Nice calico for Armando

Dougie Fresh with a nice calico

We all fished hard, picking away at the bass and yellows.

Nice Checkerboard Taj!

We caught some nice calicos as well, including this one by Paul.

Nice calico for Bob !

A nice calico to end the day with.

Yes, there are calicos out here.

Nice Calico !!!

Greg caught this nice Calico Bass on plastics!

The fishing was slow for exotics. At Eagles Nest (Santa Rosa Island) we caught our LIVE SQUID for bait. The jigging was hard but then we had a good school to pluck away at for a couple hours. The squid never did float. And the Seabass didn?t show up! We ended up fishing shallow water rockfish. The conditions we ok. We managed 1/2 limits of Rockcod and four lings. We also caught some Whitefish and Calicos. We saw many dolphins in the AM. Thanks to Joe and his great crew for another great time on the Mirage!

Sorry about the lack of pictures. The camera?s battery went dead. The fishing was excellent there was no time for pictures. We caught limits of Calicos. We then spent about 3.5 hours releasing Calicos. The fishing was incredible. I must have released at least 35 additional Calicos. Everybody had limits. At the end of the day Jeff Moore from Thousand Oaks dropped down with an anchovy to catch a 6 pound Halibut to win the Jackpot. Thanks to everybody at Marina Del Rey Sportfishing. Including all the Rick?s and Ricky?s and everybody who works the dock. And special thanks to Jeremy our captain. According to Jeremy our trip was the most productive trip this season for the Tortuga. As far as SFR charters go! This too was the most productive trip of the year (so far). I am sure that there will be more Tortuga charters in the future. Stay tuned...

We moved to the back side of the island and had an epic calico session. The dock report for the boat was forty calicos (the two of us plus Capt Ernie and Darryl), four barries and one yellowtail.

Now here is the rest of the story. Jordan got an eleven point three pound calico on a flylined sardine on twenty pound test......the largest calico ever caught on one of Captain Ernies boat in his forty plus years of fishing. I got a six pound plus calico on plastic on fifteen pound test......the largest on any of Capt. Ernies boats taken on plastic in his forty plus years of fishing. And here is the real kicker........we estimated about two hundred calicos caught and released. BTW we did not keep forty calicos either but in view of how the counts work since they do not categorize catch and release the report was for forty. All of the large Calico Bass were released unharmed to spawn again!

We left Rocky Point at around 7 AM. We picked up some nice anchovies and a few sardines. We planned on trying for some Giant Squid in the morning at Rocky Point. However, the Squid had gone down and didn?t cooperate today. So we went in close and fished the kelp beds for Calicos and others. The fishing was a little slow the seals and sea lions were a problem as always! Light tackle was most effective on the Calicos. If you had real light tackle the perch were thick!

Rocky Point

SFR Angler Member caught & released this 9 pound Calico at San Clemente island during the Spring on the Toronado.

We stopped and fished a kelp bed for a little bit hoping to get some White Seabass action! We managed this Calico Bass and a bunch of shallow water rockfish (released).

Captain Steve Kelly used Fish Traps to catch his Calicos!

Fish Trap Lures

Here is our "HOT ANGLER of the DAY" Raphael Beltram and Captain Tyler Elzig with a nice San Clemente Island Calico Bass.

Anlger Billfish Wolleson celebrated his birthday with us today. I will see you and your girlfriend on the Princess up in Morro Bay! Billfish is a guide for Silverwood Lake near Victorville, CA.