Fishing Sat. 11-24-07 with Gabe Delbuono, on his 22’ Glacier Bay Cat. “Gabe’s Reel Time”, with my other good friend Bud, and Gabe’s working companion Dave. We launched out of Davies, in Long Beach at 3am. It was Gabe’s first trip in eight months, as he is in the mortgage business, and it has been a dogfight all year to keep his head above water.
We were pleasantly surprised to find no fog, and an extremely clear night, guided by the shining light of a full moon. After exiting the harbor and setting a course for the east end of Catalina, we could see off in the distance an eerie bright red glow of the Malibu fire! How sad that 40 families lost their homes. It has to put things in perspective somehow? We cruised along at 20 knots, and in a little over an hour, passed the east end of Catalina. We reset the course for the West End of San Clemente Island, arriving at about 6:15am. The last four miles were getting a little gnarly, and a few white caps became visible.
We metered around in a new area, and made a drift starting at 240 feet. It was difficult to stand up in the bigger swells, and no one was home, so we moved in to shallower water, closer to the Island, and out of the nasty swells. As we looked off in the distance, white caps were everywhere; however, the wind on the back side of the island had settled into just a gentle breeze.
We began to pick away at the rockfish, and suddenly Bud hollered, this is a big’n, maybe a lingcod? I grabbed the gaff, and surely enough, up came a 29” and 9 Lb. Lingcod.
Here is Bud with his Lingcod.
Another look at those great big teeth and cavernous mouth.
Gabe was fishing with a 7” plastic and found a hungry 5 LB. Calico Bass.
Another look.
Dave found the whitefish, and Johnny Bass on the chew, on a dropper loop, with cut squid.
Another look.
We made a few moves further to the back of the island, and I hooked a big fish, which took some drag, as it gallantly fought all the way up. Bud was ready with the gaff, and as the lunker appeared from clear deep blue water, it was obvious from the shape and color, it was the right kind! Bud stuck the big ling with a superb head shot.
Cory with a 32” Lingcod, weighing 12 lbs.
Another look!
It was the day of the Lingcod, as soon after I landed my ling, Gabe hollered, I’ve got a big one on, as we all looked over at Gabe with his rod bent real good!
Here is Gabe with a 28” Lingcod.
Another look!
Gabe later added a second ling to his count, a solid 25” Ling caught just before sunset. Today we caught 11 lings, most in the 22-23” category, and four legal lings 25 to 32”. We picked away at a variety of rockfish and then moved in to target Calico bass near the kelp beds. The plastics were working, and we boated about 10 Calicos to 4 lbs. The bass fishing slowed so we moved out a little deeper, to finish the day. Once again the “extinct” Bocaccio were thick as flies. I know I released over 20 Salmon Grouper myself, a majority of which swam back down to fight another day.
Here is Dave with a medium size Bocaccio and a nice Calico Bass.
On this picture if you look to the far left you can see Catalina in the distance, it was such a clear beautiful day. The white caps quit some time around 8 or 9am and it became grease in the afternoon.
At 4 pm we gathered the fish together, and took a few pictures of the lingcod and the day’s catch.
Cory, Gabe and Bud with Lingcod.
Coming at you with a mouth full of teeth!
The day’s catch!
We sadly, but thoroughly entertained, left the island as the sun was setting and arrived back at the dock a little after 7pm, a very happy and tired group of anglers. The ride home was exceptionally sweet, and not until five miles before the breakwater did we incur any sort of bump in the ocean. The moon was rising as we approached the dark shadows of the east end of Catalina, to guide us safely home from our long journey. The weather was incredible, the fishing fantastic, and friendship shared unreal!
Gabe thanks so much for the invite, and nice meeting you Dave, and Bud what can I say, you’re always fun to fish with, and share an adventure together.
Hook up! Cory
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