Non-kayak fishing outing report. Catalina Mole

[Mahigeer]

This report like others is about the total experience that I had during a recent fishing outing to Cabrillo Mole on the beautiful Santa Catalina Island. During such trips there is more happening than fishing. Thus, I like to record that for my own future reading and to put other readers in my place too. Come with me if you like.




Thursday, 1/23/2016.


It had been a long time since I had felt the tug of a fish. Due to weather, I was not able to fish much during my recent kayak fishing trip to Baja.
It was time to visit the Mole. The weekend weather prediction was for rain, so I opted to go mid-week. Since I wanted to stay overnight, the motel rate would be lower too.
As usual I was on the Catalina Express catamaran by 6:15 AM and on the island by 7:30 AM.

1-I had the pier to myself most of Thursday, and shred it with some locals on Friday.


After setting up “camp” at my usual north corner, I setup several rods. Two for bonito and one for the opaleye.


2-First order of business was to patrol the pier for trash such as these. The fork is for size comparison. When I see visitors walking about barefoot, I remind them of these. Some take heed and put on shoes, some think I am intruding on their freedom to do what they please.

Having taken my wife to an emergency room to remove a hook (as well as from myself), I know what a painful experience it can be.

When I am at the Mole I pay attention to what is going on around me. So when I saw this formation, I was curious. Later I found out what was happening.


3-The local veterans are saluting a terminally ill ex-commander, who is going to the mainland.

The first one from the left is a friend of mine. He is an old Marine, who leaves on the island. I met him years ago and when I am there we fish together, share life stories and even have caught some lobsters together too.


4-Lots of birds just sitting in many locations in the distance and sometimes close to the Mole.




5-Not too many boats in the bay. Water and wind calm at this point of the trip.

All sorts of different weather, including calm and very pleasant to windy and cold was experienced during the outing.


I started casting a cast-a-bubble with feather. About the fifth or so cast, I felt the bump and the rod bent. The drag pulled and when it stopped, I reeled in.
Suddenly there was no pull.
The bubble came back with #14 leader line broken just above the knot. The only thing I can think of is that it is possible I nicked the main line when I was cutting off the tag line.
Not the first time that I lost a good size fish at the Mole. I just wished I had seen the fish.


6-My first fish of the trip was this Calico. As usual no matter what size or species, I like to record it for posterity.



7-My first bonito of the trip. Later a sea lion took the second bonito and the fly that I had tied.



8-On Thursday, a sea lion dubbed Spots was hanging around right below me. He even took one of the two bonito that I caught.



9-More and more areas with grid are being closed due to rust damage. On a positive note, the barricades keep the anglers and the passengers in “Q” apart.

The color change is due to rust caused by water shooting up during the storms. I have seen it come up five (5) feet or more at times.


10-Low tide gets really low. High tide water hits the wall at the beach.



Later before it got dark I moved to the Green Pleasure Pier for night bat ray fishing. It was little cold, but manageable.

11-I set up at the Green Pleasure Pier for some night fishing.



12-I used this home-made bat ray rig with a whole mackerel, but I just ended up feeding the lobsters.



13-One scorpion and one short bass were the catch of the night with a market shrimp on the second rod.


After about three hours of fishing around 10:00 PM I went to the Hermosa Hotel for a good night’s rest.






Friday, 1/24/2016.

In the morning I had a wonderful breakfast at my favorite place for breakfast. I particularly like the background music that they have on.



14-Jack’s coffee shop.



After breakfast I took a little stroll and saw some information on Two Harbors.


15-Some pictures from Two Harbors.


15A- Cat harbor (the farther body of water in the picture) and Isthmus Cove are collectively called Two Harbors.




16-The Mrs. Wriggly museum and multi-purpose center is getting closer to completion. The museum is next door to the Hermosa Hotel where I have always stayed.




After checking out of the hotel, I first went to GPP for opaleye fishing, but the floats on both sides were removed. The opaleye like to hide under the floats, but without them they may have moved on. I decided to go back to the Mole until it is time to pack up for home.

During the outing I encountered a very frustrating situation, which it was cleared later.
Around 1:00 PM on Thursday and before noon on Friday, I kept seeing a lot of commotion on the surface. Birds siting all around and some sort of good size fish (due to the splash noise and splash size), were hitting the top water.
I started to cast the cast-a-bubble and feathers. Normally it is hook up on every cast when the boil starts.
However, this time all my offerings were rejected. Whether it is a different color feathers or lures.
Only a fisherman can imagine the frustration and the agony of a fish splashing all around him, but refuse to take his offering.

Then as I was resting and deciding what to do next, I saw the reason for bonito refusing my offerings. A very large bass hit the surface, gulped something and dove back.
It was then when I saw many small tuna crabs floating on the top.
It was bass that was splashing. Not bonito. My offering did not match the hatch if you will. Thus, it was ignored.

I used to have some small plastic lobsters that I had tried for sheephead on the island. Never caught anything with them, so I removed them from my tackle box.

Next trip I am going to duplicate the crab and see what happens.

17-The bass was hitting these. I believe they are called tuna crabs.



18-There was a dead dolphin that was washed ashore.



19-It got towed away to Pebbly Beach for burial at sea!



20-Halfmoon.



21-Fish action shot. A blacksmith.



22-Wetted ground up white bread with some peas makes an excellent chum for opaleye. The bread keeps the little fish busy, while peas attracting opaleye. The peas on the hook get a possibility to reach the desired fish while others are busy.



23-Small opaleye which was released.



24-This pest was harassing me both days. The fact that a local couple (who think entitled) were feeding it made it lazy and aggressive.



25-His buddy was smarter and less of a bother waiting below in the water.



26-They had pulled out one of the ramps for repair.



27-They had it covered for welding.

The construction noise disturbed the serenity of the Mole, but there was no choice but to move.
Fortunately they quit at 3:30 PM and even earlier on Friday.


28-Fullmoon at the Mole. Lovely ain’t it?



29-The Opaleye was on the chew so-to-speak, so I brought some home for a friend.


By the end of the trip, even though I did not keep an accurate account, somewhere between 40-50 fish were caught. Bonito, bass, opaleye, blacksmith and even one garibaldi. With exception of five opaleye, all were released.

I took the 8:50 PM boat since they did not have the 7:30 PM one. I was packed by 6:45 and just relaxed and listened to the surf and watched other people.
Boat ride was very smooth. Paid for two days of parking, which is now $17.00/24 hrs.

The next trip will be on March 23rd. My FREE birthday trip. Report to follow.


The End.



Rant:
Why would someone using the public bathroom do this kind of vandalism?


I saw one of them damaged the last time I was there. It was not replaced. It bothered me, so I replaced both. Later I informed the lady who was contracted for the upkeep. She was thankful.

[King Saba]

Very cool report. Try using squid strips with a slider next time if you just want to catch a bunch of short calicos for fun.

[Southman]

Really nice post. Thanks for sharing.
I've been meaning to to somehow kayak fish Catalina. Probably have to look in to renting one over there.

[King Saba]

Originally Posted by Southman

Really nice post. Thanks for sharing.
I've been meaning to to somehow kayak fish Catalina. Probably have to look in to renting one over there.

Or get yourself an adventure island and pedal over there. LOL

[Mahigeer]

Thank you guys. Glad it is liked.

Originally Posted by Southman

Really nice post. Thanks for sharing.
I've been meaning to to somehow kayak fish Catalina. Probably have to look in to renting one over there.

I had a very bad experience using a rental kayak at Avalon.

Momofish has done it several times and he likes it.



Actually I only bait fish to rest my shoulder from casting for bonito. I have caught 4.4 lbs. bass at night with squid the same night that I caught two small sharks.

The peas seem to get Opaleye, as well as some other species.

[Denis_Ruso]

I Have fished the Mole in the past, very fishy area. Awesome write up. Last time I was throwing swim baits there, I watched a rat yellowtail chase my lure right under the mole.

Originally Posted by Southman

Really nice post. Thanks for sharing.
I've been meaning to to somehow kayak fish Catalina. Probably have to look in to renting one over there.

Well if you are ever looking to do that, Let me know. I've been looking for someone to pull off a trip like this with.

In my research the best way to do it is go to Two Harbors and they have a kayak rental there. You would have to call them and try to reserve it in advance since they only have 2 fishing kayaks. (its pretty pricy, I think around 75$ for the day)

I've also rented kayaks at the descanso beach club in Avalon. But they are simple uncomfortable ocean kayaks. You can still get some calico, perch, sheephead and whitefish action on the backside of the island.

[momo fish]

Rentals on the island are about 30 for half day rentals on ocean kayak brand.. Normal kayak with rod holders and a paddle..

Easy launch with no waves and plenty of places to fish for calico or bottom fishing. Nothing exciting as you would need to fish other side of island for yellows or bigger fish.. Around the mole is smaller type fishing.

And Hashim practically lives on Catalina island.. Seems like every time I visit he is there to greet me at the boat landing 😊


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