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http://www.ranger85.comThe water is still cold, so we decided to put off our search for seabass and other exotics and build a trip around a quality catch of rockfish.
Having 2 days to accomplish this, we headed west to legendary San Miguel Island.
For those of you who are not familiar with this extreme region, it is the furthest west of the Northern Channel Islands. Situated approximately 30 miles off the California coast, where our state takes a turn to the east, and forms the upper portion of the Southern California Bight. At this latitude, and its exposed position, San Miguel is often buffeted by high winds and choppy seas, making it accessible to only the most determined of fisherman.
In addition, there are many reefs, foul areas and rocky out cropping's demanding ones full attention when navigating the waters surrounding the island. All of that being said, this seldom visited island offers some of the best Sportfishing in the region.
This particular trip, we had a window of opportunity where the winds were forecast to drop to a dead calm and we took full advantage.
We headed out Sunday evening and began the 65 mile journey to the west.
Day break, we rolled up our sleeves and went to work.
As the day progressed, we worked from spot to spot working diligently to put together a quality catch of the best eating fish one can procure.
With calm conditions and what felt like unlimited time, we never fished the same rock or ridge twice amassing one of the best catches of rockfish this season.
We spent the afternoon back in the shallows fishing some of the foul areas for Lingcod using artificials...what a great time!
By dark, all were ready to call it quits.
We had dinner, and changed zip codes.
Our second day, we concentrated on rounding out our catch by targeting different species.
We managed to catch 48 sheep head, 20 whitefish, 78 lingcod and 620 rockfish.
Just an incredible time and great weather.
We have several trips yet available onboard the Ranger 85 fishing the productive Northern Channel Islands.
As the water warms up, we will begin our quest for game fish so stay tuned as we head offshore on our next multi day adventure onboard the Ranger 85.
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A Close Look at a Ranger 85 2 Day Open Party April 21/22 2012 The Ranger 85 departed CISC with 30 anglers......
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Frank Ursitti called in to give us an update on the Ranger 85, "At the end of day one of our 2 Day trip, we had quite foggy conditions. We had flat, flat conditions out here with a nice calm ocean. We had limits of rockfish and limits of lingcod. We'll check in tomorrow with a wrap up of the trip.......
