Catapalooza pix

[Iceman]

What an adventure! I had a blast, paddling out of Cat Harbor feeling like a kid on Christmas morning. Plenty of kelp line and coves to explore. With sneaky boiler rocks to keep you on your toes. We did not catch a ton of fish,(even with live squid, Thanks Mike, Brad and Chris!) but had more than enough for the best Saturday night fish tacos one could imagine. We had daily jackpots. Aaron won the first day's with a calico and the second with a halibut. Don pulled out a Hail Mary halibut with in casting range of where we all landed on day three.

Great group! Great time!...............you are all invited to the next one which was already in the early planning stages on the ride home may be in September, this time Parson's Landing

[PAL]

Exceptional pictures Andy. I'm sure Little Harbor beach has never seen so many fishing 'yaks.

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

That last photo is great. Sounds like it was great trip in less than ideal conditions.

[peguinpower]

I had a great time. Thanks!

/bing

[steveooo]

Great Pics Andy
Great trip, would do it again in a heartbeat, even if the fish dont want to play. Great group of guys, nice to put faces to names (and screennames). Hope to see more of you drunkards on the H2o at LJ soon
Steve

[esdees]

Great trip! Thanks again Andy.

[Holy Mackerel]

Lots of fun, good people, I want to go back, but on the flyer with you guys!

Some of my pics...

Loading up... this is all just Brad's stuff... lol



The Glory Hull, ready to take off...



Greeted by some mammals on the way out...





Knocked on a paddy... nobody home...



shark fished for a while, por nada.... Finally a glimpse of Cat...





Started to spot "speed bumps" as we got there...





campfire time



Went to Avalon the next AM for fuel, and squirts... The squid guy said a 20ft white shark circled his boat everymorning...

We bid farewell to Miguel, he had a work project calling his name, he headed back early...

"Shoebetcha!"



Did some fishing....



Mike making up some burgers, hot food is always good on a cold day!



Brad with his favorite species of fish...



back at camp...



on the way back, we were treated with a show of whales, jumping out of the water, and slapping the water with their tails...



Cant wait to get back...

[Tman]

Great pics, wish I could've...too bad the feesh didn't show for you.

[Handymansd]

More Pics...



WSB disguised as hot dogs.




A sighting of the prototype x-13 being paddled off the coast of Catalina...?

[Dan]

First off, GREAT trip Andy, thanks man!

Left 9AMish from Marina Del Rey on the Flyer with a group of 28 kayakers from all over California...arrived at Avalon, let a few day trippers go in search of taffy and arcade games and we set off for Two Harbors. When we arrived, the rangers were there to port our kayaks over to Cat Harbor (a mere 1/4 mile)...once we were set on the other side of the island we paddled off to fish our way 4 miles over to Little harbor for the weekend of camping. Andy had arranged for our all of our camping gear to be shuttled over ahead of us. We launched and I jigged up some Spanish mackerel on the way out of the harbor and trolled one high and one low along the well defined kelp line, stopping on meter marks to soak and work the iron, but mostly paddled to get over to camp to set up.

After setting up, we all fished an evening session and got enough calico's, sheepshead and other bottom critters to make a nice dinner on our own. Met lots of cool people around camp that night. We drank and poked the fire at camp and told war stories about big fish and loose women and I called it a night to fish hard the next day, others were going big on the cocktails and just getting warmed up - Mike from orange was en fuego!

Saturday we woke to some snotttttty conditions, but we launched in the shelter of the harbor and I headed to some points that a friend had suggested. One, apparently a good greylight spot for deep seabass and maybe yellowtail when they're around....I found plenty of the ever present blue perch and lots of mini hits on the squid.





I worked my way toward a nice looking beach and pulled in tight to 20 ft in that perfect turquoise Catalina beach water that is supposed to be the spot for schooling WSB (that pic andy posted is me chilling and soaking right up on the backs of the thick shorepound....worked it with fresh dead squid for a couple of hours por nada and headed back towards the camp. I stopped off in some kelp and noticed a really nice looking room in some thick kelp. I tied off and sent a squid down into the open area. Few minutes later---big zing on the clicker and put in gear after a quick count, and I was on a big fish...couldn't turn it with tight drags and it eventually found a rock and broke my leader in no time. F'ing mystery fish..damn. Kept working the spot and ended up with a few calicos and a decent goat to put towards the taco fest that evening. Called it a day when the wind added to the crap windswell and headed for the harbor/camp.



Game plan on day 3 (Sunday) was to break camp, pile our stuff for the ranger to port over, and leisurely fish our way back to Two Harbors to catch the 4PM ride back to MDR.




I made some macs to go with the handful of live squid we had from the Glory Hull - Thanks guys. I didn't want to mess with kelp critters or bottom fish, I wanted seabass. Fished both hard - squid kept getting mauled with no connections, and the macs went untouched for hours of trolling in perfectly fishy water -- coves, beaches, kelp line, deep structure. Perfectly calm seas, good weather and a ripping current. At one point the structure and marks were looking reeealy good and Les gets ripped on his flylined mac and was on what he gathers was a nice yellow from the thumps on the line and he too eventually got dragged into the kelp where he eventually popped his spectra near the leader (um gotta retie everyonce in a while douche nozzel ass hat!).

The sporties and 6 packs were hopping around and the skipper of the Dreamer reported no love yet, but was amused to see a stream of kayakers fishing the coves and beaches.





Shoulda been here Thursday was what everyone told us....yeah yeah.

Got back to the harbor and off loaded our stuff, got into dry clothes and got me a fatty burger back at dock. Back on the Flyer and headed for home. Good times fishing that beautiful island - i'll be back.

To the gentleman with the Exedrin (i'm blanking on most of all the new names) - THANKS - saved my Sunday

The End.

[yakrider]

Thanks Andy for setting this up...
What a great experience...I never really think of this sports as "extreme",
but the weather Saturday was "extreme"...seeing all the pics makes
me realize this fact...we are all lucky mofo's to get to enjoy a
weekend like this and no one got eaten by the 20' GWS...COOL!!!
I can't wait for the next trip...
Great meeting all the new fellow yakkers...
oh..and Dan...you're welcome for the Exedrin...it saved my day, too..
click on this pic for slide show

[Zed]

COREY, ladies and gentlemen!

[fishinphil]

By far the best kayaking trip I've ever been on. It was great reacquainting with some old friends and I got to meet some really cool guys and share some outrageous stories. Although the weather wasn't cooperating we more than made up for it hanging out around the campfire and partying until the wee hours of the night. Thanks Andy for putting this fantabulous trip together for all of us. I can't wait for the next Trip!!


TRIPLE NIPPLE!!!!!!

-Phil

[SHARK BAIT]

THAT WAS THE BEST YAK TRIP I HAVE EVER BEEN ON. THANKS FOR ALL THE TIPS AND ADVICE, MADE MY TRIP SO MUCH MORE FUN. GOT TO MEET ALOT OF GREAT GUYS AND HEAR ALOT OF FISH TALES (LIKE 35LB BONITA) . CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT TRIP. ALL IS GOOD. I THINK I STILL HAVE A HANG OVER, AND WHEN I GO TO SLEEP I CAN HEAR BING AND THE FROGS LOL

AND I CANT FORGET ANDY, THANKS BRO!!

[slayersmith]

Had way to much fun on this trip! Great group of guys!! Thanks Andy for setting it up.

Had the luckiest weekend of my life, I guess every dog has his day.

Ended up catching a nice calico about 4.5lbs on the way to camp on Friday to take the first days jackpot of $135.00

On Saturday fished the morning session for a couple of small calicos. On the way back in at little harbor I was talking to some guys in a boat fishing and one of the guys catches a short halibut, im thinking humm. where there are shorts a legal has to around. Just need a fish to beat patricks 5.2 lb calico hog he caught in the morning sesion.

I go back to camp get some lunch hang out for a few hours and go back out with Josh and Scott. Hit a area were Scott said he hooked up with a fish for about half hour but got broke off in the weeds. Right as we got to the spot the glory hull guys show up and give us some squirts and some sardines. Fished the spot for no luv not even a bite. Just got rocked from the swell and wind. Started heading back to little harbor and fished the way back for a few small calicos. Get to the harbor and still have 4 live squid, figured I would drift in the spot where I saw the guys in the boat catch the short. Sure enough about 5 minutes into my drift pulled up a legal halibut 24", not sure if this could be a winning fish for jackpot I made about 5 more drifts in the area got hit a few more times but nothing stuck. At this point I was freezing my ass off and had to go in and get some dry clothes on.

Brought the halibut back to camp and Patrick weighed it on the same scale he weighed his hog calico on earlier. It went 5.3 lbs on the scale to win a $275.00 jackpot by 1 OZ. Gave Andy $100.00 for setting up the trip and all his hard work and gave Patrick $60.00 for his heart break 2nd place.

Congrats to Don for pulling off the win on Sunday with the nice halibut caught in Cat Harbor!!

Can't wait to go back!!! What a trip!



Take it easy!

Aaron

[esdees]

I would rather have the victory money, but pity money is nice too. Thanks Aaron!

[Donfish]

Totally amazing experience with the best group of people I have ever had the pleasure of living with for a couple of days.

Andy! Awesome job!
Look forward to fishing with you guys in the future and going back to
do it again .

[nmbrinkman]

Originally Posted by Donfish

Totally amazing experience with the best group of people I have ever had the pleasure of living with for a couple of days.

Good thing I wasn't there. I'd just bring down the average.




Looked like fun. I'll have to do what I can to go in September. Damn nice pictures.

[aguachico]

Good job on taking care of the crew Aaron.

[madscientist]

Thanks to Aaron for offering some of the winnings to the bait suppliers as well. But considering we didn't do much with the squid, I was just happy to see some of it put to good use.