djam
Well-known member
I had been looking for a boat for a few years, always bouncing around with the type of boat I wanted. During the summer I would focus on center consoles to go tuna fishing, then I'd want a cabin for winter fishing. Back in March I purchased my 2320, my passion is seabass fishing, but I hate crowded boats, even the 6 packs. The boat arrived in late June and i had a pretty good offshore season. Work and school have kept me close to shore for the few months with excellent halibut fishing just a few miles from Dana Point Harbor here in Southern California.
The fishing part
The weather forecast was awesome, 0-1' swell and wind at 0-3kts, 97% full moon and great tide swings, i got some intel and reports of squid at the island. I contacted a buddy and we were set to leave at 12:00 noon on Friday. Thursday night he calls and cancels due to work, I totally understand. I start a frantic search for anyone to go fishing. I took the day off just for this trip and I wasn't going to the office for anything! No one could go on a Friday with less than 16 hours of notice. Finally, I reached out to someone I had met at a party who works at my wife's company. He would meet me at the boat at 630pm. Later than I wanted, but better than going solo.
Pulled out of the harbor a little later than planned at 745pm into amazing conditions. Flat like a lake, bright moon with almost no clouds and no wind. It was hard to believe this was the first week of Feb. Fired up the radar and ran (actually more of a swift walk) to the island. It was hard to keep the speed down in these conditions. It was so bright it was like an early morning run. Got to Avalon and met with a lightboat selling squid, tanked up with 2 scoops and about 3/4 of a 5-gallon bucket of the fresh dead for slightly more than a normal scoop.
Went to the place that was suggested just around the East End and found great conditions, milky water, no weather, uphill current and metered what looked like seabass in about 25' of water. Set the anchor put our lines out and took off our jackets, yes it was that warm. I was in the water about 15 minutes before i felt the love tap of a seabass, didn't get a good hookset and after a short run lost the fish. Just after that, the current turned off. The conditions were so good we decided to stick it out and see if the tides would bring back current instead of moving. We pulled in a few calicos (shorts), sheephead (out of season) and some opal eyes (in the bag). Around 1:30 I took a 60 minute nap, as the first time sleeping on the boat I found it amazingly comfortable. I'm a big guy and the cabin had plenty of space. My buddy stood watch, he let sleep until 2:45 and then we switched spaces. About 3:45 (just short of the reported 4am-8am window for prime fishing), I start getting love taps again. Set the hook and we are off, this guy is really pulling line, throwing the headshakes we all know. I fight the fish for about 5 minutes and once I'm certain I'm not going to lose him I start yelling for my buddy to get up. He stumbles out and finally finds the gaff (his first time on the boat). The fish runs me for another 5 minutes, at deep color (I see my favorite light brown/golden color, like a french fry.) Sadly it's not the right kind, I'd hooked the largest leopard shark I'd ever seen, we cut him loose and are worked up because there is renewed life in the area. We decide to make a move around 5 am as the current died again. We only moved about 3/4 of a mile into a new area, looks promising and there is some more current here. a couple of new boats pull into the area, in fact, more than a couple.
not good. The current shifts and now our baits are pulled into a local patch of kelp, we pulled at least 12-15 short calicos and probably a solid 1/2 dozen sheephead and other various fish. Back in they go. We moved again at 630 a little bit. Here are more short calicos and a few mystery short bites. Anohter opal goes in the bag.
A few more quick moves, god i LOVE having a windlass, makes moving so easy when you anchor up in 20-30' of water. We drive down the coast checking out the various beaches and trying to avoid crowds. At one point we drive over an area that is so clear we can see the bottom at 50' we decide to drop a few hookup swim bait (they are amazing at generating hits on the sink) and watch the fish hammer our baits. It was like watching underwater video it was so clear. Learned a bit about how fish stalk our baits. I should have video recorded it. We head to a new area and can see the sandy bottom area just outside the kelp line. I saw what looked like a big halibut sitting on top of the sand. By time we flip around he is gone. It's like being in the tropics the water is so clear.
Around 12 we start talking about heading back, we have 4-5 fish in the bag, not great, but not terrible for Feb trip. Heading back we hit a promising area, but can't get past the perch and are picked cleaned on every drop. A little further down the coast is our original spot, we cruise down that way running the meter and don't see anything of interest. We fished that spot for about 30 minutes, again the perch. We decided to call it a day as the wind has finally arrived at about 10+ knots we can see some small whitecaps forming further out.
As we approach the corner and turn to head home we come around the corner and find an area that has been productive for me in the past. Conditions are fantastic and we decide an extra 30 minutes wouldn't hurt. Anchor up just right and decide to give it one last try. Around 2:30, almost 2 hours later we finally call it a day, adding more calicos, sargos, opaleye and sculpin to our bag. The final count is 15 fish, again this is FEBRUARY!
some pictures follow
The fishing part
The weather forecast was awesome, 0-1' swell and wind at 0-3kts, 97% full moon and great tide swings, i got some intel and reports of squid at the island. I contacted a buddy and we were set to leave at 12:00 noon on Friday. Thursday night he calls and cancels due to work, I totally understand. I start a frantic search for anyone to go fishing. I took the day off just for this trip and I wasn't going to the office for anything! No one could go on a Friday with less than 16 hours of notice. Finally, I reached out to someone I had met at a party who works at my wife's company. He would meet me at the boat at 630pm. Later than I wanted, but better than going solo.
Pulled out of the harbor a little later than planned at 745pm into amazing conditions. Flat like a lake, bright moon with almost no clouds and no wind. It was hard to believe this was the first week of Feb. Fired up the radar and ran (actually more of a swift walk) to the island. It was hard to keep the speed down in these conditions. It was so bright it was like an early morning run. Got to Avalon and met with a lightboat selling squid, tanked up with 2 scoops and about 3/4 of a 5-gallon bucket of the fresh dead for slightly more than a normal scoop.
Went to the place that was suggested just around the East End and found great conditions, milky water, no weather, uphill current and metered what looked like seabass in about 25' of water. Set the anchor put our lines out and took off our jackets, yes it was that warm. I was in the water about 15 minutes before i felt the love tap of a seabass, didn't get a good hookset and after a short run lost the fish. Just after that, the current turned off. The conditions were so good we decided to stick it out and see if the tides would bring back current instead of moving. We pulled in a few calicos (shorts), sheephead (out of season) and some opal eyes (in the bag). Around 1:30 I took a 60 minute nap, as the first time sleeping on the boat I found it amazingly comfortable. I'm a big guy and the cabin had plenty of space. My buddy stood watch, he let sleep until 2:45 and then we switched spaces. About 3:45 (just short of the reported 4am-8am window for prime fishing), I start getting love taps again. Set the hook and we are off, this guy is really pulling line, throwing the headshakes we all know. I fight the fish for about 5 minutes and once I'm certain I'm not going to lose him I start yelling for my buddy to get up. He stumbles out and finally finds the gaff (his first time on the boat). The fish runs me for another 5 minutes, at deep color (I see my favorite light brown/golden color, like a french fry.) Sadly it's not the right kind, I'd hooked the largest leopard shark I'd ever seen, we cut him loose and are worked up because there is renewed life in the area. We decide to make a move around 5 am as the current died again. We only moved about 3/4 of a mile into a new area, looks promising and there is some more current here. a couple of new boats pull into the area, in fact, more than a couple.
not good. The current shifts and now our baits are pulled into a local patch of kelp, we pulled at least 12-15 short calicos and probably a solid 1/2 dozen sheephead and other various fish. Back in they go. We moved again at 630 a little bit. Here are more short calicos and a few mystery short bites. Anohter opal goes in the bag. A few more quick moves, god i LOVE having a windlass, makes moving so easy when you anchor up in 20-30' of water. We drive down the coast checking out the various beaches and trying to avoid crowds. At one point we drive over an area that is so clear we can see the bottom at 50' we decide to drop a few hookup swim bait (they are amazing at generating hits on the sink) and watch the fish hammer our baits. It was like watching underwater video it was so clear. Learned a bit about how fish stalk our baits. I should have video recorded it. We head to a new area and can see the sandy bottom area just outside the kelp line. I saw what looked like a big halibut sitting on top of the sand. By time we flip around he is gone. It's like being in the tropics the water is so clear.
Around 12 we start talking about heading back, we have 4-5 fish in the bag, not great, but not terrible for Feb trip. Heading back we hit a promising area, but can't get past the perch and are picked cleaned on every drop. A little further down the coast is our original spot, we cruise down that way running the meter and don't see anything of interest. We fished that spot for about 30 minutes, again the perch. We decided to call it a day as the wind has finally arrived at about 10+ knots we can see some small whitecaps forming further out.
As we approach the corner and turn to head home we come around the corner and find an area that has been productive for me in the past. Conditions are fantastic and we decide an extra 30 minutes wouldn't hurt. Anchor up just right and decide to give it one last try. Around 2:30, almost 2 hours later we finally call it a day, adding more calicos, sargos, opaleye and sculpin to our bag. The final count is 15 fish, again this is FEBRUARY!
some pictures follow
