Pacific Dawn Baja Skiff Trip Produces 65 White Seabass, Huge Calicos

[Calico Bob 1010]

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TRIPS OF THIS TYPE, FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME AT CALICOBOB1010 @ AOL.COM . I WILL NOTIFY YOU OF ANY OPENINGS ON FUTURE TRIPS (next year).


An absolutely EPIC, frenzied, two-day white seabass bite gladly (and unexpectedly) interrupted fantastic fishing for BIG calico bass on my fourth annual, limited load Baja coast skiff trip aboard Capt. Pat Cavanaugh's Pacific Dawn (second on the Pacific Dawn).

We just returned Friday morning (Oct. 13) after three days of fishing on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday down below San Quintin and Thursday at San Martin Island. There were only eight of us on board and five crew as we cleared Point Loma about 8:30 a.m. last Sunday morning for points south.

I don't have a digital camera, but we took LOTS of photos and a couple of my charter members promised to e-mail them to me, and then I'll have to figure how out to post them.

The memory of last year's poor weather and tough conditions were quickly and completely ERASED this past week by absolutely PRISTINE, beautiful weather during the entire trip and favorable downhill current on Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

We had three very comfortable inflatables to fish from with the option of fishing on the big boat as well. The inflatables handle two fishermen and a skiff driver.

Four of my charter members had never fished from a skiff and three had never caught a white seabass! Everybody, though, quickly got the hang of it as fishing went wide open soon after we arrived the first day on both the big boat and on the skiffs.

Pat and crew estimated we caught and released more than 700 calico bass...and for only eight of us (and crew) in three days...those numbers only tell part of the story as the quality (size) of fish was phenomenal.

MANY BIG CALICOS FOR OUR SMALL GROUP

We had more than a dozen fish over 7 lbs (my biggest of this trip was a 7.8), plus six over eight pounds and one that weighed 9.9 caught by Mike Riedel of Ventura. John Turner of Huntington Beach landed an 8.13 and Jim Petrella of Rancho Palos Verdes had and 8.6 (Petrella had three 8 + fish). The great majority of fish were caught on all varieties of plastics...Big Hammers, Fish Traps, Mondos, etc. Some were caught on the iron and some on bait.

However, even this great calico bass fishing was overshadowed on Monday and Tuesday afternoon as white seabass fishing went STUPID and it was, of course, unexpected.

Whatever makes a great sportfishing boat captain, Pat Cavanaugh has it, as he proved when he ran the Excel and, more recently, for a few years now as the owner-operator of Pacific Dawn out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego.

On a whim or a hunch or just to look around, Pat made a short move on Monday afternoon to a nearby area where I certainly haven't fished, nor had Pat. He set up on this spot because it "looked fishy" with the birds working a certain way and the current running downhill.

We started throwing some chum and immediately the calicos began to bite. There were only five of our group of 13 (8 passengers, 5 crew) on the Pacific Dawn, as the others were on the skiffs. About 1:30 p.m., we hooked and landed the first white seabass of the day.

And then it went wide...almost every cast produced a calico or seabass. When we hooked a calico....one of us would yell out, "not another stupid 5 1/2 lb calico (about the average size on this trip)" disappointed that it wasn't a seabass. We called in the skiffs, but one skiff still stayed out bass fishing.

When the bite ceased, we had put 29 white seabass on the boat in the 15-25 lb class and I had three of those.

The weather was so nice, we were able to anchor in that spot overnight (even though it's not an anchorage) and Tuesday's fishing virtually mirrored that of Monday. Great calico fishing again, but the seabass showed up later in the day.

65 WHITE SEABASS TOTAL...MOSTLY ALL ON LEVELWIND BASS GEAR!

This time we put 36 more seabass on the boat and I got six, giving me NINE for the trip, and a total of 65 seabass for two days fishing with our small group of anglers. Again, these fish were all in the 15-25 lb class.

Here's a direct quote from Pat..."I don't get to fish as much as I did on this trip, but I must say this is the best white seabass fishing for me personally that I have ever experienced."

Wednesday, we got more great calico fishing, but the current changed and we got no seabass. Thursday was spent at San Martin Island and fishing was poor. Later in that day, we spent some time rockfishing for about two dozen reds and lings.

ONE OF THOSE TRIPS WHEN IT ALL CAME TOGETHER

I have to personally thank Pat and his outstanding crew of Mike, Mike, Chaz and the superb, gourmet-like food of Jeremy in the galley for a most memorable experience and a trip that went absolutely perfect from the weather, to the skiff operations, to the galley and, of course, to the fishing.

Some other quick notes... we also caught four yellowtail in the 10-15 lbs class and lots of HUGE bonito in the 8-12 pound class...many just throwing plastics or some, just trolling plastics on the skiffs as we returned to the big boat. Oh, and lots of pesky barracuda.

We also had at least two big black seabass that were on, but not landed. And, at another coastal spot we went to investigate, I actually hooked an estimated 80-100 lb thresher shark on a Mondo swimbait that jumped a few times before breaking off.

If you are interested in this type of trip for next year, please feel free to e-mail me and I'll keep your e-mail on file. If there's room, or if I can set up a second trip, I'll surely contact you.

[reeleminross]

Originally Posted by Calico Bob 1010

An absolutely EPIC, frenzied, two-day white seabass bite gladly (and unexpectedly) interrupted fantastic fishing for BIG calico bass on my fourth annual, limited load Baja coast skiff trip aboard Capt. Pat Cavanaugh's Pacific Dawn (second on the Pacific Dawn).

We just returned Friday morning (Oct. 13) after three days of fishing on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday down below San Quintin and Thursday at San Martin Island. There were only eight of us on board and five crew as we cleared the point about 8:30 a.m. last Sunday morning for points south.

I don't have a digital camera, but we took LOTS of photos and a couple of my charter members promised to e-mail them to me, and then I'll have to figure how out to post them.

The memory of last year's poor weather and tough conditions were quickly and completely ERASED this past week by absolutely PRISTINE, beautiful weather during the entire trip and favorable downhill current on Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

We had three very comfortable inflatables to fish from with the option of fishing on the big boat as well. The inflatables handle two fishermen and a skiff driver.

Four of my charter members had never fished from a skiff and three had never caught a white seabass! Everybody, though, quickly got the hang of it as fishing went wide open soon after we arrived the first day on both the big boat and on the skiffs.

Pat and crew estimated we caught and released more than 700 calico bass...and for only eight of us (and crew) in three days...those numbers only tell part of the story as the quality (size) of fish was phenomenal.

MANY BIG CALICOS FOR OUR SMALL GROUP

We had more than a dozen fish over 7 lbs (my biggest of this trip was a 7.8), plus six over eight pounds and one that weighed 9.9 caught by Mike Riedel of Ventura. John Turner of Huntington Beach landed an 8.13 and Jim Petrella of Rancho Palos Verdes had and 8.6 (Petrella had three 8 + fish). The great majority of fish were caught on all varieties of plastics...Big Hammers, Fish Traps, Mondos, etc. Some were caught on the iron and some on bait.

However, even this great calico bass fishing was overshadowed on Monday and Tuesday afternoon as white seabass fishing went STUPID and it was, of course, unexpected.

Whatever makes a great sportfishing boat captain, Pat Cavanaugh has it, as he proved when he ran the Excel and, more recently, for a few years now as the owner-operator of Pacific Dawn out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego.

On a whim or a hunch or just to look around, Pat made a short move on Monday afternoon to a nearby area where I certainly haven't fished, nor had Pat. He set up on this spot because it "looked fishy" with the birds working a certain way and the current running downhill.

We started throwing some chum and immediately the calicos began to bite. There were only five of our group of 13 (8 passengers, 5 crew) on the Pacific Dawn, as the others were on the skiffs. About 1:30 p.m., we hooked and landed the first white seabass of the day.

And then it went wide...almost every cast produced a calico or seabass. When we hooked a calico....one of us would yell out, "not another stupid 5 1/2 lb calico (about the average size on this trip)" disappointed that it wasn't a seabass. We called in the skiffs, but one skiff still stayed out bass fishing.

When the bite ceased, we had put 29 white seabass on the boat in the 15-25 lb class and I had three of those.

The weather was so nice, we were able to anchor in that spot overnight (even though it's not an anchorage) and Tuesday's fishing virtually mirrored that of Monday. Great calico fishing again, but the seabass showed up later in the day.

65 WHITE SEABASS TOTAL...MOSTLY ALL ON LEVELWIND BASS GEAR!

This time we put 36 more seabass on the boat and I got six, giving me NINE for the trip, and a total of 65 seabass for two days fishing with our small group of anglers. Again, these fish were all in the 15-25 lb class.

Here's a direct quote from Pat..."I don't get to fish as much as I did on this trip, but I must say this is the best white seabass fishing for me personally that I have ever experienced."

Wednesday, we got more great calico fishing, but the current changed and we got no seabass. Thursday was spent at San Martin Island and fishing was poor. Later in that day, we spent some time rockfishing for about two dozen reds and lings.

ONE OF THOSE TRIPS WHEN IT ALL CAME TOGETHER

I have to personally thank Pat and his outstanding crew of Mike, Mike, Chaz and the superb, gourmet-like food of Jeremy in the galley for a most memorable experience and a trip that went absolutely perfect from the weather, to the skiff operations, to the galley and, of course, to the fishing.

Some other quick notes... we also caught four yellowtail in the 10-15 lbs class and lots of HUGE bonito in the 8-12 pound class...many just throwing plastics or some, just trolling plastics on the skiffs as we returned to the big boat. Oh, and lots of pesky barracuda.

We also had at least two big black seabass that were on, but not landed. And, at another coastal spot we went to investigate, I actually hooked an estimated 80-100 lb thresher shark on a Mondo swimbait that jumped a few times before breaking off.

If you are interested in this type of trip for next year, please feel free to e-mail me and I'll keep your e-mail on file. If there's room, or if I can set up a second trip, I'll surely contact you.

Iwill go for sure

[jimm]

Awesome trip. Pat is the man! Thanks for the report.

[1:11]

Of all the 65's in the fleet, The Pacific Dawn is my favorite and always my first choice. Pat is the most knowledgable and IMO most personable and professional captain in the entire 2 day fleet. His operation is also the classiest. If you ever get lucky enuff to jump on an open spot during his completely full charter season, you should take it. The best in the fleet.
Pat and his crew work very hard for you and if there are fish to be caught, he will find them. Also, compare his counts. His counts, angler for angler, are usually higher than any other boat. A+ operation. This skiff trip sounds like a great call. EPIC!!


Captain Pat Cavanaugh (Right) and lucky angler with a nice albacore
Photo courtesy of Brian spayth (SFR.com)

[Calico Bob 1010]

nm

[bradmaralbacore]

those are some fuckin fatass calicos

[SLINGIN-IRON]

pat is a great captain and is fun to fish with only been on his boat once and cant wait to do it again

WTG man i cant wait to see the pctures

[ironmike]

How many day was your trip w/Pat? What is the approx. cost?

I'd be interested, what's your date for next year?
email me at: iron4mika@yahoo.com Thanks

[Calico Bob 1010]

We spend five nights on the boat. We leave early Sunday morning to get to the area very early Monday morning. We fish all day for four straight days and then are back at the dock on Friday morning.

The cost this year was $1,600 per person for eight anglers. This included fuel surcharge and Mexican permits (and obviously great gourmet food from Jeremy in the galley).

I make no money nor do I get a free spot on these trips. I just put them together as chartermaster.

I expect that Pat will increase the price for the 2007 trip, justifiably so. There are five crew members on board for only eight anglers.

Note to Iron Mike... I added your e-mail address to my list to notify if any spots or open or if I can put together a second trip in September. I much prefer fall conditions than those in spring. If there is a second trip, it won't be with Pat because he is fully chartered in September.