Documentary- Icon Sportfishing 3/4 Day 6/14/06 - California Fishing

DementedFish · 06-22-2006, 07:28 PM

Icon Sportfishing ¾ Day 6/14/06
A documentary by Hookup Sportfishing Staff/Photographer Sean Lara

Last Wednesday I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany Captain Shawn Morgan and crew aboard the Icon for an extended ¾ day trip. I arrived at Berth 55 at 7am, and immediately started snapping pictures of the boat with my trusty Nikon D70 DSLR camera, and continued to do so throughout the day.

Early morning, the Icon awaits the arrival of Captain Shawn to start our fishing adventure

7:30 approached, and anxious anglers lined up beside the boat preparing for an epic day. Luckily for them, there was a light load of passengers, which contributed to a very relaxed, and un-pressured expedition. At 8am sharp, the engines are fired up, the aroma of bacon fills the air, and off we go. After loading up with about 20 scoops of fresh sardines and some live candy bait (squid) we headed to our first stop.

Anglers rig up and prepare for a great day of fishing

Deckhand Anthony loads up the bait tank with fresh sardines

First, Captain Shawn decided to head a little north in hopes of getting into some Calico Bass. Conditions were great; clear skies, warm day, plenty of current in the water, but the fish just didn’t want to play. We threw everything at them: squid, ‘dines, rubber, iron, you name it. After spending a little over an hour at this spot and only picking up a few Calicos and one Sandie, it was obvious that we needed a move.

Our first spot-Anthony drops the anchor, and anglers make their first cast of the day

Captain Shawn (left) and friend scale the coast for some fish

Shawn made another move a little further south this time, and anxious to get into more fish, anglers were determined to put the hurt on the fish. This spot ended up being a little more promising. If you knew how to present your bait to the fish, you’d hook up. The trick was a strip or the head of squid, and it needed to be offered by slowly drifting with the current. A few fish were also taken prisoner on plastics and sardines.

A Sandbass is claimed hostage to an Icon angler after a nice fight

An angler with a Calico Bass caught off a strip of squid

At this point, every angler on the Icon had hooked up at least twice or more and would have been happy if the day ended there, but Captain Shawn was not satisfied. With a desire of getting into a wide-open bite and pleasing his guests, Shawn hauled butt all the way from north of Long Beach Harbor to the Huntington Flats. We anchored up yet again, tied on some dropper loops, threw out sardine strips (there were no anchovies) and before we could even blink, it was on! Wide open Sandbass! Anglers started nailing them left and right. After about 10 minutes, it started to get boring, so we spiced things up a bit. We started to toss various plastics, lures, crankbaits, artificial shrimp and still managed to slay the fish.

Hookup!

Double Hookup!

Triple Hookup!

Some FAT Sandies!

Even Captain Shawn couldn’t resist participating in this Wide Open bite!

After two hours of slaying fish, we called it a day, and a very successful day I might add. Everyone on the boat got their limit of bass and ended the day with a sense of accomplishment. Fishing with Captain Shawn Morgan on his boat the Icon was an extremely rewarding experience, and I have to admit, he is by far the best local fishing captains I’ve ever had the pleasure of being with. He as well as the crew worked hard to put us on fish, and in the end did just that. If you are ever in the Long Beach area and are contemplating on which boat to go on, make a wise decision- fish the Icon. You will not be disappointed, and Captain Shawn will not let you down.

Icon Anglers proudly display their catch.