Repetion and aging as it relates to Long Range Trips

I have signed up for another long trip. This time, going fishing with my old friend Brian Kiyohara. I have known Brian a long time. I don't remember exactly when I met Brian - I think I was working at Yo's and going to college? Somewhere around there - it's almost 2013, so that would make it about 25 years ago or so. We fished half days on the Redondo Special, fished for Bay and Sand Bass in King Harbor. Brian has this photographic memory - and he remembers everything. I will be on the boat in a couple of weeks - and am really looking forward to fishing with my old friend. It's a twelve day trip, a tad shorter than the fifteen days of the last few years. I haven't been on the American Angler since it was a day boat out of Point Loma owned by Don Sansome. It was one of the newer boats then - I wonder what year that was? I don't recall what we went fishing for or where we went. But at most it was a day and half trip - more likely an overnight. I am really looking forward to hearing some of Brian's memories as well as fill in lots of gaps in my memories. I mention repetition and aging, as I have recently reviewed this blog - and found that I have become repetitious. Since I have little for excuses for this repetition, I am blaming it on age. This blame also induces mortality checks. But all of it is shadowed by this upcoming trip as I slowly prepare for this upcoming trip, and many thoughts are going through my head. How I have become a member of the captive audience of long range fishing. Since my last trip - I have been lulling myself to sleep at night thinking about flylining a salami over and over. And getting bit over and over. Somehow makes me forget about everything else. I don't really have any burning desire to catch a 300 or 400 lb fish - I just want to be on the boat fishing for big Tuna. What am I going to do if I get tired of fishing for these things? What am I going to lull myself to sleep with then? What a thought! The trip is only 11 days away. WOW!!

Boats I've fished on

In talking to one of the local fishermen - he mentioned that he had fished on 22 boats now. My immediate reaction was...WOW! However, this made me think of the boats I had been on. I was also at a tackle store the other day - Eric's Tackle in Ventura. A true fishing addict, who's been collecting fishing related stuff for a long time. He's at least 10+ years younger than me - but relatively similar time-frame. And as it happens, a good friend of Vince Otani's - who is now cooking on the Excel. He had brochures from a lot of the landings that I was going fishing from at the time. I intend to take a scanner and scan as much as I can. In the meantime, I took pictures of many of the brochures he had - CISCO (Oxnard), Port Hueneme, Paradise Cove, Malibu Pier, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Norm's Landing (San Pedro), 22nd Street, Pierpoint - south to San Diego. Exactly how many boats have I been on anyway? Well, let's see......In 1965 or 1966, I was going to the Malibu Pier, the ferry boat was the 'Wae We Go', and the barge was the 'Star of Malibu'. A lot of boats moved from landing to landing - but, there were open party boats out of CISCO's - China Clipper, Coroloma, Malibu - Lenbrooke, and Paradise Cove - Gentleman, Santa Monica - Kiaora, Hermosa Beach Pier - Seafisher, Redondo Beach - City of Redondo, Redondo Special, Pursuit, Reel Special, Sea Angler, Norm's Landing - Sport King, Toronado, Electra, 22nd Street Landing - Sharpshooter, Pierpoint Landing - Freedom, Liberty, America, Matt Walsh, Pierpoint, Davey Jones (barge), Pacific Landing - Pacific Queen, Estrella, Fisherman, Fisherman II, Sea Sport, Belmont Pier - ??, Seal Beach - ??, Davey's - ??, Dana Point - ??, Oceanside - ??, San Diego - Point Loma, New Lo-An (was the slo-ann, even then), Prowler (had 3 engines at the time), Cape Polaris/Searcher (Yo used to go every Monday), Holiday....I know there's more, just can't seem to remember them all. Those are all the older memories - from the late 60's to mid 70's. As far as the ocean goes, I was out of pocket for a few years - living in Las Vegas and the south rim of the Grand Canyon. From the late 70's on, I was back in Southern California - and fishing my brains out. From 1984 to 1989, I was attending CSULB and working on boats weekends and summers, and working at Yo's. Shit....now that I think about it, I'm not sure I want to count all the damn boats. Let's see.....maybe I can recall my most memorable moments from these boats. Virg's / San Simeon - in the early 70's, a small group of us would go up to San Simeon the night before. Sleep in the car - and board the boat (Lot a fun, I think) in the morning. Relatively shallow water - less than 150', and absolutely awesome lingcod and red fishing. We would catch blue rockfish, filet them and make strips, fish the strips on 8/0 Kirbys with a pound of weight. Wide open. We would only make these trips in the winter-time though. Still preferred the surface fishing given a choice. Sea Landing / Santa Barbara - around the time I was working at Yo's, Bruce Root would go up and fish on the 'Sea Hawk' (old 'Miss L' from Pierpoint) with Merit McRae. Bruce wouldn't say much - but would always come back with his limit of nice big calicos, all on the surface iron. I quickly followed suit and caught surface iron fish too. The bait was big anchovies - so chum was limited, but man, would those Naples Reef calicos bite the surface iron. Nice fish too. And Merit had these inshore spots loaded with 'grass bass' he called them. Some sort of Sebastes / rockfish. There was a rod-wrapper by the name of Dave Rader who seemed to always be on the boat. Good surface iron fisherman. CISCO's / Oxnard - I went on a lot of rockcod trips in early to mid 70's. The boats would leave hourly from 2am to 6am. These were deep water cod trips - fishing 600 to 900 feet or more. Lots of Cowcods, Chilipeppers, Warthogs, big Salmon groupers....after a few trips, I figured if I was going to go that deep, I'm going down with the most hooks I can get away with. I started with a 6' rod and a 6/0 with 80# dacron - but ended up using a 10' gaff blank with 100 lb dacron. I ended up using 12 to 15 hooks with an 8 lb sash weight. On some of the better drops, the fish would float the whole rig - sinker and all. Soon you can see a line of white bellies lined up down swell. I used to get absolutely rude amounts of rockcod. We fished areas around Santa Rosa flats and Santa Cruz that were just outstanding rockfishing. Port Hueneme - I recall open party fishing out of here, but danged if I can remember the name of the boat. A small group of us used to charter the 'Charger' and fish BKR and Deep Hole for calico bass - night charters. I never really saw any great bites - but I had heard it can be really good at times. We fished a spot called 'Slaughter Rock' for Lingcod with live spanish mackeral. I recall being excited to fish there - and we did catch a few, but not all that good. I imagine this spot produced some banner days - but not for me. Paradise Cove / Malibu area - I think the boat Lenbrooke was here along with the Dina Lee or New Dina Lee. I fished these boats from time to time, but I do not recall catching anything of any significance here. Malibu Pier Sportfishing / Malibu - my best memories from here is the barge, and the ferry boat. I would hear stories of the Black Sea Bass, but never saw any personally. There was a 1/2 or 3/4 day boat running out of here - Lenbrooke, I think. Not sure if I went on this boat or not. But definitely the barge - 'Star of Malibu', is in the memory bank. I recall having an outfit my dad bought me from Thrifty. Optimo spinning reel, Tuna King rod and a really blue monofilament line. My most vivid recollection from here is the big Bonito. These bruisers were just too much for my Thrifty special outfit and did not last long. I also remember meeting Sammy Davis Sr. fishing on the pier for halibut. Santa Monica Pier - I remember seeing Bluefin Tuna in their fish reports from time to time. I hopped on the Kiaora and tried, but never did get one. What I remember more than the fishing is the long walk from car to the landing - and going by POP(Pacific Ocean Park). I remember my folks taking me on the roller coaster and scaring the shit out me - along with almost losing my glasses. Manhattan Pier - there was a boat operating out of here, but I never rode it. Hermosa Pier - I had to google the name of the boat here - damn Wally has a computer in his head. The boat was the Seafisher. The boat was exactly as Wally described - open bridge and about 50 or 55 ft. In the late 60's - they didn't worry much about saving fuel, so that boat used to fish rocky point to the south and further on 1/2 day trips. Lots of Bonito, Barracuda and Bass - both sand and calico. Redondo Sportfishing / Redondo Beach - I spent a lot of time in and around Redondo Pier in the mid to late 1960's. I would ride my Schwinn Stingray to King Harbor and go Bonito fishing by the 'bubble'. Getting spooled on the Garcia Mitchell 308's by the occasional yellowtail. Whipping the yellow and white 'Tiny Tots' for Bonito, flylining a dead anchovy from the rocks for Bonito. I even saw the Godfather at the Fox Redondo in 1972....for, get this - .75 cents. Anyway, fishing for Bluefin Tuna in the Canyon in front of the horseshoe pier on the City of Redondo (Roy Peters running the boat - Doris in the galley) as well as the Redondo Special, was the biggest challenge. Also saw great White Sea Bass bites around Haggerty's reef. Good Yellowtail fishing out in front of the Dominator. Also went rockcod fishing on the Reel Special (Homer Lightfoot) to the 'Hidden Reef'. I think it was somewhere around Santa Barbara Island - not sure. I don't recall the fishing being spectacular - but I do recall being in the wheelhouse, with Homer's eyes pasted to the fishfinder. The fathometers of the time were the paper-type, with a small stylus going around and round marking the slowly moving paper. Homer would open the cover and be looking for the smallest, lightest looking scratches on the paper. And as soon as he found what he liked, he would say - 'go catch some fish'. I also recall Louie Abbott running the Pursuit to the islands - not sure if I rode this boat at the time or not. I did ride this boat some time later when it was running out of Islandia in Mission Bay. Anyway, good times around Redondo. Norm's Landing / San Pedro - I know the Sport King was here at the time, along with the Electra and Toronado (both were new at the time). Roger Hess and Dick Helgren were the skippers - not sure they owned those boats yet. I have no specific memories of any trips out of Norm's. Most of the time, when the opportunity presented itself, my dad would take me to Pierpoint in Long Beach. 22nd Street Landing / San Pedro - I recall calling the landing to get a reservation on their boats (the counts seemed to be better than the other landings most of the time). Never had much luck getting on their boats - they were always full when I could go. The Sharpshooter (Frankie Hall was running the boat at the time) seemed to be running full all the time. I think Russ Izor was running the 'Indian' the first time I met him. I think he was already out of running an open party operation. He did much later on the First String - which is still my favorite local boat to ride. Again, most of the time - it was Pierpoint here I come! Ports-O-Call Sportfishing / San Pedro - I'm not sure when this landing came about, but I think this is one of the newer ones. I think Tom Durr owned it? When I worked on the Fury II, Tom owned this landing. Norm had his original 'Shogun' (a Seaway) here, along with Danny and his 'Mustang'. So we're talking about the mid to late 1980's now. Most of the fishing I did here was on the Fury whether I was working or had a day off. I worked on the boat, then went back on the boat when I had a day off. Crazy. Saw great calico bites on the surface iron at Catalina - at Isthmas Reef. During the off-season, I would talk to the deckhands coming off of a trip on the Mustang - and constantly being jealous that they made so much more side money than I did. Towards the end of my college days - I finally got a job on the Mustang. Boy, what a great time that was. Pierpoint Landing / Long Beach - I think of all the landings along the coast at the time, this was the PLACE. It had an atmosphere similar to Ports-O-Call village. Lots of shops selling souvenirs, a nice fish market called Dierden's (I remember selling Blacksmith and Blue Perch here for 2 bits (25 cents) a pound). I didn't know Marty Tanaka at the time, but him and I were doing the same thing - selling fish to Dierden's. Now that I think about it, my dad must have had a helluva time toting me back and forth from Pierpoint. I spent a lot of time here. I remember watching the TV show - 'Fishing Flashes - with Mac McLintock'. He would give weekly updates on what was being caught the past week. This would be in the mid 1960's. When I couldn't go on a 1/2 day or something - I would be fishing on the barge parked in front of the landing - 'Davey Jones'. Good Bonito fishing at times. I have been neglecting the Tom Cod (Tommy Croaker) - Ronkies they would call them around Oxnard. These things were everywhere you fished. A nuisance of sorts. I wonder if they are still being caught? There were the three big new 85' boats here - America, Liberty and Freedom. The schedules would change around - but I remember going on 'Local' all day trips on the America (Cookie Cook), Catalina and San Clemente trips on both the Liberty and Freedom. In the early 70's, a friend from high school and I would pin-head on the Freedom. I recall four skippers running the big boats - Bobby Carr, Taka Tanaka, Jim Peterson and Anold 'Cookie' Cooke. On the island trips - I spent most of my time on the Freedom. On one particular trip Bobby Carr was running - we went to San Clemente around the east end after making squid at Catalina. I must have been around 10 to 12 years old at the time. A slow chum circle brought up yellowtail, white seabass and calico bass. After setting up, Bobby Carr came down and stared to hook and hand the yellows. He hooked and handed me one - and this fish just tore me up. I remember he looked at me after losing the fish, and immediately hooked another one. He said something to the effect of - 'this is how it's done!'. He short pumped the fish right to the boat and bounced it. One of those memories burned into my memory bank - I'll never forget it. I recall being on the America on a local all day trip. The yellowtail were biting at Huntington Flats. I hooked four or five and lost them all. Another memorable day. Also went on Rockcod Specials on either the Liberty or America - Jim Peterson had great spots off the West end of Catalina. I went on countless half days on the Pierpoint and Matt Walsh. Wide open Bonito and Barracuda fishing. I watched in awe as one of the 'real' fishermen flung on one fish after another on a jig - a silver Crocodile. I also remember guys with ten or twelve foot bamboo poles (with a permanent crook in it) throwing silver torpedo sinkers and small blue/white feathers catching one Barracuda after another. You couldn't tell if they had a fish on it or not - until they had it up and bounced it in the boat. The pole was permanently bent and looked like it had a fish on it already. (I do not have much for regrets in my life - but if I had to have one, it would be being too young to thoroughly enjoy the fishing to be found in the 60's and 70's - too much earlier and the tackle would have been insufficient). The name Herb Curley comes to mind - I think he was running either the Pierpoint or Matt Walsh. What fabulous memories. Somebody must have tapes of Mac McLintock's shows. Pacific Sportfishing / Long Beach - these guys used to be down the street from Pierpoint. I would go here when the boats from Pierpoint were full. Eddie McEwen had the Pacific Queen here. I remember going Albacore fishing on this boat - and losing an engine on the way in. This was probably my first Albacore trip. I also went rockcod fishing on the Fisherman - either 1 or 2, I don't remember. He had some deep water spots off the West end of Catalina - 800+ feet of water. Big big salmon grouper, cows and lots of chilis. I don't recall riding the half day boat Estrella here. The clearest memories for me here was the Albacore on the Queen. Seal Beach Pier / Belmont Pier - I don't remember the name of the boat that ran out of here. Maybe it was Belmont. I just don't remember. I remember going on a half day boat from here and running into a WFO yellowtail bite at Huntington Flats by accident. Hooked a few and lost them all. I turned around the next day and went back - and the bite was over. A one day deal. Newport to Oceanside - did not fish much out of any of these landings, except a trip or two on the Thunderbird (I think?). A very vague memory. Fisherman's / Point Loma / H & M - San Diego, I didn't really fish a lot out of San Diego until I got my own car. When my family was living in a rental house in Gardena, the owner of the house was a fisherman by the name of Hiro Hirabayashi. He took me to San Diego one winter (around 1968/1969) and went fishing on the Point Loma (Eddie Diehl) for White Sea Bass off Tijuana Flats. Floating around in rough weather - yo yoing Salas 6X heavies with squid bunched up on the treble hook. I hooked and landed two seabass - 25 lbs and 32 lbs. I'm not sure how I remember that - but those are the numbers that stick out in my head. Hiro didn't have great luck that day - and I ended up giving the 25 lb fish to him. I would occasionally get on the charters Hiro was on - they would charter the Pronto (Alan Fay) almost weekly during the summer. I remember Yellowfin Tuna fishing on the Prowler (Mike Groesbeck??) one summer. We were trolling around catching a few fish - when all of the sudden I heard another engine start up. I asked one of the deckhands - and he said that was the center main. They only used it when Mike was in a hurry. And move it did! Seemed like the boat was on a plane at 20 knots or so. My most memorable moments in San Diego was on the New Lo-An (Nick Cates). There were a couple of years the Big Eye Tuna bit good. I hooked/landed a 130 lb. fish on 40 lb gear - Newell 300C/500 size and a Sabre 865XH (I still have the hook). I ended up with two fish over 100 lbs as Nick hooked one, handed it to Lori (the galley girl) - and she ended up handing the rod to me and I got to finish it. Another trip saw a WFO bite on 40 to 60 lb Bluefin Tuna. What a bite it was! I think Todd Phillips was one of these trips. He had 9 or 10 fish - and I had 7 or 8, I remember trying to catch up and could not. Todd is a great fisherman - he could not have been much more than his mid-teens at the time. A side story about Todd - around the same timeframe he was on a charter when I was working on the Mustang, during Albacore season around 1988? It was a good bite with well over 100 Albacore caught that day. Todd hooked a nicer fish - a 50 to 70 lb Bigeye. After he pulled on this fish for a while - the fish got tail-wrapped and came up backwards. I should have waited a few more seconds and got a better shot with the gaff - but I swung too early and cut that fish off. I don't think Todd ever forgave me for that one. Anyway, i also saw lots of good yellowtail bites at North Coronado Island (Pukey Point). It was called that because it did not seem to matter how nice the weather was elsewhere - it was always rough there, and folks would start throwing up (puking). Good yo yo jig fishing for yellows. I rode a lot of boats fishing the Coronados' but seemed to me the best bites were always on the Lo-An. There would be Bluefin Tuna bites at the 'Rockpile' south of South Coronado Island. The situation similar to the Bluefin bites at Northwest Harbor at San Clemente Island - light line (10 and 12 lb mono) and small hooks (6,8 and even size 10 hooks). Man, fishing with anchovies for bait was TOUGH!! I'll add more to this later.

Another long trip down!

It's been a few months since the latest long trip. It was the same trip on the Royal Star - Braid 15 day, between late January and early February. The big fish catching was not quite as good as last year - but I did have one more big fish than I did last year. These last two trips have been spectacular for big fish. This year's was - 255, 237, 218 and 209. Mark had one or two deuces, while Freddie had a 280 (the last fish on the last day) good enough for second or third place. Freddie was so excited!! There were many returnees from the last year's trip - which made this trip really special. Marius Coetzee from South Africa, Bruce from Alaska, Bruce from Phoenix and many other returnees just made the trip really comfy. Compared to the 30+ big ones last year - we had 23. This latest trip was similar - lots of nice sized fish in the 150+ pounds category. Like last year, we ended up fishing at Clarion the whole trip and did really well. My first deuce was on a salami - the second or third day. The second was a night time kamikaze - ate the salami and swam right back to the boat. The third was on a kite - by far the biggest fish I have ever caught on a kite. The fourth was another salami fish. A bit of tackle modification this year. On the last trip - one of the deckhands wanted my Harnell jig stick really bad. Bad enough that he was willing to give up a Penn 70 and a 6465XXH. In addition, when we got to San Diego the day before the trip left, Mark and I went jonesing around at the local tackle shops in San Diego. At Squidco, I got a wild hair and decided to buy a 770XXXH. I was envisioning the 70 with 200# on this rod. And what a combo that turned out to be! Absolutely the best big bait stick I have ever laid my hands on. No matter how hard I pulled, no matter how tight I had the drag - I could not bottom the rod out. I put the 80 with 200 on the 6465XXH, but I never did use it. Despite having been spooled on the Accurate 30 last trip - this was the only other rod I used on this trip. And to top it off, I traded another one of my old rods - an old Roddy BR80, that I traded for another nice 130 lb outfit. Now instead of having just enough to make a long trip - I have too much shit. Well, at the end of the trip - I had another hefty bill from Fisherman's Processing, as all four of the deuces were in the RSW. On this trip, the RSW was started very early - the second or third day I think. And the fish came out absolutely pristine. On an interesting side note, Tim and Shawn were cleaning a couple of the tuna for sashimi/sushi lunch - when Shawn pulled out an interesting organ from the cavity of one of the tuna. Tough to describe what it looked like - a whitish colored ginger root. He sliced it up and said I should try it. I was very hesitant at first - but after I saw Tim eat one, I agreed. The taste was similar to shellfish - mirugai maybe, and the consistency was one of an octopus - except a tad more tender. It was great. I immediately envisioned a plate of this stuff, soy sauce and wasabi, with a hot bowl of rice. There must be a way to market this stuff. Apparently, these organs only exist in yellowfin - and not bluefin. Next time I am in Japan, I'm going back to Tsukiji and find out more. As good as this stuff tasted, I cannot imagine this has not been tried in Japan. Them guys eat everything and anything that comes out of the ocean and fish. As it happens, I did go to Japan a couple of weeks ago - but did not have an opportunity to go to Tsukiji. Oh well, next time. I recall fishing on Yo's 16 day on the RP many years ago. The islands were still open at that time, and we fished San Benedicto, Socorro (something about an Egyptian with a hardon - was one of the spots), Roca Partida - not sure if we fished Clarion or not. I don't think so. We certainly did not fish Hurricane Bank. The Bank was a place of last resort. Boats only went out there when the bite at the islands was off - which was hardly ever. We didn't have any deuces that I recall - but we sure had an awful lot of fish 120 - 150 lbs. Compared to the long trip on the RP many years ago, I think about how fine-tuned these long trips have become - in terms of tackle of the care given to the fish you keep. What a difference! My recollection is that the boat let you keep about as much as you wanted. The difference in the fish you bring home is not even a comparable issue - just about everything was traded for cans. There was an absolute fishing machine on the boat by the name of Butch Greene. I kept up with him for the first few days of fishing - almost fish for fish. But after a few days, he just pulled away. Between Butch and I, we ended up with more fish than a lot of long trips today tally on the whole trip for tuna. Wahoo trolling was done with virtually the same kind of lures - but Butch had a big Dynatroll. This thing had hooks all over it - and he would let me use it, telling me not to yell 'hook-up' when it got bit. He would tell me to wait a while (a minute or so) before yelling 'hook-up'. Butch's tackle consisted of Penn 50's with straight 100 lb mono, and an 80 for trolling. That was it. His 50's though were able to get a whole lot more drag than any 50 I knew about. He had brass bushings in place of one of the sets of clam washers - which made for very little range of drag tightness, but you could lock the drags at will. At that time, I had to borrow just about everything from Yo (whose shop I worked in). But once I started to get my own gold reels, I immediately put the 'Butch' washers in. We would buy 8 or 9 lb spools of 100 lb monofilament and dang near go through those spools on one trip. I cannot imagine the miles of monofilament we left at the islands. The only saving grace was that there were very few boats that fished the area at the time - and for just a few months every year. The hooks of choice were the Eagle Claw 118H Mags. We used to buy boxes of 100 for $10 or so. We did take tanks of anchovies - but the bait we had to catch every night were the caballito. I don't remember the official name of these things - big eye jack? Something like that, and we had to fill the tanks just about every night. But what a great bait it was! These things would tote around one of the 8/0 hooks with 100 lb on it for hours. If you did not get a bite, many times you can reel it in and throw it back out....still kicking. I don't know how many deuces Butch caught in all the trips he went on - but it must have been a lot. Frank called him 'Butchka', and Butch called Frank 'Franco'. The food was nowhere near as fancy as it is these days - but it was still good, and there was plenty of it. Many years later I went on one of Taka's first long trips on the RP. On this trip I would catch my first 200 lb+ tuna on a chunk. This was at the cusp of upcoming changes in tackle. We didn't have spectra yet - but I did have a two-speeded 80. We were still toting around the big spools of 100 lb mono - but some two speed reels had begun to show up. I recall I had just come out of a mid-day shower, when Brian called me over. He was chumming chunks and pointed out a LARGE tuna vacuuming up chunks in the chum line. I immediately grabbed my 80, harness and belt and threw in a chunk with a hook in it. A few seconds later - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! After 100 yds or so melted off the reel, the fish stopped. Not sure what happened - but there was still a lot of weight on the line so I kept reeling. Fifteen minutes later, the fish came up tail-wrapped and tail first. Six gaffs and it was on the boat - later to weigh 262 lbs. I thought I was in the jackpot for sure - but as it turned out, there were three fish larger than mine, and I ended up fourth best. It would be a few years later that I would go on another long trip. Tackle is constantly being fine-tuned for this specialized big-game fishing. But a lot of changes had already taken place. Spectra, sardines instead of anchovies, longer rods, smaller reels, etc. The rods are an interesting subject. I remember working at Yo's listening to Yo and Ralph talk about how to get the maximum amount of leverage and pressure out of the rods - where to put the hypalon, grooving the hypalon, roller guide placement, cutting the rods at the tip or the butt - all so that Ralph could catch the world record Yellowfin Tuna. Ralph would come to the shop and try the rods - many times almost lifting Yo off the ground! Great to see he is still around fishing for big tuna - he's got to be in his 80's. Wow. I guess when it's in your blood - you just can't get rid of it. Well, that's all for now.

some thoughts from Joe Lunchbucket

My old friend Russ Izor used to call the local fishermen (individually anyway) - Joe Lunchbucket. That name has stuck with me since his passing. It's not that I have been fishing longer than anyone else - nor that I have been thoroughly engrossed in the Southern California fishing scene forever. However, I am relatively certain I can count myself amongst an ever-decreasing group of crusty old fishermen that remember when there were two, maybe three times the number of people going fishing. I checked the California Department of Fish And Game website and found out the number of fishing licenses now being sold in the 2000's are about half or less compared to the 1960's and 1970's. Now mind you the area I am most familiar with is just the area from Morro Bay / San Simeon area to the Mexican Border - but mainly in the SoCal area. I do not know what the impact is in the San Francisco area - but I would bet the effect is similar. When I started to really like fishing in the mid-1960's, the LA Times had regular articles on fishing, and there was a daily fish report - listing the fish count from the pier at San Simeon to San Diego. Which brings me to why I started this post. This is going to ramble a bit as I did not have my thoughts synchronized quite well enough - but here goes. So there were two to three times the fishermen actively fishing recreationally from the Central-Southern area to Southern California/San Diego. There was a small operation at San Simeon Pier with party boats running daily for rockfish, as well as at least one (probably more) - Virg's in Morro Bay. Next there was Santa Barbara - Sea Landing, I think. Then Oxnard/Port Hueneme area - mainly Channel Islands Sportfishing Company (CISCO's) - a whole flotilla of boats fishing rockfish during the winter months at the channel islands. Not really sure what they fished during spring/summer - as I was fully engaged further south. Then there was a couple of boats running out of Paradise Cove. A quaint little place north of Malibu - with great calico bass fishing. Malibu Pier - who involved in fishing would not remember Malibu? I wrote about this in an earlier post. A few boats and a barge. It was fabulous. Next is Santa Monica Pier. About the only boat I remember out of Santa Monica Pier was the Kiaora. I am sure there were more. I am not sure - but I think Marina Del Rey's landing was a relatively recent business. Of the two piers north of Redondo Beach - I think Hermosa Pier was the one with the 1/2 day boat. There may have been a boat running out of Manhattan Pier - but not to the best of my recollection. Everybody knew Redondo Sportfishing. At one point, they had three (3) barges and a full range of 1/2 to full day boats - City of Redondo and Redondo Special running 1/2 days. I recall the Sharpshooter and New Dina Lee running the 3/4 days - not at the same time, but later on towards the 70's and 80's. The island boats were the Pursuit and Reel Special. Lots of activity. Going south around the Palos Verdes Peninsula now - Norm's Landing. I don't remember much of the early days of Norm's - but I do know it was the initial home of the two (2) 75 foot Drakes - Electra and Toronado, and the local boat Sport King. It was always a huge decision to decide which landing to go to in San Pedro - Norm's or 22nd Street Landing. 22nd Street Landing was always a busy place. Their boats and skippers were well known for consistently catching the most and biggest fish. Frank Hall (Sharpshooter) and Russ Izor (he had a few boats here - but I first met Russ Izor on the Indian in 1974) had boats there. It was always tough getting reservations there - it was always full. At that time I did not know a lot of folks fishing - so getting on a charter was out of the question. At any rate another busy area. Next is the Long Beach area - Pierpoint Landing and Pacific Landing. To me as a 10 year old kid, Pierpoint was like Disneyland. There was a tank with seals, a fish market called Dearden's (where I sold blue perch for .25 cents a pound), another flotilla of boats - both open party and charter. I could not get enough of the place. It even had its own TV show. WOW. Right down the street was Pacific Landing. There were not as many boats but was certainly a viable choice when the boats at San Pedro and Long Beach were full - or just wanted to go some place different. Next in line south was Belmont Pier. There was at least one boat that ran an operation there. Not sure about Huntington Beach Pier. Not sure I ever went there as a kid. Then Newport Beach - Davey's Locker and Art's. I think there was a few boats that ran out of there - but with all the choices between Redondo Beach and Long Beach - why go any further south? I know there was also an operation at Oceanside Harbor with open party and charter boats - but not sure there was anything at Dana Point Harbor until later. Then there is San Diego. Another big recreational fishing center with lots of boats and landings. This was the place to come for those 'long-range, multi-day' trips to Mexico. Albacore and Yellowtail Derbies - a multitude of open party boats leaving every night during the summer - full. Even in the winter time, there used to be good White Sea Bass bites at the flats, and Yellows at the Coronados. Did not get to go to San Diego much when I was a kid. Too far.

So, think about it - all these businesses catering to the recreational fisherman. Lots of fishermen. Which means lots of fishing licenses being sold - and the accompanying equipment. If you look now, from the north - there is three (3) separate operations between Morro Bay and Port San Luis. But, as rockfish and albacore being the only species fished for - the season is between April and December every year. A collective five (5) boats fighting for a limited number of fishermen - a seasonal one no less. Rockfishing seems to remain reasonably good - but albacore? They have not been caught in any numbers for a few years now. There is a small operation running one (1) boat in Santa Barbara - seasonal here also, and mainly rockfish. At Oxnard/Port Hueneme the huge crowds that used to gather around every winter for the rockfishing extravaganza are now a thing of the past. There are a few boats here - but the crowds...sparse at best. Nothing until you get to Redondo Beach. Recently, Redondo Sportfishing went out of business. There is a boat or two running operations right off the boat. Then there is two (2) operations in San Pedro - 22nd Street and L.A Harbor (ex-Ports of Call) Landings with local and island trips - but, certainly nothing like it used to be. Pierpoint Landing was replace for a while by Queen's Wharf Sportfishing - but was revived in a new location. The Toronado all day and Victory 3/4 day are the mainstays here. I think Queen's Wharf has morphed into something else - but not sure what. Newport Harbor still has Davey's - but what else I do not know. Small operations at Dana Point and Oceanside. San Diego is nowhere near what it used to be. Since albacore was the mainstay of the summer season - the absence of albacore put a huge damper on things here. Many of the boats are just not able to get much interest. I mean, what for? A lot of operations are resorting to 'hoop-netting'.....for lobster. Huh? That ain't fishin'!!! The only vestige of successful operations remaining was the long-range boats. But with a consistent - but limited clientele, the recent addition of newer boats has hurt these operations also.

Well, that was a bit of a memory dump. So is our local ocean fishery that much worse than what it was forty or fifty years ago? Is there just too many choices for kids now to get involved in besides fishing? I guess I feel fortunate to have seen a small bit of recreational fishing in its heyday. Recently, I asked a friend of mine if the recreational fishing environment was any better on the east coast. Perhaps this is a case of things always looking brighter on the other side of the rainbow. I don't know.

More old memories, Malibu Pier, Playa del Rey

In 1963, I was 8 years old and was already crazy about fishing. Everywhere I went I carried a fishing pole. My dad used to take me to the rocks along Ballona Creek Bridge. We used to buy shrimp at a tackle shop on Culver near Pershing. It was a small tackle shop and did not carry much - dang if I can remember the name of it. I was armed with a Thrifty special combo - small kiddie rod and spinning reel. We used to catch opaleye and calico bass. Little biddy ones - aquarium size. On one of our trips there - my dad bought me my first conventional reel. A Penn 501. Wow. I didn't know what the hell to do with it, but I had a 'professional reel'. My dad started expand from there - venue and method wise. He also used to take me to the Malibu Pier. I remember watching the old-timers making these long casts by swinging their sinkers under the pier. You walked up to the office, where you bought bait tickets. Each one entitled you to one anchovy - which you took back to your pole as quickly as possible and slid it down your line on a swivel to your sinker. I think the pier fishermen still fish like that. Every once in a while, you would hear someone yelling for the net. One of the pier guys would go running with a big net attached to a long rope. The net was carefully lowered to the water from the pier and the halibut netted. Exciting. At some point, my dad decided I was ready to do more. I was never really at the pier early enough to watch the day boat go out, but every hour or so, I would hear.....'ladies and gentlemen, alongside the pier is the Waaaaay Weeee Goooo, the ferry boat to the barge'. There was a fishing barge a few miles from the pier - The Star of Malibu. By then, I had a large spinning reel - 'Optimo' spinning reel and a Garcia Conolon rod. Look out fish.....here I come. There were bonito being caught at the barge - big bonito. I could hook them, but getting them was a whole different story. I had hit the big time. I just had a spontaneous thought - I recall talking to an old black guy on the pier. I don't remember what all we talked about - but he was a smallish old man, and he said his name was Sammy Davis. Not sure if he was the father to the famous Junior, but to the best of my recollection, he sure could have been. I drive by the old Malibu Pier almost weekly. Guess I should stop by and see if that joggles any more memories. There were several barges you can go fish around the Southern California area - the most fun was the barges at Redondo Beach. The timeframe had to be the early 70's/late 60's. I recall three barges - Sacramento, California and C-Coaster(?). You could take the ferry (Voyager) to and between all three. The Sacramento was the nicest one - it was mostly covered and had openings in the middle to fish from too. The California was sort of an open deck barge, and I don't remember the third one much. Used to catch them black cod and threw them back.....dang, if we only knew. Them things are great eating and expensive! There was also an open party 1/2 day boat running out of Hermosa Pier. Dang i wish i could remember the name of that boat. Then in the late 60's, I got introduced to Pierpoint Landing. WOW!! This is the Big Daddy of all landings. Big boats going out late at night to fish Catalina, San Clemente, Albacore - All day, Half day, Local All Day....all sorts of available trips. There was even a TV show - Fishin' Flashes with Mac McClintock. My dad used to go fishing and bring back yellowtail. I could hardly wait to be able to go. By now, both my dad and mom knew I was absolutely crazy about fishing. My dad would challenge me to do various things - which when accomplished would be rewarded with a fishing trip. Jump rope 100 times, good grades...all sorts of stuff. I was never very coordinated, so 100 times on a jump rope was a helluva challenge. Took me weeks. He would take me on the first few trips - but later, he would drop me off and I would go on my own. There was a barge parked right next to the landing there also. There was a lot of boats there - Freedom, Liberty, America, Pierpoint, Matt Walsh and charter boats too - Miss L is the only one I remember. The Miss L later turned into the Sea Hawk I think. It is amazing to think some of these boats are still operating. The Freedom is in San Pedro, the America is now the Grande and in San Diego, the Liberty is running trips out of Long Beach, Matt Walsh is in San Pedro, I don't know what happened to the Pierpoint. What I remember about going to Pierpoint the most is the smell. The sulphur-ish smell of petroleum that always welcomed you to Pierpoint. Dearden's fish market....I recall selling blue perch and blacksmith to them for .10 cents a pound. Then there was the landing down the street from Pierpoint - Pacific Landing. Home of the Pacific Queen and Eddie McEwen. There were several boats there also - Estrella, Fisherman I and II. I recall going rockfishing on one of the Fisherman boats - off the West end of Catalina Island. Big giant salmon grouper is about all I remember. I can go on and on - but one trip on the Freedom I recall vividly. The skipper's name was Bobby Carr. We made squid at Catalina first and went around the east end of San Clemente to the first cove, I think. We made a chum circle, anchored and the fishing was amazing. We caught black sea bass, white sea bass, yellowtail, calico bass....we were catching all of them. I still had pretty crummy gear then - and as much as I wanted to hook one of those yellowtail, I could not catch my ass. Bobby hooked one of the yellows and handed it off to me. I ended up losing it, but I will never forget the thrill. I recall one guy fishing on the bottom - he had a few large halibut in his sack. I was on sensory overload. Seemed everybody was catching fish, but me. I didn't care though. Because I got to pull on a yellowtail.

I get to go on another long one? DAMN!!!

Up until about a month or so ago, I really did not think I would be able to go on another long trip for a while. Seems as though the last few years have been more than my share of attending funerals, and the last few months is no exception. Perhaps as we all age, these events increase - simply because we do not live forever. And perhaps I am supposed to be more used to these now that I get a senior's discount at the movie theaters. The last funeral just wigged me out. He was 47 years old and a good acquaintance for the last 20 years or so. He left a 13 year old son and 15 year old daughter. I had already pretty much decided that I was going on this next trip. But this most recent event just really cemented the fact that I was going. The thought that kept crossing my mind........'when is it my turn?'. It was not like he was my best friend. Since his wife divorced him a few years ago, he has done well in his work life. But his personal life was anything but bright. I kept telling the dude he was drinking too much. I do not know if this is what did it, but it certainly could not have helped. So, I am going fishing again. The ultimate in 'fuck everybody' trips. More than 1000 miles from home, work and everything connected to both. Was this last year so bad that I deserve this trip? I just feel so goddamned selfish. By the latest reports from down south, the fish are biting pretty good. I haven't really started get the gear ready yet - but I have been playing with my gear more and more. Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch. In a few days, I'm outta here!!!