My son Sean and I decided to do an over-night trip to Catalina as he had a rare few days off of work/school. We launched Thursday morning from Huntington Harbor and picked up a scoop of smaller sardines from Mario. Headed toward the oil rigs and were greeted by fog that lasted all the way to the Avalon Bank, about 12 miles. Not the best way to start the day, but we made it to the East End safely. We also made some mini macs off a few kelp paddies, but no gamesters were home.
There were a few boats strung out from the Vs to the Palisades, so we made some drifts fly lining the ‘deans for non-stop bonito action, some up to 5 pounds. Deciding we needed bigger bait, Salta Verde kelp provided good looking smelt to top off the bait tank. I got an aquarium-like view under the kelp beds with smelt, blues, blacksmith, opaleye, calicos and even 2 seal pups playing. Beautiful!
We moved west to Freddy’s Beach and found small yellowtail to 4 pounds mixed in with the bones and we had a blast catching and releasing the firecrackers (or is that size rats?
). Looking for bigger models, slow trolling our larger baits produced some larger bones and more small yellows. Man, those little guys are aggressive! We only kept 2 bonito and one small yellow that were bleeding out. Everything else was released to fight another day. That night we picked up a mooring in Avalon.
Friday morning, we trolled Frog Rock to K20 and Rippers to Empire for nothing, and even our shallow water rockfish spot only had whitefish. On the way home we trolled bonito on the bait-o-matic and a big Nomad 200 though a dolphin pod but luck was not on our side. A west swell crossed by south-east wind waves made for a bumpy ride back to the barn.
So even though we did not get into the bigger yellows, the little guys and bones were game and made for a fun trip. Water temps at the Island were 68.5 to 73.25 – which was found in the afternoon at Freddy’s.
Good luck and be safe out there!
Little fish, big smile! This is the smallest one we caught
Another feisty bonito
There were a few boats strung out from the Vs to the Palisades, so we made some drifts fly lining the ‘deans for non-stop bonito action, some up to 5 pounds. Deciding we needed bigger bait, Salta Verde kelp provided good looking smelt to top off the bait tank. I got an aquarium-like view under the kelp beds with smelt, blues, blacksmith, opaleye, calicos and even 2 seal pups playing. Beautiful!
We moved west to Freddy’s Beach and found small yellowtail to 4 pounds mixed in with the bones and we had a blast catching and releasing the firecrackers (or is that size rats?
). Looking for bigger models, slow trolling our larger baits produced some larger bones and more small yellows. Man, those little guys are aggressive! We only kept 2 bonito and one small yellow that were bleeding out. Everything else was released to fight another day. That night we picked up a mooring in Avalon.Friday morning, we trolled Frog Rock to K20 and Rippers to Empire for nothing, and even our shallow water rockfish spot only had whitefish. On the way home we trolled bonito on the bait-o-matic and a big Nomad 200 though a dolphin pod but luck was not on our side. A west swell crossed by south-east wind waves made for a bumpy ride back to the barn.
So even though we did not get into the bigger yellows, the little guys and bones were game and made for a fun trip. Water temps at the Island were 68.5 to 73.25 – which was found in the afternoon at Freddy’s.
Good luck and be safe out there!
Little fish, big smile! This is the smallest one we caught
Another feisty bonito
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