Went fishing with Steve "sbabcock", Mitch "fishrdi" and Jason "jscrib" aboard my 23ft Seaswirl Striper "Big Drum". We were going to launch out of Santa Barbara but we opted to leave out of Channel Island Harbor so we could get some live bait. Our original destination was Santa Rosa Island but since we got such a pounding heading out to Santa Cruz Island, we decided to just fish around the Yellowbanks area of Santa Cruz.

We fished the kelp for some Calico Bass and a Barracuda. We then headed out to some deepwater spots and caught a bunch of Vermilion, Copper and Blue Rockfish. Here is a picture of Jason "The Surf Fishing Guru" with a tasty Vermilion. Jason also caught about a 16 inch Diamond Turbot.
http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/2/85Jason_and_Vermilion_.jpg

After catching about 3/4 limits of Rockfish, we headed back to shallower water to drift for some Halibut. We dropped down near a rock pile in 95ft and it wasn't five minutes later that Steve hooked up on the right kind. Here is Steve with his 28 inch Halibut.
http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/506/85Steve_and_Halibut.jpg

After trying for Halibut for another 1/2 an hour without any additional success, we went into the skinny water and fished for some surf critters. Found some off-color water and enjoyed WFO fishing on Barred Surf Perch, Yellowfin Croaker, Walleye Surf Perch and an occasional Bat Ray. We had many double and triple hook-ups and a few quad hook-ups. It was great fun with the 6lb test line.

Here is Jason with an island Barred Surf Perch.
http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/540/85Jason_and_Barrred_Surf_Perch.jpg

Here is Mitch with one of the many hard pulling Yellowfin Croaker that we caught.
http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/540/85Mitch_and_Yellowfin_Croaker.jpg

Here I am with one of the YFC that I caught.
http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/540/85Vince_and_Yellowfin_Croaker.jpg

After fishing the surf critters, we went back out to deeper water to finish catching our Rockfish limits. Here is Steve with a tasty Vermilion Rockfish.
http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/2/85Steve_and_Vermilion_Rockfish.jpg

We then went over to the Fish Camp area of Anacapa Island and cleaned the fish. Here is a colorful picture of the catch of the day.
http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/2/85Catch_of_the_Day_8-14-2004.jpg
We all had a really fun time fishing all the different species and are looking forward to doing another trip in the near future. BENDO!!

Vince
2300 Seaswirl Striper "Big Drum"
1500 Duroboat "Red Drum"
http://www.deliciousagony.com/

http://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/543/8546lb_Albie21.jpghttp://www.yourfishpictures.com/data/538/header.jpg