Fish Report 12/21/24
Offering a mix of trips.. Sea Bass at long last (I have reports they're knotted up better!) ..and more Tuna trips!
Weekly Prizes For Reef Raffle Drawing 12/22/24 Below - Just Two More Weekly Drawings Before Grand Prizes!
Dear Regular Readers!
Been busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest doing the reef raffle and trying to learn how to catch very large fish!
Will return to deep thinking after New Years!
Promise - LOTS of backroom action to write about!!
Cheers!
Monty
Greetings All & Merry Christmas!!
At long last it should be warm enough (I know dern well my sea bass folks do not like chilly days(!) and calm enough (dern little of that lately!) for a pair of sea bass trips. These are the last I'll offer in 2024. Season closes Dec 31 owing bad catch data.. Sea Bassing Next Saturday and Sunday - 12/28/24 and 12/29/24 - 14 sells out so all can be warm going & coming (maybe 15 if need be!) - 6am to 5:30pm - $225.00...
Reservations Required For All Trips. See section a short way down..
And, after going four for four and then five for five? I'd say my crew and I have bluefin tuna sort of dialed in - if perhaps only at Junior Varsity levels! I'm offering three more bluefin tuna trips - Monday 12/23/24 - Friday 12/27/24 - and Monday 12/30/24 - 8 anglers sells out at $375 each. I do not sell fish. Clients split the entire catch equally (with a small share for crew if we want any at all! And, Heaven Help Me! If we catch any at all!!! ..sure have been, but this is fishing in grand scale.)
Reef Raffle announcement below trip particulars..
TUNA:
I'm hooked on this tuna thing. Never dreamed I'd have such fish coming aboard my boat. Have had a bunch nearing and over 150lbs! This are trolling trips - not chunking. First on the rod and following order will be pulled from our daily reef raffle tix - $20 to play because there will be no fish pool.
They fight unlike anything I've ever known. On my trips we've had full rounds of anglers fighting fish - even three rounds! An angler reels until they can't and then switch off to the next angler who is already in a shoulder harness/belt.
This way we keep a fresh angler cranking until a tuna is harpooned or gaffed..
Just watching them bust the surface is exciting - the bite is exhilarating..
These are lonnng trips! If you take bonine/meclazine? Take another about 10:30!
Leave a smallish cooler for tuna steaks in your vehicle - we'll divvy up after we tag each fish..
I've begun seeing some shorts under 47inches. As a partyboat I'd be allowed 12 under 47 and two between 47 and 73 inches. Don't count on anything until it's over the rail!
The rules change January 1st!
There have been reports of monster tuna much larger than I'd care to hook ..and especially have to release!
Bring boots (sea water comes through scuppers when it's saucy!) a warm hat and gloves. You will NOT have to worry with 'feeling the bite'! It's exhilarating! Adrenaline will keep you plenty warm while reeling and the salon has a propane heater..
Sea Bass:
Size limit 13 inches - 15 per person.
Bait (currently squid/clam) and rigs are included/provided on all trips.
No Galley. Bring Your Own Food & Beverage.
If You Won't Measure & Count Your Fish, The State Will Provide A Man With A Gun To Do It For You. We Measure & Count — ALWAYS — No Exceptions!
Bring A Cooler With Ice For Your Fish – A 48 Quart Cooler Is Fine For A Few People. Do Not Bring A Very Large Cooler. We have a few loaners - you'll still need ice. Should you catch some monstrous fish, we'll be able to ice it.
Reservations On All Trips:
Anna is a one person operation. She might be slammed when I hit send. (or maybe not!) If she cannot pick up, Leave her a message. She has a method to her madness..
Reservations at 443-235-5577 - She has other jobs too. The line closes at 8pm and reopens at 8am. She won't take reservations for trips that are not announced.
If you want a spot call the reservation line at 443-235-5577.. Emailing me is no good (unless after hours) her service handles reservations. I'll have no idea what spots have been sold. I do check email for questions; check FaceBook messenger too..
Be a half hour early! We always leave early
..except when someone shows up right on time.
Clients arriving late will see the west end of an east-bound boat. Seriously, with a limited number of reserved spots, I do not refund because you overslept or had a flat.. If you're reserved and are the last person we're waiting on - you'll need to answer your phone. I will not make on-time clients wait past scheduled departure because of a misfortune on your part.
I post after action reports (or lack thereof) (and sometimes detailed thoughts on fisheries issues) for every trip on my personal FB page and Morning Star page. Posts including OC Reef Foundation work will be included on that page as well.
No Galley. Bring Your Own Food & Beverage.
It's Simple To Prevent Motion Sickness, Difficult To Cure. Bonine seems our best over the counter because it's (supposed to be!) non-drowsy. It's truly cheap & effective insurance. If it makes you a bit sleepy - but not chumming? That's a great trade!
"The Patch" of Scopolamine, however, is a prescription only that beats all comers.
If the ocean still wants to get the better of you? Zofran (anti nausea) can be a day saver if you have it left over from a prescription.
Honestly - If you get to go on the ocean once a month, once a year or even less; why risk chumming all day? And then there's the ebullience of youth! Of course you can party hard and go on a moderately rough ocean!
No you can't!
If you howl at the moon all night, chances are good you'll howl into a bucket all day.
No Galley! Bring Food & Beverages To Suit. A few beers in cans is fine for the ride home.
Reef Raffle!
Weekly Drawing Gift Prizes for 12/15/24 - There Are Just Two Weekly Drawings Remaining Before Grand Prizes Are Awarded!
This week's Park Place Jewelers & Benelli USA Reef Raffle Sunday drawing winner will be getting a pair of Hook "Reef Builder" Sunglasses (they now offer their "Triple Dark" lenses too that I encouraged and helped develop for when the sun is low on the water and you couldn't see a blessed thing - not even fit for driving but perfect for making boating safer! Now I can see just fine in harsh low sun glare!) They'll be engraved "OCRF #6" ..
Second will be a bracelet AND a $200 Gift Certificate to Park Place Jewelers in West OC (Must claim in person in WOC store!)
Third will be a piece of custom art by Professor Noah Bressman (my "What the heck fish is this" ichtheologist buddy at SSU!) I'll let him tell the story under the picture!
(Our Second!) Third Place prize will be one of Ken's yard art creations - you pick!
Fourth will be our last Reef Roast Coffee gift box by Bigeye Coffee.
Fifth will be a blue OCRF sweatshirt!
Shew!
Gosh! Joe at Salt Water Gaffy donated a neat bamboo mahi pick - but a winner of last week's drawing saw it in a pic and chose it before I could announce it!
Next Sunday (12/29/24) Has A Bunch Of Great Stuff Too - Then Grand Prizes New Year's Day!!!
Reef Raffle Particulars!
OCRF's 2024 Park Place Jewlers/Benelli Annual Reef Raffle. One ticket for $10 - six for $50 - fourteen for $100 - plus an additional ticket for every additional hundred.
A buyer of $200.00 worth, for instance, would be getting 15 tix per hundred; at $300 it would be 16 tix per one hundred so 48 tickets.. $500.00 would be 90 Tix & $1,000.00 would be 240 tickets. It keeps going up!
Raceway Citgo by Crabs to Go has tix behind the counter for cash donations..
Weekly prizes will be drawn every Sunday starting Nov 3rd. Winners & the following week's prizes will be announced Sunday or Monday.
Grand Prizes will be drawn Jan 1, 2025 with Weekly Drawings every Sunday.
Grand Prizes are currently a Montefeltro auto in 20ga from Benelli USA and a diamond encrusted wave necklace from Park Place Jewelers..
Buy tickets online at ocreefs.org at the 'donation' tab. Marisa or I will fill the name and phone number in on all your tickets, then send a pic via email. If you don't have a pic within 48 hours? (First Check Your Spam Box!!) ..then Email us!
Good Luck!
