Takes Fish Out Of Hand As Would A Pet Dog

Depends on Friendly Fishermen for Food and Waxes Fat on Albacore. Eats immense Quantities of Fish and Roams Seas as Patriarch of the Isolated Tribe

If you have visited Avalon on beautiful Catalina Island you have probably seen the statue to “Old Ben” that sits on the path from the ferry landing to the center of town. Here’s an old story that tells about “Old Ben.”

“Old Ben,” the famous old seal of Avalon, is still in his old haunts among the row boats and launches that dot the little harbor. He has been there for thirty-five years and in that time become as tame as the seals which are confined in parks and aquariums. He is as wise as the trained seals of Ringling’s circus, and were he to be captured and put with them, he would cost his keepers a tidy fortune, for he has the biggest appetite of any of his kind ever known.

“Old Ben” feasts on the big fish brought in by the hundreds of anglers that visit Catalina each summer. At each meal he will consume a half-dozen big albacore or skipjacks, aggregating 125 pounds in weight. When he is hungry he swims up near the boat landing, where his favorite befriender, Charles Tompkins, has his boat stand. After a glance at the fish rack, he sets to barking and diving about until he has attracted the attention of those on the pier. He will crawl clean up on the float after food, but even when extremely hungry he cannot be induced to remain there. As soon as he has seized his fish, he dives back into the bay, rising to the surface now and then to give his food a vicious toss as he tears out mouthfuls of flesh. At these times he is often followed by other smaller seals which are too timid to approach the landing. Gulls also pursue the old sea lion and seize the morsels, which are torn loose from the fish as it s being consumed.

This old pet of the bay has attained a great weight from the constant easy supply of food within his reach. He has never been on a scales, but estimates of his weight, made by causing him to cross planks up to a size that would no longer break, give it close to 1400 pounds. His sleek, gray-brown back is often seen dashing between the bathers, who scatter in wild commotion whenever he appears. He has an utter disregard for people and things, and roams about the bay whatever place suits his fancy.

Before Catalina was made a resort, “Old Ben” is supposed to have been the chief of the colony on Seal Rocks. Presumably he was vanquished by some younger rival, and now leads the life of an outcast. He seem to find this entirely agreeable, however, he has succeeded in coaxing several others of the colony into the bay with him. His face is scarred with the marks of many battles, and he has lost the sight of his right eye, but he rules his little band of in the bay as supremely as his successor on the rocks governs the colony.  — Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1918

Species: Heteropriacanthus carolinus (Cuvier, 1829); from  the Greek heteros (different), prion (saw), and akantha  thorn) and the Latin carolinus (in reference to geographic area).

Identification: Silvery pink, mottled red or solid red in color; median fins with faint dark dots. Pelvic fins dusky or pale and without distinct spots. Section of preopercle behind canal striated and without scales. Dorsal spines (total): 10; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12-13; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 13 – 14.

Size: Most that are seen are around 8 inches in length; maximum length about 20 inches.

Range: Circumglobal in tropical and tropically influenced seas. Common in island habitats throughout the central Pacific. In the Eastern Pacific found along island habitats from off Baja California to the Galapagoes; probably uncommon along coast of Mexico, Central and South America, questionably to Chile.

The stressed fish prior to release

Habitat: Common in lagoon and seaward reefs, primarily around islands. Typically found in water 10 to 100 feet in depth although recorded to a depth of about 900 feet. Under or near ledges by day.   Nocturnal, feeding mainly on octopi, pelagic shrimp, stomatopods, crabs, small fish, and polychaetes . Solitary, during the day usually occurring singly or in small groups; at dusk it may gather in large numbers. Known to produce sound.

Piers: In California, only recorded at the Cabrillo Mole, Avalon, Catalina Island.

Shoreline: Not recorded in California.

Boats: Not recorded in California.

Bait and Tackle: The one caught was at night on a piece of shrimp.

Food Value: Marketed in fresh fish markets although some reports of ciguatera poisoning

Comments: In December 2017, I made a trip to Avalon on Catalina Island. The last afternoon was spent fishing on the Cabrillo Mole with the usual species being caught. At 5:30, with darkness descending, I stopped fishing and headed over to get a cup of hot chocolate. Upon my return I packed up the gear and sat down to relax and wait for the last ferry back to the mainland.

My rest was interrupted when I saw a nearby angler pull in a fish. I walked over to see what he had caught which, I expected, would be a type of rockfish or a salema, both of which hit well at the Mole after it is dark.

However, the fish turned out to be a species that was new to me (and a quick check of my reference book did not reveal a picture). My first thought had been of a tiny, juvenile giant sea bass (it was only 5-6 inches long) but the fin structure was wrong. My next thought was of a was a popeye catalufa, the fin structure was about right but the color was wrong. My friend Hashem and I talked the angler into letting us take a couple of quick photos before returning the fish to the water.  Since I am always seeking out new species, that fish, even though I didn’t catch it, put the final cap on the trip.

Upon returning home I sent a copy of the pictures to Milton Love at UC Santa Barbara for identification but he said he’s never seen it before. He said he would send the pictures out to a network of experts who should be able to identify it. It took a while but eventually it was decided that the fish was probably a  Pacific glasseye, Heteropriacanthus carolinus, a fish more common to indo-Pacific waters like Hawaii and Australia.

Unfortunately, we had returned the fish to the water which Mr. Love let me know is generally good but in this case might have provided a definitive answer to the species (me bad!). Nevertheless, it may be the first recorded sighting of the fish in California.

Main Reference: FishBase — Starnes, W.C., 2018.FishBase.World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 06/2018

https://www.fishbase.de/summary/Heteropriacanthus-cruentatus.html# 

“The glasseye fish Heteropriacanthus, previously known as a monotypic genus, is now divided into three species based on morphological and genetic features. After examination on the type specimens and literature, herein we resurrect two junior binomens, H. carolinus (Cuvier, 1829) from the Indo-Pacific Ocean and H. fulgens (Lowe, 1838) from the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Heteropriacanthus cruentatus (Lacepède, 1801) is now considered to be restricted to the Atlantic and southwestern Indian oceans. In light of these observations we discuss the evolutionary history of the genus.”

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28610238

“Glasseyes or glass bigeyes (Heteropriacanthus) are a genus of the bigeye family found in all tropical seas around the world. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of 50.7 cm (20.0 in) in total length…  All glasseyes used to classified in a single species, Heteropriacanthus cruentatus…but recent morphological and genetic analysis indicates that glasseyes should be divided into three species: Heteropriacanthus cruentatus (Atlantic Ocean and southwest Indian Ocean), H. fulgens (northeastern Atlantic), and H. carolinus (Indo-Pacific).^“

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Heteropriacanthus

James (GDude) and a nice bonito  from the Mole

Posted by Mahigeer — Date: April 30, 2009 — The following report is about the trip, rather than the fish count. The trip preparation for me actually started a month before the event. I usually get all of my fishing gear out and go through them. Then I decide what to take and what to leave. I had to get goodie bags from Marty Golden at NOAA, and get prizes from Bass Pro Shops etc. etc. Then over-pack as usual. This time I had to build a new cart as well, which worked fairly well. It needs some reinforcing for the next year.

Wednesday April 22nd — Pre-trip —I had my roommate to be, Santa, drop his gear at my house so we could pack the car. This way we were able to leave early on Thursday morning. He also helped me rebuild my Penn reel. After sharing a light supper with Santa, and the Jones’s it was on to bed for an early rise and departure on Thursday.

Thursday 23rd — The Trip — We (Santa and I) stopped at the Paul’s Bait and Tackle in San Pedro to pick up bait. They gave us $ 240.00 worth of bait free.

Next it was on to the Catalina Express Terminal where we found the Skipper and his wife Pat along with Rita and Kyle. Catalina was having a special “flying fish” season so I took a picture of everyone wearing their flying fish hats.

Mike (Santa)

We went to the line to get on the boat. I was first in line, and Santa saw the attendee, giving a dirty look to my “four wheel” cart. To his amazement I pulled a couple of pins out and it  met the requirement for a “two wheel” cart. On the way down the ramp to get on the boat, I did not see a protrusion, and the top heavy cart went flying. Fortunately Santa and Skipper helped me to upright the cart and Mrs. Jones took my clothing bag thus, reducing my load. We got on the boat and stored our gear at the stern of the boat. There was a clothing bag on top of this cart before the incident. I was proud of my cart and wondering if I looked liked a professional “pier rat”, but I was told by some visiting Floridians that I look like a homeless person with all of his possessions in tow!!

I was relaxed and happy to be on board. I decided to take a look at the dock to see what was going on. I suddenly see my jacket and the rod holder tubes still on the dock. When the cart went over, I had put them down to work on the cart. Then I forgot to take them. Fortunately the Captain was right there and he allowed me to go get my jacket and rods.

Derby Pics #1

Cabrillo Mole

The ride to the island was smooth for the most part. I took a pill and put on my wrist bands. This helped me recover, with no sea sickness. Upon arriving at the island, we decided to go to the Green Pleasure Pier (GPP). They had moved the floating dock and the ramp to one side, so there was plenty of railing space to fish from. One problem though, the entire back area was closed due to the construction going on. It happened that the man in charge was a “ham vatan” countryman in Farsi. Whether because I made friends with him or Skipper talking to him or to the Harbor Patrol, they provided us with a place to fish from for the duration of the weekend. Good thing, otherwise the Skipper would have been unbearable to be with. He looooves that pier.

The hotel was nice enough to let us check in early and after unpacking and a quick lunch, Skipper, Rita, and Kyle, went to the GPP. Santa and I went to check the Descanso Beach, for a possible surffishing site.

Derby Pics #2

SteveO and a barracuda

Rita with a bonito

Giant Kelpfish

After we returned to the hotel, I went to the GPP, and Santa went to the Casino jetty. Kyle got some good-size opaleye and sheephead, Skipper got his usual variety, and I got some short bass and medium-size opaleye.

We decided to meet later at Antonio’s with Gordo and Baitfish and family. I was the only one left at the pier when I saw the party of Gordo, and his guests arrive at the island. I used my small binoculars, and tried to wave at them. They waved back, but I am not sure if Gordo was waving one or five fingers!! After a nice dinner and conversation, everyone but me went to bed. I walked around with a powerful flashlight in hopes of seeing some thing, like a lobster, or flying fish.

Derby Pics #4

Eugene with a kelp (calico) bass

Rebecca (Roosterqueen( with an opaleye

Friday 24th — Pre-event —I wanted to meet Adam at the Mole around 5:30 AM, but did not set the alarm correct. Around 6:20, while I am washing up, my cell phone goes off and there is a picture send by Adam holding a 2-1/2 lb. bonito, and smiling. As though he is saying “see what you are missing by sleeping.” By the time I got to the Mole he had caught and released four bonito. We fished till it was time to meet others at the Jack’s for breakfast.

After breakfast, I had to take care of some organizing business and did not get to the Mole till afternoon. People started to show up and we fished the Mole. In the afternoon, some of the gang went to see the famous Tuna Club. I fished till it was time to clean up for the dinner at the Mia Casita’s. After dinner I again went for a walk at the GPP, where I saw Minnow magnet getting fish after fish.

Derby Pics #5

Scott and Steve waiting for bonito

Adam (Baitfish)  with a sheephead

Hashem (Mahigeer) with a bonito

Saturday 25th — the main event —I was at the Mole around 6:00 am, having set and worn my wristwatch, and having my cell phone next to my pillow in bed. The first bonito of this trip was landed around 6:30 or so. This time Adam was sleeping late. I fished till 9:00 am, at which time I went to the hotel to get all the necessary items for the “main event” By this time more and more people were arriving and setting up at the Mole.

After the derby, lunch, raffle, and distribution of the trophies, we took a group picture and then everybody went back to fishing or packed up to go home. It was dark when we left the Mole to clean up at the hotel and meet for one more dinner at the Antonio’s.

This time it was Baitfish and Rosterqueen, Santa, Gordo, SoCalNewb, and yours truly. We had a nice dinner and lots of laughs. After dinner I went for my after dinner walk, and checked the GPP. While there, Steve-O hooked in to something big. He will report on that I am sure.

Derby Pics #6

Mike (Santa)

Friends—Rita, Ross and Kyle

Adam (Baitfish) and James (GDude)

Day 4, Sunday 26th — The Saddest part of the trip! — After another breakfast at Jack’s we said good–by to each other, and went back to the hotel to pack and check out. Santa and I were on the 6:00 pm boat, so we went to the Mole, where we met Scooterfish and Steve-O. They were in their usual form of slaying bonito after bonito. We fished and had tourist fish with our gear, re-organized our stuff and cooler full of fish, etc. At one point while Santa was removing hook from a bonito, Scott, Steve, and I had a triple hook up on bonito.

The ride home was smooth as silk with no problems except the weight of the cart. We arrived at the Long Beach Terminal to find my wife waiting patiently for us. As with all good things in life, this event had to have an end. That is the sad part. Now I/we start to count the days to the next one.

Derby Pics #7

Jimbojack with a sheephead

James (GDude) with a bonito — background support Eugene and Adam

Barracuda

Here are some side notes: I mainly bought the “wave cast” reel for this trip. It did not disappoint me. I even had veteran casters such as baitfish and Scooterfish, cast some with it. They seemed to like it too. It is not the ultimate reel by any chance, but it will do for me. While cleaning the bonito at my house, two of them had hooks in their throats. The 1/0 hooks are still in pretty good shape, with no sign of rust.

In Conclusion, I would like to thank Scott, Adam and Rebecca for coming such a long way to fish and visit with us. Thank you Gdude and family for the food, and the prizes donated. Thank you Gordo for collecting donation instead of fishing, and putting up with my singing! Thank you everyone who endured long drives and perhaps some monetary hardship to come join us and making this one of the best gatherings yet. Thank you to all who attended from far and near. Without your participation it would have been just a fishing trip, rather than a Gathering.

Derby Pics #8

Rita with an ocean whitefish

Bonito

Cole with smallest fish award (sheephead)

Posted by Scooterfish — Date: April 30, 2009

Another Catalina event comes and goes! As I expected, this was another spectacular year for fishing and for catching up with friends. This report contains no pictures because I was too busy fishing to take many… I will post the pics I did take later once I have processed them. Steve-O is having trouble logging on the board for some reason, so his pics will come later (including a couple of a real monster!)

I left my house Friday morning at 5:00am CST, and arrived at Long Beach Airport at 12:55 PST. Steve-O was waiting for me after flying down from San Jose, and we grabbed our shuttle to Long Beach Downtown Terminal for the Cat Express. Upon arrival we noticed a fellow fisherman already waiting, which turned out to be SoCalNewb and his lady friend. Took our seats up in the Commodore Lounge, had a beer or two, and before we knew it we had pulled into the harbor at Avalon.

Derby Pics #9

Adam with a bonito  

Cole with an opaleye

Barracuda

Upon disembarking, the usual suspects were fishing the Mole… Quite a few Bonito had been caught just before we arrived, so we high-tailed it to the room, checked in, loaded Bonito gear and headed back to the Mole. Fished for a couple of hours for nothing but jumbo mackerel before it was time to return to the room and then head over to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. Dinner was good, drank Raki in moderation washed down with a few beers, and then back to the hotel.

Rigged up a pole with a Big Hammer and headed for the GPP for some nighttime Calico action. I managed a couple of legals and several dinks on artificials before calling it a night.

Following morning (Saturday) I woke up at 4:45, loaded up and headed for the Mole to secure my favorite spot for the derby. Caught two nice bonito before the derby started at 10:30. Once the derby started, I got focused and really hammered the fish!! Most of the bonito were nice sized, with an occasional 5-6lb’r mixed in. Fish number 5 was a killer for me Sad I have fought and landed lots of fish on my G-Loomis, and this one was no different. I usually land these fish by reeling down until my rod is pointing straight down at the fish, then I pendulum swing the fish onto the Mole. This was a slightly larger than average bonito and I did my standard swing landing with very little load on the rod (mostly on the line) but when I reached the apex, the top half of my rod just snapped loudly in two! I was bummed for a minute, but since it was the middle of the derby, I went to my backup rod (8.5’ G-dude special) immediately and kept catching fish. I landed 11 bonito during the derby, officially counting 10 towards my score. (One fish that was caught near the end of the derby was returned to the water before I could find someone to record it.) The Loomis will cost $50 to replace with the lifetime warranty.

Scott and a bonito

After the derby and raffle concluded, we headed back to the hotel for some R&R. Napped for a couple of hours, grabbed some dinner at Antonio’s, then grabbed our heavier gear and headed for the GPP to soak some bait. Using whole fresh squid we landed a couple of 10-12lb horn sharks, which is something like fighting a wet blanket… Pretty boring fish to catch, although cool to look at! We jigged up some nice 8” Jack Mackerel and threw them in as live bait. I was first hit, on my Ugly 7’ Tiger with a Penn 965 spooled with 50lb PowerPro and a 50lb mono leader. The fish took two long smoking runs against max drag before breaking off the 50lb leader halfway up. Steve-O was up next on a Jack Mackerel he had just tossed out. Steve was rigged with a 10ft MedHvy Ugly Stik with a Shimano BR6500 loaded with 65lb braid. The fish took the bait slow, Steve set the hook, and the fish headed seaward at a steady rate. 5 minutes later and nearly spooled, Steve got the fish turned around, it came in very slowly, lots of pump and grind kept it moving in. Halfway back to the GPP, the fish broke off the 65lb mainline. Whatever it was, it was huge! We had a couple of small hits after that, before calling it quits and getting some much needed sleep at 1:30am.

Fish On! — SteveO and a big one on the line

Sunday was a mellow day… we fished the Mole all day, picking off bonito at a steady pace, with the occasional mega-mackerel thrown in. We were the only fishermen out there most of the day. Capped off the day with another dinner at Antonio’s and decided to save ourselves for Monday’s fishing.

SteveO with a nice-sized bonito

Monday we slept in a little, but still hit the Mole by around 8:00am. Bonito were sporadic early but still present in good size and numbers. Early afternoon was epic! At some point, seemingly out of nowhere, the entire Lover’s Cove area lit up with a huge school of giant mackerel chasing smaller bait up against the beaches, and all of the associated Seagulls and Pelicans taking advantage of the situation. I wish I had my camera with me at the time, as it was incredible to watch. This continued for quite some time before the macs headed offshore a bit and the birds followed. We caught more jumbo macs (16-19”) than we could count, with quite a few bonito mixed into the bunch.

Scott with a kelp (calico) bass

We also met a fisherman named Harold at the Mole Monday afternoon. He was on the island for a fishing day trip. This guy knew his stuff from top to bottom, and was an expert at fishing the Mole. He limited on big Opaleye, and caught two Calicos that were at least 4.5-5lbs (with a couple of other nice ones for a limit of Calico). He also had a heavy lever drag rig that was loaded with 150-lb braid. He threw a big 9” smelt on as live bait and threw it just past the kelp. 10 minutes later the smelt was picked up and the clicker started a slow deliberate crawl. Harold waited patiently for about 12 seconds before setting the hook hard on the fish. He was instantly pinned to the Mole railing by the fish surging out to sea!! After a very long, dogged battle though the kelp, this MONSTER ray appears… in the water it looked bigger than it was, but we taped it at 58” or 59” wide with a massive head and body… Steve-O has the pics, which will be put up later… I had never personally seen one this big, and certainly had never seen anything that size landed through kelp like that!! The two huge calicos were also very impressive fish!

Nice bat ray from the Mole

We fished Monday to the point of exhaustion, and headed back to the hotel. We stopped by the GPP and found it was closed off at the end again, so our plan for night fishing there was cancelled, and we decided on a good night’s sleep instead after a final dinner at Antonio’s.

Woke up, finished packing and checked out for our 8:00am departure. Arrived at the Mole and realized we had no time left to fish, so we snapped a couple of pics and jumped on the ferry home. 28 hours 4 shuttles and 4 flights later I arrived on my front doorstep… Long story short we had mechanical failure in Phoenix that kept us on the runway for 1.5 hours, causing me to miss my connection in Denver, resulting in a free hotel room in Aurora, Colorado, followed by two more flights (Denver–>Charlotte, Charlotte–>New Orleans), My luggage came in on the wrong airline so I had to go through hell to find and claim it…. Woo Hoo!! I was so exhausted when I got home yesterday, but I promised my wife I would take all the baby feedings, so STILL no sleep for me, and I’m back at work already….

The trip was awesome as usual… Great to see and catch up with all of you! I look forward to next year’s event. Thanks to all that helped organize, prepare food, prizes, etc… Now just counting the days until next year! Scooterfish

Derby Pics #10 — The Food

Posted by minnowmagnent — Date: April 30, 2009

My dad and I drove down Friday and arrived at the ferry terminal at about 5:00pm. I fished a while around the ferry terminal with jigs and missed two hits and saw a guy catch some undersized sand bass. We got on the ferry at 7:00pm and arrived at the island just after 8:00pm. To my surprise there were still many garibaldi under the docks. We stopped at the hotel and my dad went to bed and I came out to the Pleasure Pier at about 8:45 pm. I started catching calicos one after another using jigs as soon as I got there. within the first 45 minutes I caught at least 10-15 with two about 12″ and one at 14.” After that the calico bite slowed down a bit and a few others joined me. I ended up catching a total of 27 calicos and a scorpionfish. I also saw some big fish that started surfacing just after midnight. I stared getting these soft hits on my big rod and then around 1:30 am I finally hooked one, I took off running and I could feel head shakes. It was not a bat ray, it jumped a couple times a couple hundred yards out then broke off. I ended up leaving around 2:00.

I got up around 6:00am on Saturday and was at the Mole by 6:45 am. I set up on the corner and started catching calicos and small opaleye on peas, then around 8:00 the wind picked up and I moved down to another spot. There I started catching lots of fish on peas including opaleye, calicos, smelt, sheephead, mackerel, halfmoon, blacksmith and wrasse.

Minnow Magnet with a nice–sized opaleye

After the derby started I continued my method of fishing for opaleye with peas and caught a few opaleye in the derby along with many other fish all caught free-lining a single pea with 4-lb fluorocarbon. That method came through for me and I ended up getting second place overall and the award for the most fish. I moved back to the corner and continued catching macks and opaleye. Then I caught a nice garibaldi about a pound on free-line ghost shrimp.  A little while later I caught a nice opaleye about 2lbs.

Minnow Magnet with a garibaldi

I caught a few more fish before we caught are ferry at 7:30pm. We ended up driving all night to get to the Sierras to fish for trout. We stopped a few times and got to our first spot around 7:00am. We fished all day and I ended up; spending a lot of time stalking some suckerfish that were very difficult to catch. I ended up catching five of them up two about 2-lbs and eight trout all around 2-lbs. The suckerfish fought real hard and I could not get the to hit on 6-lb line and had to change to 4-lb fluorocarbon, they fought like carp and jumped when hooked.

Posted by santa — Date: April 28, 2009

FIRST Catalina Get Together, FIRST time fishing on island, many new FIRST time species caught, and the best FIRST was meeting many new friends/anglers, (as well as renewing ties to dear friends).

Some visiting Aussies!  

Highlight of my trip was having a dad and three young daughters work together and reel in a decent Bonito (near right knee of girl in middle of pic). I had just hooked off the Mole. They were visiting from Australia and were watching us fish while waiting for boat to mainland, gave him my UPSAC business card and told him to E-me and I’d send them a pic. Great food, great friends, great time. Kudos to Hashem for all his hard work in setting up and coordinating the overall event. Thanks to all the folks who, worked, donated time/food/prizes/money, made suggestions, shared a meal/drink/laugh/conversation, and just being there. Whew! Still unwinding from trip. Talk about your getting back to the REAL WORLD shock.

Mike (Santa) and a bonito

Mike (Santa) with an opaleye

Posted by SoCalNewb — Date: April 27, 2009

Alright, so my report: I played hooky from work so my girlfriend and I could catch the 2 pm ferry from Long Beach on Friday. While waiting I spotted the only other two people carrying rod cases, with a suspicion they were pier rats. Once we got in line, my suspicions were confirmed, and I met scooterfish and steve-o for the first time.

After a couple rum and cokes, (sorry, I’m bad with time…) the ferry reached the Mole. As tempting as it was to just start fishing, I decided to check in first (I didn’t want to have to unpack all my gear out on the pier) before heading down to Vons for some frozen shrimp and peas before going to check out the fishing. I’m guessing by then it was sometime around 5.. I settled into a spot near the corner where scooterfish and steve-o had set up casting for bonito and met Mahigeer who wasn’t too far away, and soon after met Gordo and Santa, and later Mr. Ken Jones himself. I met a few more forum members that night, but at the moment I can’t recall who I met on Friday and who I met at the derby. (hint: too many margaritas that night) but I’m pretty sure I met everyone there before it was over.

Derby Pics #11 — The Raffle

Ross (GordoGrande)  aka “Raffle Master”

The water quality was incredible — my photos can’t do it justice. There was only a mild swell and so I decided to set up a high-low and drop straight down between the pilings. My bait was stripped many times until I figured out just the right size to cut it for it not to be stripped — the peas were just hit or miss. My first catch was a seniorita — unfortunately it had somehow been foul hooked deeply through the side… Not a nice way to start the trip. A few minutes later I picked up a decent-sized (about 6 inches) blacksmith perch, followed by another seniorita and a nice sized garibaldi (6-7 inches, but fat.), which was promptly returned to the water. I was using an 8′ ugly stick 8-20-lb. for those hookups, with spinning reel outfitted with 20-lb. braid, and 8-lb.-15-lb. leader, varying between high-low and single surgeons loop.

My bait continued to be stripped for some time before I hooked up with another garibaldi — again it was promptly returned. For a change, I was busy spending more time talking with the people around me than paying attention to my rod, and so I lost a few hook ups after. I decided to switch to my Sabiki rig while the others were getting their gear packed up to get ready for the dinner. I was using a 20 dollar 5′ Ugly Stik kit with 6-lb braid, and a size 12 circle hook Sabiki. Jigging produced nothing, so I switched to a 1 oz weight and tried my luck casting. Immediately I began to hook up with small jack mackerel and a few good-sized Pacific mackerel, keeping a handful of them for bait. Once it got dark, I packed it up to go to dinner myself.

Derby Pics #12 — The raffle

Hashem (Mahigeer) wins a  prize

SoCalNewb wins the “Grand Prize” — GDude hand wrapped Rod and a Reel

I came down to the mole later, with some glow sticks and bait hoping to hit some more mackerel, but, no takers for two hours before I gave up and went back to my room at the Hermosa Hotel.

Saturday morning I hit the Mole a couple hours before the derby was to begin, and took up the same spot near the bait board between where Hashem had taken up residence, and the corner that Scott and Steve-O were sharing… which happened to end up directly in front of the lunch/raffle table.

My luck before the derby was just decent — a couple jack mackerel, my first calico, a little 4-5 inch thing, and a garibaldi. During the derby I didn’t do much better — a seniorita, a jack mackerel, and another, smaller calico if I remember right. Scooterfish and Steve-O were slaying the Bonito, and I spent more time just enjoying watching their battles over paying attention to my own line, making for some good photos. I remember seeing a massive sheephead pulled up, and a nice barracuda being landed, and watching G-Dude wrestle in some nice bonito of his own. Some kid and his dad were trolling in a boat, and everyone enjoyed the show as a kid landed a 32-inch or so barracuda out in the area where the bonito were being caught from.

Derby Pics #13 — Awards

Jimbojack

Rita

Robert

Lunch was great, and Gyozadude’s potstickers were incredibly good. After the derby, the winners received their trophies, and a few goody bags were handed out. I won a few small prizes at the raffle — a couple towel clips, some tackle, some nice lead-free split shot that I later put to good use.. After all the other prizes had been awarded, the big draw came up; most of the numbers pulled had been much higher than mine, and the competition was pretty fierce. it must have just been beginners luck, because the final ticket just barely fell into the low end of my spread… I’ll post a couple close ups of the details on the rod, it’s a piece of art. yet another thanks to G-dude for donating it, and the Daiwa Excel reel he paired it with.

I had gotten pretty sunburned after my girlfriend had borrowed my jacket against the wind (the swells were like a washing machine, snags were unavoidable, though I only lost 6 hooks and 3 sinkers including a “snag free” sinker) so I decided to head back to my room to rest and recover, as well as to safely stow the new rod, despite the temptation to use my spooled light reel on it for the time being. (after watching and hearing Scotts rod break, I had bad visions in my head…) After a late second lunch with my girlfriend, I returned to the mole for some late afternoon fishing with Scott, Steve-O, Hashem, and Ross, and got to chatting with Adam and Rebecca. Towards sunset as everyone began to pack up, I decided to toy around with my cheapo 5′ rod again, and sure enough began picking up mackerel. I had decided because of the time I was only going to cast as long as they were biting, or until I caught a dozen… that only took me 7 casts, and so I managed to catch up with everyone else on the way back to the hotel.

My girlfriend had received some tough news regarding a family emergency and wanted some alone time so I tagged along to dinner at Antonio’s with Hashem, Ross, Mike, Adam and Rebecca, for some good food and better conversations. The dinner was a blast, and lasted til long after they had stopped seating customers.

Derby Pics #14 — Awards

Minnow Magnet and Kyle

Adam (Baitfish)

Award Winners

I decided to call it a night and rest my back and legs rather than night fishing  and on the way back Hashem received a text regarding horn sharks at the Green Pleasure Pier if I recall correctly, which tempted me, but with my sunburn sleep beckoned.

I woke up early, and went down to the Green Pleasure Pier Sunday morning around 6:30 to get some photos, where I found Mr. Jones in the corner with his lines out. After getting some photos of the casino and the harbor, I retreated to let him fish in the morning peace. The crowds were still in their hotel rooms, and the bay was still and quiet, perfect for photos and fishing. I made my way out to the Mole to get more photos before returning to my room. My girlfriend and I decided to pack early to get it done with, and so I only left my 5′ rod out, with one of my mini-trays with artificial baits and that Sabiki that had been working wonders.

Leaving our gear in the room, I took the rod with just a 2-inch pumpkin seed grub on a 1/16th oz jig head, and my girlfriend and I walked down to the pier. I tried jigging it a couple times, nothing, so I cast out as far as I could underhand with such a light jig, not far. I let it sink for a couple minutes until I guessed it had reached bottom, and began a slow retrieve. I got a couple nibbles the first couple casts, then nothing. I promise my girlfriend one last cast and of course then I catch my first fish from Green Pleasure Pier, a 7 inch or so calico. After returning to the room to store my gear, we ran into Mr. Jones on the way out and I heard about some bat rays he’d hooked up with that morning.

Derby Pics #15 — Group Pic

United Pier and Shore Anglers of California (UPSAC) Banner

The 2009 Catalina get Together Pier Rats

My girlfriend wanted some food, but it was still a couple hours before the breakfast the others had invited me to, and so I indulged her, deciding that I would go to the other breakfast at 9 am anyways… I got back to my room around 8, and returned to the Green Pleasure Pier thinking I’d just get a couple casts in. After a couple more small calicos I realized it was already well past 9 and that I’d likely missed the breakfast.

We got our gear and decided to head to the mole, just in time to see Adam, Rebecca and Ross about to get on the ferry before I could exchange any words—unfortunately. I set up beside scooterfish, steve-o, mahigeer and santa and proceeded to get skunked at the Mole while waiting for the ferry. A big thanks to Mike for rigging up a strap for my wide brimmed hat , without it I would have had to retreat to the benches in the shade, rather than being able to enjoy everyone’s great company while waiting for the ferry, even if I did get skunked.

I sure hope I can make it to the get together next year, whatever happens I know the next time I head to Catalina, I’m arming myself with those launcher floats and heavier gear so I can target those Bonito myself!

Posted by gyozadude — Date: April 25. 2009

So much to report, but sooooo Tired … with a capital T. Smile It was a great time to fish with all of you and what fishing it was! Perhaps the best bonito fishing of any year I’ve attended was Scooterfish’s opinion and I have to agree. We really hooked up this year and my arms, back, legs are slow, cramped and burning as proof. More to come as I process the images.

I always find the journey over to Catalina to be one of intense anticipation and this trip would be no different. Riding the gentle waves, watching an occasional pod of dolphin, sipping on a hot cup of Joe, and recalling past visits to the storied isle: all part of the short, one-hour ferry ride. Then the island and its hills come into focus. Sometimes the canvas is a brightly lit, sun-shined mural, but this day will see low clouds surrounding the island.

I find the cloudy days much more appealing. Why? Well, I guess I still retain that ‘60s belief in fantasy and am thinking I’ll see King Arthur’s Castle poking out amidst the hills that line the island’s coast. This trip those hills still showed the effects of the winter rain—a swath of green along the arroyos that crease the normally brown hills, like veins dropping down to kiss the salty waters of the Pacific. Of course you then see the harbor of Avalon and the fairly new condos that have disfigured the hillsides to the right of the city. Tis a bit sad to this romantic mind.

But there’s still a second anticipation, that of seeing what now seem old friends, and once again partaking of the fishing in this magical isle, will more than make up for a non-existent castle, or even a round table for that matter. We will have our own knights and conquer our own foes; at least that is what we thought at the start of the trip.

Day 1, Thursday — After arriving at the Catalina Express office in Long Beach and checking in, we were soon joined by Rita and her son Kyle. A short time later Hashem (Mahigeer) and Mike (Santa) arrived with about a thousand pounds of equipment and we were wondering if his cart would survive the trip. Boarding the ferry Hashem had a little trouble with the cart but he made a couple of McGiver fixes and everything was soon safely stored at the rear of the ferry.

Apparently Avalon was celebrating flying fish during the year and the landing supplied us all with “flying fish hats) which were hidden away until Hashem said we needed a picture. Amidst considerable enthusiasm (not), we took a group picture.

KJ, Pat, Mike (Santa), Kyle, Rita and Hashem (Mahigeer)

Soon the ferry was in the open ocean waters where we enjoyed a smooth and fast trip to Santa Catalina Island and Avalon.

As we entered the Avalon Bay Hashem mentioned that the front of the Green Pleasure Pier (GPP) seemed to be open, the dock normally anchored out front seemed to be missing, and we wondered what was up. Then, as we traversed the walk around the bay, we got a better look at the pier. Sure enough the GGP was open but it was also obvious that some sort of construction was going on. What would we find?

We soon arrived at the foot of the pier and Rita and I decided to walk out to the end. Sure enough workers were working, construction supplies blocked the end, and roping sealed off the end. #*##***##*! Rita and I both said this is BAD, why hadn’t they let us know it would be closed?

The group then headed on to the hotel with several people in a very FOUL mood. After unpacking the bags, and a quick lunch at Antonio’s, it was time to fish. I was at the pier at 2 P.M. and would find a spot to fish. Soon I ran into the Harbor Master and explained our predicament. He said the end was supposed to be closed until June but he would see what he could do. Still in a foul mood I found a small corner next to the dive shop that was fairly open to the water and soon after began to catch fish. Rita and Kyle arrived soon after and located on a spot just a little bit down the pier. Neither spot was perfect but if you knew how to cast the areas were fishable—and still full of fish. Rita and Kyle also began to catch fish.

I soon managed a couple of nice-sized opaleye on ghost shrimp, a garibaldi on the same, an unending number of bass (on cut bait and ghost shrimp), rock wrasse (whenever I used the lug worms I had brought from Big Fish), and senorita (on whatever).

KJ and a garibaldi

Then I pulled in a blackperch, the first I had seen at the pier after 32 trips. All right, a new species for the pier! Kyle was also pulling in fish, especially after he decide to bait up a Sabiki with peas. He managed two opaleye and a keeper sheephead on the vegetables. This trip was starting to look interesting even if the pier was a mess. Eventually Hashem also joined us and he too managed to catch fish (including an opaleye) so we were a semi-happy troop catching fish (including some jack mackerel that decided to join in the fun) but still wondering what we would be catching if we were out at the deeper waters at the end.

Hashem (Mahigeer) and an opaleye

Soon after, the Harbor Master walked over and explained that he had talked to the construction crew and that they were going to open the end for us Friday afternoon. They would move their supplies back and allow us to fish the area during the weekend. Hallelujah! We fished until 6:15 and then headed back to the rooms before once again heading down to Antonio’s where we typically have dinner the first night

Dinner at Antonio’s — clockwise from left — Mike (Santa), Hashem (Mahigeer), Adam (Baitfish), Rebecca (Roosterqueen), Pat, KJ, Ross (GordoGrande), and Rita

The results the first day showed the fish were still there but the number of halfmoon and sheephead seemed a little down. I was hoping that they would be more evident out at the end of the pier when it opened (and they were, but both would indeed turn out to be in lesser numbers than the prior two years).

Day 2, Friday—Most of the day would see fishing at the Mole but I managed a 6-8 AM visit to the GPP, a visit that yielded kelp bass, rock wrasse, sheephead, Pacific mackerel and yet one more blackperch.

The breakfast group — clockwise — KJ, Adam, Rebecca, Ross, Mike, Pat and Hashem

A short breakfast at Jacks ensued before heading out to the Mole where I fished from 10:50-3:05 PM. I was targeting new species, and still trying to find a moray eel, but only had luck with the former when I caught a small spotted kelpfish. People (including Scott and GDude) were catching bonito right and left but I wanted variety and I did find it getting 12 different species—kelp bass, garibaldi, giant kelpfish, opaleye, halfmoon, spotted kelpfish, scorpionfish, sheephead, treefish, senorita, jacksmelt and kelp bass.

By now people were arriving from a variety of spots and it was time to prepare for our Friday night “Get Together.” However, before dinner we had one more place to visit. I had arranged a private visit to the hallowed grounds of the Avalon Tuna Club, a normally inaccessible spot. A group of us including Pat and myself, GDude, Adam and Rebecca, Mike (Santa), and Rita trekked down to the club where we were amazed by the pictures, equipment, and historical fishing artifacts that we found. We only stayed one hour but it was amazing. [BTW, the Tuna Club was the world's first marine conservation organization when it was founded in 1898. And interesting was the comment we heard while we were there. Members are not allowed to fish in any tournaments for money; if a member breaks that rule they lose their membership.]

Mike (Santa), Adam (Baitfish), Rebecca (Roosterqueen), Rita, KJ, James (GDude)

That night would see our annual group dinner this time at the Mi Casita restaurant. As always there was good cheer and fun and everyone had a good time.   At the conclusion, a couple of people talked of heading back down to the pier (or mole) for a little night fishing; I headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

Ross (center) and Rebecca (right)

Rita (left) and Mike (right)

Eugene

Hashem, Scott and Steve

Warren Li

Amanda Liu

Dora and Elaine Liu

Ross (left) and Robert (right)

Kyle

Group shot #1 — clockwise from ed on table — Hashem, Rita, Mike, Eugene, ?, Ross, Rebecca, Adam, KJ

Group shot #2 — From left clockwise — Scott, Steve, Kyle, James, Dora, ?

Day 3, Saturday—This would be the day of the derby so once again most of the day would be spent at the Mole. But, once again I slipped out to the GPP for a 6-8 AM visit. This visit would produce kelp bass, senorita, rock wrasse, salema (a first for the pier), jack mackerel and two more big opaleye. Not a bad start to the day

Back to the room, pick up Pat, and head out to the Mole for the festivities. The fishing itself would now take a back seat to the other activities even though I did have a pole in the water part of the time at the Mole and managed a decent amount of fish including kelp bass, senorita, garibaldi, blacksmith and an ocean whitefish. Only problem was that Pat and I were both feeling a little under the weather (and a cold wind didn’t help) which made the day a little funky.

As mentioned in several earlier reports the bonito were the highlight of the day and provided most of the big fish. However, just before the derby started Redfish pulled in a nice barracuda just one inch short of being legal.

Robert (Redfish) with a barracuda

He then followed that up with a 6+ pound sheephead during the derby that won the big fish award. And, shortly after the derby was over a legal barracuda was caught.

Robert with an 8-pound sheephead

Without repeating the reports of Hashem, GDude, JimboJack, Scott and others, just let me say the time together was great, the food (as always) was plentiful and delicious, and the drawings for gifts were a lot of fun (as well as making a few needed bucks for UPSAC).

The official prizewinners (based on a point scale for different types of fish) were:

1st Place: Scott; 2nd Place: Minnow Magnet; 3rd Place: SteveO; Awesome Angler Awards: Kyle, Adam, Rita and JimboJack; Big Fish Award: Redfish; Smallest Fish Award: JimboJack; Most Species Award: Minnow Magnet

Derby Winners

Group Picture

After the derby, the festivities, and a final group picture, many chose to stay and fish the Mole. I decided to head back to the GPP which was now open at the end and which is always a little warmer and less windy than the Mole (did I mention the windy conditions that confronted us off and on at the Mole?). A 5:30-8:45 P.M. visit produced kelp bass, jack mackerel, Pacific mackerel, senorita, blacksmith and rock wrasse.

However, I was on a mission. One of my goals was to catch a flying fish, interesting creatures that inhabit Catalina’s inshore waters (including Avalon Bay). I figured a Sabiki baited with lugworms, and fished under a float, just might yield a flying fish (since they so closely resemble jacksmelt). I might have been right except that jack mackerel kept hitting the rigging (darn them!).

Not only did I not catch a flying fish but I also missed what had to be a really nice fish when I baited up my heavier outfit with a lively jack mackerel. I had a hard hit, struck hard—and missed the fish. I pulled in a mackerel devoid of much of its skin on both of its sides.

Day 4, Sunday—Again I was up early for one final visit to the pier, this time from 5:25-7:55 AM. The visit would yield kelp bass, jack mackerel, Pacific mackerel, senorita and rock wrasse but the news was the fish I lost.

Looking toward the Mole at Sunrise

I baited up my heavy pole with squid and cast out to the deeper waters while I fished my light pole by the pier. I managed to lose what had to be three big fish. The first was within ten minutes of baiting up when something hit my heavy pole, started to peel off line at a tremendous rate, and then saw the line go dead. When I reeled in it appeared the 30-pound braid had simply been cut in half. Never saw the fish but assume it was a big shark (big threshers, makos and blues are fund in these waters).

A half hour or so later another big fish hit the squid. This time the fish took the line but I was able to hook it and play it for about fifteen minutes before it tangled in something on the bottom and eventually managed to break free. The fight was that of a typical bat ray, a big one, but not as big as the bat ray that kept showing up in the waters next to the GPP. That ray seemed at least six foot across (so probably was only five) but kept swimming around the pier for over an hour. I did try some squid by the pier but the ray ignored it.

I did however manage to farm one more fish—on my light line. After baiting up some cut mackerel for some mac action, something simply inhaled my bait and took off on a steady journey headed out of the harbor. It wasn’t at a spectacular speed but just a steady speed that did not even slow as I tightened up the drag. As I neared the end of a spool of brand new 8-pound P Line, Halo line, I decided enough was enough and finally cranked it down and the line broke. If I have ever hooked a black sea bass this might have been the time but I don’t know what a large fish like that would have been doing grabbing my fairly small bait. Whatever it was though was big and strong and not a bat ray.

Later, after talking to Scott and SteveO about their battle with a huge fish from the GPP, I wondered if that huge bat ray that was visiting the pier Sunday morning might also have been what they hooked? It was certainly the largest bat ray I have ever seen but they felt their fish wasn’t a bat ray. Whatever the fish we all hooked, it proved there are some really big fish to be had in these waters and the need for some heavier gear next visit.

I hated to stop fishing but had to get ready for the ferry, check out of the hotel, and visit friends for a final breakfast. But I wished I could have stayed and had a chance to hook another big fish.

Some stats—new species for the piers—GPP/blackperch and salema—Cabrillo Mole/spotted kelpfish. I’ve now caught 18 different species from the GPP, 24 species from the Mole. Total fish for the trip = 234 fish (my fifth lowest total for the 8-year history of the “Get Togethers”). Most of the fish were returned excepting a few sheephead and opaleye that made it to my dinner table.

Notes—

• Return of the mackerel. This was the first time we saw large numbers of jack mackerel and Pacific mackerel at the “Get Togethers” since 2003 (and that year saw Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel and Pacific sardines). Both were in evidence in large numbers during this trip and may help explain the number of large fish that were seen and/or hooked.

• Big fish—2007/2008 saw several huge fish swimming around the Green Pleasure Pier and the Mole. The biggest was a black sea bass that easily exceeded one hundred pounds that placidly came swimming along mid-water by the GPP. Another large fish was what looked like a large angel shark. As noted, this year on Sunday morning a huge bat ray was swimming back and forth around the GPP. A similar huge bat ray was seen Saturday at the Mole and a huge bat ray was caught Sunday from the Mole (and seen by Scooterfish and SteveO). Given the number of large fish seen, and lost, during 2009, it would seem wise to bring along a heavy duty reel loaded with 100+ pound braid next trip. There out there, can we catch them?

• Kudos to: (1) Brian Bray, the Avalon Harbor Master who made it possible to fish the end of the GGP most of the weekend; (2) Hashem who coordinated the event this year and did his usual excellent job; (3) GDude who once again provided much of the delicious food at the derby; (4) My friend Gary Graham who set it up so that we could visit the Avalon Tuna Club. Gary runs Baja on the Fly and is a great guy (and very knowledgeable). If you ever want to go fly fishing for sailfish, dorado, roosterfish or other fish in Baja visit bajafly.com; (5) The good folks at the Hermosa Hotel who provided a 10% discount for UPSAC members and provided their usual friendly and efficient service; (6) Paul’s Bait and Tackle in San Pedro who supplied live ghost shrimp, frozen anchovies and frozen squid for the anglers in the derby; (7) Big Fish Bait and Tackle in Seal Beach that supplied some live lugworms for the event.

(Cool All who traveled to Catalina during these hard times. It was especially good to see Scott (all the way from Louisiana) and Adam and Rebecca (all the way from Florida) but given today’s economic conditions it was a real commitment from everyone who made it over to Catalina. Thanks!

End of Part 1 — Main derby pictures and other Reports in Part 2 — 8th Annual PFIC/UPSAC Catalina Get Together — 2009 (2)

DompfaBen and a bonito

Oh, the Dompha, he draws circles
Up and down the mole.
I’d ask him what the matter was
But I know that he don’t talk.
And the anglers treat me kindly
And furnish me with line,
But deep inside my heart
I know I can’t escape.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

KJ and a bonito

Well, Ken, he’s in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells,
Speaking to some French girl,
Who says she knows me well.
And I would send a message
To find out if she’s talked,
But the tackle store’s been stolen
And the tackle box is locked.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

GordoGrande and a treefish

Gordo tried to tell me
To stay away from that Catalina mole
He said that all those older fishermen
Just drink up your blood like wine.
An’ I said, “Oh, I didn’t know that,
But then again, there’s only one I’ve met
An’ he just smoked my eyelids
An’ punched my cigarette.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Kelp at the Mole

Grandpa died last week
And now he’s buried in the kelp,
But everybody still talks about
How badly they were shocked.
But me, I expected it to happen,
I knew he’d lost control
When he built a fire on the mole
And shot it full of holes.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

GDude and a bonito

Now the GDude came down here
Showing ev’ryone his rod,
Handing out free tickets
To the gathering on the mole.
An’ me, I nearly got busted
An’ wouldn’t it be my luck
To get caught without a license
And be discovered beneath a trunk.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Baitfish and a bonito

Now Baitfish looked so baffled
When I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of feathers
Stapled to his chest.
But he cursed me when I proved it to him,
Then I whispered, “Not even you can hide.
You see, you’re just like me,
I hope you’re satisfied.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Mahigeer waitin’ for a bonito

Now Mahigeer gave me two cures,
Then he said, “Jump right in.”
The one was Persian medicine,
The other was just plain Raki gin.
An’ like a fool I mixed them
An’ it strangled up my mind,
An’ now people just get uglier
An’ I have no sense of time.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Rita and a bonito

When Rita says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
Where I can watch her waltz for free
‘Neath her Avalonian moon.
An’ I say, “Aw come on now,
You must know about my debutante.”
An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Metropole

Now the bricks lay on Metropole
Where the neon madmen climb.
They all fall there so perfectly,
It all seems so well timed.
An’ here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get new balls and feathers
After losing them more than twice.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Bonito

(With apologies to Bob Dylan and “Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again)

Posted by Mahigeer (Hashem Nahid) — I would like to start with thanking the Mr. and Mrs. Baitfish for their hard work. I would also like to thank all of the better halves, i.e. Mrs. Jones and my wife and others, who allowed us to go. I have been given the great news that this get-together is to be my yearly birthday present. (Though mine is in March).
Since I got the great news, I have already started shopping. (Golf balls, Bonita feathers, Megabait, and anything that!@#$%^& Bonita my hit.)
Now that you have tasted the Turkish national drink called RAKI, (pronounced like lucky), I will have plenty to go around next time. Also the kadayief will be plentiful. I am also thinking of bringing Persian and Turkish food to the potluck if I get a room with frig. And the logistic works out.
It was great meeting everyone, from Chris and Joey, to John and all of the nice people who made it possible to make this event such a fun time. I had such a good time that I talked my head off, and maybe bothered some people, for that I apologize. Since this was my first time (too bad I did not know about PFIC, before), I had too much of tackle that really was not useful and not enough of useful stuff. So I will be making a detail list of everything I needed and will share it if anybody who wants it.
I will also be working on setups to reduce loss of tackle to the kelp. Thank you all for allowing me to share this great time with you and thanks to the shutter bugs who made it possible to record forever this momentous Occasion.

Fish caught: Garibaldi on peas; White fish on squid; Sheephead on squid; Calico bass on anchovies; Smelt on Sabiki; Bonita Lost one due to line break, one due to mishandling of drag, several to perhaps not very sharp single hook. There is a Bonita somewhere with a hook in his mouth and a cast-a-bubble in tow.

Hope to see you sooner, if not, see you next year. Hashem — CHEERS English —  BE-SALAMATI Farsi — (to your health) SHARAFINIZE Turkish (to your honor) — LAKHAIM Hebrew — KOMPI Japanese — PROST German

Posted by orkspace — t was a pleasure to meet and fish with you Hashem. Thank you for your generosity and patience. We hope to fish with you again.

Orkspace (Dan) fighting a bonito

Posted by baitfish —Hey Hashem, I’m really glad you could make it to the PFGT, I will never forget your Bonito rant or your friendly conversation. You definitely fit right into the whole Catalina crew and I hope we can hook up before next years event, maybe do some fly fishing.

Posted by baitchucker — He gave me the chance to steal his BONITA!!! He came over to our side of the Mole, complaining about how he hadn’t caught a bonito, looking left and right… yakkity, yakkity, yak… “Oh, I haven’t caught a bonito,” blah, blah, blah…. AND not paying attention to his feather during his retrieve. While out in the deep blue yonder, I saw several flashes just behind his offerings. This happened with several of his casts. Twice, I was able to make out the fish smacking his feather without subsequent hook set. Twice, I alerted him that he had a bony on! Enough was enough… I couldn’t take it any longer. Mahigeer made yet another, long, cast. I waited to see the flash. I let the chase happen until his feather got near the weed line. I shot my spoon just past his feather…. did a lil’ dance and BINGO! Baitchucker 1… Mahigeer 0…  Sorry mang, just couldn’t handle it any longer! (hehehe)

Posted by mahigeer — Baitchucker; I remember meeting you, but cannot recall the face. Can you tell me where you are in the group picture? As to the incident you are describing, I remember talking too much and the hit and miss of bonies, but don’t recall anybody telling me where they were. I did see some flashes, but they disappeared too quickly. Maybe it’s the old man syndrome. Will get stronger contacts next time.

Posted by baitchucker — Mahigeer! We were on the other side of the gated-off portion of the Mole, next to the sheriff’s truck. Dompfa, Baitfish, Orkspace and I were all in the same area. It was later in the day, close to when we took the group picture. Our Ferry came to dock @ 4:00, so we didn’t get to talk much. I remember a flap on your baitcaster would come up every so often. Anyway, it was good meeting you. You’re a funny guy; I hope to hook up with you when we come back to SoCal this summer. As for the bonies…. I predict you’ll get’em before summer officially hits.

Posted by socaljerry — You sure made the trip for Jacob and me a whole lot of fun! We sure enjoyed your friendly open demeanor, and you kept us laughing the whole time we were there! Thank you!

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Although there were many stories that emerged from the 2006 Catalina Get Together, one was the fishing highlighted by a large number of bonito — for most. However, many other species were also present and everyone was able to enjoy the derby, the food, the prizes and the good companionship.

Arrival from Long Beach

A cruise ship was sitting just offshore from the Mole when we arrived.

A plethora of “Pier Rats”

Kyle and Minnow Magnet arriving

Green Pleasure Pier

GordoGrande and his mini-pole (with a mini-bass)

A young Kyle Pease with a sheephead

Cabrillo Mole

Ark and a sheephead

Baitfish (Adam) with another bonito

Ark and a variety of fish

Boys will be boys — Adam and Kyle

Kyle and a bonito

The Mole and xpostman

Warren Liu with a sheephead

Additional pictures — 5th Annual PFIC/UPSAC Catalina Get Together — 2006 (2)

Date: April 25, 2005 —To: PFIC Message Board — From: Ken Jones — Subject: Catalina 2005 — Another Catalina Weekend

Day 1 — Thursday, April 21, 2005 — As for myself, I took off at 3 a.m. on Thursday morning and headed south on I-5. I knew I was cutting it short since I had a reservation on the 10 a.m. boat but thought I could make it. Wrong! Great time until about ten miles from downtown Los Angeles when the traffic stopped. No way around it and when I pulled up at the Queen Mary Landing the boat was just heading out.

The Queen Mary next to the landing for the ferry

Downtown Long Beach across the bay

Missed it by ten minutes and for my efforts got to hang around the landing until 12:30. (Knowing what I now know, I could have gone and gotten some fresh bait but at that point I was just tired from the drive and had a leisurely lunch.)

Arriving at Avalon

Upon arrival at Catalina I checked into the palatial edifice know as The Hermosa Hotel, unpacked the gear, and headed down to one of my favorite piers. By 2:30 I was rigged up and catching fish but soon noticed a paucity of the fish I was seeking. Yes, there were fish there—as evidenced by the quick nibbles and resultant fish. But the numbers of not-a-bass that I was seeking were down. Part of the problem was that I did not have as good of bait as last year (variety) but I truly believed at an early point that the fishing variety itself would be down, at least at the Green Pleasure Pier, and my results over the next four days would unfortunately prove that true.

What was of fairly immediate interest was the appearance of a large black (giant) sea bass that swam into the waters by the pier several times that afternoon. It was only a few feet down in the water and its massive shape was impressive to say the least. We estimated the weight at 100+pounds but it may have weighed twice that much. People disembarking from the glass bottom boat said they had seen it on their cruise; we were able to see it from our perch at the end of the pier. A second creature, 4-5 foot-long, also made an appearance but it was a little deeper in the water and we could not provide a positive identification. It had the triangular shape of an angel shark and if so would have been up around 40-50 pounds in weight. Neither fish was hooked which is probably a good thing.

I was joined by Pierhead himself later that afternoon and was provided with the clear and coherent loquacity that is his mark. We swapped stories and caught fish until dinnertime at which point we retired to an excellent dinner at the Galleon Restaurant.

Results Green Pleasure Pier — 2:30-6:30 p.m. — 32 Kelp Bass, 16 Senorita, 5 Rock Wrasse and 1 Halfmoon

After dinner I decided to give the pier one more chance hoping for a big sculpin (scorpionfish) or a shark on the bottom (several horn sharks have been landed over the years). Alas, results were nill with the exception of a few bass which can always be found hanging under the pier. (Nightime action is always different here since the senorita and rock wrasse bury themselves and take a snooze at night—along with the sheephead.)

Results Green Pleasure Pier — 9:00-10:00 p.m. — 5 Kelp Bass

Day  2 — Friday, April 22, 2005 — I slept a little later than planned this morning but still managed to arrive at the pier by 7:30. The bait was ready but I wasn’t. I needed a cup of Joe so I followed the smell of bacon emanating from the adjacent stand. Caffeine—oh yea!  The bacon was awfully tempting but so was the fishin’ so the lines were soon in the water and the fish came over to say hello. Shortly thereafter I was joined Pierhead and not too long later Gdude showed up.

As the boats began to arrive from the mainland, we were joined by several additional and esteemed pier rats including Jimbojack, Joromaca, Graybeard, GordoGrande and eventually Kyle and Rita.  By then we had figured out which fish were where and what bait was working for each so it was all pretty easy. Unfortunately neither our giant bass nor our mystery fish made an appearance but we were so busy catching fish it didn’t matter.

Collage by GDude (James Liu)

GDude had discovered the attraction of large opaleye (the famous Ray Cannon’s favorite fish) and a school that ranged at times up to fifty fish or so made their tantalizingly presence known. They would head over to a bait, give it a quick look and be on their merry way. Shrimp, peas, bloodworms, squid: nothing worked. Then jimbojack volunteered some moss he had gathered that morning and the opaleye began to pay real attention. At least they made a few hits but were still wary. Finally Gdude switched to two-pound monofilament and he began to get bites. Unfortunately the lines, cables, structures and pilings that make up the end area provided perfect opportunity for the big button-backs to break off. I was finally able to hand line one of Gdude’s nice-sized fish up to the pier but the rest got away. They wouldn’t hit when he switched to four-pound test but were hard to keep out of the pilings with the two pound test. BUT, James had some nice and exciting fights.

Fishing with Graybeard (Harry Goddall)

While Gdude was experimenting on the opaleye the rest of us continued to catch the easier to catch species. It was good to have the opportunity to show Gordo a couple of tricks for catching the bass and it brings to mind an old Latin saying—a bove majori discit arare minor (the older ox teaches the younger how to plow). However remember, in this case there isn’t too much difference is age.  Finally people began to look at their watches and head off to wash up for the 8 p.m. dinner. Since I was approaching a 100-fish day I tried just a few more casts.  Finally hit the mark and retired shortly thereafter.

Results Green Pleasure Pier — 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. — 77 Kelp Bass, 9 Senorita, 7 Rock Wrasse, 4 Blacksmith, 2 Halfmoon, 2 Jack Mackerel and 1 Jacksmelt

Amidst a large and very enthusiastic gathering of pier rats at Antonio’s we had a great dinner. The UPSAC Board then retired to the Hermosa’s lobby for a meeting (and I want to thank Boyd, James, Adam, Rita, Ross and Ben who were willing to meet until past 11 p.m. that night after a hard day of travel and fishing). Spouses were ignored and the very tired group discussed matters of earth-shattering importance even though everyone planned to be up early the next morning fishing. Thank you guys (and a certain lady) for your hard work.

Jimbojack

Baitfish (Adam Cassidy), Roosterqueen (Rebecca Cassidy) and Anadromous

DompfaBen (Ben Acker), Brandy Acker and Jimbojack

Dora and Amanda Liu and Gordo Grande (Ross Kestin)

Day 3 — Saturday, April 23, 2005 — After dinner and the late-night meeting it was good to get a little extra sleep. Finally headed down to the mole where several people were already catching fish. Unfortunately the action remained slow for me for much of the derby hours just as the previous year. A little variety did show up but most of the fish were not too big with the exception of a couple of the sheephead and garibaldi.

Cabrillo Mole—8:15 a.m.–2:15 p.m.—south side — 7 Kelp Bass, 5 Sheephead, 4 Garibaldi, 2 Treefish and 1 Senorita

We had a decent crowd at the Mole and some decent but not great action.

The railing was lined with “Pier Rats”

DompfaBen and a bonito

Chaum with a hook up!

Baitfish with a sheephead

Jimbojack with an opaleye

A young Kyle Pease with a young sheephead

Rich Reano pulls in a bonito

A colorful giant kelpfish

DompfaBen with another bonito

Sheephead

Collage’s by GDude

About one o’clock James and Dora showed up with some delicious food!  

The awards were at 2:30 and once again there were many, many prizes — and happy faces.

Gordo Grande is the “king” of ticket salesmen

Adam calling out ticket numbers

Picking the tickets

PFIC Webmaster Rich Reano

DompfaBen

Last but not least was a group photo

Everyone again seemed to have a great time. Good companionship, good food, and good fishing.

After the festivities and picture taking it was time for a little more fishing and just as the previous year I changed sides of the pier and began to pull in the fish. The current was different, the water was now a darker color (with the sun being blocked in part by the mole itself), and the fish were far less wary. A school of halfmoon made it interesting along with the beautiful little blacksmith. Finally though I hit one of those toad opaleyes that had been making fun of us all day long. This one got hooked on a combo piece of shrimp w/one pea. After a scare as it headed into the kelp I finally got it where we could hand line it up. A nice fish that might have won the derby but the derby was long over. No problemo, it was just nice to get the fish — which was released.

Cabrillo Mole — 3:30-7:30 p.m. — north side — 26 Halfmoon, 16 Blacksmith, 2 Kelp Bass, 1 Jacksmelt, 1 Kelp Perch and 1 Opaleye—15 1/2” length, 12 1/2”girth

I finally headed back to the motel but decided to make a short stop at the Green Pleasure Pier along with Boyd. Still seeking out some sculpin, whitefish or sharks but alas just more of the bass. At least the company was good but we both were tired and decided to call it an early night.

Green Pleasure Pier — 7:50-8:50 p.m. — 9 Kelp Bass

Day 4 — Sunday, April 24, 2005 — Up at the crack of dawn for one last shot at the fish but bait was now limited and it showed with a relatively sparse catch of bass and one senorita. I kept thinking if I had just brought some ghost shrimp the sheephead would have made a better appearance but hindsight is, as they say, always 20-20.

Green Pleasure Pier — 6:15-7:45 a.m.  — 6 Kelp Bass and 1 Senorita

Kudos — The main people to thank for this annual gathering are Adam and Rebecca, the conductors of this little opera. Adam first proposed this trip four years ago and they have overseen the planning and execution ever since. It’s an amazing job considering the logistics involved. Obtaining the food and prizes and transporting them to Catalina is, in itself, a big endeavor. Combined with the willingness to spend time judging instead of fishing (a big matter in my book), require a deep commitment. I hope both understand how deeply our thanks run for their actions. A BIG THANK YOU is not nearly enough of a thanks.

A special thanks also has to go out to Mr. Gdude and his wife Dora who have annually provided the exquisite pot stickers for the lunch. It takes preparation, as well as hauling quite a bit of food and cooking utensils to Catalina to provide this treat. Thanks—again!

Many more people provided food, cash for the drawings, and help when needed. Unfortunately I do not have all the names but a BIG thanks goes out to all of you. Overall, there were close to forty people present and a final thanks go out to each of you. Some of you traveled several hundred miles to attend but your presence makes the event special. Gemütlichkeit is a German word that represents a certain cozy and relaxed atmosphere and that was what we had Saturday. Forty people in a synergistic, friendly gathering that seemed almost clan-like in feeling. Of course even those who were new to the gathering were seen as old friends since all have posted on the PFIC board. So, there were really no strangers even if some of the faces were new. Amazing! But I shouldn’t have been surprised since it’s now an annual occurrence!

I do want to make my annual apology for fishing too much and personally socializing too little. When I’m fishing I’m concentrating on the fish so sometimes I fail in my role as one of the hosts. Sorry!

Quite a few fish were caught but as I said the results were down from previous years, at least in regard to the Green Pleasure Pier.

It is hoped that additional PFIC posts will be found once the “old” message board is accessible.

I’ve been coming to Avalon on Catalina Island for 51 years and it’s always a highlight of the year. However, just like the changing seasons, the face of Avalon reflects changes throughout the year. In the spring to fall seasons it can be crowded which, if you are trying to fish on the Green Pleasure Pier or the Cabrillo Mole, can mean less fishing space and less of the solitude which I enjoy while fishing.

In the wintertime, especially during a mid-week visit, the streets (and piers) can be almost deserted. That’s fine with me, since my visits are fishing visits and having the piers and the fish to myself is a good thing.

Thus a short trip toward the end of December 2017 proved to be most pleasant. The weather was of the shirtsleeve variety (at least during the day), the piers were uncrowded, (although there are always tourists checking out your fish and wishing they had a fishing pole), and the fish were biting.

In addition there were the signs of Christmas, the Casino had its Christmas lights, businesses and homes were lit up for the season, and a Christmas tree greeted visitors smack dab in the middle of the beachfront area on Crescent Avenue.

A morning view of the Casino

It was a short two-day visit but one that was long enough to reenergize the batteries of life: it was good for the soul.

Lover’s Cove

Day 1, December 20, saw a very early morning trip to Long Beach with my friend Hashem and a smooth ride to Avalon on the 6 AM ferry. Upon arrival at the Cabrillo Mole we noticed an angler casting for bonito—and shortly thereafter a hook-up. Since Hashem was going to do two main things on the trip—fish for bonito at the Mole and hoop net for lobster at the Green Pleasure Pier, we went over to check out the action.

An angler on the Cabrillo Mole

Yes he had been getting strikes and the fish were nice sized. As we talked he hooked up and fought a good-sized bonito until a sea lion, decided it too wanted a meal of the bonito. The saying “thrill of victory and agony of defeat was epitomized in the fight with the fish. What started as a good fight ended with the angler pulling in about half of a bonito after the attack of the sea dog. But he would hook and land more bonito. Hashem was pleased, he was planning on fishing for bonito early Thursday morning and now knew the fish were present and that they were good-sized.

The “Sea Dog” got it!

But we moved on to the Green Pleasure Pier since Hashem had about a half a ton of equipment (he really follows the 7 P’s—Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance) and didn’t want to unload it at the Mole and then repack and unload it again later at the pleasure pier. This of course was necessitated by the closure of the Cabrillo Mole to lobster hooping due to the regulation changes in the past few years. You can still hoop at the Green Pleasure Pier (GPP) but not at the Mole. Hashem had come to the GPP opening night and limited out on the bugs and was hoping there might still be a few around for his Christmas dinner.

The Green Pleasure Pier

As for myself, I just wanted to catch some fish and as usual was mainly seeking out variety and possibly something new to add to my list. I would see good variety, a few good-sized fish, and although not catching a new species, did see a new species that to date is stumping the experts that I have contacted (with pictures). So, all in all a very good visit even if these old bones were really tired by the time we left Thursday night.

As for the fishing: Wednesday was spent at the Green Pleasure Pier. I had brought three rod/reel combinations, one for the light tackle fishing I would mainly be doing, one a little heavier combination for hopefully some bigger fish, and a third fairly heavy rod/reel that I planned to use for sharks at night when Hashem was hooping.

A Sheephead

I fished from 8-1:30, 2:30-4:45, and 5:15-6:45 a total of 9.25 hours and caught 78 fish. Most of the fish were of the smaller or mid-size variety—the wrasses, smelt, perch-like opaleye and garibaldi. Unusual was the paucity of small kelp bass fish that are sometimes so common in spring and summer that it is hard to keep them off your hook. What was high was the number of sheephead; usually most days at the GPP will see only a few of the big-toothed fish.

A “Mr. Limpet” kind of look — a Sheephead head

Unfortunately the largest fish of the day, a sheephead I estimated at 6-7 pounds was lost. I had cast out a piece of shrimp on my light line and hooked the sheephead while Hashem had gone to the store and had not as yet taken out his net. I got the fish up to the pier and a boy I had been talking to, one who said he worked as a “pinhead” on Sportfishing boats in Santa Barbara, said he would go down to the adjacent float and grab the fish. He grabbed the line and half way to the dock the fish gave a jerk and was off. Although Hashem had followed the 7 p’s I had not and had lost the biggest fish I would hook on this trip.

One interesting creature this day was a California Two-Spot Octopus, the second I have caught from the pier; they are always an interesting and somewhat gnarly catch.

California Two-Spot Octopus

Although the bass were few, they were bigger than normal. Most of the bass were 10 or more inches and I caught fish of 12-½ inches, 13 ½-inches, 13 ½-inches, and 13 ¾-inches. However, the new 14-inch minimum length meant all of the bass were returned to grow a little bigger.

I had brought four main baits—three boxes of lug worms, a little over a pound of market shrimp, two containers of frozen mussels, and a half pound of baby octopus (for the sharks).

As usual, if you fished a size 8 hook baited with worm and cast out and made a slow retrieve you would get a wrasse on almost every cast. That is you would get a fish or lose the bait to the bait stealers. As for the rock wrasse, they are a favorite fish on light tackle. Most are under a half-pound but put up a very scrappy fight for their size, fighting all the way up to the pier.

Rock Wrasse

Given that ghost shrimp, my favorite bait for sheephead and opaleye, was unavailable, I had brought back-up bait—market shrimp and mussels. The middle rod, the one that was cast out and used with a Baitrunner feature, was rigged with size 4 hooks and baited with the shrimp and mussels. It caught several of the sheephead, opaleye and garibaldi (but several were also caught on the worms). Whatever the case there was steady action throughout the day.

An Opaleye

Since Hashem could not hoop net for the lobsters until the evening, he was concentrating on catching opaleye (and he’s become an expert on the good fighting fish). He uses a bobber, a long opaleye leader, and frozen peas for bait.  He also uses a chum mixture to attract the opaleye—a mix of bread crumbs and peas that he would throw out every so often to attract the opaleye (and there were many). Hashem out fished me on the opaleye at least 2-1.

By 4:40 the sun was going down and the bite on the “diurnal” fish stopped (the rock wrasses and sheephead sleep at night) while the bass action would pick up.  Unfortunately the wind also picked up and I found that I was much colder than I had planned even though I had brought what I thought were warm clothes. I think it was age and tiredness from the long day more than anything but my plan to fish for sharks until the late hours while Hashem hooped would not survive the wind chill. I was dragging by 7 PM and headed back to the hotel. Hashem continued to hoop but with nary a lobster he too would stop much earlier than he had planned. My take for the day:

43 Rock Wrasse
12 Jacksmelt
8 Kelp Bass
5 Sheephead
5 Opaleye
4 Garibaldi
1 Ocean Whitefish
+ 1 California Two-Spot Octopus

The Casino

Crescent Avenue during the Christmas season

Day 2, December 21, saw our usual outstanding breakfast at “Jack’s” (although later than usual) before heading out to the Mole. Although Hashem had planned to be at the Mole by 7 AM casting for the bonito, he too was tired out and decided that the fishing would follow breakfast.

I fished from 9:40-12:40, 1-3, 3:30-4, and 4:30-5:30, a total of 6.5 hours and this day would catch 69 fish, a very nice variety with 13 different species.

A brown-colored Giant Kelpfish

A reddish-colored Giant Kelpfish

I started out fishing at the south end of the Mole casting down around the rocks (or under the Mole) with my light rod baited with worms. I was quickly rewarded with a number of garibaldi (which I didn’t want), a striped kelpfish, a small giant kelpfish, and an opaleye. I soon added a number of sheephead to the mix. The action would continue with about one fish every 8-10 minutes while I was there.

Sheephead

At 1 PM I headed down to the other end of the Mole to fish with Hashem who was primarily casting for bonito. I stated fishing down by the shoreline rocks while occasionally I would move out to the main railing. The variety was good with a number of different species.

Brownish-colored Striped Kelpfish

Reddish-colored Striped Kelpfish

About 2 PM I caught a largemouth blenny, a new species to the Mole that I had also caught in June. It would be followed by a second largemouth blenny later in the day.

Largemouth Blenny

One fish I wanted to catch was a blacksmith. I had caught over a hundred in my visits over the years but for some reason had not taken a good picture of one. I didn’t catch one most of the day and when I spotted a fellow angler catching one asked if I could take a picture. He said sure. Not long afterward I caught five in fairly rapid succession.

Blacksmith

Unusual for the day was the number of garibaldi. They are illegal to keep but at times it’s hard to keep them from grabbing bait when you are fishing for opaleye or halfmoon. For some reason they were very, very numerous this day and acted hungry as they grabbed bait after bait. All were safely returned to the water but I’m not sure how to avoid them without using large hooks and then you miss the other fish.

An adult Garibaldi and a juvenile Garibaldi with its blue spots

As the day when on I took several pictures of fish even though I already have a library of such pictures.

An Opaleye and an Opaleye head

The most interesting fish of the trip  was one I did not catch. I stopped fishing at 5:30, went to get a hot chocolate, and then put everything away prior to our departure on the late ferry. I noticed a nearby angler, the only other angler on the Mole, had caught a fish in the darkness and I went to see what it was. I suspected a type of rockfish or a salema, both of which hit well at the Mole after it is dark.

Unknown fish — picture #1

The fish turned out to be a fish that was new to me (and a quick check of my reference book did not reveal a picture). My first thought had been of a tiny, juvenile giant sea bass (it was only 5-6 inches long) but the fin structure was wrong. My next thought was of a was a popeye catalufa, the fin structure was about right but the color was wrong. We talked the angler into letting us take a couple of quick photos before returning the fish to the water. That fish helped make my trip even though I didn’t catch it.

Unknown fish — picture #2

[Upon returning home I sent a copy of the pictures to Milton Love at UC Santa Barbara for identification but he said he'd never seen it before so he was sending the pictures out to his network of friends to see if anyone could identify it. (He also said he wished I had gotten the fish for study.) In time, the best guess among various fishery biologists was that it was a Pacific Glasseye, scientific name Heteropriacanthus carolinus. I would eventually do a post on the fish — http://kenjonesfishing.com/2018/09/pacific-glasseye/ 

By 7 PM we were lined up awaiting the ferry—and wishing we had a few more days in Avalon. It wasn’t to be but hopefully a few more trips are still in the future.

My take for the day:

24 Garibaldi
13 Kelp Bass
9 Sheephead
5 Blacksmith
4 Rock Wrasse
3 Striped Kelpfish
3 Giant Kelpfish
2 Opaleye
2 Largemouth Blenny
1 Halfmoon
1 California Scorpionfish
1 Señorita
1 Jacksmelt

A sign on the walkway to the Mole that seems appropriate for the Christmas season.

 Triggerfishes—Family Balistidae

Finescale triggerfish taken at the Cabrillo Mole at Avalon on Catalina Island by KJ in 2010

Species: Balistes polylepis (Steindachner, 1876); Balistes comes from the Latin word ballista (a device that shoots arrows—referring to the trigger-like spine) and the Greek word polylepis (many scales)

Alternate Name: Triggerfish. In Mexico called cochi, puerco coche, cochito or pez puerco.

Identification: The body is very compressed; they have a small mouth containing strong, protruding teeth (8 in each jaw); 3 strong, sharp spines are located in the first dorsal fin with 26-28 rays in the second dorsal; small gill slits are located in front of the pectoral fin. The skin is thick with large, rectilinear, plate-like scales. The coloring is brownish with blue speckles on head.

Finescale triggerfish taken at the Cabrillo Mole by Rita Magdamo in 2014

Size: To 32 inches and perhaps as much as 16 pounds.

Range: San Antonio, Chile, to Metlakatla, (southeastern) Alaska) but considered rare north of Baja California.

Habitat: Generally found on the bottom, nearshore near rocky reefs, but they can range down to 1,680 feet deep. Some have arrived north during the El Niño years and it’s speculated that there are at least three established groups near Redondo Beach, Santa Monica and Catalina. They feed on a variety of bethnic-invertebrates such as snails, sponges, sea urchins, shrimp, and crabs as well as the occasional fish and are most active during the day.

Finescale triggerfish taken from the rocks on Catalina Island by Jeff “Salty” in 2010

Piers: Reported from the Redondo Beach Pier, Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Santa Monica Pier, and Cabrillo Mole in Avalon.

Shoreline: Several have been caught from the shoreline at Catalina and the jetty at Redondo Beach.

Boats: A fairly rare species for California boaters.

Finescale triggerfish taken at the Redondo Sportfishing Pier in 2012

Bait and Tackle: Will take most bait including squid, market shrimp, and ghost shrimp.

Food Value: Excellent, all-white fillets that can be cooked many ways. The only problem is that the skin is like leather so you need a good, sharp fillet knife.

Finescale triggerfish taken from the Redondo Beach Pier in 2007

Comments: Considered a fairly rare species in California although just enough fish are caught to keep it interesting. I’ve caught four—one in Maui, Hawaii, one while fishing out of La Paz, Mexico, one while fishing out of the Rancho Buena Vista resort in Mexico, and one from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon.

A triggerfish taken from the Cabrillo Mole (Picture by Hashem Nahid)

Rita Magdamo and son Kyle at the Cabrillo Mole with her finescale triggerfish in 2014

KJ and his finescale triggerfish at the Cabrillo Mole in 2010

A finescale triggerfish caught at the Cabrillo Mole by PFIC member EgoNonBaptizo (aka as Sky) in 2017 (Photo by Hashem Nahid)

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KJ and a different variety of triggerfish at Isla Espíritu Santo, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

A triggerfish caught on a boat out of the Ranch Buena Vista Resort in Baja California Sur, Mexico

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The Hawaiian State Fish

If you visit Hawaii you might look for its most famous fish, a triggerfish, the humuhumunukunukuapua’a, which is pronounced “who-moo-who-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-pooah-ah. If you can’t pronounce that, just call it humuhumu for short.

_____________________________

From Fishing Hawaii Style, Volume 2, by Jim Rizzuto, 1987

Common name: Two species are commonly known by this name: the pig-nosed triggerfish and the aculeate triggerfish.

Scientific name: Rhinecanthus rectangulus (pig-nosed variety) and R. aculeatus (aculeate variety).

Other names: Reef triggerfish and lagoon triggerfish; tasulkimongara (J) and marasamemongara (J), hage.

Physical characteristics: Grows to a pound or two. Body deep and compressed. Head pointed, snout-like, ending in a small mouth with strong jaws. Eyes are small and set high on the head about one-third of the  way back along the body. Pectoral fins are small. A single prominent spine sticks up from midback directly behind the eyes. When erected, it is locked in place by a much smaller spine behind it and may not be lowered until the second spine has been depressed. The pig-nosed humuhumu is the Hawai’i State Fish. It has a dark band running from the eyes diagonally along the sides to the anal fin. The aculeate humuhumu has three or four rows of dark spines on the caudal peduncle. The skin of both fish is tough and leathery.

Humuhumu caught in Hawaii by sdfisherman (Don) in 2005

Habits: Feeds on shrimp, crustaceans and seaweed. Common in reef areas ranging from the shallows to depths of five or more fathoms. Generally solitary. Hides in openings in the coral when threatened.

The teeth of a triggerfish. Posted to PFIC by mufuti in 2005

Picture — Courtesy of Discover Hawaii Tours

The fish is featured in the following famous song —My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua Hawaiʻi By Bill Cogswell, Tommy Harrison & Johnny Noble

I want to go back to little grass shack
In Kealakekua, Hawaiʻi
I want to be with all the kanes and wahines
That I used to know long ago

I can hear the old guitars playing
On the beach at Hōnaunau
I can hear the old Hawaiians saying
Komo mai no kāua i ka hale welakahao

It won’t be long till my ship will be sailing
Back to Kona
A grand old place
That’s always fair to see, you’re telling me

I’m just a little Hawaiian
A homesick island boy
I want to go back to my fish and poi

I want to go back to my little grass shack
In Kealakekua, Hawai`i
Where the humuhumunukunukuâpua`a
Go swimming by

You can listen to Don Ho — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWlvYpJ5pRo

]]> http://kenjonesfishing.com/2016/10/finescale-triggerfish-2/feed/ 0 http://kenjonesfishing.com/2014/10/13th-annual-catalina-pier-fishing-get-together/ http://kenjonesfishing.com/2014/10/13th-annual-catalina-pier-fishing-get-together/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:59:06 +0000 kenjones http://kenjonesfishing.com/?p=5146 My observations of the 2014 Pier Fishing in California/United Pier and Shore Anglers of California Get Together in Avalon, Catalina

SteveO and a bonito

Rita and Kyle with a finescale triggerfish

Rita and a yellowtail

The capture of a long hoped for species, the catch of an unusual “Baja” species, and some interesting nighttime activity, both fishing and lobster hooping, highlighted the 13^th annual PFIC-UPSAC Catalina Get Together. The long sought species was a yellowtail, the unusual species was a finescale triggerfish, and the nighttime excitement centered on runs of big mackerel and the capture of many, many lobsters.

As important if not of greater importance was the reunion with fellow PFIC board members and the first of what we hope is many “James Liu Memorial Fishing Derbies.”

Although the numbers of participants was relatively small, it exceeded our original 2002 numbers and the intimate gathering of (mostly) long-time friends was in some ways preferable to the larger crowds of some years. Attending this years event was yours truly (KJ), Dora, Warren, Amanda, and Elaine Liu, Mahigeer (Hashem), GordoGrande (Ross), SteveO (Steve), rita001 (Rita) and her son (man-child) Kyle, kelpangler (Eugene) and daughter Mina, Hans and Donna, redkorn (John), and a newly slimmed-down Burger (Jason). The Get Together would prove both exciting and frustrating (for some) but rarely dull.

The Catalina Express Landing in Long Beach

 Thursday, September 25 —

Thursday morning would see myself, Hashem, Steve and John arrive at the Long Beach Catalina Express Terminal in the dark and line up waiting for the 6:15 ferry that would take us to Catalina.

Ferries at the Catalina Express Landing

In one of his books, James Lee Burke wrote that the “sunrise was like a pink rose opening on the earth’s rim” and that perfectly described the sight that morning as we left the landing and Long Beach Harbor. As each petal opened we were greeted by a new sight and enjoyed a smooth sailing across the San Pedro Channel.

The Shoreline Village in Long Beach

One of the five “finger piers” located on the jetty protecting the Shoreline Village and marina

We followed a fishing boat out of the harbor

The Queen Mary

The view looking back at the harbor

Hashem and John on the ferry

Getting closer to Catalina Island and Avalon

Upon arrival at the Mole the group split up. Steve stayed at the Mole to try for some bonito. His hopes were high as several anglers had feet firmly planted at the Mole casting out for bonito, and a couple of the boneheads were already on the pier. The rest of us headed over to the Green Pleasure Pier (our typical Thursday venue).

The Green Pleasure Pier

Once reaching the Green Pleasure Pier it turned out another angler (John) had my favorite spot —the “skipper’s corner”— but luckily both end corners were open to fishing and space was available for all. Although we had hoped we might be able to check in early at the Hermosa Hotel, it turned out the hotel was full and our rooms would not be available until 2PM. So, bags were deposited on the pier’s deck, fishing equipment was broken out, and the fishing began.

As always, we immediately started to catch fish, the hit parade being led by smallish-sized, mostly 8-11-inch kelp bass (all of course returned to the water). Pretty much every cast would yield a fish unless bait-stealin’ fish like senorita stripped the bait off the hook and the numbers steadily rose. Some nice-sized opaleye were landed but surprisingly only one sheephead and no pelagics — Pacific mackerel,  jack mackerel or jacksmelt. We hoped to see a yellowtail but none visited the show while we were there.

Later in the afternoon, Hans and Donna arrived, and stopped at the pier, but that day was a non-fishing day for them.

A nice picture of Avalon and its harbor taken by Hans from the top of the hill — picture courtesy of Hans

But the rest of us continued to fish—Myself, Hashem, John (redkorn), our new friend John, and a lone heron perched up above the fray, one whose hideous screech was just a little rough on the ears.

Halfmoon from the Green Pleasure Pier

Opaleye from the Green Pleasure Pier

Female rock wrasse from the Green Pleasure Pier

Sheephead from the Green Pleasure Pier

 John, the guy who was at the “skipper’s corner” caught this Yellowtail after we left.

Thursday, September 25, Green Pleasure Pier: 8:20 AM – 3:20 PM — Fish caught: Kelp Bass, Rock Wrasse, Opaleye, Halfmoon, Sheephead, Garibaldi and Senorita

Finally, a little after 3 PM, we decided to head over to the hotel to check in and then headed back out to the Mole to give Steve some company.

The Casino

We were at the Mole by 4:30 and soon began to again catch fish. Surprisingly there were less opaleye than at the Green Pleasure Pier. There was also almost an entire absence of blacksmith, a small species that had seemed to saturate the water and grab almost every bait during the 2011 Get Together. However, the garibaldi had never seemed as numerous (both the brilliantly colored large adult garibaldi and the smaller blue-speckled juveniles). It was hard to keep the garibaldi from grabbing bait but all were carefully returned to the water. As usual a nice mix of fish was caught.

A young Garibaldi from the Mole that still has its blue spots

A Kelp (calico) Bass from the Mole

A male Rock Wrasse from the Mole

Dusk and the casino that sits across the watery inlet from the Mole

Thursday, September 25, Cabrillo Mole: 4:30-7:15 PM — Fish caught: Kelp Bass, Garibaldi, Halfmoon, Opaleye and Rock Wrasse

At 7:15, Hashem, Steve, John and myself headed to Antonio’s where we had our traditional opening night dinner (along with the peanuts). That night would see us return to our hotel rooms after dinner for some needed sleep since the next night would be the opener of the lobster season and Hashem and John planned to stay at the Mole the entire night.

 Friday, September 26 —

Sunrise at the Mole

Steve stayed in my spare bed that first night and the next morning we both were up at the crack of dawn to head out to the Mole for the early mornin’ bite. It was the stillness of the dawn, empty streets with only a few solitary workers preparing for the day, and the sound of gentle waves washing Avalon’s harbor. In ten minutes or so were at the Mole watching the sun emerge from the waters to the east and we were ready for some fish. Steve was casting for bonito within a few minutes of arrival (and got an early mornin’ fish). I was fishing by 6:45 and began to pull in the normal species from the Mole.

Steve and his early morning Bonito

Disappointing again was the lack of opaleye. Some were present but not in the numbers we had seen at the Green Pleasure Pier. So too was the lack of mackerel but we would stay at the Mole until 6 PM and the day produced another nice mix of fish.

KJ and Giant Kelpfish from the Mole

Spotted Kelpfish from the Mole

In the morning Burger showed up for some fishing and hooping and proceeded to wet a line. In the afternoon Dora and the Liu children arrived as well as Rita and Kyle (who is now about 6’3” and large).

The Liu’s — Warren, Elaine, Amanda and Dora — Picture courtesy of Rita

Kyle and Rita — Picture courtesy of Rita

They had driven down together from Sunnyvale and would head over to the hotel to check in. I can’t remember if Rita came back to fish the Mole that afternoon but we decided we would all meet at Antonio’s for dinner. John and Burger stayed at the Mole and watched the equipment while the rest of us enjoyed a good meal.

KJ and a Halfmoon from the Mole

Friday, September 26, Cabrillo Mole: 6:45 AM-6 PM — Fish caught: Kelp Bass, Garibaldi, Halfmoon, Rock Wrasse, Giant Kelpfish, Senorita, Blacksmith, Sheephead, Spotted Kelpfish and Blackperch

The highlight of the meal at Antonio’s was, by the way, a practice reading of “Who’s On First” the old Abbot and Costello routine (as performed by Warren and Kyle). It turned out Warren needed to learn the lines for an upcoming school production and Kyle was playing the part of Abbot.  Apparently they had already gone through the routine several times during the drive down from the Bay Area and did an excellent presentation. Of course Dora, Rita, Amanda and Elaine had already heard it several times and perhaps were not quite as enamored hearing it again. For Steve, Hashem, Hans, Donna and myself, it was refreshing entertainment.

The group at Antonio’s — Back Row: Rita, Hashem, Dora, Warren, Kyle; Front Row: Steve, Elaine, Amanda.

Warren and Kyle practicing “Who’s on First?”

Kyle, Rita, Hans and Donna

After dinner most of us headed back to the Mole. Hashem and Hans were ready for the lobster opener as were John and Burger. I was fishing and had two goals: (1) a moray eel and (2) a flying fish. I figured my best chance to catch a moray was to simply fish straight down between the lobster traps and set up a high/low rigging. The flying fish was an experiment. I figured since they are similar to jacksmelt they might hit a Sabiki rigged with bloodworms. To reach deeper water I cast out the rig under a large bobber and added a glow stick to hopefully attract the flying fish.  The high/low failed to attract a moray although it did yield a few decent-sized kelp bass. The Sabiki did not yield any flying fish but did finally attract a couple of good-sized mackerel and it seemed that once those two they were brought in to the Mole the school seemed to follow.

Since the flying fish weren’t cooperating and the lobster seekers wanted some fresh mackerel for lobster bait, I switched to fishing for mackerel on my ‘flying fish” rod.  The Sabiki was replaced with two size 2 hooks and the worms were replaced by pieces of mackerel. Soon the mac attack was on. The rigging (with a glow stick) would be cast out and soon a fish would hit and the glow stick would streak off across the dark water. Normally one fish would be hooked, occasionally two would join in the fun, and the fight would be on. Not exactly big game fishing but a lot of fun on the fairly light tackle I was using. A few other anglers saw the mackerel but most were busy hooping so not too many joined in the fun that night. I called it quits on the mackerel at 25 figuring that should be plenty of bait for the lobster traps that night

Hashem measuring a Lobster

You gotta love Lobster, right?

While this was going on, the lobster opener had proved to be a blast. People had their lobster hoops set up and ready to go in the water by 11:30 and people counted off the time: 20 minutes to go, 10 minutes to go, 2 minutes to go, and throw the hoops in the water boys! People were scrambling and soon hoops were being pulled in right and left and many had lobsters. The bugs were measured and though most were too small every once in a while a legal lobster would show up and it would be soon be headed to a bucket (often a bucket in the water). It was exciting and by the next morning Hahem had caught six legal lobsters, John had four, and Burger had two and I think Hans had one or two. I of course was still fishing for that eel.

Lobsters

Friday/Saturday, September 26/27, Cabrillo Mole: 10:30 PM – 2 AM — Fish caught: Pacific Mackerel and Kelp Bass

Saturday, September 27 —

In memory of our friend James Liu — and his presence was felt

James and a Bonito he caught at the Mole

Saturday morning was a time to prepare for the 1st Annual James Liu Memorial Derby and so that occupied my attention. Joining us with a surprise visit was GordoGrande/Ross Kestin who had been absent for a couple of years.  Greetings were made to all and then scoring sheets were handed out. Most of the anglers were bait fishing and most caught some fish—kelp bass, halfmoon, and garibaldi seemingly the most common. Steve and Eugene were using lures but the bonito and mackerel were absent so it looked like they might have a tough time.

Eugene and Mina

Eugene was casting at the left edge of the Mole while Mina was reeling in fish after fish on lugworms when Eugene hooked up something that seemed strong. Lo and behold it was a yellowtail and Eugene fought it expertly bringing it close to the pier. There was confusion for a moment when it appeared something was trailing the yellow and I immediately thought shark but instead it was two other yellowtail. People rushed to get a net but just before capture the hook pulled free and we would have to wait a little longer for our first yellowtail.

Rita, Kyle and a Finescale Triggerfish

Soon after, Rita hooked something big and we weren’t sure what it was until it got to the top of the water. Initial guesses were a large sheephead or even a small bat ray but no, it was a triggerfish and once Hashem netted it in his net Rita and joined me in the still fairly exclusive PFICCMT Club (Pier Fishing in California Cabrillo Mole Triggerfish Club).

Interesting teeth!

Not only are triggerfish fairly rare in California waters, they are fun to catch and delicious to eat. I did though tell Rita to have a sharp knife and a honing stone since filleting triggerfish tears up a blade. The fish was by far the largest that had been landed so far at the derby.

Hashem

Burger

Ross

Kyle

Elaine

Amanda and a Kelp Bass

Hans and a Halfmoon

Donna

Eugene and his “Bottle” rig

Mina

Hashem and Ross

Elaine, Amanda and Warren Liu

Nevertheless the derby continued and Hashem and Hans continued to pile up points on bass and halfmoon. Rita decided she needed to add on a few more points to her total so she next went out and rigged up an anchovy, cast it out, and hooked up to another yellowtail. This time a net was available and the fish was netted. It wasn’t a large yellowtail but IT WAS A YELLOWTAIL and the additional points would assure Rita the title in the derby. It was also cement her legacy as the first participant at a PFIC Catalina Get Together to land a yellowtail—from either the Mole or the Green Pleasure Pier. The triggerfish and yellowtail added the final excitement that was needed to make it a memorable day.

Rita and the Yellowtail from the Mole

Other participants continued to catch fish (including the hooking of a yellowtail by Hans), or at least most of them. Steve had opted out of fishing to help out Elaine while Eugene also, I think, did about as much socializing as fishing.

Steve and Eilaine

Food too was available from an early point in the derby after Dora arrived with a large batch of dough-wrapped hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and snicker doodles. Others brought brownies and NO ONE went hungry.

People by the food

As the derby drew to an end Ross went around selling raffle tickets and eventually enough tickets had been sold to make an interesting raffle and make a little money for UPSAC.

Steve, John, Hans, Eugene and Mina

Following the derby we had the awards presentation.

The group

The Liu Family — Warren, Elaine, Dora and Amanda

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 1st Place — Rita Magdamo

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 2nd Place — Hans Jones

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 3rd Place — Hashem Nahid

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: Junior Division Winner — Mina Kim

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 6-Year-Old Age Group Winner — Elaine Liu

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 10 Year-Old Age Group Winner — Mina Kim

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 12-Year-Old Age Group Winner — Amanda Liu

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 14-Year-Old Age Group Winner — Warren Liu

James Liu Memorial Fishing Derby: 17-Year-Old Age Group Winner — Kyle Pease

 Amidst the activity on the Mole was a plethora of on-water activities.

A cruise ship was anchored just out from the Mole.

Parasailing

Parasailing

Steve and the cruise ship

Next up was the raffle and just about everyone won something.

Dora Liu

Donna

Warren

Burger

Rita

John

Ross

P-Line Crew

Hashem

Next up was the group picture.

From left to right: John, Steve, KJ, Mina (front), Rita, Warren, Kyle, Amanda (front), Eugene, Dora, Elaine (front), Ross, Donna, Burger, Hans and Hashem

There was still a little time to fish before dinner! A nice variety of species was caught including some scorpionfish. I did try casting a live bait out hoping for a yellowtail, in fact two of them, both small halfmoons. One was promptly swallowed by a large sea lion and one was grabbed by a cormorant. That was the end of the live bait experiment.

KJ and a California Scorpionfish commonly called Sculpin

Scorpionfish

Unknown lady angler

Hans and one of the many garibaldi that were caught (and released)

Saturday, September 27, Cabrillo Mole: 2:55-4:25 PM — Fish caught: Kelp Bass, Opaleye, Halfmoon, Blacksmith, Garibaldi, Sheephead, Blackperch and Sculpin (Scorpionfish)

This pelican was one of the few birds we saw since Avalon has hired a falconer to keep the birds (pigeons and sea gulls) away.

Those who could leave the Mole (and their lobster nets) traveled to dinner at the Mi Casita restaurant where bodies were fueled, stories where shared, and people could prepare themselves for even more expected excitement during a nighttime visit to the Mole.

Hans, Donna, Amanda and Warren at Mi Casita

Warren, Rita and Dora (where’s Kyle?)

Elaine, Mina and Eugene

This night would see a repeat of the lobster excitement with the addition of a large group fishing for the mackerel (myself, Steve, Kyle, Rita, Warren, Hans and Donna among others). The mackerel cooperated and it was wild seeing glow sticks headed every which way back and forth across the water. Luckily the kelp was mostly absent this year so people could pull in the mackerel without losing fish, which is common most years.

A lobster in Rita’s net — picture courtesy of Rita

Hans and two lobsters — picture courtesy of Hans

I was still using two rods trying to catch that moray eel but again they ignored my bait. However, a number of different species did decide to hook onto my line including some rockfish and salema.

As for a moray eel, one of the slimy, detestable, ugly, hateful creatures did decide to join our group — on Rita’s line (even though I’ve been religiously seeking them out at the Mole for the past five years or so).  Luckily she’s one of my favorite people so I didn’t have to toss her over the railing. [Not that I would have tried since Rita is a head instructor at the Twin Dragon Kung Fu Academy. Sensei Rita has a brown belt in Kodakan Judo and experience in Shorinji Kempo and in all likelihood Mr. Jones would have joined the lobsters and other creatures in the water if I had tried to throw HER into the drink.]

Rita’s moray eel — picture courtesy of Rita

An up close and personal view of Rita’s moray eel — picture courtesy of Rita

One more view of Rita’s moray eel — picture courtesy of Rita — (Sigh!)

I also lost the largest fish (non-shark/ray) I had hooked from a pier in several years. The fish hit my high/low eel rigging and took off like it wasn’t going to stop. It headed straight out and then did a turn to the left before heading in and I was sure it would enter the area by the losbster nets and get tangled but it didn’t. Instead it came up in front of the Mole and just seemed to lie there in the lights from the Mole. It was a log barracuda, the kind you normally catch on a boat not on a pier and I honestly thought it was a 7-9 pound fish even though I know fish tend to look bigger when in the water.

Although I had yelled for a net, all the nets were in the water for the lobsters. Burger pulled his hoop net and came over but just before he arrived the fish seemed to get a second wind and took off parallel to the left of the Mole — and it didn’t want to stop. I guess I could have tightened down the drag but I’m not sure if that would have stopped it. It cut left around the corner and headed toward the deep channel while line rubbed against something. Net result — a loss of the fish. I took a break.

I blamed myself for not having a net ready to go. I preach the 7 R’s — Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance — and then I didn’t do it! I had originally planned to bring a net but at the last minute left it at home and I paid the consequences. I was surprised that the toothy ‘cuda hadn’t bit through the monofilament line and still don’t know how I had him hooked. It certainly fought better than most of the big barracuda I have caught in the past. It was a big fish but should have been landed.

Losing a nice-sized fish, no moray eel, and no flying fish — the karma was certainly against me this trip. I went back to the mackerel fishing but I was ready to stop and once I again reached 25 mackerel I called it a night and headed back to the motel room, all the while thinking about the fish I had lost.

Saturday, September 27, Cabrillo Mole: 7:30 – 11:45 PM — Fish caught: Kelp Bass, Pacific Mackerel, Halfmoon, Treefish, Grass Rockfish, Salema and Sculpin (Scorpionfish)

Sunday, September 28 —

Sunday morning saw one last trip out to the Mole before it was time to pack and head to the ferry. I was able to get a couple of hours of fishing in but fishing was relatively slow with only a few different species.

Sunday, September 28, Cabrillo Mole: 7-9 AM — Fish caught: Kelp Bass, Blacksmith and Sculpin (Scorpionfish)

After a shower and packing up and organizing all the various stuff (rods, reels, clothing, etc.) it was back to the Mole and waiting for the ferry. And, the wait was interesting.

You need a big lure for a big catch.

A cruise ship, boats and sailing

Ditto the above.

The yellow submarine

Avalon Harbor was getting just a tad bit crowded

The line for the ferry is on the Mole

Highlights, lowlights and simple thoughts.

•   It’s hard to explain the lack of bonito at this year’s derby. Coastal piers saw the best fishing for bonito since 2006/2007 due, it was assumed, to warm water conditions. However, only a few bonito were captured at Avalon even though anglers were casting a variety of feathers and lures most mornings and evenings. A drop in water temperature the week prior to the derby may have explained their absence.

•  There was also a decrease in the number of blacksmith, the small fish that seemed to cover the water in 2011 and make it almost impossible to get bait to other fish. A few were caught but only a few and most of these were small ones.

• There may have been a decrease in the number of sheephead since fewer were taken. However, they typically seem more numerous in the earlier months like April and fewer anglers had ghost shrimp (which have proven to be the top bait for the toothy beasts).

• The number of two species seemed higher than ever. Garibaldi were very numerous, both adult fish and juvenile fish and it was hard to keep them off the hooks. Kelp bass too were as numerous if not more numerous than normal. The Green Pleasure Pier saw an unlimited number of 8-11-inch fish with a few larger fish while the Mole saw a plethora of small 6-8-inch bass together with a few legal-size fish.

• I did not catch a new species this year so the number of species at the Cabrillo Mole and Green Pleasure Pier remained the same.

Cabrillo Mole — 31 species — Kelp Bass, Giant Kelpfish, Senorita, Striped Kelpfish, Rock Wrasse, Kelp Perch, Garibaldi, Blacksmith, Pacific Mackerel, Sheephead, Opaleye, Halfmoon, Jacksmelt, Treefish, Scorpionfish, Crevice Kelpfish, Bonito, Brown Rockfish, Kelp Rockfish, Rubberlip Seaperch, Mexican Scad, Olive Rockfish, Spotted Kelpfish, Ocean Whitefish, Salema, Jack Mackerel, Black Seaperch, Finescale Triggerfish, Pacific Sardine, Cabezon and Grass Rockfish. I’ve also caught a couple of lobsters.

Green Pleasure Pier — 19 species — Kelp Bass, Halfmoon, Rock Wrasse, Senorita, Shinerperch, Opaleye, Pacific Mackerel, Sheephead, Jack Mackerel, Blacksmith, Scorpionfish, Pacific Sardine, Garibaldi, Jacksmelt, Ocean Whitefish, Island Surfperch, Black Seaperch, Salema, Northern Anchovy. In addition, several lobsters, a spider crab and an octopus.

• As always it was great to see the various participants. In talking to Rita we discussed the costs involved and wondered if next trip we might check out the cost of renting a couple of homes. Some of the homes sleep as many as 8-10 people and sharing costs would reduce the overall expenses.

• The September meeting proved fruitful for the lobster and some bigger fish. Do we switch back to the traditional April (less expensive) Get Together or do we stick in the Fall or even go to a Summer gathering which would be easier for people with kids? We need to decide.

• Dat’s all folks!

I want to go back !!!

Oh, the Dompha, he draws circles
Up and down the mole.
I’d ask him what the matter was
But I know that he don’t talk.
And the anglers treat me kindly
And furnish me with line,
But deep inside my heart
I know I can’t escape.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Dompfa (Dominating positive fishing attitude) Ben aka Ben Acker

Well, Ken, he’s in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells,
Speaking to some French girl,
Who says she knows me well.
And I would send a message
To find out if she’s talked,
But the tackle store’s been stolen
And the tackle box is locked.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

The Pier Fisherman aka Ken Jones

Gordo tried to tell me
To stay away from that Catalina mole
He said that all those older fishermen
Just drink up your blood like wine.
An’ I said, “Oh, I didn’t know that,
But then again, there’s only one I’ve met
An’ he just smoked my eyelids
An’ punched my cigarette.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Rita, Gordo and Kyle with bonito at the Cabrillo Mole

Grandpa died last week
And now he’s buried in the kelp,
But everybody still talks about
How badly they were shocked.
But me, I expected it to happen,
I knew he’d lost control
When he built a fire on the mole
And shot it full of holes.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Grandpa’s buried in the kelp

Now the GDude came down here
Showing ev’ryone his rod,
Handing out free tickets
To the gathering on the mole.
An’ me, I nearly got busted
An’ wouldn’t it be my luck
To get caught without a license
And be discovered beneath a trunk.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

GDude aka James Liu

Now baitfish looked so baffled
When I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of feathers
Stapled to his chest.
But he cursed me when I proved it to him,
Then I whispered, “Not even you can hide.
You see, you’re just like me,
I hope you’re satisfied.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Baitfish aka Adam Cassidy

Now Mahigeer gave me two cures,
Then he said, “Jump right in.”
The one was Persian medicine,
The other was just plain Raki gin.
An’ like a fool I mixed them
An’ it strangled up my mind,
An’ now people just get uglier
An’ I have no sense of time.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

  Mahigeer aka Hashem Nahid — the motivation for the “Bonito Blues.” Hashem would go on to become an expert at catching bonito. In 2007 he hooked six and landed three and in the years since he has visited the Mole more often, and caught more bonito, than any of the original crew. 

When Rita says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
Where I can watch her waltz for free
‘Neath her Avalonian moon.
An’ I say, “Aw come on now,
You must know about my debutante.”
An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Rita001 aka Rita Magdamo

Now the bricks lay on Metropole
Where the neon madmen climb.
They all fall there so perfectly,
It all seems so well timed.
An’ here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get new balls and feathers
After losing them more than twice.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck in Catalina
With the bonito blues again.

Metropole 

(With apologies to Bob Dylan and “Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”)

YES, Hashem aka Mahigeer and a Catalina bonito!

Some additional Pier Fishing in California “pier rats” and Catalina bonito

Scott and a Catalina bonito aka “bonie”

SteveO and a Catalina bonito

Santa aka Mike Spence and a Catalina bonito

Grammer Police aka Anthony Van Son III (Joey) at the Mole with a “Bonehead”

Kyle Pease and a bonito from the Mole

Redfish aka Robert Gardner and a bonito

An unknown angler and a bonito at the Mole. The visitor had never fished so when  Mahigeer hooked a bonito he handed over the rod and let the “new” angler enjoy a battle with the good fighting fish.