Tunaslam
06-19-2014, 05:05 PM
I went fishing with John on his 2520 Parker, the “Horndog”, leaving Tuesday afternoon 6-17-14.Friend Mike also joined us for the trip to Catalina. We launched out of Cabrillo’s in San Pedro at 5:00 pm, our beginning destination being East End and backside of Catalina.
We stopped at San Pedro’s Bait where John had asked if any live squid was available, worker Mike saved us what little he had left, about ¼ scoop and passed us a ½ scoop of small Spanish Mac’s which we thought might make great bait for Calico Bass in case we ran out of squid?
There was a 2 foot wind chop, with 15 to 20 knot winds, and consequently the ride over was a bit bumpy. Still the powerful 2520 Parker was able to maintain 20 to 22 knot speeds without banging us up too badly and we arrived to the east end in 1 hour and 15 minutes. We arrived at 6:45 pm, and with plenty of day light remaining chose to fish the area between the Quarry and Seal Rocks for some Bass and critters. Shortly thereafter the sis pack charter boat Rail Time pulled in and anchored up about a ¼ mile ahead of us. One of the half dozen Calico Bass we caught, as well as a Whitefish and Cabazon.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_3503_zps0a087b6d.jpg
At dusk we began our trek to look for a promising squid area beyond the Vee’s onto Silver Canyon. The Pamela Rose Seiner was in the area, and no other light boats. We did find them later in Cat Harbor, about six of them?
We stopped on some good meter marks in about 100 feet of water, about midway through Silver Canyon. We definitely had this area to ourselves. We saw several other private boats (Yachts) anchored in close near the Vee’s and nothing further west.
For several hours Mike and John scratched out a handful of live squid as they remained skittish. John had a second light and decided to put it out and that is when the action picked up and they were able to use the Crowder to add about a scoop and a half to our arsenal of live squid. The seals were on us bad (about six) or we might have been able to make a lot more. With my bad leg I wasn’t of much use and thanked them for their hard efforts. John called it at midnight, certainly having plenty to fish with and then some!
Having discussed our trip with a friend who fished the area Monday with a lone Yellowtail for their efforts, they had suggested we spend the night at West Cove where the week before they had caught limits of White Seabass for the three of them. It was still blowing and the venture west was mostly uphill and into the wind. John idled us along in the pitch black darkness at about 10 knots reaching West Cove at 1:30 am, while Mike and I found a little sleep.
We were all alone, with no other boats in sight. As per the usual curse at Catalina there was little to no current and what there was headed out to sea, a bad omen? I set out a couple of outfits, a heavy jig with several live squid and a dropper loop outfit with a single squid. We all retired. We sat mostly in the trough and it was a rocky night spent.
At grey light just before 5:00am, I got up and checked the rigs that I left out earlier. The squid were gone; at least there were no tangles. Re-baited and John was up shortly putting out another rig. I then fished with a sliding sinker outfit with 40 pound test line. My rod holder outfits were 50 pound. Our boat shifted repeatedly from bow facing the island and then sideways, neither real ideal although sideways was much preferred, casting our lines out to sea served no purpose with the stern facing open ocean? There remained no current all morning, the curse continues.
The Rail Time which John spotted passing us while we were making squid joined us in the cove, although they were much tighter to the island. They made a number of moves between West Cove and Iron Bound Cove and back? Never saw them catch a fish, although they ended up with three White Seabass and one Yellowtail. No idea where they got them.
Several times we saw some huge bait balls passing under the boat and off in the distance you could see boiling bait, not sure what, perhaps Mackerel or Sardines? We also saw the much wanted worms close to the bottom and felt any minute the action would go off! It was not to be and at 7:30 we pulled anchor and made a run to the front side where we hoped the Yellowtail would be hanging out.
As we rounded the West end it was capping on the front side, great! The forecast called for 4-6 knots of wind in the morning and only 7-10 in the afternoon, crap! We fished at Johnson’s Rock, the drift was bass ackwards so we ran up to check out Black rock, then Starlight, conditions were poor. We anchored up at the Isthmus, just outside the closure zone. I know the Tails had been biting in this spot, yet it never looked that fishy while we were there. We caught a few Calico Bass.
The dive boat Sand Dollar setup anchor some 50 yards in front of us, what? We asked, what’s the deal? They claimed we were in the closure zone and they had the right away? For those of you who don’t know the rules, you cannot be within 300 feet of a dive boat. Rather than cause a ruckus, we pulled anchor and left. Had it looked promising we would of moved outside of them far enough to be legal. At 10 am it greased out, that was a surprise, guess the forecast was close but not right on?
We continued up the front side to fish Ripper’s, Hen Rock and a number of other areas which I didn’t know the names. We caught and released over 20 Calico Bass, the biggest being maybe two pounds. Lost a couple of bigger fish to the kelp, as the big boys know where to run when they are hooked!
We ran back down the island again to look for any evidence of exotics. We never saw a sport boat. I know the Pursuit caught 8 Yellowtail, they must of went to the backside or east end? The Sport King which had been very successful on the Yellowtail didn’t fish on Wed.
Oh well my momma told me there would be days like this and we called it a day at 2:15 pm. We ran back at 25.5 knots and were on the trailer at 3:30pm. Did I say I hate Catalina; it is feast or famine and mostly famine, especially when you pick a day with no current. Yet I never say die! We will do it again in a heartbeat if the fish are biting.
Thanks so much for the invite John, great fishing with you again Mike, you were a super help to the cause considering my condition.
Hook up! Cory
We stopped at San Pedro’s Bait where John had asked if any live squid was available, worker Mike saved us what little he had left, about ¼ scoop and passed us a ½ scoop of small Spanish Mac’s which we thought might make great bait for Calico Bass in case we ran out of squid?
There was a 2 foot wind chop, with 15 to 20 knot winds, and consequently the ride over was a bit bumpy. Still the powerful 2520 Parker was able to maintain 20 to 22 knot speeds without banging us up too badly and we arrived to the east end in 1 hour and 15 minutes. We arrived at 6:45 pm, and with plenty of day light remaining chose to fish the area between the Quarry and Seal Rocks for some Bass and critters. Shortly thereafter the sis pack charter boat Rail Time pulled in and anchored up about a ¼ mile ahead of us. One of the half dozen Calico Bass we caught, as well as a Whitefish and Cabazon.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_3503_zps0a087b6d.jpg
At dusk we began our trek to look for a promising squid area beyond the Vee’s onto Silver Canyon. The Pamela Rose Seiner was in the area, and no other light boats. We did find them later in Cat Harbor, about six of them?
We stopped on some good meter marks in about 100 feet of water, about midway through Silver Canyon. We definitely had this area to ourselves. We saw several other private boats (Yachts) anchored in close near the Vee’s and nothing further west.
For several hours Mike and John scratched out a handful of live squid as they remained skittish. John had a second light and decided to put it out and that is when the action picked up and they were able to use the Crowder to add about a scoop and a half to our arsenal of live squid. The seals were on us bad (about six) or we might have been able to make a lot more. With my bad leg I wasn’t of much use and thanked them for their hard efforts. John called it at midnight, certainly having plenty to fish with and then some!
Having discussed our trip with a friend who fished the area Monday with a lone Yellowtail for their efforts, they had suggested we spend the night at West Cove where the week before they had caught limits of White Seabass for the three of them. It was still blowing and the venture west was mostly uphill and into the wind. John idled us along in the pitch black darkness at about 10 knots reaching West Cove at 1:30 am, while Mike and I found a little sleep.
We were all alone, with no other boats in sight. As per the usual curse at Catalina there was little to no current and what there was headed out to sea, a bad omen? I set out a couple of outfits, a heavy jig with several live squid and a dropper loop outfit with a single squid. We all retired. We sat mostly in the trough and it was a rocky night spent.
At grey light just before 5:00am, I got up and checked the rigs that I left out earlier. The squid were gone; at least there were no tangles. Re-baited and John was up shortly putting out another rig. I then fished with a sliding sinker outfit with 40 pound test line. My rod holder outfits were 50 pound. Our boat shifted repeatedly from bow facing the island and then sideways, neither real ideal although sideways was much preferred, casting our lines out to sea served no purpose with the stern facing open ocean? There remained no current all morning, the curse continues.
The Rail Time which John spotted passing us while we were making squid joined us in the cove, although they were much tighter to the island. They made a number of moves between West Cove and Iron Bound Cove and back? Never saw them catch a fish, although they ended up with three White Seabass and one Yellowtail. No idea where they got them.
Several times we saw some huge bait balls passing under the boat and off in the distance you could see boiling bait, not sure what, perhaps Mackerel or Sardines? We also saw the much wanted worms close to the bottom and felt any minute the action would go off! It was not to be and at 7:30 we pulled anchor and made a run to the front side where we hoped the Yellowtail would be hanging out.
As we rounded the West end it was capping on the front side, great! The forecast called for 4-6 knots of wind in the morning and only 7-10 in the afternoon, crap! We fished at Johnson’s Rock, the drift was bass ackwards so we ran up to check out Black rock, then Starlight, conditions were poor. We anchored up at the Isthmus, just outside the closure zone. I know the Tails had been biting in this spot, yet it never looked that fishy while we were there. We caught a few Calico Bass.
The dive boat Sand Dollar setup anchor some 50 yards in front of us, what? We asked, what’s the deal? They claimed we were in the closure zone and they had the right away? For those of you who don’t know the rules, you cannot be within 300 feet of a dive boat. Rather than cause a ruckus, we pulled anchor and left. Had it looked promising we would of moved outside of them far enough to be legal. At 10 am it greased out, that was a surprise, guess the forecast was close but not right on?
We continued up the front side to fish Ripper’s, Hen Rock and a number of other areas which I didn’t know the names. We caught and released over 20 Calico Bass, the biggest being maybe two pounds. Lost a couple of bigger fish to the kelp, as the big boys know where to run when they are hooked!
We ran back down the island again to look for any evidence of exotics. We never saw a sport boat. I know the Pursuit caught 8 Yellowtail, they must of went to the backside or east end? The Sport King which had been very successful on the Yellowtail didn’t fish on Wed.
Oh well my momma told me there would be days like this and we called it a day at 2:15 pm. We ran back at 25.5 knots and were on the trailer at 3:30pm. Did I say I hate Catalina; it is feast or famine and mostly famine, especially when you pick a day with no current. Yet I never say die! We will do it again in a heartbeat if the fish are biting.
Thanks so much for the invite John, great fishing with you again Mike, you were a super help to the cause considering my condition.
Hook up! Cory