Not kayak related. Catalina Mole.

[Mahigeer]

CATALINA MOLE 2/20/2016
Once again come with me on my fishing outing at the Cabrillo Mole, or Mole as it is called in Catalina. See the end of the report for some interesting facts about Santa Catalina Island.

In a whim I decided to head out to my “home” away from home.
I would have been alone at home for the weekend otherwise, so why not?





Saturday, February 20, 2016

It was one of the very few times that someone was in line before me at the Catalina Express terminal for the 6:15 AM departure from Long Beach.
Then I noticed the boat was very crowded and mostly by scuba divers. It turns out that they are going to the island for the annual bay cleanup.


1-There were a lot of divers who paid for traveling expenses as well as registration fee, etc., so they can dive and clean the Avalon Bay and Lover’s Cove.
Only thing I can add is BRAVO. BRAVOOOOOOOOOOOO.





By 8:00 AM, I had setup camp and was casting one the two rods that I had setup for bonito. One was with cast-a-bubble and a white and blue homemade fly tied to a barbless hook. The other was anchovies color Megabait as lure.

2-I had tied these flies for bonito. Some with lead wire core so they would sink slightly below the surface.
The one on the left was the one I used first and it worked great. Thus, the others did not get to play!



My mannnnnnny casts for bonito went unanswered, so I changed to bait fishing with peas for opaleye and market shrimp for sheephead, etc..
My first fish of the trip was an approximately 10” halfmoon. It was not practical to take my picture with the first fish, so I deterred from tradition.
Therefore, I do not have any picture from it.

Next were lots of bass, more halfmoon and even a garibaldi. All released.

A Harbor Patrol officer, who is a friend and has guide service, stopped by and told me that they have been catching a lot of bonito.
I got encouraged not to give up and continued casting for them.
I went back and forth between bait fishing and casting for bonito. No action from bonito until it was sunset.

When I hooked a good size one with the Megabait lure, I had a youngster who was fishing with his dad, land the fish. His first bonito fight. More on them later.

Weather for the outing was the usual Mole weather! Sometimes it was perfect combination of sun and cool breeze. Other times it was cold and windy.
At night due to inactivity I would be cold if I sat for a nap. Even with my ice fishing outfit, less the long John under garment.


3-A local osprey visited us at the Mole. I have seen one to dive and pick up an Opaleye not far from the Pier.



4-I noticed the California and MIA flags are missing. The maintenance man pointed out to me that the American flag is partially raised, due to passing of Justice Scalia. Since other flags could not be above the American flag, they are not put up.



5-An angler had hooked a halfmoon (see the float on the right hand upper corner), but the pelican took it.
Two cormorants were trying to get the fish from the pelican for themselves. Eventually angler got the fish back.




A father and his young son were fishing with me most of the day. They seemed to have fished before, since they were both using conventional reels.
As usual I made friends with them. When I noticed that they were disappointed since they were not catching anything, I suggested changing their terminal tackle.

I showed them how and tied a single hook dropper loop rig for the son. The son almost immediately hooked a small bass.
They started catching fish and when the father caught a very large sheephead, he gave it to me as a thank you for my help. They are also expecting delivery of a Boston Whaler boat and have invited me to go fishing with them. I am to teach them how to catch lobster. We maybe meet at the Fred Hall Show, so they can rig up.

6-Perhaps a (3) lbs. sheephead.




Once the 7:30 PM boat left, the lights were turned off and I was the only one left on the Mole.
As it got dark I settled into my semi-comfortable camping chair for the night.

7-Picture yourself here.

Now imagine you are there alone sitting in a chair.
There is a constant sound of water washing into shore from the distance at the area called Lover’s Cove.
There is also a melody of water hitting the rocks of a jetty right behind you.
No two sounds are the same as the tide is coming in.

The only other noise is an occasional roar of the engine of a passing motor boat.

You send a hook down into the water baited with half of anchovies.
You sit back and while splitting a pumpkin seed shell in your mouth to get the seed out, your mind starts to wonder about your life and many other issues.

You are suddenly brought back to the Mole and business at hand…….

click—click, click, click----then zzzzp, zzzzzzzzzp and finally zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzp.

I jumped out and grabbed the rod and set the hook. The rod got a bend in it and…….
Fish on.
Then suddenly there was no pull.
What the heck?

I reeled in the line and noticed that the hook was missing. I was using straight braid. There must have been a small gap at the eye of the hook, allowing the line slip through it.
This had happened before maybe once, or twice.

Effective now I will be tying a Snell knot on this type of the rig. Maybe with other rigs as well and even with hooks that have an eyelet.


8-Moon over Avalon Bay.



9-One of the two rockfish that I caught and released.


I also caught many short bass as well. All released.




Sunday, February 21, 2016



10-Sunrise as it is observed from the Mole. I could never get tired of looking forward to it, or seeing it at the Mole.




While the sun started breaking the horizon, I started to cast for bonito. After all the reason to be enduring through a cold and lonely night was to be at the Mole for the “Golden Hour”.

The first cast was with the Megabait lure. As I was enjoying the panoramic view of sunrise, and hoping for a hit, it happened.
The rod went bendo and the most wonderful feeling that any angler loves to feel, was felt. Fish on.

It is always way more fun when the first cast of the day is rewarded with a hook up.

Originally I was not planning to keep any bonito. However, since my local friend had offered his sea lion proof bucket for me to use, I decided to keep the bonito catch for his future lobster trips.

After several casts again with Megabait lure, I changed over to the cast-a-bubble rig. Guess what?
The first cast with that rig which had the blue and white, homemade fly was rewarded with another bonito hook up. It is sweeter when your own creation of a fly fools the catch.

I am in heaven.

Almost every cast had action on it, even though there were no boils in the distance.
Suddenly I lost three bonito close to the pier. Dohoo.
I inspected the hook, and then I realized that since I had tied a barbless hook to make the release easier, I was losing the fish.
Since now I wanted to keep the fish for my friend, I changed to a similar fly, but with a barbed hook.

I quickly ended up with limit of the day and had to switch to bait fishing. My friend was very happy to get the fish.

I did not take any pictures of the bonito while the action was hot, and before I got the chance to take a group picture, my friend had cut the heads off the fish to fit them in his bucket.

It is action like this that keeps me going back to the Mole, among other enjoyable events.




11-With the wind in my back, I was able to cast much further which resulted in better chance of reaching the bonitos.

The flags were back as usual.


12-One of the two female sheepheads that I caught and released.



The fish caught were calico bass, bonito, halfmoon, mackerel, opaleye, rockfish, sheephead and the famous garibaldi. It was named after a famous Italian general; Giuseppe Garibaldi who was credited as one of the founders of Italy.
His soldiers wore red uniforms.

With exception of the one mackerel, one opaleye and limit on bonitos, all were released.

Around 5:00 PM I started to pack my gear, and then relaxed and socialized with other passengers in line.



13-Moon light scene before I got on the Catalina Express to come home with the 7:30 PM Boat.


The crossing was very smooth and I took a nap to be refreshed for the drive home.
The traffic was fast and getting home for a good night’s rest was easy. The hot jazz on the radio made it little more bearable leaving the Mole and going back to reality of everyday life.


Next trip will be in late March. At exactly a month to date. Post to follow, I am sure.

14-The following was printed in the Catalina Express magazine about Santa Catalina Island.


So, Santa Catalina Island was named after St. Catherine and where I fish, Cabrillo Mole is named after Rodriguez Cabrillo.

One more note about the name Avalon Bay, according to Wikipedia website;
Avalon (/ˈævəˌlɒn/; Welsh: Ynys Afallon; probably from afal, meaning "apple") is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and people such as Morgan le Fay.


The End.

[SDROB]

Cool report bud! Thanks for sharing.

A few years ago I had an idea of renting a storage unit down there and storing a couple of kayaks + fishing gear. I can't remember the price of the storage unit (however it was a bit pricey) it would be cool to split it up with a group of guys from here and fish the Island throughout the year. Then all you would have to do is pay for the boat ride down and fish the island. Just a thought since you seem to frequent the area.

[Mahigeer]

Thanks.

There is a storage room at the Mole which visitors can leave items that do not fit in the lockers.
I tried to leave my hoop nets there for the duration of the lobster season, but it was very expensive. $500.00

I can find out about another place in the town.

The kayaks can be taken there, but not on Catalina Express.

Private boat or the barge. If on the barge, then there is a transportation issue from barge to the storage room.

All doable, but at a price.

I will look into it.

[Denis_Ruso]

Thanks for the detailed rundown of your trip. Feels like I went with you..

I love reading these, makes me want to go back and visit again.

[Mahigeer]

Glad you liked it.