my fishing adventures which I decided to put to the test. I ended up with two really decent sized cabazon and three of the largest barred surf perch I have ever caught. Sure mingled in were some smaller ones I caught off the beach on perch grubs. But the jumbos wanted live bait offerings, the bigger the better. God blessed us with a wonderful and restful mini vacation. Here are a few pics
Lake Lopez Lunker
Thursday, May 8th, 2014Here is a pic of my niece, Desiree Shill with her largemouth bass caught on
April 17, 2014 at Lopez Lake CA. The fish weighed 4 lbs. 4 oz. and was 19 1/2″ long. She hooked and landed it all by herself on a live shad. Definitely an award candidate!
