Sorry for the delay on the report!

I have been away. I admit it. Too busy working on the reservation software. Plus.... for those of you who do not know .... my wife Maura Ann Woods and I had our first child Zane Michael Woods on June 18th. All work and baby means no fishing!

My brother-in-law/slayer, Mike Allegretti, was very nice to drive us down to Port Hueneme. We arrived early and drank a few beers in the parking lot with our buddies. We had a big crew including some old faces and some new. This is the first trip that I got to fish with Marshall and Melissa Ater. Not sure why but I did not get pictures of them. Nevertheless, it was great to go fishing with the two of you. We departed on time and as usual we had some great giveaways for this trip. Since this trip is one of the few trips that I am running I brought a surplus of goodies. Everyone scored either a spool of Seaguar Flurocarbon, a T-Shirt or Cap from Fishworks, or a SportfishingReport.com T-Shirt. Joe and his crew got us safely across the channel and many of us slept like babies.

Once we got to Eagle's Nest a few of us caught some squid using our Candy Catchers. We started fishing about 15 minutes before grey light. The morning bite was slow. But Johnny Wills scored a nice 35 pound Yellowtail. We also had a hookup on a big Bat Ray.

After a valient attempt for exotics we decided to move onto some shallow rocks for various rockfish and some nice Sheephead and Whitefish. We even managed a couple monster Santa Rosa Island Calico Bass. We were hoping for some Halibut but today it was not in the cards.

During one move I enjoyed a tasty breakfast burrito. Santa Rosa Island was very peaceful today. The only boats we saw the whole day was a couple light boats on the Squid Grounds. Apparently, the rest of the fleet has moved on somewhere else. Then later in the morning we saw a tall ship.

As the day moved on the conditions started to cooperate with us so we moved into deeper water and picked up some nice Reds and Chuckleheads. I must admint. The I was very tired so I took a nap in the late morning. After the nap I enjoyed a nice Cheeseburger out of the galley.

The day ended and we had a nice comfortable ride back to the harbor. The trip was a success. Fun was had by all. It was great to be back out on the water with Captain Joe and his crew on the Mirage. We have had great trips with Joe every year. We still have a couple trips with some spots available. Be sure to sign up before they sell out.

Fish Count: 21 anglers caught 1 Yellowtail (35 pounds), 45 Whitefish, 210 Rockfish, 2 Lingcod, 12 California Sheephead, 3 Calico Bass.