People have been going Fishing with Phil for over thirty-five years, and it has always been a thrill. It’s been a thrill even more so when you see counts such as full limits of sand bass for 36 anglers. That’s what we saw late Wednesday night for the Native Sun. The excitement started to build. The reservation count for Saturday night’s twilight grew into the thirties. Phil announced a special Father’s Day competition for the weekend, without a doubt a major draw on top of the spectacular fishing. Would the weekend be a thrill? Of course – you’re Fishing with Phil!
Mako Sharks, Gar, and Halibut aboard the Liberty
The Native Sun was chartered Friday evening, so we would be boarding the 85-foot Liberty, skippered by Johnny Jordan, with crew of Bobby and Todd as our deck bosses, and Chris in the galley. After loading up on some really nice anchovies, we headed down the coast to target the sand bass and barracuda.
En route to the fishing grounds, I checked my smart phone to see that the Native Sun had a nice halibut on board. Hmm, I thought, this could be interesting tonight. We made a stop and dropped anchor, but the fish weren’t biting. We didn’t stay long.
On our next stop, Johnny put us over a nice spot of barracuda. Anglers fishing dropper loops with lively anchovies were getting bit the best. Then, something crashed the party that we thought, at first, to be another sea lion. But this time, it wasn’t. In the lights a few feet from the port corner, an estimated four-foot mako shark was making mad dashes for a hooked barracuda. However, this was only seen by a few anglers, but it was confirmed later on by Captain Gabriel Ceballos on the Native Sun that there were, indeed, mako sharks swimming around in our local waters, and they had one of them swimming around their boat as well.
With the shark and the sea lions around, a major damper was put on the barracuda bite. We tried another spot but nothing was happening for us, so we moved on again as we had time to try one more spot. This turned out to be the lucky spot for one father and son team.
Fishing with Phil regular Jeremy and his dad were fishing on this twilight trip. At the last spot, Jeremy pulled the rabbit out of the hat by catching a 17 pound halibut! That ended the trip on a high note this night on the Liberty, Fishing with Phil. To the left, he is pictured with another Fishing with Phil regular, Ray, who simultaneously hooked into this nice sand bass.
WOULD
JEREMY
HOLD AT FIRST PLACE
IN THE
COMPETITION?
LET'S FIND OUT AS
FISHING WITH PHIL
GOES INTO SATURDAY!
Bendo on Behemoth Bass aboard the Native Sun
This Saturday night aboard the Native Sun would have a whopping 68 anglers on board – the biggest load for any Fishing with Phil trip so far this year. Many father and son teams were on board this night, which made for an exciting aspect to Phil’s competition.
As we headed out of Berth 55, Captain Gabriel Ceballos made his safety speech and told us of his game plan, which was fishing the sand bass and barracuda. Then the incredible host of Fishing with Phil, Philip Friedman, made his announcement, welcoming everybody aboard, and giving details about his competition and the raffle that would be take place at the end of the trip. Phil brought some incredible prizes from Bass King, Angler’s Center, and Pelagic. We can’t thank them enough for their support on these Fishing with Phil trips – we couldn’t do it without them!
As sunset was upon us, Gabriel set us up on a nice spot of sand bass, and the reaction was instantaneous as sand bass after sand bass was flying over the rail, giving some hope that this night would shape up to be an action-packed one. Unfortunately, for some reason, the sand bass shut off, and Gabriel moved on to find something that wanted to stick with it.
The bass just weren’t biting that well for a while. Captain Gabriel Ceballos had a theory to why the fishing became slow from limit-style fishing Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
“It’s the low pressure system,” explained Ceballos. “The fish bite right before the low pressure system, and once it moves in, they get lockjaw.”
The low pressure system, creating some ugly June Gloom conditions, moved in right before the weekend. But Gabriel was still giving us 110%, as he would quickly move on if things weren’t getting with the program.
Later in the evening, we hit a patch of fish that wanted to chew a little bit. The key here was light line, a lively anchovy, and a smaller hook. Last week, we were able to use #1 and #2 hooks and get bit no problem. This night, however, while those hook sizes still worked, it might have benefited some to switch to a #4 hook. One lady angler who was on board caught two nice bass in a row on a #4 hook when fishing was at a lull for most.
The bass were coming on in decent, cookie-cutter sizes, until angler Vance Contreras hooked into “Big Mo.” This fish was giving angry headshakes all the way up. When it got to color, it was mistaken for a seabass for a moment. But actually it was a behemoth sand bass, bigger than any bass caught this season on Fishing with Phil trips.
This fish was definitely the highlight of the night. It was so big, a just legal sand bass, measuring 12 or 13 inches, fit into its mouth! The behemoth could engulf one if it felt so inclined.
While this evening was slower than before the low pressure system moved in, it showed some good potential as we caught over 100 bass for the evening. Some people even had over half limits of bass. Gabriel tried his best to put us on the fish. Then it’s up to the angler to fish the proper rigs for success. Light line and a hot bait have been the two major keys over the last few weeks. If all else fails, take a look at the people who are catching, and try to copy them. There’s no shame in that – after all, you should do whatever it takes to catch some nice bass.
Below are some more pictures of the evening's fishing...
NICE
SAND BASS
...
ABOVE AVERAGE SIZE
FOR
THE
EVENING
LADY ANGLER
WITH A
NICE
SAND BASS
TAKEN ON AN
ANCHOVY
AND A
SMALL HOOK
FISHING WITH PHIL
REGULAR
SPIRO BAHOS
DISPLAYS ONE OF THE
SARDINES
WE HAD IN THE
BAIT TANK
NICE HAUL OF BASS
FOR A
LUCKY ANGLER
VANCE CONTRERAS
DISPLAYS
HIS BEHEMOTH SAND BASS
ENGULFING A
BARELY LEGAL
SAND BASS
And we conclude the trip with another great raffle with prizes seen further above. Directly above are a few of the lucky anglers who won in the raffle - a little blinded by the flash of the camera, but still happy to have won such great prizes.
In conclusion, Jeremy ended up winning the competition with his nice halibut caught on Friday night. He will receive a trophy for winning the first official Fishing with Phil Father’s Day Competition! Great job!
Regardless of the fishing, remember – it’s always a thrill to go Fishing with Phil!
READ MORE ON PHILIP FRIEDMAN OUTDOOR NEWS:
Bring PFO Productions on your next trip to create a memory for a lifetime
VIDEO: Over 300 barracuda Fishing with Phil
VIDEO: USS Iowa and great twilight bite Fishing with Phil
VIDEO: Sea lion screws up catch and release calico bass
62-pound white seabass takes WON Tournament
Phil Friedman Outdoors on Facebook
VIDEO: Man travels from Malaysia to go Fishing with Phil
Video of Basking shark cruising off Southern California
So Cal baby gray whale dead after orca attack
Awesome killer whale video off Long Beach
Fishermen find dead body floating
Angler gets towed out to sea
Biggest yellowfin tuna ever
Video: Man eats live squid
Man catches giant halibut from Southern California surf
Hear Henry Winkler, THE FONZ on Philip Friedman Outdoors Radio
Listen: Ted Nugent goes CRAZY on Whale Wars Paul Watson
