Boats and dudes
Boats and Dudes
Rock and roll has always been part of my lifestyle and I am always on the cutting edge when it comes to the thought. But this is more than what I bargained for… and I didn’t mind it one bit.
My experience in fishing never extended pass a beach pier. I remember standing in a cold windy afternoon with my uncle trying to cast endless lines to catch mackerel and sardines at the end of Port Hueneme pier in the lovely beach towns of Ventura County. As a child, I found it mostly mundane. Sitting there waiting, without any other sort of entertainment. Mind you, this was back in the early 90s where smart phones was a mere 10 years away and all I have was the views and more windchill. Maybe a couple of pieces of legos? Dunno. I’m not a book type of guy back then.
From pier fishing when I was young, fast forward to about 20 years and I was thrown on a boat, with lots of doubt and an abundance of curiosity. I’m not a good swimmer either so a thought of me going over board and drowning was also in my mind. Like how I thought quicksand and me falling in it was the most dangerous thing in the world back when I was small.
A brain child of a few friends, they chartered a fishing boat coming hailing from the docks of Ventura, CA. I obliged and attended this adventure with, as I said, much hesitation. An overnight fishing trip departing at 8PM and a long boat ride to the Channel Islands, involving a trek of about ten to twelve hours of rocking and rolling. Full disclosure, with the weather hair line thin from being dangerous for us to go out, the captain just said. “Let’s suck it up and go.” Quite a bumpy ride it was. It was windy and the our poor boat (and our stomachs) were thrown around like a rag doll. Our boat skipped and jumped over water in which to my understanding, skipping and jumping are not what boats do so you can just imagine how rough the seas were on this trip. A buddy of mine, a season fishing veteran, mentioned that this was one of the worst rides he’s had and he’s gone through hundreds of trips. That just strikes confidence in my body in which I am definitely proud of for not going over the rails and puking my guts out. I did come close though, but I’m glad I didn’t show my friends what I ate the day before. Well, I’d have to give praise to the motion sickness meds I took coz honestly, it’s the real MVP… I took three.
At our first stop, I believe San Miguel Island, fishing boats were uncommon. Mostly they stay pretty close to the mainland since most trips are a day trip with much less travel time, our first stop, you drop, and you catch a fish in less than a minute. Fish was abundant. A much less touched patch of ocean so the abundance of fish is staggering. Hollering and screaming of who has the catch with the deck hands running around the skip helping everyone with their catch. It was utter chaos, in a good way. Never have I experienced this kind of fishing since my comparison was waiting a while on a pier for a tiny fish to latch on. This was a totally different world and I love every bit of it. Not because of the catch, the thrill of the hunt, but because of the people I was with. My friends that are experiencing the same amount of excitement and fun as I was. It was indeed a great time! Plus the probably have the best breakfast burrito available in the middle of the ocean. That is a fact!
After all that has been said and done, we caught fish. We caught a lot of fish. There were about 15 or so of us fishing and on average, we caught 15 fishes ea. That’s not bad for an overnight trip. The boat ride back, although still another 10 to 12 hours was a breeze. Water was calm and quiet and lots of time to hang out and just BS and have a few beers. Like I said, they have the best burrito on the ocean and their burgers were not bad either. More than enough to fill us up and keep us all occupied for the next few hours. It was an amazing day and an amazing time with people I don’t mind spending a whole day with. A little longer than that might be a stretch but the day was more than enough… just kidding. To top it off, towards the end of the day, Mother Nature showed off some of her best. Only a few things in life can top a sunset in the middle of the ocean. I’d say the breakfast burrito and some bacon would be a close competition but I think this sunset beats it by a mile.
Now the question is, where are the fishing photos? Well, I was fishing the whole time and I wasn’t able to grab my camera and shoot some stuff. I do have some GoPro photos, but that might be on on a different post. But let’s face it. That’s not gonna happen. But trust me. They were there =) Other than that, enjoy this sunset photo.
