Short version: Fished Catalina with my son Sean Monday through Wednesday for bass, sheephead, rock fish and yellowtail from 8 pounds to my new personal best 31 pounder! Best area was the super-secret spot known as the Vs, water temps 62 to 68. Skip to pictures below.
Novel: My son Sean had not been fishing with me for a long time while juggling school and work, so he was looking forward to this trip in a big way. As we left Huntington Harbor Monday morning, there was an hour delay at the bridge as a war ship was docking. A small price for us to pay, as our nations finest were coming home for some well-deserved shore leave. Salute.
We picked up a generous scoop of squid from Mario (Nacho is on vacation) and headed across in virtually glass conditions. As we approached Empire, the wind picked up and the water temp was 62, so we headed east. Inside of Long Point the temp was up to 65+, so we started slow trolling green backs and within 10 minutes Sean gets ripped, but the fish came unbuttoned. Undaunted, he pins on a large Spanish mackerel and soon gets hit again, this time landing an 8 pound yellow. While we are still bleeding out the first fish, I get slammed and it turns out to be another 8 pounder. Twins at high noon.
A bit later, I get hit again on a Spanish, and this time a 10 pound yellow hits the deck. 4 baits, 4 hits. Now I am wishing we had some sardines as well as we are out of fin bait. Fly lining squid produces no yellows, but a bunch of nice calicos, all released. Fishing some beaches, we released several short halibut, more bass and a couple of small yellows. We want to be out on the Squid grounds that night, but it was blowing 20+ knots, so we called it a night.
Tuesday morning we ran over to the Isthmus area to try a few beaches, but the halibut were a no show. Over at our rock fish spot I picked up a big red and Sean got a nice sheephead, but that was it on the bigger fish. Eagle Reef was swamped with red crab, and the calicos were flipping out. We released several, and got rocked by a few bigger fish and left them biting.
That afternoon we hit more beaches and released several just-short halibut, and lost a 24+ incher right at the boat. This is where I also hooked myself. Had a 2/0 go in one side and out the other on my ring finger pad, with the barb going deep into my middle finger. Two for one. I cut the hook in between them and backed it out, but that still left the barb deep in my other finger, which I had to yank out. Both were bleeding pretty bad, so I poured some Absolute vodka on them, and had a monster jolt myself. Done for the day, we moored up in Avalon.
The next morning we are up at 4 AM and we arrived at the Vs in the dark. The squid fleet is wrapping it up and we start drifting over the squid grounds. At grey light, nothing is really happening yet, and we talked to some guys who got 2 big yellows that night. Then it was like someone flipped a switch as boats a bit further west started going bendo. After watching for a while, we moved west outside the fleet and on our first drift my 40# outfit starts screaming. This fish ripped off 200 yards of top shot and another 100+ yards of braid backing on the first run. Incredible!
We started motoring her out to sea and away from the fleet. 3 more terrific runs, and now I see the fish at deep color. Wow. I am so flustered I don’t even put the reel in low gear, just short pumping it into range, where Sean hits a perfect gaff shot just behind the head. 31 pounds of personal best yellowtail hit the deck, and high 5s! The whole fight was less than 15 minutes, but it seemed like an hour. It was a good feeling after losing the halibut and getting hooked. Some better luck came my way!
We set up a few more drifts and did not get another bite, but we did see other boats still getting some. I was just thankful for the thrill of capturing this beast. We left a day earlier than planned, as the fish hold was full now anyway. A calm sea followed us home. Time for a big BBQ!
Good luck and be safe out there.
Mike
None of the photos we took did this monster justice. This is the best one. No one wants to see my mug anyway.
Another view later
Sean's yellow
Me with another yellow
Another shot
Novel: My son Sean had not been fishing with me for a long time while juggling school and work, so he was looking forward to this trip in a big way. As we left Huntington Harbor Monday morning, there was an hour delay at the bridge as a war ship was docking. A small price for us to pay, as our nations finest were coming home for some well-deserved shore leave. Salute.
We picked up a generous scoop of squid from Mario (Nacho is on vacation) and headed across in virtually glass conditions. As we approached Empire, the wind picked up and the water temp was 62, so we headed east. Inside of Long Point the temp was up to 65+, so we started slow trolling green backs and within 10 minutes Sean gets ripped, but the fish came unbuttoned. Undaunted, he pins on a large Spanish mackerel and soon gets hit again, this time landing an 8 pound yellow. While we are still bleeding out the first fish, I get slammed and it turns out to be another 8 pounder. Twins at high noon.
A bit later, I get hit again on a Spanish, and this time a 10 pound yellow hits the deck. 4 baits, 4 hits. Now I am wishing we had some sardines as well as we are out of fin bait. Fly lining squid produces no yellows, but a bunch of nice calicos, all released. Fishing some beaches, we released several short halibut, more bass and a couple of small yellows. We want to be out on the Squid grounds that night, but it was blowing 20+ knots, so we called it a night.
Tuesday morning we ran over to the Isthmus area to try a few beaches, but the halibut were a no show. Over at our rock fish spot I picked up a big red and Sean got a nice sheephead, but that was it on the bigger fish. Eagle Reef was swamped with red crab, and the calicos were flipping out. We released several, and got rocked by a few bigger fish and left them biting.
That afternoon we hit more beaches and released several just-short halibut, and lost a 24+ incher right at the boat. This is where I also hooked myself. Had a 2/0 go in one side and out the other on my ring finger pad, with the barb going deep into my middle finger. Two for one. I cut the hook in between them and backed it out, but that still left the barb deep in my other finger, which I had to yank out. Both were bleeding pretty bad, so I poured some Absolute vodka on them, and had a monster jolt myself. Done for the day, we moored up in Avalon.
The next morning we are up at 4 AM and we arrived at the Vs in the dark. The squid fleet is wrapping it up and we start drifting over the squid grounds. At grey light, nothing is really happening yet, and we talked to some guys who got 2 big yellows that night. Then it was like someone flipped a switch as boats a bit further west started going bendo. After watching for a while, we moved west outside the fleet and on our first drift my 40# outfit starts screaming. This fish ripped off 200 yards of top shot and another 100+ yards of braid backing on the first run. Incredible!
We started motoring her out to sea and away from the fleet. 3 more terrific runs, and now I see the fish at deep color. Wow. I am so flustered I don’t even put the reel in low gear, just short pumping it into range, where Sean hits a perfect gaff shot just behind the head. 31 pounds of personal best yellowtail hit the deck, and high 5s! The whole fight was less than 15 minutes, but it seemed like an hour. It was a good feeling after losing the halibut and getting hooked. Some better luck came my way!
We set up a few more drifts and did not get another bite, but we did see other boats still getting some. I was just thankful for the thrill of capturing this beast. We left a day earlier than planned, as the fish hold was full now anyway. A calm sea followed us home. Time for a big BBQ!
Good luck and be safe out there.
Mike
None of the photos we took did this monster justice. This is the best one. No one wants to see my mug anyway.
Another view later
Sean's yellow
Me with another yellow
Another shot
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