I went to San Clemente Island today with Daniel Gonzalez and Doug Morrison. For those not from this area, I guess I should explain that the island is owned by the US Navy, is about 51 nautical miles offshore, and is subject to closures for live firing at any time.
We started at front side spots, and the vis was surprisingly poor for the island. The first spot we checked looked like around 10 or 12 feet, so we cruised down the island looking for better. We decided we better not be too picky and threw the anchor at a no-name bed that I've never tried before.
After about 10 minutes in the water I saw a pair of nice white sea bass swimming slowly though the kelp and took a shot as they faded into the murk. I didn't quite stone the fish, but must have nicked its spine as it swam very weakly, and I was delighted to keep it from getting into the kelp and be able to pull it right up.
When I almost had my hands on it, I noticed that this white sea bass had a funny tail and some other weird characteristics, and was amazed to find that I had shot a 30 pound yellowtail rather than a white sea bass. Well, it served it right for swimming though kelp and acting like a white sea bass.
Daniel saw a real white sea bass that he estimated at 50 pounds at the same spot, but it was a bit out of range.
Just so you know, the Navy is back to acting funny about its seldom enforced restriction on anchoring within 300 yards of the island. Three sailors came along in an inflatable and asked if I could please move out from the island a bit, and I said sure, as soon as I get back to the boat. They also asked if we could move a bit south (I think they meant west) down the island because we were close to a restricted area. I said that I thought white shack marked the edge of Wilson Cove, and they said that in fact it did, but we were close to it. We must have been at least a half mile from White Shack, and one would think that either you are in the area or out of the area and close doesn't count, but we were about to leave anyway, and they seemed like they were just following orders.
We tried a couple more spots on the front side with no luck, and then rounded the head into Pyramid Cove. We immediately noticed a couple of sleek navy vessels about 50 feet long pounding the shore with some sort of weapon with a very high rate of fire, and making very satisfactory plumes of water near the beach and very nice flashes and clouds of dust when they hit a bit above the water line. I couldn't believe that no one had hollered at us to leave, so I called San Clemente Island Control on channel 16 and got no answer. Then I noticed what appeared to be Brian Koprinik's boat anchored off the end of the kelp bed at Sun Point, so I called him on the radio and asked if he had noticed all that gunfire across his bow. He responded that he had indeed, but that they had come over and told him he was OK where he was, but don't go any farther west. Since I was east of him, I was OK, at least on paper, and decided to trust in the Navy's aim.
We could even hear the gunfire in the water, and perhaps that's why we saw no fish, so we came home. At least we weren't skunked.
On the way home it was a bit rough, and at one point we fell off the front of a wave and experienced a bit of negative G. Doug, who was sitting in front of the dinette where you can see that grey towel in the photo, rose up and knocked a piece of teak off of an overhead chart holder over the table, making a quite impressive gash in his scalp. At least the front half of his scalp has no hair, so it was relatively easy to stop the bleeding and get him bandaged. I'm not sure if he is litigious, but as a precaution I gave him the yellowtail.
Water temps were 66 to 70 on the front side, and 64 in the cove. Vis was rather poor and green, but at least diveable everywhere.
We started at front side spots, and the vis was surprisingly poor for the island. The first spot we checked looked like around 10 or 12 feet, so we cruised down the island looking for better. We decided we better not be too picky and threw the anchor at a no-name bed that I've never tried before.
After about 10 minutes in the water I saw a pair of nice white sea bass swimming slowly though the kelp and took a shot as they faded into the murk. I didn't quite stone the fish, but must have nicked its spine as it swam very weakly, and I was delighted to keep it from getting into the kelp and be able to pull it right up.
When I almost had my hands on it, I noticed that this white sea bass had a funny tail and some other weird characteristics, and was amazed to find that I had shot a 30 pound yellowtail rather than a white sea bass. Well, it served it right for swimming though kelp and acting like a white sea bass.
Daniel saw a real white sea bass that he estimated at 50 pounds at the same spot, but it was a bit out of range.
Just so you know, the Navy is back to acting funny about its seldom enforced restriction on anchoring within 300 yards of the island. Three sailors came along in an inflatable and asked if I could please move out from the island a bit, and I said sure, as soon as I get back to the boat. They also asked if we could move a bit south (I think they meant west) down the island because we were close to a restricted area. I said that I thought white shack marked the edge of Wilson Cove, and they said that in fact it did, but we were close to it. We must have been at least a half mile from White Shack, and one would think that either you are in the area or out of the area and close doesn't count, but we were about to leave anyway, and they seemed like they were just following orders.
We tried a couple more spots on the front side with no luck, and then rounded the head into Pyramid Cove. We immediately noticed a couple of sleek navy vessels about 50 feet long pounding the shore with some sort of weapon with a very high rate of fire, and making very satisfactory plumes of water near the beach and very nice flashes and clouds of dust when they hit a bit above the water line. I couldn't believe that no one had hollered at us to leave, so I called San Clemente Island Control on channel 16 and got no answer. Then I noticed what appeared to be Brian Koprinik's boat anchored off the end of the kelp bed at Sun Point, so I called him on the radio and asked if he had noticed all that gunfire across his bow. He responded that he had indeed, but that they had come over and told him he was OK where he was, but don't go any farther west. Since I was east of him, I was OK, at least on paper, and decided to trust in the Navy's aim.
We could even hear the gunfire in the water, and perhaps that's why we saw no fish, so we came home. At least we weren't skunked.
On the way home it was a bit rough, and at one point we fell off the front of a wave and experienced a bit of negative G. Doug, who was sitting in front of the dinette where you can see that grey towel in the photo, rose up and knocked a piece of teak off of an overhead chart holder over the table, making a quite impressive gash in his scalp. At least the front half of his scalp has no hair, so it was relatively easy to stop the bleeding and get him bandaged. I'm not sure if he is litigious, but as a precaution I gave him the yellowtail.
Water temps were 66 to 70 on the front side, and 64 in the cove. Vis was rather poor and green, but at least diveable everywhere.