LARRC on the Highliner July 2, 2011

Submitted by Ross Lombard

Why get up at 2:30am to catch fish at 1:00pm? Because you have to pay your dues to catch the elusive white sea bass. That’s what Club members Rob Masters, Ross Lombard, and Nick Ekdahl along with a group friends found out while fishing the Highliner on July 2.

We were on the water before 5:00am fishing the grey light with dozens of private boaters in the latest WSB hot spot. Unfortunately, neither the fish or the current received the invitation so we spent hours drowning squid with no bites. Two extra large bat rays were hooked but muscling up trash can lids isn’t why we woke up early.

The “jack pot” fish was a 38 pound WSB caught by Ross. Rob caught a very impressive 8 pound calico. Everyone caught at least one legal WSB, so a memorable time was had by all. Definitely worth losing sleep over!

Capt. Gary tried a number of spots around PV with similar results. Then after lunch, we parked in the “hot afternoon WSB spot” near Pt. Vincente. Conditions were optimal…71 degree water and a good current flowing away from the stern. Add in Highliner mate TC’s special “grind and release” chum and soon we had huge group of hungry bait congregated at the stern. This commotion brought curious WSB and calicos to the surface. And the pandemonium was on! One hook up, then two, then two more! It was common to have three to four of our eight angler group hooked up a once. Gary and TC worked double time netting and measuring WSB. The bite lasted a good hour during which 14 legal WSB were landed and double that in shorts were tossed back. We also caught 20 calicos, 1 legal ling cod and a dozen various rock fish.