Challengers Angling Club Charter - Truline 6/7/08

[The Sea Hag]

On a cool Friday evening, 20 members and guests of the Challengers Angling Club boarded the Truline. There were chicken drummies and taquitos in the galley to snack on. With gear stowed, we left 22nd Street Landing a little after 9:00 PM for a quick stop at the bait barge, where we picked a up a load of big sardines with a few anchovies mixed in, and headed for Catalina Island.

The Captain gathered us in the galley. It is bright, spacious, and very comfortable! He introduced our crew for the trip; captains Steve, John, and Heather, Mike "Peanut Butter" and Ethan on deck, and Rhonda in the galley. After a brief safety speech, the Captain went over the game plan for the next day. Given recent offshore winds, San Clemente was a poor option; the winds had turned the water over again, and the residual swell still pretty high. We would head straight to Catalina, where they had already reserved an acceptable amount squid, 8-10 scoops, from the light boat the "Bounty," and they would try to get a little more squid to float up as well.

We had a pretty rough ride crossing the channel. I got up shortly after we got settled at Catalina, and found the area and the scene familiar. It was the same cove I had been to on another boat two weeks earlier where there had been a good bite on the white seabass, and once again with a large number of boats. No squid would float for the crew tonight, so what we'd gotten from the light boat, which was everything they had, would have to be enough. I soaked a squid for a while, and watched the other boats for any action. After checking with the crew in the galley, they suggested the fish might start biting closer to 5:00 AM, and I went back to bed.

I woke up again at 4:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep, so I headed out on deck. It was cold, but the winds were calm. We still had a pretty good swell coming in. I threw a bait out, again watching the other boats for any action. Nothing. Gray light came and went. I tried several different set ups, live and dead squid, but didn't even get a nibble. The wind picked up a bit as the sun rose, clearing a thin fog, and then thankfully died out.

By 6:00 most of the guys were up. Ken Gandy came out on deck, looking more asleep than awake, coffee not quite soaked in yet, and dropped a bait. It had barely hit bottom, when he got bit! After a couple of trips around the boat, he was clearly wide awake, and landed a yellowtail that weighed in at 31 pounds!



Well, the rest of us were quite awake as well. But even in the boats around us, I had seen only a very occasional hook up. In spite of the optimism built up by Ken's catch, we left the area at 8:30, with not even another bite...

By now the sun was up and the skies were clear. In the lee of the island, it was fairly flat and calm. In the early morning hours, one of the crew had made a batch of fried rice that smelled wonderful, and I ordered a breakfast burrito with fried rice that really hit the spot! We wandered from one spot to another, dropping anchor, generally feeding the perch, and moving on to another spot. Late morning when the current came up a bit, we got into a pretty decent bite of calico bass, and picked up a few sheephead in the mix. Joe Davis landed and released a really nice sized calico before I had a chance to get my camera (sorry), but it was definitely a breeder size fish, and it's always nice to see those big ones going back. Way to go, Joe!



By 11:30 I was getting hungry already, having eaten breakfast early. I ordered a cheeseburger from Rhonda, and she put a fabulous spicy sauce on them with just a hint of curry! Wow, it was good!

We traveled around for the afternoon, with an occasional bass bite, and a couple of bat rays to keep things interesting. At our last stop of the day we picked up two short halibut, just before Captain Steve called it a day, and we headed back in. The ride back was fairly smooth, and I was thinking Sunday was probably going to be the better day of this weekend... Oh well. That's why they call it "fishing", and not "catching"!

We would like to thank the Captains and crew of the Truline for giving it their best. Peanut Butter and Ethan were right there every time anyone had a fish of any size to take off the hook, and helped out with backlashes and tangles, as well! The boat was neat and clean, and there was plenty of room for the group to spread out and fish comfortably.