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Originally Posted by fearlessfiasco
I'm taking the sailboat and kayak up to Two Harbors area of Catalina soon. Anybody got any general sugestions as to where I should be spending my fishing time while up there?
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The problem with twin harbors is it's get's a ton of boat traffic and it's fished hard. Fish there early before the boats swarm in.
Catalina is hit or miss. Watch for condition changes as sometimes a slight change in conditions especially current can make all the difference. The best fishing close to twin harbors is a highspot just Northwest of Bird Rock. It comes up to 40 feet, but it's surrounded deeper water on three sides around 180 ft. There's a ridge running to it from bird rock, fish the down current side of the ridge and highspot. I've caught a lot of bass there, yellows and seabass to but it's mainly good for Calicos and you can also get decent rockfish on the north east edge.
Personally I like to anchor down the island closer to the west end. There is small cove at 33-28.26 118-31.861 It's really kind of a unique place and few people overnight there. Outside it's deep as hell but there is a stretch of sand in there at forty to sixty feet that holds an anchor. Never rocked, or drug an anchor in there, or had any issues with sea conditions that forced me to move. Even in wind it's a pretty safe bet.
Just outside the current rips by and it's deep so sometimes that shallow area fills up with bait, or even large schools of fish. I like to cast iron in there at anchor on the boat, and I have caught some monster barracuda and nice bass there. I've seen some unbelievably epic barracuda bites there and even woke up to wide open Yellowtail bites, where we limited without even firing up the motor.
It's my favorite place to anchor on the island, spent a lot of nights there. This is what it looks like on anchor at gray light from my small 16ft skiff.
That's looking due North towards arrowhead point.
Between the boat and the point is a narrow strip of kelp along the cliff. No-one ever fishes it because it's almost impossible to anchor and the current is usually ripping outside. Fish tight to the kelp with Mackerel or big plastics and you might catch some huge bass, and I've hook C-bass there as well. I'd use spectra because you have to be right on the edge of the kelp to get bit. When the current pushes the Kelp down you can catch Bass above it fishing surface Iron right on top, but be ready to pull them out of the kelp because they head straight down into it.
Around the point it looks incredibly fishy all the way Parsons landing. I've caught bass off the Kelp there, and some halibut fishing inside on the strips of sand in shallow but nothing epic. The water is so clear in close that you can see halibut chase your plastics which is pretty cool. I don't fish it much though, and a word of caution on that note. If the current is moving north around the point I would stay on the anchorage side. That current can really rip and you might have trouble getting back. Same thing if the wind swings around to the East. I'm not joking, it's a big concern so be careful.
Depending on your skill level and confidence with your ground tackle that's where I'd anchor, and if it's a weekend I like to get there early before dark before someone else does because it only really holds one boat in tight.
Jim