Whether using ‘chovies or squid, the hardest hitting aboard Island Spirit was being done on the Mag-12 rigs by KJ, Broc and Oscar Ochoa. All KO’d heavyweight rockfish on the baits with Oscar putting a beat-down on a red that went on to win a $70.00 split of third place overall prize money.
Not to be outdone fighting lady anglers Diana Cortez, Lee Meneses, Kyrstin Cloar, Helen Sun and Tami Shepphird hit back hard with big rockfish of their own.
Just across the water fishing the “Dome” nearby, Endeavor set up drifts and found plenty of ac- tion on rockfish to 5.2-pounds.
“Green light, go, go, go!” came the call from the wheelhouse as Ventura Harbor Sportfishing owner and skipper of Endeavor, Capt. Tucker McCombs, set up drops along the rocks 500 to 600 feet below the waterline. The newest arrival at the landing, the 60-foot sportboat, has undergone a makeover, including refitted galley and seating, as well as refreshed bunk rooms.
Back at the stern Dana Point angler, Isabella “Izzy” Anderson, fished the drifts and showed her ability to throw a punch by landing sizable rockfish throughout the day. Izzy’s 5-pound rockfish earned the angler a Mag-12 Swimbaits kit filled with assorted jigs from the trip sponsor. A short distance up the port rail, Linda Leighton, only recently moved back down to the CenCal Coastal area from Seattle, and found some fish for the bag as well.
Constantly delivering knockouts aboard Endeavor, local Port Hueneme angler Tim “Silver Dollar” Moore loaded up his sack with quality reds, rockfish and bocaccio. Tim’s biggest fish of the day was a 5.2-pound bocaccio and earned him the boat jackpot, a $100 certificate for HUK Performance Gear, and a $70 split of third place overall prize money. Tim is an avid WON reader and participates in the Big Bear Troutfest each year as well, with a penchant for gifting silver dollars, “for luck.”
“Pacific Eagle (owned by Captain Mike Mings) had it tough from the get-go, but the number one bait was the live anchovy,” reported WON associate, Andrew Mack from the decks of the 55-foot sportboat.
That all changed around 8:15 a.m. when lingcod began to bite for the anglers fishing at the pointy end of Pacific Eagle.
“I was fishing the bow area with my dad, Bernie, when I dropped a double dropper loop with one-pound weight and live anchovy down to the bottom,” said Richard Daverin from Tehachapi when it was all over. “I also got a second ling for a limit of lingcod and a limit of rockfish.”
Richard’s toothy ling weighed in at 10.2 pounds to be the heaviest fish on the boat and first overall for the 2021 WON Rockfish Rumble. Electing to take the $100 certificate for HUK Performance Gear, the angler also took home $345 in prize money.
Santa Paula angler Gabriel Molina caught a 4-pound ling to win the Mag-12 kit as second place fighter aboard Pacific Eagle.
Throughout the day the three boats danced around the ring, fishing the deep-water zone between the mainland and Santa Cruz Island, searching for that perfect spot to land a knockout punch.
Aboard Island Spirit and Endeavor, anglers fought hard to get into the prize money and in the end, prizes were spread across all
three boats with Pacific Eagle once again being the winner of the
WON Rockfish Rumble for the nal move aboard Endeavor in clock ticked away, the final bell sounded,andtherunhomebegan. Scales at the landing showed the real numbers and Pacific Eagle clearly had once-again delivered a
