Beautiful day on SoCal coast

Riding my bike up steep hills is good for me in the long run, but in the short run I prefer to avoid it the day before I dive. But last night at about 5:30 PM I was almost through with a tough hour in the hills when I got a cell phone call telling me that the vis had cleared up along the coast, and there might even be some fish. I decided that my legs could probably hack it and started making calls for dive buddies. I think it was on the 5th call that I got a hit on Josh Allen, and we agreed to meet at the harbor at 8 AM.

The first stop had about 25 feet of vis, better than some places at Clemente Tuesday. Josh saw a 25 to 30 pound wsb on the bottom, but couldn't get a clear shot at the front half and didn't want to take a shot at the rear half. He is a relative beginner, and I told him the only time I would get near the bottom at that spot was if I shot a fish that went there, so he was doing pretty damn good.

We moved to another bed, and the vis was 10 to 15 at best. Josh saw a yellowtail up in the middle of the kelp bed, but I didn't see a thing.

Finally we moved once more, and came to a kelp bed where the water appeared a deep blue, and almost all of the kelp was under water in a stiff current. I dropped Josh for a drift across the bed, and he said it wasn't as bad as it looked, so we anchored. I think the kelp is just getting sick so that its easy for a current to take it under.

When we jumped in, it was absolutely spectacular, with maybe 40 feet of vis. It was sort of like swimming around in a big aquarium, with big schools of barracuda, sargo, calicos and sand bass, salema, zebra perch, blue perch, mackerel, etc. swirling all around. I was able to find occasional stringers of kelp close enough to the surface to pull up for a break from the current. It was the sort of day when you didn't care much whether you shot anything because it was just such a treat to be there.

After a while I saw four yellowtail come by right under the surface and over the bent down kelp. I tried diving under the kelp and coming up on them, but couldn't get a shot. A few minutes later I saw a pair, but with the same result.

After that came at least an hour of just swimming around, but seeing no big fish other than black sea bass. Finally, the current started to ease off and changed direction to straight off the beach, and the kelp started coming up. I think I had already spent more time in the water than on any day in recent memory, but it was just so much fun in that good vis with all those fish that I kept pushing it. I felt that it was getting close to prime time, high tide in the late evening, so I should stick with it a bit longer.

I saw Josh in the boat and shouted to ask him what time it was. He said it was 4:20. High tide was at 5:20, so I told him that we were now entering the sweet spot, an hour before high tide. I put my head back in the water, and there was a white sea bass swimming by right under me, so I dove on it. I hate that straight down shot, but I kelp sinking on the fish and trying to line up the up-down axis of the gun, where there is the most inaccuracy, with the long axis of the fish.

Damned if I didn't stone it, with the shaft entering just one side of the top and exiting on the other side at the bottom. Perhaps there is a God after all, because by then my legs may not have been up for cutting the fish out of kelp on the bottom. And of course this was my second fish and second stone shot this week. If you are a feeble old man, you need to be accurate.

So I was back in the boat trying to force the shaft though the spine to remove it, and Blaine Morgan paddled up on his board. Blaine recently bought C-monster's (Sandy Collora's) 55" Wong Magnum, and was out to put it to the test. I proudly displayed my fish, and he went over and tied off to some kelp. Josh allowed as how he should go back in too.

In maybe 10 minutes max, Blaine shouted that he had a fish. I asked if he needed help, but he declined.

Recall a couple of weeks ago when I had to weigh and take photos of a fish that Dave Plossell got diving from his jet ski? This was a repeat. Blaine paddled over and we weighed his fish and took photos. I really do need to stock champagne in the boat so that I can properly honor these guys.

So Blaine put the fish back on his board and paddled away toward the beach, his short day's work done. Meanwhile, Josh and I pulled anchor at the end of a very long day, went back to the harbor, put the boat on the trailer, washed the boat, and then I went by the Arco and put 8 gallons of gas in it.

Maybe there is no God after all.

As you can see in one photo, my fish had a very nasty wound on one side. Maybe it was a sea lion or shark. With both my fish and Blaine's, the digital scale was bouncing between 38 and 39, so we decided to call it a tie at 38.5 pounds. Mine was long and skinny, and his was a plump female with lots of roe.

All in all, it was a hell of a lot of fun, and a lot cheaper than my Clemente trip Tuesday. The water was clearer too.

and Blaine's fish.

Good spots at Catalina are almost too numerous to mention. The catch is that none of them are always good all of the time, so current information about where fish are being taken is important.


Assuming we are talking about white sea bass and yellowtail, some spots include West Cove, Johnson's Rock, Salte Verde, Little Harbor, Ship Rock and Bird Rock, Little Gibralter, Frog Rock, and Church Rock.

Throwing on the tanks won't help and would even be counterproductive for white sea bass and yellowtail, as they don't like bubbles. But you could get some calicos, and most important, halibut, with the tanks.

In a more general way, here are some basic tips for technique.

For white sea bass, be very quiet. Don't splash your fins while swimming on the surface, and make a quiet surface entry when you dive. In a kelp bed, the majority of the fish will be in the top 20 feet of the water column, no matter how deep the bottom. Either dive to a bit shallower than you neutral depth and grab a piece of kelp and remain motionless, or fin very very slowly at your neutral depth. If there is a current, the fish are more likely to be at the up-current end of the kelp bed.

Yellowtail are likely to be outside the edge of the kelp or the drop off. In big schools they can be almost suicidal, but singles can be harder to approach. If I see some while on the surface, I usually dive straight down or slightly away from them without looking at them, try to level off at their depth, and then turn up and look. Often they will come back to check you out.

By far the best source for this kind of diving is Blue Water Hunting and Freediving by Terry Maas. It is full of information on techniques and equipment, and even more important, safety. I highly recommend it.

Just in case you are confused, yellowtail are not tuna.

While longer is better, a 30 second breath hold would get you a lot of fish if you are where the fish are. The problem might be that if you shoot a white sea bass in the kelp, it could wrap up in kelp on the bottom and require a longer breath hold to retrieve it. But if it gets dangerous, put on your scuba gear to retrieve it.

OK, now I get it.

San Clemente Island it owned by the US Navy and its illegal to go ashore, so there is nothing like the Catalina Express to take you there. Without owning your own boat, the only way to get there is to take a ride on a head boat.

You also have to be concerned about which areas of the island are closed for live firing. This web site is where to go.

San Clemente Island

Click "Schedules" then "SCI Usage Schedules."

Of course that is your problem only if you go on your own boat. If you go on a head boat, then they should check on it. However, I'm told that some just go out there and then act surprised when they are ordered out of the area.

What is a lobbie?

A head boat is another name for a party boat- a boat on which individuals pay "by the head" rather than one person or group chartering the boat.

I live in the city of San Clemente. Its on the coast about half way between Los Angeles and San Diego. San Clemente Island is 50 miles offshore.

"Party boat" does not mean that they party. There are many boats catering to rod and reel fishermen. I guess I somehow need to convey the difference between a party boat and a charter boat. Charter boats, many of them called 6-pack boats because they are licensed to take 6 passengers, are chartered for a fixed price, whether there is one passenger or the maximum that they permitted to carry. In almost all cases, the passengers are friends.

On a party boat, each person pays for his ride. The passengers may not even know each other. Its like when you get on a bus. You pay the fare, and each other passenger pays the same fare. Then they all line the rails fishing.

There are also some boats catering to divers, although they are much less numerous. Some well known dive boats include the Truth and the Vision out of Santa Barbara and the Horizon out of San Diego. These dive boats visit all the islands, from the northern channel islands off Santa Barbara and Ventura to Catalna and Clemente, and the Cortez Bank. When they advertise a trip, they say what islands they plan to visit.

Anyway, if you want to get to Clemente and don't own your own boat, then these boats are your only option. There are no ferries to Clemente like the ones to Catalina.

Thanks for stepping in Mike. We sure need some other advice besides mine in this forum, and besides, I got all hung up in head/party/charter boats and was forgetting the main point.