Had a charter aboard the Mirage along with the wonderful woman of Gold Coast Lady Anglers...Also on the boat to celebrate his BIG # 13 birthday, my beautiful boy...Tanner Banks.....

Gathered at Club Redwood for the pre-party and then hit the landing around 8:30pm.

We arrived to find out Joe had the night off ....But Tucker and Apollo were there to put us on the fish...We put all of our goodies that we bring on the tables and grabbed our bunks, then hit the stern to set up and partake in a few beverages before bed....


Safety speech and Tucker gives us the good news that we are headed for SAN NICHOLAS!!!!

I was a good girl and only drank a few beers...even hit the sack before midnight!!!!

Woke up to the cold morning and conditions that were not so great...Windy!!!!




As the sun came up we all remembered how blessed we all are to be out on the water at sunrise....





Tucker moved the boat to some more favorable conditions and the fish started to bite....





Tanner gets the first legal ling...What a way to start the day!!




Fishing was very rough due to screaming wind, nasty current, and wind chop that came through the scuppers and drenched us from the waist down...




The fish wanted to bite though so we fished on for some quality whitefish, sheephead reds, chucks, and lings...







In between moves we enjoyed some brews, Bloody Mary's and Screwdrivers!!!! (Thanks Tina!!!!)









Pineapple cooked up the goods as usual with the infamous Kona and to-die-for fish tacos!!!!!





And the boys were working hard....or hardly working????




I am targeting Lings and end up with close to 15 for the day…only 3 legals though…the rest close but no cigar as the stretcher was not on board…..




Kissed all the shorts goodbye to catch another day….




Finally Mary hooks up to something huge!!!! JACKPOT BABY!!!!!!!





We named it baby boo-boo and played with him for a while until he died a happy death….




Chris nails this fat Ling, but alas, not in the JP…Lesson learned, huh girl???




Meli is freakin’ on fire this trip and lands this huge Goat that wins her the JP!!! FINALLY GIRL!!! YOU ROCK!!!




We ended up with some nice Goats, honkin’ drag-ripping Whitefish, few nice Reds and Lings….Steady and quality despite the conditions…





The skunk is off Meli FOR SURE!…Here she is with her catch for the day…



On the way in we celebrate Tanner’s birthday with a cake that Jeannie made that is one of our Favorites…RED VELVET!!! GRUB!!!





Dan and Pineapple brought a few things for the boy..HOW AWESOME IS THAT?????? Thank you guys so much for thinking of him…..and Pineapple, that is the raddest paper I have seen in a long time!!!!





Watched the boys cut for a while and then hit the rack for a nap..Woke up to a beautiful Sunset and a perfect ending to a fantastic day.



Thanks to Tucker, Apollo, Dan, Miguel, and of course Pina…You guys are the best!!!!
__________________

Woo Hoo, Meli!

Congrats to Meli for her Jackpot winning Sheephead and to Jamale for getting in the picture! Meli (and Jamale) takes her rightful spot on the Home Page until the November Charter produces its Jackpot winner.

Were you on the Charter? Please let us know some highlights by commenting on this post. In order to comment, you need to click on the word "comments" at the bottom of the post and, here's the important part, you have to go to the blog to do so. You can't comment by replying to an email notification. You have to go to the blog itself.

Again, congratulations to Meli and a big welcome to all our new members!

Garage Sale Tomorrow Morning

For those of you who, like me, waited too long and couldn't get on the Mirage Charter, you might want to attend Angler Shivaun's Garage Sale tomorrow (Saturday) morning, 7:00 am, at 825 Ocean Dr. on the Silver Strand in Oxnard.

She was just shipped all her family's belongings from the home she sold in Georgia and it's all sitting in her driveway waiting to get snapped up by bargain hunters, like me. :)

Have a great time on the Mirage everyone!

Hooping for Bugs

I finally went out with my boyfriend, Mike, and our friend Todd last night.... we had previously tried but the weather or schedules would not cooperate. This was my first experience hoop netting. I couldn't have asked for a better time , the water was like glass, it wasn't cold, and I was hanging out with two awesome guys. I thought it would be much like when I was younger, and my mom used to take us crabbing.... It was fun, a bit of hard work (pulling the nets), and very worth it in the end. Let me tell you guys, WHAT A RUSH! It really gets you going to pull these nets up and see your bounty. All we really needed was a California fishing license, and to purchase a lobster punch card. Well in the end, Mike and I ended up with a limit of lobsters (one that was around 8 lbs!) and 4 nice rock crabs. I think we should get on one of the hoop netting trips that the landings offer.... how fun would that be???? Let's get out there while they are still crawling!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Betsy!!

Happy Birthday, Ruta!!

Caught Last Week With a Rod and Reel!!

Brian De Malignon of Helgren's Sportfishing Oceanside,
reeled in this 200 lb. Swordfish last week on the Sea Trek.

Diana, (a client of mine whom I hope will join soon) emailed me this picture of her son Brian after she read our article in the Star this morning. From Diana...

"This is my youngest son, he works out of Oceanside (I think I told you about him). Anyway he caught a 200lb Swordfish this last week. It really was very unusual, as it has been several years since a Swordfish has been caught with a rod and reel in this area (so close to shore). We are very proud since both me and my husband used to fish Swordfish commercially back in the 70's. Of course we never landed one with a rod and reel, but we used harpoons..."