Santa Cruz Island Bassin'

[seatech]

I got the invite to buddy boat to Santa Cruz island for Saturday and figured, I've never fished there, so off we went.

Drove up to Ventura Harbor and launched at 6:30am. Got 1/2 way across the channel and started getting our a$$es whipped, 15-20mph winds and 5-6 foot seas. Made for a slow crossing, but we arrived alive.




Santa Cruz is really a different place from Catalina and the island has some really spectacular vistas:




We poked around and finally started getting the bass. Here is Eric with a nice 3+lb fish




Friends Eric and Peter hooked up




I finally get one that went 3.8lbs




Eric with a couple more



















We also had a little "First Annual Santa Cruz Island Invitational Tourney", boat vs boat 5 fish limit. Eric and Peter beat us by .5 lb, weighing in a limit at 17lbs while our 5 fish limit was 16.5lbs.

Peter with their big fish:





We ended up with approx 20+ fish for the day on my boat, fairly slow, but all the fish were at least 2lbs and the largest at almost 4lbs, not one small fish on the trip.

The fish all wanted baits that were in a smelt/rainbow trout pattern, with the Pearl Swimbaits accounting for most of the fish on both boats.

Really good times.

I may get a few other pics from the rest of the crew, which I will post later.

ED