Catalina Kayak Fish Odyssey 100 - Now Accepting Applications

[Apex Predator]

The goal was to make it 15 miles or so offshore (30miles Total)and make it to the tip of the 9 mile bank at the very end of Loma Canyon. I had a lot of people show interest in the upcoming Catalina Trip but only one Person Crazy enough to commit to the trip and the training. And since this trip requires a little bit of crazy I had to make sure my sole recruit (Will) wasn't completely crazy and had enough Legs and Fishing knowledge to make it around Catalina and get home in one piece.

We arrived at LJ at about 4am and I was able to meet Will for the first time in the dark. Will has been fishing the Gulf since he was a kid and since moving to San Diego and getting a new PA12, he has been in the water crushing it in LJ for about a year. Will has learned a lot of tricks and techniques for fishing the bottom and stucture where my fishing experience is usually focused on YellowTails, seabass, Tuna or bust, I look forward to getting to know his style and knowlege a little better when we are in Catalina.

We launched early at 4:15am or so and made plenty of bait by 5:45am. we then trolled the 120' line until we were off the point of LJ before we started our heading to our Offshore destination. We were trolling Macs and Rapalas all the way out there, chasing a bunch of bird activity but all we were finding was schools of larger Macs chasing small bait. But that is the way Offshore Fishing sometimes is, High risk and labor, for, sometimes a big payoff, but sometimes nothing. I was looking like we were going to get the latter of that when 1pm came around and we reached our turn around spot. I rigged my sail at that point and put on a brand new pair of Sidekick Outriggers that i was testing, and liking BTW, for the way back. Will however pedaled the whole way round trip in a PA12, which may be a record for a pro-Angler someone should check, but he did it just fine for not having a sail. Me on the other hand barely peddled most of the way back, the Sail/sidekick combo for the REVO is a game changer for sailing offshore, rigged properly it performs like a true sailboat.

Will and I would stay within sight of each other on the way back but would regroup every so often. We were about 10 miles Off La Jolla at that point and other than Will spotting a Tuna of some sort cresting the surface we weren't seeing much action. Will and I were in good spirits though, Will said at that point that he was definitely heading out again Offshore with me in search of Tuna, 5 minutes latter we see a mess of birds, and even though its getting late and we are in danger of losing daylight, we throw caution to the wind while chasing dragons. It pays off, Will's Line goes ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, and he goes into action. Just as Will is getting his fish in the boat, my line gets hit, and I now spring into action. Will makes quick work of his fish and drops another line in the water and gets hit AGAIN! In the dusk they appeared to be small football Blue Fin but after getting them home we discover they are SkipJack Tuna's. But we have little time to discuss Fish ID's at this point because Its 4pm now and we have about 12miles to Lajolla now after drifting about 2miles south while we were fighting fish.

It ends up being 8:30pm and Dark before we make it back to LJ, way past our target of sunset, but not bad at all due to the Hook-Up and the fact that Will peddled the whole way with no sail. His loyal friend was on the beach waiting to make sure he made it back OK. My phone died so I couldn't call my Wife to let her know I'd be late, so she called some friends of mine who were also at the beach to see if we had made it back. After a quick beach celebration I rush home to get scolded while eating sashimi. It was great, what a Day!

None of the 6 days we spend in Catalina will be anything like the 34miles we did on that Saturday so I feel very confident in my new Partner, Will, as we go on our 100 Mile Odyssey into the Pacific.