A short trip to the Southland #178 — 2010

Ken Jones

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Date: March 12, 2010
To: Pier Fishing in California
From: Ken Jones
Subject: A short trip to the southland #178


1. Monday—Trip Over

It seemed fairly simple, why not spend a couple of days at Catalina following the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach? Hashem had been making some trips over to Catalina during the winter in pursuit of Panulirus interruptus aka bugs or California spiny lobster. It was going to be a very long and tiring weekend but why not? In many ways it could be a precursor to the April Catalina Get Together; you know, kind of getting the blood ready for the big event.

Monday morning we are on the road early and after a quick stop at Paul’s Bait and Tackle in San Pedro headed down the hill to the Catalina Ferry Landing. Normally we use Long Beach as the home base but they’re dredging the harbor. No problem other than it will be a smaller boat.

Of course we first had to unpack and rearrange the 3,827 pounds of equipment that Hashem typically brings when he goes to Catalina. Actually that’s a lie. He’s down about a thousand pounds from what he used to bring. I bring my pier cart, rods and reels—and me. He’s prepared for WHATEVER. I never of course would kid him about it. I would never call him a walking tools department from Sears and Roebuck. Or suggest that perhaps he watched just one too many episodes of Home Improvement and bonded with Tim Allen as the tool man. No, I would never do that. Right? Of course when I kid him he reminds me that I was the one that wrote the 7 P’s in the book—“Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pi.. Poor Performance.” And, on this trip, that equipment would really be needed.

No problem with tickets, no problem with loading (although a little more complicated than on the big boat), and we’re off.

I’m standing out on deck taking pictures. It’s a tradition and there were some interesting scenes heading out the harbor including a World War II ship, the industrial activity of the port, an interesting fireboat, and Angel’s Gate, the famous light house that dates back to 1913.

Arriving in Avalon I got a couple of pictures of the Cabrillo Mole AND, lo and behold, the front of the Green Pleasure Pier is open, devoid of the normal dock that sits in front of it during the summer months. We’ll head there first to test the waters before coming back to the Mole to spend the night and next day.

2. Monday—Green Pleasure Pier

The fishing at the Green Pleasure Pier was not the same as we have seen during the April Get Togethers. Usually the kelp (calico) bass are so thick that they can become a nuisance fish—especially since they are almost all under the 12” minimum length. This trip the bass are virtually absent from the pier and many of the normal fish are less in number. Nevertheless four and a half hours produces 25 fish: 10 jack mackerel, 5 sheephead, 3 jacksmelt, 3 rock wrasse, 2 senorita, 1 opaleye and 1 garibaldi. Luckily we had picked up some ghost shrimp and they were attracting the sheephead. I did manage a few pictures while at the pier including the great little restaurant at the end (that is closed), the Tuna Club weigh station, and a chart showing last season’s marlin. At 3:15 we headed out to the Mole.

3. Monday-Tuesday—The Mole

As expected, the fishing at the Mole was slower though with a slightly more diverse group of fish. The fishing was also scheduled to get slower at sundown when many of the island’s species go to sleep for the night (including sheephead). But there are some fish to be had even after the Sun is swallowed up by Mother Ocean (including rockfish and those big-eyed salema). While Hashem is setting up his lobster traps I’m continuing to do some fishing even though the temperature is dropping and I’m getting just a little chilly. It was interesting to see what worked best at night and strips of squid and pieces of market shrimp proved best.

Hashem had said it could be cold. His instructions: bring layers of clothing, bring Long John’s, bring gloves, and bring a woolen cap. I had brought gloves but mistakenly had left them on the mainland, I did not have Long John’s and figured it wasn’t worth spending the money on a new pair (do I hear the word cheap? I’ve got Welsh heritage instead of Scotch, but still am a penny pincher at times). But the temperature was dropping into the low ‘50s and the wind continued to pick up and would reach a rate of around 30 mph so the wind chill factor was probably down in the ‘20s. Even worse, the doctor had just given me some new medicine AND I had absolutely NO energy. At 10 pm I stopped fishing, I’m just too cold and tired. Five hours at the Mole and all it produced was 26 fish: 8 salema, 7 kelp bass, 2 kelp rockfish, 2 sheephead, 2 opaleye, 2 jack mackerel, 1 halfmoon, 1 senorita and 1 blacksmith. Not bad but not great and the majority were caught while there was still light.

Hashem had said be prepared but I was the one who did not follow the 7 P’s and I paid the price. When the wind really picked up we moved over behind the buildings for a little protection from the wind. Or I should say I did because Hashem kept busy checking his traps every twenty minutes or so. I finally decided to sit down and Hashem suggested taking a nap. I tried. But on the bench I am freezing cold, I’m shaking uncontrollably and cold to the bone, tendons, and capillaries. I’m dreaming of the homeless and the sympathy is changing to empathy. Worse, I’m thinking what the doctor would say if I ran into any problems. It was a night for Vincet Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking. It might have been a good night for those thoughts but my body and brain would not cooperate.

I finally fell asleep and somehow stretched together enough 20-minute naps to reach about four hours of sleep. Evidently it was a sleep that was worrisome to Hashem. He said when I way laying on my left side I was quiet as a mouse (pier rat?) and he wasn’t sure that I was breathing. However, when I turned over to get my face to the building I was as quiet as a baby (a baby walrus that is). Bellowing like one of those gnarled old, bull sea lions that controls a huge harem. Last time I looked I didn’t have a harem.

Finally at about 2 a.m. I’m awake and somewhat refreshed, even if still cold. However, remember those 3,827 pounds of supplies that Hashem brought? Amongst the materials were the makings of some hot coffee (which helped me break the doctor’s prohibition against caffeine) and hot soup. Those items were winners at 3:30 a.m. and felt oh so good. Thank you, thank you, thank you Hashem! I decide to give it a try for fish at 4:30 but after the wind blows my hat away decide to let the wind calm a little, or at least hopped it would. No more fishing that night but some good company and anticipation for the coming dawn. As for Hashem, his lobster quest had started out slow but the windiest time and roughest area actually produced a plethora of creepy crawlers. He caught about 30 although “only” six were keeper-size bugs. He said it was his best night ever.

Around a quarter to six the Sun starts to peak over the mainland hills and I was never so glad to see the Mr. Sol and his warming rays. Although the wind had abated somewhat, it was still fairly strong. It was going to be hard fishing unless we found a spot with better cover. Luckily the shore end of the Mole is behind buildings and the more I studied the very far end, the area by the shore, the more I became convinced that it might yield a moray eel, the fish I’ve been seeking out this past year. I’ve caught a moray from a boat at the Coronado Islands but have never caught one from a pier. Since the shoreline areas of Catalina are considered the best spot in the state for morays, and since the winning fish at the 2003 Get Together was a moray eel, I knew some had to be in the area. That small cove at the end of the Mole looked promising— an area abutting a rocky shoreline with numerous holes.

However, first light often means bonito out on the Mole and a good opaleye bite out at the corner. The opaleye did show up and produced some excellent fishing for part of an hour while the bonito unfortunately never did show. I caught a half dozen opaleye and a variety of other fish but finally we both decided for some cover from the wind. Although the wind had shown some slight reduction in intensity early in the morning, the fury returned and we moved the equipment down behind the buildings near the cove I wanted to check out.

Soon I was dropping a single bait down into a rocky area filled with holes and crevices and soon had a few taps that gave promise. Like other piers that extend over rocks in inshore areas, the hard thing to do is avoid tangling sinker or hooks in the crevices that contain the fish. At low tide you can see the holes and promising areas and get an idea what you want to do. But given the waves and surge it isn’t easy to keep your rigs from being lost. What you have to do is feel the rocks, the difference between kelp-grabs and fish, and when to pull and when to let the let the rig be free. You want the sinker lightly resting on the bottom and you have to be prepared for every strike. As I was fishing I thought over how many times I have done this and how easy it would be to lose some rigs (and you almost always lose some). But I could feel what was happening to the sinker. I wondered what would happen if you shut your eyes and forced yourself to feel the bottom; I tried it and I even seemed to feel the bottom better. I’m not suggesting you always close your eyes when fishing but it may not be a bad idea to practice closing the eyes at times and seeing if you can better feel and visualize the bottom? Just a thought.

No matter my success in keeping the sinker out of a crevice, the area did not produce a moray. I did manage a few fish including a 16 1/8-inch giant kelpfish that was a good size for the species. The nets had been put away by this time and Hashem had joined in the fishing. We continued to fish through the morning but the bite was fairly slow and surprisingly the wind had started to increase. Hashem wandered over to the Ferry office to confirm our reservations and when he returned he said, “do you want the good news first or the bad news?” The bad news was that all ferries were cancelled for the day and we were stuck on the island. The good news was that we were in Catalina.

Of course that meant we needed to find a motel. Hashem checked with the Hermosa Hotel that typically hosts most people during the Get Together and they offered up two rooms for the price of one. Sold! No toothbrush, no razors, nothing but the clothes on our backs but hey, we’re fishermen, smelly fishermen. But also no C-Pap machines and that meant a return to the old man’s disease and nature calling every two hours or so. The only other problem was trying to keep the fish and lobsters that we had kept fresh. We would have to ice them down and keep them iced until our return.

Off and on we fished the Mole throughout the morning—with limited success. Finally we decided we would head over to the Green Pleasure Pier in the afternoon prior to heading to the hotel. Seven and a half hours had yielded 27 fish: 7 garibaldi, 6 opaleye, 4 sheephead, 3 halfmoon, 2 kelp bass, 2 kelp rockfish, 2 giant kelpfish and 1 senorita.

4. Tuesday—Green Pleasure Pier

After moving to the Green Pleasure Pier where we found the fish off their feed. The water looked empty of fish which was a very strange sight at the pier. But I felt they were there, just hanging deeper and less hungry. The one exception was Spanish mackerel (jack mackerel) that would flock to the top of the water when peas where thrown out. Yes, the only thing they wanted was peas. Not worms, not pieces of shrimp, not strips of baitfish or squid, not lures or Sabikis; the preference was peas—and carrots. Hashem had brought a package of frozen peas and carrots and surprisingly the fish were hitting on both. They peas were gone first but then the fish moved to the carrots. We had promised Debbie at the Mole we would bring her some fish to feed her birds so jack mackerel became the fish of choice. By the way I was also feeding the birds, a thing that I NEVER do. Some pigeons had come over to investigate the peas and one was willing to eat the peas out of my hand. So I’m a schmuck; here you go bird.

One of the fun things of fishing is meeting some new people and making some new friends. At one point Hashem had gone off to buy a hamburger and I’m standing alone at the end of the pier fishing, pulling in a few fish, and being watched by a young lady and her husband. She finally says, “my husband would like to fish but the store is closed, would you rent him a pole for $10? My response was that no, I would not rent her a pole. I would loan them one. Soon after, Hashem returned and the four of us had a nice time fishing and talking. She disappeared for a while before returning with a bag containing two big cinnamon buns. “I was taught to pay back those who did a nice things for me and thought you two would like these.” Nice lady and a nice husband and they even both got to catch some fish.

Another interesting group we met was four Amish visitors from Indiana. We ran into them several different times and had several different conversations. Turned out they had lived near Legionnaire, Indiana where an aunt of mine lives. We were able to share some Indiana stories and give them some tips for their visit to Los Angeles.

We finally stopped fishing at 5:30 and started packing for the hotel. Three and a half hours of fishing had produced 22 fish: 18 jack mackerel, 1 kelp bass, 1 sheephead, 1 rock wrasse and 1 senorita.

We iced down all the bugs and fish, put away all the equipment, and headed out for a light dinner. We were tired and all I really wanted was a warm room and a comfortable bed. And—a peaceful wind the next morning.

5. Wednesday —Avalon

I was up early and it seemed to be a beautiful morning. There was slight breeze, a big cruise ship was sitting just out from the Mole, and it appeared we would have an easy ride back to the mainland. It was beautiful at 7 a.m., by 8:30 conditions were starting to change. The wind was picking up and the single red flag of the early morning was changed into a two-flag warning. We had skipped the 8 a.m. boat opting instead for an 11:30 departure. Turned out it would be the last boat back to San Pedro for the day.

Although I normally would have been up fishing, everything was packed away and I simply felt no need to add another hour of fishing to the itinerary. Although the fishing was fairly slow, I had caught an even 100 fish and most were decent size. It was time to relax, take a few pictures of the island, and buy my granddaughter a present for her birthday (which I had missed on Saturday). Hashem and I had a good breakfast and then headed over to the Ferry. We talked to some people, took more pictures, and made ready for the trip home.

6. Wednesday—Return trip

After boarding we were somewhat ready for anything. Exiting passengers had said to expect rough seas and some had gotten seasick. Then the ferry started off with a trip down the island hanging close to shore, a route uncommon to us. It was a pretty ride but then the captain announced that we were soon to be changing direction and crossing the channel. He said there were 7-9 foot swells, 25-30 mph winds, and let everyone know that help was there if needed. O.K.! In my head I was already giving the trip a title—“Trip to Paradise, return trip from Hell.” But it never really seemed that rough and neither of us got seasick on the way back. We hated to leave but were happy to be headed home; contradictory thoughts but such thoughts are common when it comes to Catalina. It remains a special place.

Of course there was still the unloading of equipment and hoped for speedy exit trough Los Angeles. I left Hashem’s house at 2:45, traffic on the 405 was slow (as usual) but things speeded up after passing HY101. Of course I didn’t anticipate the mobile home that had blown over in the windy Grapevine, a mishap that slowed things to a crawl for nearly a half hour, The three and a half hour drive down from Fresno at 4:30 in the morning Saturday turned into four and a half hour return. Such is California life.

However, even with the various vicissitudes encountered during the trip, it was another enjoyable visit to Catalina. Wish I could live and work there but there’s little chance of that. Trips such as the upcoming