I concur with Tree's assessment of the Stardust trip on Saturday, as I was there with him. Since I had never been on a 1/2 day boat before (I'm used to 3/4), I was a tad bit skeptical that the fishing would be that good. However, that skepticism quickly faded when we started catching fish a mere 10 minutes outside the harbor! I'm not sure if that area is called "1-mile" or not? Numerous calico's and barries were caught during several stops in the area. Also, there were a couple real nice halibut, a barely legal seabass, and a monster seabass also caught. Bait was fairly decent chovies (those greenbacks are the key!) If it wasn't for the four short calico's I threw back, I would have had a fairly nice sack. As it was, I only got one legal calico and two barries.

But... what made the trip so worthwhile, besides the short boat ride to the fishing grounds, and the very reasonable fare (using a 2 for 1 buddy pass), the crew was simply awesome! The skipper (Jason) and the deckhands were extremely helpful. Whenever someone had a fish on, there was always someone there with a gaff or net to help out. Another thing, Jason has this uncanny ability to tell what type of fish someone has on their line before they are close to bringing it up. I remember one time, he was at the stern looking up towards the bow and noticed a guy with his rod bent over. He barked to his deckhands, "we've got a halibut on the bow, get the net!" Sure enough, it was a halibut! Amazing...

In summary, the Stardust is what fishing is all about. It's a class operation and a class boat! I will be back!