Long trip - 2015, all good things must come to an end

This would be the long trip taken on the Angler in January, 2014. Well, the string finally broke. I did not get a 200# fish this trip. 5 trips and 13 deuces is not bad - matter of fact, it is more than I could ever have dreamed. I was back on the American Angler with Accurate group. I could not imagine a better meshed group of fishermen - so instead of doing what I thought I would do, which was alternate years with the Royal Star, I booked and went with the Angler. This season, the wahoo have been thick at Alijos. Since the long trip season started around OCT of last year, most - if not all the long trips have been stopping on the way down or up or both. Unlike the wahoo at the bank or the island, these fish seem to not mind the boats coming around weekly (seemed almost daily) and hammering away at their brethren. Normally, the first few boats to an area holding wahoo will do good. Subsequent trip will get a few - but the fish eventually become wary and getting them to bite is tough. But this group of wahoo are differnt. They have been biting good for the boats now for the last four months or more. Not only that, they are slugs - 40 lbs or better, and not many smaller ones. Jigs and bait were both working good. On our way down, 19 of us got 70 wahoo - and on the way back we got another 50 or so. What was a bit challenging however, was the weather at our normal tuna grounds - Hurricane Bank and Clarion. We had great weather getting to Alijos - and going back home from Alijos. But that was about it. Ten days of 20 - 40 knot winds and matching seas. We went from Alijos to the bank first. The first day at the bank was OK. We got maybe 20 fish or so - all 120 to 150 lb fish...nice ones. Then the second day, the place became a desert. Add to that a weather front approaching from the south - and we decided to go to the island. The weather followed us. We did not get to do much of my favorite fishing - salamis on the big gear. I think one night, we made enough big bait to fish with - the rest of the time, it was sardine fishing. We fished at the island for 3 days or so - and headed back up to Alijos. The weather was rough. Fishing anywhere on the boat was an effort just to keep your balance. Still caught fish though - just not too many big ones. I think my big one this trip was 157. We were still left with a little time - so we stopped at Colnett and fished for yellowtail - we got 30 or 40 small fish on the yoyo iron. It was fun. This was the first long trip, where we did not get more than a 2 day boat ride before we got to fish. Pretty damn nice, really. Most of these long trips are three and a half days down and up. I ended up with ten tuna and eight wahoo - more than enough tuna and wahoo to pass out on my way home. And the detachment therapy is always outstanding!

When King Harbor was AWESOME!

Around 1967 I was 12 years old, had a green Schwinn Stingray and rode the damn thing everywhere. Not sure how I discovered King Harbor. We lived in a rented house on 134th Street between Western and Normandie. So I would ride down Western to 190th Street, then follow 190th down to King Harbor. I would bum enough money to buy ice cream at Thrifty on the way home on the corner of 190th and Anza. I think a double was a dime. Going down the 190th street hill on the way to PCH was awesome! Going back...not so much. Going by the big sign was exciting - for I knew I would be fishing soon. I had a Garcia-Mitchell outfit, a light two (2) piece rod and a 308 filled with 6 lb mono. In my pocket would be Tiny Tots - white ones and yellow ones which I would buy at Red's Bait & Tackle or Jerry's. I would cast and whip the little jigs back in - and it was game on! I remember the first few times - I would put the bonito in a backpack and take them home with me. Not a great idea, since they were in bad shape when I got home. After a few trips - I would just let the fish go. And then I would see other people using frozen anchovies for bait. They would be getting hooked up when I was not - though most of the time it was pretty good. The best bites I can remember was when it was raining. The bite on the Tiny Tots would be awesome! The water was so clear in the harbor that one could watch the bonito eat the jigs. There were other fish in the water that would not eat the jigs.....bigger fish. Yellowtail! Every once in a while, they would eat a frozen anchovie. Only problem was, you'd hook one - and in one good run, they would spool the 308 - and my trip would be over. As I stayed later and later in the day, I would start seeing people with big spinning rods with sinkers and treble hooks. These guys would attach sinkers to their lines and tie multiple treble hooks above the sinker. At dark, these guys would begin flinging their rigs and make big jerking swings and start snagging bonito. Lots of bonito. These guys would take big gunny sacks full of fish home. Two years later, I was between Peary Junior High and North Torrance High School and had friends that also liked to fish. We would rent the wooden skiffs in King Harbor with live bait skids in tow. The fishing was outstanding. I also remember going to the Fox Redondo Theatre to watch movies. I'm fairly certain I saw the first Godfather there for 75 cents. I looked it up - the Godfather came out in March/1972, and the theater had its final movie in December/1972 and was knocked down early 1973. I am sure I saw the Godfather there in late 1972. By this time, I had a gold colored 1971 Honda CB350. Distance was no longer an issue - and I tied the rod onto the sissy bar and rode that scooter everywhere. Not sure how I stayed alive riding that bike with no helmet. Remarkable.