It's Party Rock on a Boat!

Is that your rod or mine?

Crowds and fishing go together like reading Shakespeare at a LMFAO concert. Maybe if you wear industrial strength ear plugs you can get through a page or two but you are not going to finish Hamlet. Save yourself the trouble and go down to the library. Lines get tangled, tempers get flared and the occasional stomach gets really upset all in the name of catching a few fish for dinner. 

The crew! 

Our trip out of Marina Del Rey on the New Del Mar started at 7:30 am. We picked up bait at the bait dock and cruised out to our first location. The deckhands dropped anchor while we dropped our set ups in the prospect of catching rockfish.  Our rig was simple, a 3 ounce weight held down a lively anchovy that was hooked through the nose like a Fall Out Boy groupie. The hard part was catching the fish and not the other anglers or pelicans that waited right beside our boat opportunistically.  

Bait gone bad.

We caught Sculpin, Cabezon and Red Snapper as we battled for position on the boat like Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley did on the hardwood for a rebound. Boxing out anglers and snatching up loose fish as we reeled them in from their ocean haunts. While all this activity was happening on the boat the swells really started to pick up and made me queazy. I have always fantasized about kicking the crab out of the Bering Sea with the Deadliest Catch crew, but after this little outing on the calm waters of the Santa Monica Bay I realized vomit would be coming out of my ears battling the stormy seas of Alaska.

We caught dinner! 

Our party boat arrived back at port around noon and we all had enough fish to take home for dinner, which was great. But for me, fishing is an activity enjoyed best with the company of few, while partying is a fun activity to enjoy with the masses. So next time, I'll take my beer and jean shorts to the LMFAO concert, my Shakespeare book to the library and get my fish tacos at Wahoo's.

To fish, or party. That is the question.

Getting the thumbs up from the deckhand. 

Skyman out.