There was great anticipation for the trip aboard the PATRIOT out of Avila Beach, with the opening of a Salmon season this year in California. But as luck would have it the Salmon have been pretty much a no show along the central coast, so Captain Steve Virtue had an alternate plan for our limited load of 18 anglers. He told us we would be pulling some of their crab pots in hope of getting some Dungeness Crabs for us. Everyone was happy with decision and we were soon headed for a string of 15 traps set out a couple miles offshore, Deckhand Jay Gavin said the pots had been soaking for almost a week. Jay gathered a couple volunteers to help out with the task of pulling the crab pots, and after a 45 minute run we were at the first pot. At pot 13 we had enough Dungeness crab for all 18 anglers to go home with a limit of 6 crab each.

At this point Capt Steve announced that we would have about an hours run south to Point Sal for some shallow water rockfishing, Deckhand Jay made sure everyone was set up correctly. The weather could not have been any better, we had flat seas on only a slight breeze, this was contrary to the weather horror stories I heard about fishing the central coast. It wasn\'t long and we were getting lots of bent rods and the Reds and Bolina and other assorted rockfish were coming ouver the rail. We had a boat limit by noon and were heade home home with some very happy anglers and thinking about crab for dinner. Our final counts for the trip were 112 Dungeness Crad, 3 Red Rock Crab, 99 Assorted Rockfish, 40 Vermillion Rockfish, 40 Bolina, 4 Ling Cod and 1 Cabezon. Also, there a cafe on the pier that will cook your crab for you once you get back for a very reasonable fee and your crab will be ready for dinner when you get home.

The PATRIOT will be running these combo crab and rockfishing trips on selected 3/4 days in the future. For more information about these trips you can call the landing at 805-595-7200 or you can go to the web site and click on book a trip and reserve your spot on line.

Thanks to Capt Steve and Deckhand Jay for a great day on the water and I look forward to coming back and doing it again. If you would like any of these picture, you can email me at [email protected] and I will gladly for them to you. As a side note, the crab were delicious for dinner!!