Catalina bug help.

[Ire]

I'm going to Catalina next month with my friends(Lucky punk's family owns a house there)

Because Bugs are in season we wanted to catch some for a decent eat. However non of us have ever fished for bugs let alone on Catalina. Can anyone give us new guys some tips? I'm not really looking for secret spots or anything like that.

Thanks
Ire

[Rich and Noah]

We tried Cat last year over 2 nights and here are some pointers:

1. We ended up losing a couple hoop nets. We found some of our floats underwater with the glow stick and lost another (do not how). I'm guessing we dropped in an area where the slope was too steep and/ or the current was too swift towards the east end. The spots were a lot deeper than our local LB spots and we were not prepared, I guess we didn't have enough slack,plus the cervezas impared our judgement.
2. Definitely use the bait cages. More sea dogs there and they seem more aggressive then our fat and happy local ones.
3. Careful of the protected areas of Catalina. Since we stayed on land, a local told us that some areas were protected habitat for bugs (not sure if he was messing w/ us), but he mentioned areas near Arrow Point and others on the front side. May want to check out local regs.
4. Beware when you get back. We stayed there for 2 nights and caught a few bugs on the first night. Since we were staying at a hotel, we cleaned up our catch and brought the bugs to the island and placed them in the freezer. When we left, we threw them back in the cooler and headed back to Davies. A DFG guy stopped us at the dock and you can guess what happened next. Long story short...we had to convince DFG that our frozen tails were legal. Hard to judge when the carapace is on the bottom of the ocean somewhere. He said we should have kept all the bugs whole but we thought they would die since we had 1+ days on the island. We went back and forth and he said that if we can prove we stayed at Cat on land, he would let us go. Thankfully, I had a hotel receipt and we were good. He would have also accepted a photo of each one with the measuring device showing they were good. Next time- keep them whole!

The locals on the island seemed pretty helpful. A diver told us where he saw some and his advice paid off. I guess he felt sorry for us and we were fishing late in the season, early Dec.

If all else fails, a few local restaurants on Cat sell "Spiny Lobster Dinner" for like $40 minimum....

Good luck. Hope this helps.

[Ire]

Hey thanks, I'll keep depth in mind. I'll probably make looped rope, and tie on extra if I need to.

Does anyone have any bait tips? I think I've heard that chicken works well for crabs. What about Lobster? Do they have anything that they prefer to eat over another bait?

[BIGRED KILLA]

Bring frozen mac try to get the fresh stuff as i mean fresh go catch it off the pier or make some bones of off cat there every were.





Bigred

[Ire]

Hey thanks folks. I'll post what happens when I get back.