I've had my eye on some rockfish grounds up north of Santa Barbara ever since I got the Mosquito. I got it in my head that the area is chock-full of big coppers and reds, without anything to really back it up besides where I
think the SB cattle boats might be fishing. It's a hike, especially in my boat, so I was waiting for really mellow conditions so I could stay at WOT all day instead of feather the gas for 20+ miles. Forecast said 3' swell at 9 seconds, very little wind all day. I don't think that was correct.
The approximate itinerary.
Arrived at the ramp about 0715, on the water about 0800. Outboard took a quick futzing but sounded just dandy after.
Must have been a 2 hour ride to the grounds. About 20 miles. Could have been 90 minutes but I was going head on into the swell, seemed like 3-5' at a little quicker than 9 seconds. It was glossy water but there was a mixed swell that was not fun. I also noted that the gloss kinda messed with my depth perception at times and I came down harder on the backs of waves than I think I would have if the water had texture for me to really observe the swell shapes. The pounding took a bit of a toll on my gear, as I almost lost my CV number board that's clipped to the front as one of the clips broke, so I crawled up to the bow and stowed it away before it got lost. Then my surface iron came out of the hook keeper and tangled with every rod, so I just said f#ck it and snipped it. One of my Sealines on a deckhand grip also loosened up a lot to the point where one of the screws completely fell out, and the reel dropped to the base of the rod holder.
No other boats out there with me, I was hoping to see one of the cattle boats from SB out there but I suppose they hit the islands today. I had a waypoint in my fish finder, but my technology was being annoying, so I didn't even stop over the top of it. Just figured it was hard bottom for miles so I dropped down and instantly got a decent red.
Must have happened upon a pinnacle for that one, cuz after that it was all greenspots and halfbands.
I had 7 total and 5 eaters after an hour, then I started to feel pretty nauseous from the mixed swell. I was in 300' of water maybe 3 miles out, so I ducked in a mile or so hoping to find something in 200' and maybe get out of it a bit, but then I had no fish and the same bumpiness. So I said screw it and went in to a quarter mile of the beach and it was nicer. My brain was still all shook up though, and I couldn't seem to stop without feeling miserable again. It was tough going that far and not getting in more fishing, so I took my time on my way back scouting kelp beds for future trips without wetting my line much. Some real pretty pieces of coast over there.
Broke in the new kill bag.
Got back to the dock around 1400. Wind picked up contrary to the forecast, so I'm glad I wasn't back in the bumpier stuff when the wind came through.
I think I might have burned a gallon and a half today, I'm pretty astounded by that.
I did get some tacos but the day did not at all pan out like I'd hoped. I suppose that's the nature of exploratory trips. I also should have corroborated the marine forecast with a couple other sources. Windy was off, but I'm seeing now that Bouycast is dead on with a 3-5' W swell at 8 seconds, plus a 2' wind swell.
Alas! Time to clean fish.
