Ventura Report (As Promised)

As promised here is the Ventura report. Spent the Holiday time down south. I made it out on the water Thurs and Friday. The weather was great (t-shirt and waders both days). The wind did pick up a bit at the end of each day but otherwise perfect. I was too excited to get to fishing so I didn't try hard to make bait either day (although I should have in retrospect). OK. Now to the daily reports. Thus. Hit the water around 9:30 am. The plan was to stay in the harbor (inside of the outer wall) which was pretty large

(here is a link to it on Google Maps Sat view).

The boat traffic was light. It was cool to see all the purse seine boats (anchovy/sardine and squid). Heading in and out. There was a pretty good swell, I was solo, and there was minimal boats in the area. So I played it safe and stayed inside the breakwater. I cruised up and down the outside wall and picked in and out of the kelp. I had a good number up scratched and taken baits (I used squid and some old/soft anchovies). The topper was a barred sand bass (or is this a calico?) WHOO HOOO A NEW SPECIES!!! Pics are below, sorry for the finger in 2nd shot. It came on the slack tide with a slow drift just off the edge of the kelp. Great little fight and I can see how this species is addictive. That was the highlight for Thurs and the two days. Friday, pretty much the same set up but there was way more activity in the harbor. So I ventured out of the harbor and saw a seiner boat (on anchor) flushing its holds. As I noticed all the "chum" around me I figured this may be a good spot to soak a squid. I did and managed to hook two good sized rays (yes, they have have these pests down south as well). Actually, it was a good fight in 40-50 FOW. It was cool to see the deckhands run to the rail and shout..."Hey! Look! He's hooked up!" they watched the fight and release before going back to work. The boat traffic was getting pretty busy near the entrance/exit. After getting buzzed and swamped by a large commercial boat, I decided to run back into the harbor area. (Oh yes he saw me and made a point to make it close!). I spent the next few hours in the same spot as Thurs with no luck. All in all a great few days, would have been better with a buddy or two (always better with friends)! I wish I took a few more pic's (sorry guys) but time got away from me...Oh and I need a new VHF....My "waterproof" cobra model ISN'T!. I have it down to either the Uniden Voyager or the Standard Horizon HX600S anyone have an opinion?

-Eric

Nice report.

That's a barred sand bass, but where you were fishing you also have the chance to catch calico (kelp) bass and spotted bay bass, all the same genus but different species.

Nice Barred sand bass along with a nice writr up.
Whish we had more of those up north their a real blast
Eric

Thanks for the nice read this morning Eric. Congrats on the barred sand bass.

Jedmo