Between a nasty bout of COVID and finals in early December, I didn't leave the house until I tested negative on the very last day of the year. Naturally, the first thing I did once I finally broke out of quarantine was go fishing.
I took the 7 am ferry out of Long Beach. As the boat neared the island, I noticed all the construction equipment and barriers around the Mole were gone. Even closer, I noticed some people standing around on its deck, a few with lines in the water. The Cabrillo Mole was finally open, after over a year of construction.
I naturally started off fishing the Mole, throwing out a dropper loop with some old frozen chunks of mackerel. My first fish of 2021 was a short calico:
There were two other anglers on the Mole, and they were doing decently well on cut squid. I fished the bubble and feather while the bait rod soaked, and around 9, I got my first missed strike. I landed one bonito shortly afterwards, and lent the other anglers spare bubbles and flies. They managed to land one bonito, while I popped off several more. Then suddenly as they appeared, the bones disappeared.
The wind picked up pretty severely afterwards, and I only caught one small whitefish. The other anglers caught two just-legal sheephead and a huge scorpionfish. When the wind died down around 10:30, I tried throwing the splasher again for little luck. I then switched to a 42 gram coltsniper and bombed it out as far as I could. On the drop, it got picked up by a very nice fish that came off next to the pier. The next cast yielded another bonito. The other anglers began catching too, and until 12, there was very fast action on bones as long as I could get a jig out, with a fish every cast. I was also surprised by a few short calico that hit on the drop. I limited out and continued catching and releasing fish until the wind picked up again, and it became difficult to cast. By now the other anglers left, and I was alone on the pier.
The rest of the day was much slower, but despite the wind, the weather was pretty nice, and I relaxed a bit. I caught a small moray around 2, and had a couple missed hits on cut bait. At 3, the wind finally died down and I started fishing frozen peas for perch. I caught one decent opaleye and halfmoon, with a couple short calico and smaller perch mixed in. At 3:40, I hooked a large opaleye, one that would definitely snap my line if I tried to hoist it over the railing. Luckily for me, a new group of anglers had set up next to me, and they helped me land it using my bucket and rope. This fish taped out at 16".
I switched back to fishing strips of squid on a dropper loop, and I caught a couple short sheephead, while my neighbors also caught some of the same. At one point one of them hooked a decent 16" sheephead, and I returned the favor and helped them land it. They graciously offered the fish to me, since they were fishing only for fun. (Sheephead is open year-round to shore-based anglers) As it got darker, mackerel began hitting my baits as they sank, and I couldn't fish the bottom anymore. I caught a couple mackerel, one more small moray and (thankfully) broke off another very large eel next to the pier before I took the 6:30 boat home.
The Mole itself hasn't changed much, the most notable changes being one more trash can and the removal of a bench from the northern corner. The deck material was also changed. The new deck annoyingly puts off a lot of sand and other particulate, which stuck to fish as they hit the deck and made for ugly pictures.
I took the 7 am ferry out of Long Beach. As the boat neared the island, I noticed all the construction equipment and barriers around the Mole were gone. Even closer, I noticed some people standing around on its deck, a few with lines in the water. The Cabrillo Mole was finally open, after over a year of construction.
I naturally started off fishing the Mole, throwing out a dropper loop with some old frozen chunks of mackerel. My first fish of 2021 was a short calico:
There were two other anglers on the Mole, and they were doing decently well on cut squid. I fished the bubble and feather while the bait rod soaked, and around 9, I got my first missed strike. I landed one bonito shortly afterwards, and lent the other anglers spare bubbles and flies. They managed to land one bonito, while I popped off several more. Then suddenly as they appeared, the bones disappeared.
The wind picked up pretty severely afterwards, and I only caught one small whitefish. The other anglers caught two just-legal sheephead and a huge scorpionfish. When the wind died down around 10:30, I tried throwing the splasher again for little luck. I then switched to a 42 gram coltsniper and bombed it out as far as I could. On the drop, it got picked up by a very nice fish that came off next to the pier. The next cast yielded another bonito. The other anglers began catching too, and until 12, there was very fast action on bones as long as I could get a jig out, with a fish every cast. I was also surprised by a few short calico that hit on the drop. I limited out and continued catching and releasing fish until the wind picked up again, and it became difficult to cast. By now the other anglers left, and I was alone on the pier.
The rest of the day was much slower, but despite the wind, the weather was pretty nice, and I relaxed a bit. I caught a small moray around 2, and had a couple missed hits on cut bait. At 3, the wind finally died down and I started fishing frozen peas for perch. I caught one decent opaleye and halfmoon, with a couple short calico and smaller perch mixed in. At 3:40, I hooked a large opaleye, one that would definitely snap my line if I tried to hoist it over the railing. Luckily for me, a new group of anglers had set up next to me, and they helped me land it using my bucket and rope. This fish taped out at 16".
I switched back to fishing strips of squid on a dropper loop, and I caught a couple short sheephead, while my neighbors also caught some of the same. At one point one of them hooked a decent 16" sheephead, and I returned the favor and helped them land it. They graciously offered the fish to me, since they were fishing only for fun. (Sheephead is open year-round to shore-based anglers) As it got darker, mackerel began hitting my baits as they sank, and I couldn't fish the bottom anymore. I caught a couple mackerel, one more small moray and (thankfully) broke off another very large eel next to the pier before I took the 6:30 boat home.
The Mole itself hasn't changed much, the most notable changes being one more trash can and the removal of a bench from the northern corner. The deck material was also changed. The new deck annoyingly puts off a lot of sand and other particulate, which stuck to fish as they hit the deck and made for ugly pictures.
