July 31 – Day 6 – Sacrificing for a lingcod

 

This was one of those anticipated boat trip. I’ve been following the fish count and Queen of Hearts always had a good track record returning with limits rockfish. I was not so much interested in getting a limit, but rather knowing that the consistently good rockfish fishing would give me a really good chance to add some northern rockfish species.

 

I thought the boat depart at 6am. However, I was mistaken with the salmon trip.  I could have had a better nice sleep at the motel instead. With an extra hour to spare, I went for a McD’s breakfast and got on the boat at 6am. The deckhand Mike was very friendly. He was smiling and greeting everyone. Soon, we were cracking jokes and he was interested to hear about my species hunt. He said I should be able to catch a Lingcod today. Juvenile Lingcods are regularly caught in the area but they do not show up on the fish counts. He also said I have a real good chance to catch a Kelp Greenling (aka seatrout). That got me really excited for the day ahead!

 

Our plan was to fish shallow in the morning during the lower tide. As the tide rose, we would fish deeper since the shallow water would become too difficult to position for the big boat.  The swell and wind was up a little bit and 60 feet of water was as shallow as we would fish.

 

The 1-hour boat ride took us south along the coast to a rocky point. I guess the waters were so fertile that the captain spent little time to search for a spot. The order to “send ‘em down” came quickly. The first fish of the day came just as quick. I started the day with a Black Rockfish.

 

 

I started filling the sack quickly with 2 Black Rockfish about 1lb each before something else came up. I had been waiting for this striking rockfish to show up – a China Rockfish (Sebastes nebulosus) – new species #13!

 

 

There is a similar looking species called the Black-and-Yellow Rockfish. I searched for one all day but didn’t find one. It leaves an accomplished goal for next time. I read that Black-and-Yellow Rockfish is more common catch in the shallow waters closer to shore.

 

Following the China Rockfish, there were some commotions to the right of me a few people down the rail. A good fish was on the line and it was a legal size Lingcod! The person was using a diamond jig and a whole squid as bait.

 

I dug through my tackle bag and found a 5oz vertical jig. I cut off the dropper loop and put on the jig. On the first drop, I got hit before the jig hit bottom. There was a better fighting fish on the line. It wasn’t a Lingcod, but a 2lb Gopher Rockfish!

 

 

On the next drop, I thought I got a tap on bottom. When I set the hook, the line didn’t budge and I knew the jig had snagged bottom. Darn…$15 gone bye-bye.

 

After losing my only heavy jig, I returned to using the dropper loop. Instead of using a bare hook, I put on one of my squid skirts used for trolling tunas. The skirts were about 4” long and I thought the larger profile would increase the likelihood of a Lingcod bite. I put on a whole squid on the hook and fished this rig for about 20 minutes without a bite. Meanwhile, someone beside me caught a Canary Rockfish, and a person behind me caught a big Kelp Greenling. At last, I decided to return to the simple bare hook dropper loop and plug away at rockfish. I caught a few more Black Rockfish before the captain gave the order to pull up the lines so we can fish deeper.

 

We moved out to 120 feet of water and the good fishing continues. By now, I had about 7 rockfish in the sack. More Black Rockfish went into the sack and the deckhand came by to do a boat count. He saw the smaller 1lb Black Rockfish and asked if I want to use them for bait. I didn’t know you could use rockfish for bait, but since he offered, I said…SURE!

 

So instead of squid, I was now fishing with a fillet of rockfish. The larger bait started to attract larger rockfish. We started catching Canary Rockfish and the release weight came out quickly. Canary Rockfish is a protected species and they often suffer from barotraumas, thus a release weight was needed to help bring them down the depth where equalization of the water pressure would allow them to swim off on their own. I caught 3 Canary Rockfish in total – new species #14, including this chunky one that was the biggest Canary this day.

 

 

 

The fillet-o-rockfish also brought in the largest rockfish of the day. I thought this was a Black Rockfish. However, someone pointed out it was a Dusky Rockfish. I’m not too sure…so I’m not calling it yet. It’s still a big rockfish nonetheless!

 

 

I was culling more of the smaller rockfish for bait. I really, really wanted to catch a Lingcod. Everyone around me was catching Lingcod here and there of all sizes. I was doing the same thing they were doing. In fact, I was catching more fish than they were for most part. There was a guy to my right with a Seeker rod and a Shimano Trinidad that couldn’t even buy a bite. It’s always funny seeing someone with all the bling-bling but no shred of fishing know-how. With only 1 hour of the day left, he only had 3 small rockfish in the sake. He was nice a guy so I started stuffing his sack with some of my small rockfish.

 

At the third last stop of the day, I finally felt a good THUD on my line and had a guess what it could be. I set the hook and this fish had a little more spirit than the rockfish. Finally, I saw the long shape and my knees were shaking! YES!!! It’s a Lingcod (Ophiodon elongates)!!! – new species #15.

 

It wasn’t a big one...probably 19” max, but when you fish for a target all day and you have probably one shot in your life to make it happen, it felt darn good to accomplish that target!

 

 

For the rest of the trip, I returned to squid strips in hopes for a Kelp Greenling. However, that target wasn’t meant to be. I’ll have to catch it next time.

 

When 2pm came about, we started steaming toward port. The boat limited out on rockfish. I had my personal limit of rockfish and I managed to stuff the limit of rockfish for the guy beside me too. I know I had commented previously on this kind of activity. Yeah…kinda hypocritical…I’ll admit. Anyway, there were so much fish to clean that the captain slowed the boat and took 2 hours to get back to port. Even so, there were still fish to be cleaned when the boat was docked. My fish were one of the last to be cleaned. I was in no hurry. I’d rather chill out with the deckhand Mike. I would say that this was the BEST partyboat I’ve been on. The captain knew his spots, the deckhands were friendly and worked real hard and the fishing was phenomenal if you know what you are doing. I would highly recommend this boat to anyone.

 

I asked Mike to set aside a couple of the smallest Black Rockfish fillets for me. After packing the rest of the fillets in a cooler of ice, I took the fillets to the restaurant beside the dock and have a couple of fish tacos done up. A few more dollars added a generous plate of sweet potato fries and a large helping of vegetables. I was so hungry, and the food so good, that I demolished most that food in one sitting. My server asked me initially if I needed a takeout box. I said “No, let me work on it.” When I was done, there was just a few heads of broccoli and a handful of fries left. He was surprised how much food fit into a little guy like me…yeah, I get that a lot LOL.

 

 

After the big meal, I took a nap in the car before driving south to Monterey Bay. I was going to hop on one of Randy’s sportfishing boat for a second rockfish session. However, I called the shop and they changed the rockfish trip to a salmon trip. I had no interest in spending $75 and my valuable time fishing for salmon (something I can catch anytime at home). That threw things into a little snag though. If I were fishing at Randy’s, I would park at the lot and sleep overnight just like I did at Half Moon Bay. However, since I wasn’t fishing, I couldn’t access their parking lot. I had to find a motel at last minute. Luckily, I found Cobblestone Inn in the area. For $120 a nice, they gave me a really nice room that was priced at $200 at regular price. I was kind of happy to have a plush bed for the night. I went to bed early and planned to sleep in since I didn’t really have any plans determined.

 

August 1 – Day 7 – Marine life in captivity and in the wild

 

I woke up at 7am, turned off the alarm, and woke up naturally at 9am. After a nice shower, added ice to my cooler of rockfish fillet, and packed the car again, I was on the road to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

 

 

If I had fish on this day, I would have rushed the aquarium visit. It was actually nice to have the time to go through this awesome display of native California marine species leisurely. I arrived just in time for the feeding to begin at the kelp forest display. It was difficult to take pictures in the dim lighting. This is the best I could get.

 

 

There were so many of kelp associated species I was drooling over. Of course the Kelp Greenling and the Black and Yellow Rockfish had to make a showing to taunt me. There were also Rubberlip Perch and Black Surfperch that swam by with their tongue sticking out.

 

After the feeding session, I made my way to the Jellyfish Experience. I tried my best to get some decent shots of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I went to the Seahorse display. There were seahorse and relatives here, including sea dragons…

 

 

 

Pipefish

 

 

…and of course seahorse

 

 

They don’t move too fast, but even a bit of movement in the dim light resulted in a blurry picture with the longer exposure. Oh well…you’ll just have to go and visit the aquarium on your own.

 

I made my way to the open ocean display next. All I could think about looking at the creatures that constant push the bait in the tank was…

 

“I wonder how big that Bluefin Tuna is…”

 

“Man, that’s a big Dorado!”

 

“I would love to make poke with that Yellowfin Tuna…”

 

“I’ll get a chance at those California Yellowtail soon!”

 

Man, it was a torture seeing these pelagic species swimming round and round in safety! LOL

 

I checked out the tidal zone display and saw some Zebra Perch. They are so hard to encounter and catch that I didn’t even put them on the target list. Outside, there were some sea lions on a rock and some otter in the kelp beds. There appear to be aquarium staff observing the otters by binoculars.

 

I spent a total of 4 hours in the aquarium. By then end, I was just hopping to get fishing again. Seeing fish is nice…catching fish is better! I grabbed a quick hot dog lunch and made my way to Wharf #2.

 

Wharf #2 is a pier that is either a bit hit, or a bit miss. Most of the days are misses. I we really just hoping to encounter a couple of definite targets – Grass Rockfish and Speckled Sanddabs.

 

When I first started fishing, I saw a little girl catching crabs with squid. These crabs were about 1” across the carapace. Quite often, I can see little flatfish on the bottom swimming toward her bait. I assume these are the Speckled Sanddabs.

 

I rigged up a #16 hook and a squid tentacle on a Carolina rig with 4lb leader. On the first cast, I felt a tap, tap, tap! I set the hook and caught a Pacific Staghorn Sculpin, a species I had caught in British Columbia in the past.

 

 

After releasing the sculpin, I cast my bait out again. This time, I felt a little resistance as I slowly crawled the rig back to the pier. When I had the rig close enough, I could see a little flatfish holding onto the bait. I tried the set the hook and reel up but the fish just let go.

 

After repeated attempts, I finally decided to let my squid tentacle soak for a while. This time, the little flatfish had time to chew the bait and swallow it. I finally hooked one of the Speckled Sanddab (Citharichthys stigmaeus) – new species #16! These little flatfish doesn’t grow big at all. Mine was only 3” long.

 

 

The sanddab was deeply hooked. Since I had already caught one target and I had no intention to deep hook more of these little fish, I moved to the corner of the pier to fish around the pilings. Some of the pilings had seaweed growing on it or near it. This was where a Grass Rockfish could be found.

 

My first cast toward a piling resulted in a series of little taps. When I set the hook, I saw a little fish on the line and was extremely delighted to find an Onespot Fringehead (Neoclinus uninotatus) – new species #17. This was one of those bonus species catch I run into once in a while. When you fish enough, you get these bonuses here and there.  After this one, I caught a second one in a piling that was just 15 feet away.

 

 

I fished the pilings one by one and tried all sides of the pilings. I had even cast under the pier to see if the fish were further back.  All of the pilings were empty of fish.

 

I went back to the mid zone of the pier where I caught the Speckled Sanddab. I tried to cast out toward an eelgrass bed to soak squid. However, the crabs kept picking the bait off the 5/0 circle hook. At the end, I started looking into the surf zone to see if there are any surfperch around.

 

As soon as I started looking, I could see little flashes of silver in the surf zone. It was now close to 6pm. Most of the beachgoer had left and I could cast directly into the surf. Casting directly at the school of silvery fish resulted in an instant scattering of the school. However, if you cast beyond the school and work the bait back into the school, the fish would immediately swarm on the bait. Using a small strip of squid on a #10 octopus hook and a Carolina rig with 6lb leader, I quickly caught a few Shiner Perch.

 

 

It appeared that most of the fish were Shiner Perch. The schools of perch would move about. Ever few minutes or so you would need to look for the school after they moved off.

 

I was hoping that there were some other surfperch species. I was hoping for a Calico Surfperch. However, after weeding through over 10 Shiner Perch, I finally found something different…a While Seaperch (Phanerodon furcatus) – new species #18!

 

 

There were other fishermen coming on the pier. I assume they are out fishing after work or after dinner. They were surprised that I was catching fish in the surf zone. They said they don’t usually catch fish so close to shore. I don’t know if the good fishing was a freak occurrence or not. Personally, I know that surfperch species are often found in the surf. You really just have to look for them. To me, it was just that these people never look hard enough for these little fish. One guy watched me catch a few and we chatted for a bit. After my 5th Shiner Perch, I asked if he would like to have some for halibut bait. He quickly grabbed a bucket and got there just in time as I reeled in another Shiner Perch. Strangely, fishing on demand was very difficult. After he brought the bucket, the Shiner Perch suddenly became very tight lipped and the bites slowed. I did catch one more Shiner Perch for him before the tide rose higher and the perch scattered. By now, it was 7pm and I had to get on the road.

 

I had an hour drive ahead to Santa Cruz where a friend of mine lives. He had a little 6 months old boy in the house with another 2 years old boy. He warned me that I may not be able to sleep at the house, but his sons were very quiet that night. The reason I went to his home after 8pm was so he can put his sons to bed and he could go out for a drink with me for a couple of hours. He was a microscope facility manager as well and we spent some time talking shop as well as just chatting about life in general.

 

August 2 – Day 8 – Driving through the Danger Zone

 

I woke up at 5am to cries of the 6 month old. It was just a little bit of crying for attention and the house was quite again. I fell back asleep and work up at 7am. Ben was already up spending time with the boys while his wife got ready for work.

 

Ben made us an oatmeal breakfast and his 2 year old warmed up to me pretty quick. After breakfast, his in-laws arrived so Ben was able to get ready for work. I drove Ben to UC Santa Cruz and visited his microscopes. The equipment was spread across several floors in different labs, but Ben will be setting up a room for a few microscopes including a new 2-photon that would require some earthquake proofing.

 

After I bid farewell to Ben, I was making my way to the highway when I saw these guys on the highway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was pretty cool to see these on campus. A little past the deer, there was a trailhead with a warning sign of Mountain Lions in the area. Yeah, those deer would attract lions alright.

 

I drove south on Highway 101 and had the intention of taking it all the way to LA. However, I got a call from my aunt and she wanted to have dinner together that night. I decided to take a short cut across to Highway 5 instead. I stopped at Paso Robles for a semi healthy McD’s lunch.

 

 

As I drove on Highway 46, I stopped at a rest area for a quick after meal nap (I get real tired after a meal). I looked at some of the information panels at the rest area to find the San Andreas Rift Valley was in the area…and the fault ran somewhere under those hills.

 

 

There weren’t a lot of photographing opportunities…until I reached Pyramid Lake during a washroom stop.

 

 

I started my drive at 11am from Santa Cruz and got back at around 7:30pm. I ran right into Thursday rush hour and spent 1.5 hours on the city highways. It wasn’t any worse than Toronto rush hour actually, but it was a delay nonetheless.

 

My aunt and her boyfriend Anthony and I had dinner that night. I had plans to meet up with Dave the next morning, so I was off to bed early for an early start for some bay fishing.

 

Aug 3 – Day 9 – From nothing to everything

 

Dave and I had arranged to fish Alamitos Bay to try for Diamond Turbot. Dave had some intel that was worth exploring. I got to the area at 8am and rigged up a dropshot rig with size #14 hook. I had just put on the Gulp! Sandworm when Dave and his son Evan arrived. Dave made a couple of PVC sand spike and a PVC ghost shrimp pump just for my trip! Thanks man!

 

While Dave and his son started pumping shrimp on the low incoming tide, I started fishing because Dave spotted a Diamond Turbot in the area. I worked the dropshot rig slowly along bottom and got hit close to shore. I missed the hit on the first cast, but connected on the third cast. Unfortunately, it was a Pacific Staghorn Sculpin. :(

 

When Dave caught enough ghost shrimps, we started using them. I switched to a Carolina rig with a #10 octopus hook, however, it didn’t improve on our hunt for the target species. Every ghost shrimp was gobbled up by a Staghorn Sculpin as soon as the rig was close to shore. At 9:45am, Dave had to move his car at 9:45am. No longer had he got out of screaming range that one of his rod went off! I got to the rod, tightened the drag, set the hook and handed it off to Evan.

 

The fish was giving Evan a good tussle. At one point, I had to give Evan an tiny hand and a little bit of coaching. When Dave came back, we had the fish on the beach. It was Evan’s first Spotted Bay Bass!

 

I stole some pictures from Dave.

 

 

For the rest of the morning, we were loading up on Sculpins. This was Evan’s first Sculpin!

 

 

Time flies when you’re catching lots of Sculpins LOL. Soon, Dave’s wife and his two other sons arrived at the beach. His wife took a picture for us.

 

 

As the tide filled in, we saw a lot of 1-2” baitfish pushing up the beach. Dave and I switched to the dropshot rig again and we fished 2” twitch shads. After a good while, Dave was hit and landed a small California Halibut. I was hoping that a Diamond Turbot would ambush these baitfish in the shalllows and mainly focused close to shore. No one was home though.

 

When 2pm arrived, I had to leave. I had to return the rental car at 3pm. It was just my luck that the tide was just dropping and Dave saw another Diamond Turbot in the water. I could stay no longer and the Diamond Turbot will have to be an unachieved target. Next time, I think the game plan would entail low tide and sigh fishing for these tricky flatfish. Blind fishing resulted into much unwanted Sculpin bycatch.

 

I got to the car rental company just in time after topping up the gas tank and getting some frozen peas and fresh shrimp for bait (for my next leg of the trip). The night before, I was contemplating when I would visit Catalina Island. Jonathan had informed me on Thursday that he had to work on the weekend and our Catalina Island trip had to be canceled. I was thinking that I could save a day in my itinerary by visiting Catalina Island on Friday evening and Saturday. It was thus decided that I would take the 5:30pm ferry across to Catalina Island and return on Saturday at 8pm.

 

Anthony picked me up at the rental car company and took me to a quick lunch. He dropped me off at the ferry terminal at 4:30pm and I could hardly contain my excitement. I’ve read much about the lore and legends of Catalina Island and its fabulous fishing. As the ferry left port, I took a picture of Long Beach.

 

 

My aunt told me the ferry ride would take 2 hours. Maybe that was back in the day with a slower boat. I fell asleep on the Catalina Express and woke up to commotion an hour later. Wow! We were already there! The sun was setting over the mountainous island and it was difficult to take a good photograph of Avalon from the water.

 

Soon after landing, I headed to the other side of the Cabrillo Mole. The Cabrillo Mole a pier where the ferries dock in Avalon. The busy ferry side of the pier was obvious restricted to fishing. The ocean facing side, however, was where some good fishing could be found.

 

Immediately next to the pier was a grove of kelp forest extending some 30-40 feet from the pier. This provided great habitat for many fish species. I could immediately see one of my target species in the water, the bright orange Garibaldi – the saltwater state fish of California. I quickly rigged up a light dropper loop rig with 15lb mono, #8 baitholder hok, a 2oz sinker and baited the hook with a strip of squid. As soon as the rig hit water, a swarm of Blacksmith rose up the water column and surrounded the bait! It was just that easy I caught my first Blacksmith (Chromis punctipinnis) – new species #19. Here is a better picture of a Blacksmith I caught the next day.

 

 

These Blacksmith were grabbing the hook if I suspended the bait. I tried to punch the rig to bottom. Once there, the bites were less frequent. While watching the Blacksmith swarm my bait, I saw a torpedo shape glided by and the smaller fish disappeared. All I can remember was the forked yellow-coloured tail. I was told it was not uncommon for Yellowtail to cruise the kelp beds. However, very few, if any, shore angler had ever hook up to one from the Cabrillo Mole.

 

Since the smaller fish sought refuge when the Yellowtail passed by, it took a few moments before I felt a solid tap. I set the hook and a spirited fish fought back. I did not expected this fish to be caught at Catalina Island. In fact, I was a little disappointed I did not find one on the Gentleman ¾ day. It was an absolutely delightful surprise that this Treefish (Sebastes serriceps) found my hook – new species #20!

 

 

Another 10 minutes later, something hit my squid and took a run! I had my drag set a bit light since most of the fish were smaller in the area. I was surprised by this runner…a Pacific Jack Mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus) – new species #21. Just in case something larger comes by, I kept one for bait just in case.

 

 

The Jack Mackerel was fun, and I returned my rig to the bottom quickly hoping to catch the school again. The bite came quickly, however, this fish decided to dive for bottom instead of the erratic run of the Jack Mackerel. It was a great fight on 8lb mainline and a lighter rod. I was surprised and elated to see a reddish flash in the fading light. Yes!!! This is possibly the hardest target for me to catch at Catalina Island. I was extremely pleased to have checked it off so early in my trip! I was surprised that the California Sheephead (California Sheephead) – new species #22 – took my squid strip. I read they were picky eaters and prefers sea urchin, baby lobsters and live squid.

 

 

As the light disappeared, the bite disappeared. However, I started noticing a number of fish busting on the surface. They looked smaller. I was hoping they were Chub Mackerel or perhaps small Bonito. I kept one rod fishing on the bottom with squid while I rigged up the 9’ surf rod with a 1/2oz Kastmaster. I casted the Kastmaster past the busting fish and worked them through the activity. Nothing was big enough to grab the lure. I did catch another Treefish on the squid at about 9pm. Some people came down to the pier after dark. An older gentleman came to fish beside me and we got chatting. He had a swimbait on the line and said he was looking for Pacific Barracuda. He said the busting baitfish was Flying Fish. This was the first time I saw Flying Fish so close to shore.

 

The bite was really slow in the dark. By 10pm, most of the people had left the pier. The last group of people to left the pier caught what appeared to be a moray eel. I wanted to catch one and kept the bottom rod with squid fishing the whole time but no eel found my bait.

 

When the last group left, I was joined by another local angler on the pier. He was fishing on the side of the pier where the ferry docked by day. At night, no one was around to stop people from fishing the ferry dock. I watched him as he targeted Kelp Bass unsuccessfully with swimbaits. I couldn’t see any Kelp Bass swimming around, but there were plenty Garibaldi.

 

When he left, I was finally alone on the pier. I had wanted to fish all night on the pier since I read that people do fish the night time for bat rays or leopard shark. However, by 12am, I was too tired to fish any longer and decided to take an nap on the pier bench. It was getting colder and windier at night so I had to put on a fleece sweater and my rain jacket and rain pants as a wind-blocking layer. Keeping all the gear close to me, I felt asleep.

 

Aug 4 – Day 10 – Like shooting fish in a barrel

 

I woke up at 1am to find a flashlight pointed at my face and someone speaking to me. It was one of the security personnel doing a night check. He was actually just concerned for my wellbeing and asked if I was alright. After all was fine, he went about his business.

 

I woke up again at 2am to some chilling wind. I guess my body core temperature had dropped enough during my sleep that it felt cold. I had to get up and walk around a little to get the blood flowing again so I can warm up. When you live in Canada, you know how to get warm and stay warm. I walked to ferry dock and looked at the Garibaldi again. They were such a tease. You are not allowed to possess them, and even targeting them is questionable, but they are just so cool looking. While looking at the Garibaldi, I thought I saw an Opaleye swam by. It was a dark coloured fish and I thought I caught a glimpse of a white dot. I quickly rigged up a float rig connecting 3’ of 6lb fluorocarbon to the 8lb mono. There was 4’ of line from the float to the #8 hook with a small split shot pinned about 12” from the hook. I put a couple of semi-frozen peas on the hook and cast it out. The Garibaldi didn’t pay attention to the peas at all. A couple seemed to show interest but turned away when the got close. The Opaleye seemed to have left the area though. I cast around the area and finally my float shot down!

 

I heard Opaleye fights hard, but I was not expecting the surging dives that these fish made. In fact, they were great fun on light rods and line. It was obviously challenging to keep them from rubbing the line against shoreline rocks of the jetty. Luckily, my first experience with an Opaleye was only a 10” one. Opaleye (Girella nigricans) – new species #23.

 

 

I must have found a coral head where they congregated at night. My next cast was taken with gusto and this fish fought even harder. I almost lost it when it tried to run under a thick rope that was tied to the dock. I was shocked to see the size of this Opaleye and I didn’t know if I could even lift it up the rocks with the 6lb fluoro line!

 

The cooler was 13” across.

 

 

I caught one more Opaleye that was the smallest of the three at 8” in length. I must have either caught all of them or spooked the rest. The bite stopped after the third one. I watched the water some more to see a cool stingray and a lobster crawling about.

 

It was now 3:30am and I was getting tired again. I settled back to my pier bench and laid down flat on my back. It wasn’t too comfortable, but it would do. I sleep rolling and turning, but I did catch some shut eye. At 5am, I was rudely awoken by a squid boat that was operating just offshore of the pier. Seeing a bit of light in the sky, I woke up to start fishing again…since I couldn’t get back to sleep. There was no bite in the dark, but as the sky got brighter and brighter, I could see more and more fish come out of the kelp.

 

I began the day fishing with a Carolina rig using 1/4oz egg sinker. I wanted to search the mid water column to see if I can find Halfmoon or Rock Wrasse. My first drop was quickly taken by a Blacksmith. On my second drop, I was surprised to find a Garibaldi swam directly to my squid strip and took it without a second thought! This was a nice bycatch. Garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus) – new species #24 – was a weird fish. Some would take any kind of bait and some would ignore all baits. This one was about 10” long and fought surprisingly hard!

 

 

After a couple more Blacksmith, I saw some blue-coloured fish flirting about in the kelp. I got my squid bait close to one and the fish came in cautiously, circled the bait twice before taking a test bite. I was very quick on the draw since you could see fish behaviour very well in the crystal clear water. I hooked the fish and was in for a ride! I heard that Halfmoon were great fighter. This 13” Halfmoon (Medialuna californiensis) gave a good account of itself! New species #25.

 

 

Soon, some smaller, long bodied fish started stripping my bait. I had a feeling what these little fish may be. I took off the #8 baitholder hook and replaced it with a #16 hook. I put on a squid tentacle and cast the bait toward an opening in the kelp. The swarm of small fish quickly descended on the bait and it took no time to hook one! Yes…these were Senorita (Oxyjulis californica) – new species #26 - a wrasse species that were very keen on stripping your bait.

 

 

After catching the one Senorita, I switched to a #10 octopus hook hoping to catch a Rock Wrasse. While the Rock Wrasse did not show up, I saw a school of long, blue-backed fish swam in. These fish would not take squid, but a piece of shrimp got them biting. These were Topsmelt Silverside (Atherinops affinis) – new species #27 – or simply Topsmelt.

 

 

More and bigger Halfmoon showed up and I just had to catch a few more. They may be fun to fight, but I soon learned that the fecal matter of Halfmoon was one of the most foul smell you could ever encounter!

 

Fun…but yuck!

 

 

At 9am, the pier was starting to fill with people fishing. There was a group of anglers who were fishing for opaleye. They caught a couple of them including one that was about 11” long. One of the girls in the group caught a sheephead. She was struggling to unhook the fish so I helped her unhook it. When one of the guys in her group said to keep the 10” fish, I told them the fish was undersized and I’m going to release it. They said it was their fish and they don’t care, it was theirs to keep as they like. At that point, I moved closer to the edge of the pier and allowed the fish flopped out of my hand. Oops…accidental or intentional? LOL. It bugs me that people have no regard for regulations and state that outright! The guy yelled a bunch of profanity at me and I just brushed it off. Instead of sticking around, I moved about 50 feet away and kept on fishing. I guess they weren’t too happy with me from the beginning since I had been constantly catching some fish, whether it was Halfmoon, Garibaldi, Blacksmith, Jack Mackerel or Senorita; while most of them fished beside me without any action. They were fishing multiple hook dropper loop rigs with little wire arms and the line looked to be 30lb mono and the hook was about #2. But no one was about to keep an undersized fish and tell me outright they don’t care about the regulations!

 

Anyways, I fished my new spot for more Topsmelt and Jack Mackerel action. The Kelp Bass, which were largely absent to this point, start to invade the area. Every bait that got close to the bottom was taken by a Kelp Bass. I tried to fish the bottom for any new species of rockfish but the Kelp Bass didn’t allow me a chance to even present a bait to them.

 

A family with 3 younger boys and their fathers showed up beside me. They had rental rods and some #2 hooks. The fathers were trying to help the boys catch their first fish without much success. I overheard that they were using Yellowtail for bait. Really?!?! Man…that’s some luxury bait! They were not having much success since the Senorita and Blacksmith were quickly stripping the bait off the #2 hook.

 

I was still constantly hooking up and felt bad the kids comment on my action. I went to the fathers and opened my tackle bag to them. I told them to put on #8 baitholder hooks and 8lb fluorocarbon leaders. I gave them a whole squid to cut some squid strips and also my Jack Mackerel. Once they have switched tackle, it wasn’t long before the boys were hooking up. First it was Blacksmith, then it was Kelp Bass. One boy even managed to land a Halfmoon! The fathers and the boys had a great time and they thanked me before they left at 12pm. The boys said they wanted to try it again the next day. That’s what I like to see!

 

By 12pm, I was really hungry. It was also getting really hot so I had to find some shade. I went to a taco shop at the Green Pleasure Pier for lunch. I ordered a fish taco, a carne asada taco and a plate of rice and beans. MMM…

 

After taking it easy for a bit, I went to fish at the end of the Green Pleasure Pier. Looking down at the piling, I could see schools of Topsmelt and Jack Mackerel. Strangely, these fish would not hit squid or shrimp! I saw a few larger Opaleye hiding just under the pier. I remember my friend Elijah mentioned the fished freelined frozen peas off the pier. I put on a small clear steelhead float, attached 4’ of 6lb fluorocarbon to the 8lb mainline, tied on a #8 octopus hook and pinched a small splitshot about 12” from the hook. This was similar to the rig I used the night before.

 

Maybe it was the light level and the clear water. These Opaleye were extremely wary and would not bite. I did soon discover that the Topsmelt and Jack Mackerel loved green peas! It was fast and furious action. I thought about the situation a little…then decided to downsize my hook to a #14 octopus hook after seeing the Opaleye inspect my bait and turned away. I extended the length of line to 8’ between the hook and the float. I slid the split shot up the line to sit just a couple inches below the float. Carefully threading the green pea on the hook, I tried to hide as much of the hook within the pea as possible.

 

 I cast the rig out and let the rig drift with the current. There was a strong current as the tide was rising. The current was washing under the pier, perfectly set to drift baits to the Opaleye. It was actually rather difficult to tempt these Opaleye since the green pea had to descend in the water column naturally and drift drag free in the current to get a bite. Luckily, I had much experience from fishing dry flies and this was just the same. A few drifts later, my float shot down sharply and I had a real bull on the line!

 

Fighting this fish was a challenge. Aside from keeping the fish from rubbing the line on the sharp barnacle encrusted pilings, I had to avoid other hazards such as ropes and docked boats. When I had the fish tired, I couldn’t see any way I could lift the fish up the pier. Instead, one to the boy watching me volunteered to get down to a floating dock and grab the fish for me. He did a great job and the prize was mine!

 

 

I fished for these Opaleye for an hour and went 2/4. These were all big around the same size. Two fish ran directly into the piling and cut my line before I could even stop them!

 

It appeared that the remaining Opaleye got smarter. As the tide slacked, the lack of current also made it difficult to present the bait properly. There were some older boys watching me fish. They seemed really interested so I asked them if they would like to catch a fish. I had caught enough Jack Mackerel and Topsmelt by then LOL.

 

I would put on a green pea and cast out the float rig for them, after which I would hand them the rod and taught them to watch for the bite and to set the hook. The Youngest of the three and the oldest one learned pretty quickly and caught their first fish easily. However, the older boy had trouble setting the hook. It took him a while to get his first fish. I did take a picture for them and I got their email address so I can send them the pic.

 

 

When they had to leave, I decided to check out another area. There was really just a couple of fish I have still to catch. One was the Rock Wrasee and the other was an Ocean Whitefish. The Ocean Whitefish are often found on sandy bottom so I looked around for the right area. Closer to the boat rental dock at the pier, I saw some sandy bottom with some long bodied fish grubbing on bottom. I thought these might be small Ocean Whitefish. Using a Carolina rig again, I put on a strip of squid and cast toward the area where these fish were grubbing. The fish quickly found my bait and didn’t hesitate to bite. I know that Ocean Whitefish are strong fighters, so when this 10” fish gave up a determined fight, I thought it was an Ocean Whitefish. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one…but it was a female Rock Wrasse (Halichoeres semicinctus) – new species #28!

 

 

I caught a few more female Rock Wrasse, a couple of Garibaldi, and one Kelp Bass; and soon realized that there were no Ocean Whitefish in the area. It was about 5pm and I had enough of fishing, so I took some pictures of the area from the pier.

 

 

 

I still had lots of time before the 8pm ferry. I grabbed a small bite again and slowly went back to the Cabrillo Mole. Before leaving, I thought I’d fish on bottom again to see if there were any rockfish in the area. I was hit on bottom and I set the hook on a California Scorpionfish. I had caught this species before and I had no intention of messing around with it. I took my hemostat, got hold of the hook shank and just shook the fish off.

 

The bottom activity was pretty consistent, but I couldn’t hook any of the fish. I guess most of them were small Blacksmith and Senorita. Finally, I had a good bite and found a beautiful male Rock Wrasse on the other end!

 

 

It was getting close to 7pm. My last fish of Catalina Island was a Kelp Bass. I took a picture too commemorate the great time on the island. The warm evening glow really worked to accentuate the gorgeous colour on this fish.

 

 

I took apart all my gear and washed down my cooler. I had just enough time to get in line before the line got too long. I fell asleep on the ride back since I had been up since 5am. Back in Long Beach, Anthony picked me up and we had dinner with my aunt. They listened to my fishing story at Catalina and lamented that I didn’t keep any of the Opaleye. After dinner, we went back to my aunt’s apartment and I quickly went to bed. I was so tired I didn’t even set an alarm.