Santa Cruz Island Bassin'
 

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.

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

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

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Friends Eric and Peter hooked up

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I finally get one that went 3.8lbs

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Eric with a couple more

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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:


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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

Re: Santa Cruz Island Bassin'
 

Ed,
Awesome report! The weather up there can be hit or miss a lot of the time. The fishing can be really good sometimes though. How was the trip back?

Robert

Re: Santa Cruz Island Bassin'
 

Robert,

The 1st photo is from the trip back and the weather had gone down a bit, it was actually a bit worse on the trip out.

I want to go back again to fish the front side, it looks way too fishy over there.

Ed

Re: Santa Cruz Island Bassin'
 

Ed,
Glad to see you made the run to the island and scored some nice fish to boot :) I dunno what it is about trout colors in saltwater, but they always seem to score their fair share of the fish :thumbup Take Care and talk to you soon,

Perry