Bugs and Tails... S.W.A.T. Catalina Adventure on the Kolomona with the Webmaster.
Binh (Badbeat) and I hopped on the Kolo to fish with Jeff (Webmaster) out at Catalina this past weekend.
I told Jeff that we've never been Lobster hooping before and he says "Let's go, I'll show you how..."
We left Saturday night out of Long Beach with one bait tank full of Anchovies and the other full of live Squid.
About 9 miles from the island Jeff and I heard some clanking and loud screeching coming from the engine compartment.
We shut it down and open her up to take a look... Jeff discovered that the bolts to the alternator bracket have completely snapped off and throwing the belts offline.
Catastrophe I thought as we were talking about calling for a trip ending vessel assistance tow.
Just about when we were going to make the call Jeff says let's try something, he had an idea...
He took the biggest flat head screwdriver he had in the tool box and wedged it in the alternator harness and pound it in place tight with a hammer.
We held our collective breaths as we fired up the engine and set out at a slow speed at first... then faster... and faster.
I don't believe it, the Webmaster turned McGyver did it, we're good to go again... U da Man Jeff!
We get to the spot and Binh and I dropped the Hoop nets baited with Skipjacks we caught on the previous Tuna trip.
After the traps were in place we hung around the vicinity and fished until it was time to pull them back up again.
Jeff put us up close to the sheer cliff on the island and we had a blast catching one Calico after another.
They were just demolishing the Big Hammer swim baits and the fly lined Squid. We caught so many I lost count. Even though they weren't very big, we had a blast catching them. All Checkers were released!
After about an hour, we located the hoop nets and made the pull. I had the honors of pulling up the first trap of the night.
Kinda exciting waiting to see what comes up...
On my very first ever pull... there were 4 shorts and ONE legal Bug!
Then another bigger legal a couple of pulls later...
Well, we kept dropping the hoop nets, then go fishing, come back to pull again and again...
We made a total of three sets of pulls and got nine (9) legal Bugs. Not full limits but we were totally happy that we learned something new and were successful at it on the very first try.Lobster hooping is a lot of work!
It was around 3:00am after our last pull and we hit the bunks for some ZZZZ's...
The next morning we headed out to the other side of the island...
Well, I'll make this final part of the report quick... since it's super late and I have a meeting early in the morning...
Basically, we found the fleet all anchored up in one area and joined them.
We enjoyed pretty much a wide open Yellowtail bite, broken up only by a group of Seals stealing our catch and chasing the fish away.
As soon as the Sea Dogs left and harassed other vessels, the bite picked up again...
No monster YT that we were hoping for, but the 5-10 lbs models that gave us some fast & furious constant action. Mixed in with them are some nice Bonito and big Mackerels.
So funny that we were calling for the Trout net that Jeff had on board instead of the gaff for these Yellowtails.
We got three limits of Tails and headed back to the mainland.
There must be at least 60 anglers on this charter.
Let's go home... no problems with the engine on the way back. Way to go Jeff!
Back at the launch area.
Thanks Jeff for another memorable trip. We appreciate you taking the time to teach us how to hoop for Lobster and showing us the right way to fish Catalina.
Hopefully, the Tuna count will be good this week so we can chase them again soon...
Good times spent with good friends... life is just a fantasy.
Have an awesome week everybody!
Arthur (Wingnut)
Some people feel the rain... others just get wet.
Parting shots:
Monday night's dinner... baked Bugs!
This is what a total "Pug" overdose looks like...
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Ryan_J
