Slightly late report because my laptop was in for a battery repair. Anywayssssssss
Been trying to meet up with Cameron, a guy I met while on my Amazon route back in April. He had an aluminum CC in his side yard and I asked him about it and we got talking for a good 15 minutes before I really had to get back to work. He said I should come with him
on his sled some time so I gave him my number and we've been sharing fish stories and conditions reports for the last several months. Finally the stars aligned and we were able to get out Saturday. Swell was something like 2' @ 15 seconds so the plan was to do a whole loop around Santa Cruz Island looking for halibut and pick off some rockfish.
Met him at the ramp in CIH at 0615, got a scoop of small sardines and anchovies, and took off for Santa Cruz.
Cruised at 18-20kts the whole way over.
First stop was in 300' of water. Forgot squid so pulled out some Gulp products and managed some sand dabs which went back and we moved on.
He knew I'd never explored the island too much only fishing from cattle boats so we pulled in tight to Painted Cave for a quick look at one of the largest natural caves around.
Went all the way to the west end of the island, pulled into 50' of water, put out live bait on reverse dropper loops, and pulled a handful of healthy Olive Rockfish.
After putting 4 of them in the boat we moved over to a sandy spot to try for halibut. We tried for about 15 minutes and he pulled in a 20"er but no other bites, so we moved on.
Next stop was more shallow structure where he ended up fouling a larger female sheephead in the forehead with a tube bait. One short bite for me here.
Moved again to about 60' of water where it was quiet other than him getting a good size rock sole. He wasn't sure if it was a halibut or not so he released it, but I was trying to tell him the soft fins, more blunt shape, and lack of teeth meant sole, and I was saying so I heard the plop into the water. CPR is cool too!
Tried a few more shallow spots with no luck, then made a run to a deep spot about midway off the back of the island where we pulled a few bocaccio, including a real nice one on his part that I'd put around 4lbs.
Tried one more spot in shallow water with no luck, filleted the fish, then headed in. He had me drive the last 30 minutes back across the channel. I was really curious how the aluminum would ride compared to my flat bottom inflatable. It's definitely an upgrade, which goes without saying. When we went around the west end, there was an area with 5' swells around 8 seconds that followed us around the tip that gave me a sense of what careful driving was in that size boat. Not too different from the feel in my little pool toy. More speed to keep up with the swells but also more wobble with the deep V hull. I think a boat like this would be the next step after inflatables.
Cameron was(is) a very cool guy, got to know each other pretty well over the course of the day. Should be out again with him some time, despite my moving over a county.
Got a few dinner's worth of very nice fillets to play with this week.
