Went out on the Stardust on Saturday morning with some buddies. When I went to pay for the tickets, I was astonished to find out that they were no longer accepting the 2 for 1 buddy passes. The day before (June 30) was the last day! Great timing, huh? Well, we weren't going to go home at that point, so we paid the $27 each anyway.

The boat was packed! But, I realized that was to be expected since it was a holiday weekend. We get to the first spot, 10 mins. or so outside the harbor. The boat was picking a few bass here and there but nothing to write home about. So, the skipper (Jason) decides to head south for about 1/2 hour. That was a little disheartening since 1/2 hour out meant 1/2 hour back to harbor which totalled 1 hour less of fishing in an already tight time frame. Keep in mind we had already wasted 15 or 20 minutes just getting bait before we left the harbor! Why don't sport boats get bait onboard before the passengers get on? Not only would it prevent passengers from getting in the way but it would also give the passengers more time to fish!

Anyway, we get to our next spot and fish in about 100 feet of water. Apparently, there were lots of sand bass and calicos showing up on the meter. Only problem, the sea lions were keeping them from coming up. So, again we just picked them here and there. The bite never got going the rest of the trip. I managed only one fish despite being at a prime spot on the stern. A guy next to me appeared to be a very good fisherman and he got skunked!

What ticks me off is that we paid twice as much as people did last week to fish! Apparently, they were getting limits of bass last week and we got hardly any. I gave the Stardust high marks last time I went out (see 6/26 posting). But, my opinions have changed somewhat. I still think it is a quality boat with a great crew! But, I can't see them justifying $27 a person for only 1/2 day! I think I'd rather pay a couple bucks more and fish 3/4 day out of Oxnard.

On another note, the sea lion problem is getting out of control! It seems wherever sport boats go, the sea lions are there waiting to harass. See the front page of the LA Times Sports section on Saturday for a good discussion of this problem.

You can't catch fish every time you go fishing, that's why it's called fishing. The reason they can't usually get bait before hand is that there are countless other jobs that they are busy with before leaving, not to mention getting bait. If you look around while you're sitting at the dock, Jason and the deckhands will probably be running around, loading supplies, checking in passengers, getting sacks on the livewell, if it's the 2nd trip- hosing off the boat... You can always fish at the bait barge, you can usually pull in a halibut or seabass or if nothing else a croaker. Also, we can't help the location of the spots. If it's a half hour ride to put passengers on fish, they'll take it, of course. Jason used his best judgment to find which spot would most likely pay off. If you had fished one mile or camby's the whole time, you probably be disappointed because you just sat outside the harbor the whole time!!! You still had a good 6 hours of fishing time, not counting the traveling, so it's not a very heavy price to pay. They do the best they can, run to the best spots for the given conditions, and sometimes it pays off, sometimes the fish just won't bite. Can't do nothing about that. If Jason was marking fish on the spot then it's more the angler's fault for not catching them than the captain's.
-Brian

Thanks for the honesty and opinions. It's good to know what they should work on and the views of the passengers instead of just good things all the time (although they do deserve most of it...)
-Brian

Hey Angler Dude,
Glad you posted about your trips. That's the kind of thing that these boards are for. A few weeks ago Brian and I went on a bummer trip down in Ventura. In talking to people about it I learned that the boat we were on had provided some good trips for some people that I know and some bad trips for others. I guess the thing you look at more than anything is the quality of the experience vs. the quality of the fishing. I used to go out twilight fishing a lot on the Seahawk which is a beautiful boat with usually a very good crew. I remember two nights were we ran with very light loads and had wide open calico bites. It was phenomenal. Then there were other nights were we tried 5 different spots and hardly any fish were caught and the jackpot was a 10 inch rockfish. When you got home at 11pm you thought to yourself, wow that really sucked! But it was the fishing that sucked not the experience, because even on those bummer trips the captain did what he could and the crew did likewise. So I felt like that's kind of what you were saying there and that's cool, it's just important to understand that fishing is fishing and it ultimately depends on the fish. Trust me, when the seals come and kill the bite, Jason is more disappointed than anyone on board. He just doesn't show it because no one likes a grouchy swearing captain.
As for the 2 for 1, I am the guy who does the stardust website and I do apologize for not taking the 2 for 1 off sooner. There's always a lot to do when you're the webmaster and sometimes things don't get done the same day. Jason does the 2 for 1's during the slow season to get interest in the boat. When it's summer time and he's got 49 reservations like tomorrow, there isn't much reason to do a 2 for 1 any more. Almost all the boats up and down the coast do this, it's pretty much the standard deal. If you're looking for 2 for 1's check the Santa Barbara Independent for 2 for 1's on the twilight on the Seahawk. Merit usually does that when he starts running them. No guarantees on the fishin!

All I have to say is that I Love SB HARBOR BOATS. I will never again suffer through an experience like the one Tree and I mentioned about Capt Mooks.... Funny thing was I did catch a very nice tasty calico on the Stardust and I'll take back the words dissappointment off this header.

Thanks Jason!


Diablo

Jason is a good skipper. I think it was just one of those days as I was there too. It was nothing like the LENBROOKE DISASTER out of Captain Hooks in Ventura! ! ! ! !

http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/saltreports/168.html

Hey, thanks Tree and Diablo for backing me up! For those who don't know, these two guys went with me on the recent Stardust trip. But, keep in mind that after their Lenbrooke disaster (one of the most horrific local fishing experiences that I've ever heard of), any boat trip would be a gem! Thank goodness that I didn't get the message in time on Sunday to join them!

As for my original posting, I think both Rob and Brian's responses were valid. I was a bit miffed that the bite wasn't very good but hey, I will be one of the first to admit that "fishing is fishing." I never go out expecting to slay 'em every time. Sometimes you can go out and do nothing wrong, bring fish in all day, and sometimes you can't buy a bite. And... I will reiterate that I think that Jason and his crew on the Stardust are one of the FINEST crews around and will do just about anything to increase their passengers' chances of catching fish! Saturday was simply a day when the fish just weren't biting very well. However, I think the numerous prowling sea lions were a very big factor in keeping the bite subdued.

I guess the main point that I was trying to get across was that I thought that the Stardust was a bit overpriced for the time spent out there. Brian mentioned that we still get 6 hours of fishing time on the 1/2 day boat. Unfortunately, that isn't true. 7:00am - 12:00pm is only 5 hours! But, that isn't 5 hours of fishing time. On our trip, we spent a good hour in boat travel and another half hour in getting bait, prepping for departure, etc. That leaves about 3 and a half hours of fishing for $27! Now, I have asked several different fisherman if they thought that this was a reasonable price. EVERY one of the them thought that it was overpriced. After all, most 3/4 day boats are only a few dollars more ($30-35) and you can often fish 6:00am to 4:00pm or 5:00!

Of course, I do realize that Santa Barbara is one of the most expensive places to live AND play. That's why I live in Ventura...

Did I say 6? My bad, I must've been tired or something. Fishing 6 days a week'll do that to ya... Yeah, 3 1/2 hrs. of fishing time sounds pretty weak, but I mean it usually doesn't take very much time to get bait and run around. Some days you'll run more than others. The reasoning is that that's probably the best bet of catching fish. If you look at it like this- Jason is sweet, and is only trying to put the boat on fish, it'll answer most of your questions. When you guys fishin the next 1/2 day or 3/4? As soon as the hawk quits runnin overnights, I've got a 3/4 day pass that's burnin a hole in my pocket.
-Brian