The making of a fishing fanatic

My first recollection of fishing is when I was 8 years old. Since I was in Japan until then, I guess I started fishing after I arrived to the USA. By the time I got here, my father had taken it up and seemed to enjoy it. He would take me to Malibu Pier, Santa Monica Pier, the rocks along Ballona Creek in Playa Del Rey, Crystal Lake and Alondra Park. Not sure when I really started to like it...need it is more like it. By the time I went to Peary Junior High School, I was thoroughly hooked and could not get enough of fishing. I had always been a bit uncoordinated and not athletic at all. So my mother got me into judo at a very early age. My dad would challenge me to ever tougher goals to take me fishing. 50 jump ropes without stopping...then 100....200. And grades. For every A....a fishing trip. I remember the feeling of elation as I would finally get to the goal! That was also about the time we rented a house from Hiro. Once he found out how crazy I was about fishing, he would take me fishing too. And give me rods and reels. By the time I got to North High School, I was on the wrestling and football teams. I was not all that good at it, but I tried hard. I also went fishing a lot. Between high school and college, I took a 5 year sabbatical and did not fish much. I did fish a little bit in Lake Havasu when I lived in Vegas - but not much. So I was away from LA for a while - but once I got back, I started fishing again. Now I was serious about fishing. I wanted to get good at it. I went every chance I got - once, twice a week minimum. And I did not focus on any one boat or landing in particular. I just went everywhere. Then when I decided to go to college at 27, I figured the only way I was going to get to fish is if I worked on a boat. Various boats during the first three years - then at Yo's for another year or so.I don't remember exactly how I got work on a boat. I must have just gone fishing on the boat - and asked the skipper if he could use another deckhand. This is a very transient position and skippers were constantly on the lookout for help anyway. I first worked on the FuryII. Tim Ullon was running the boat, FrankG and I were on deck. We had various relief skippers - Pat Jackson, Wally, Mike Shanahan...I'm sure there were others. I would work every day I could. If I got a day off - I was back on the boat fishing. I had a small 25' trailer I lived in, located in Gardena. Rent was $100 a month. No problem. Side money was not great, but enough to pay rent and tuition at El Camino. At Ports-O-Call Sportfishing, there was...the Shogun (65' Seaway), Mustang (65' Drake), Rebel, Matt Walsh, Explorer II...about all I remember. Most of the boats came back in about the same time - and I would see the other deckhands off the other boats walking by talking about how much side money they had made. Frank and I would split $100 or so - $50 each. The Mustang guys were always bragging about making $100 and more EACH! The Shogun was run by Norm Kagawa - Vince, Allan and Mark (who sold me an original BR100), they too would talk about how our side money just sucked. I would work as a relief deckhand on Shogun, ExplorerII and Mustang. I think it was the second season I was working on the Fury, I got an opportunity to work on the Mustang. Go to San Diego (Islandia Sportfishing in Mission Bay) with the boat and work an albacore season. The albacore fishing was really good. 150+ on most days. We would filet or gill/gut most of the fish and make $2 or $3 a fish. The side money was AWESOME. By the time I had to get off the boat to go back to school, I had worked 60 days or so and had $9000 in cash - plus a paycheck for $30 or $40 a day. That would pay rent for a year, tuition at El Camino and even a little extra. On my way home, I bought my pop a Penn International 30. He was thrilled! I finished off my college career at Cal State Long Beach. By now, I had worked on boats for a few years - and was ready for a land job. I got a job at Yo's Custom Rods - the local tackle shop in Gardena that Yo Yoshida build from the ground up. He had one of the small shops in the little strip mall to begin with - but would eventually move to the biggest store on the end. His custom wrapped rods were famoust amongst fishermen - both fresh and salt water. Yo would be closed on Mondays. This was his fishing day. We were always invited - and he would go to San Diego and fish on the Searcher (run by Al Rich at the time). The fishing was great! Yo was good friends with the famous FrankL, who had bought the RP from Bill Poole. Yo supplied all the boat rods and tackle too. While I was at Yo's, I got the opportunity to go on a 16 day trip for 'food and fuel'. I don't remember exactly how much - but it was not much more than a few hundred dollars. There I got to fish with a lot of the guys who were Yo's customers. Another guys I had heard about - but never fished with was on the boat. The famous Butch Greene. The man was a fishing machine. Fishing at San Benedicto, Socorro and Roca Partida - the tuna fishing was spectacular! We all took 9 pound spools of 100# test Ande - the line of choice. And the reel of choice was a Penn 50, modified by none other than Butch - who would put a solid brass ring in between the clam washers. The reel went from no drag - to almost full lock with very little effort. When you hooked a fish, 100 pounders were on the boat in minutes with the drag locked. The bigger ones would either come in quick - or break off. There was not much room inbetween. I was in absolute piggy heaven! Stymie was an ex-navy cook and was great in the galley. We ate like kings. By the end of the trip - I had 50 or 60 tuna...obscene by today's standards. And the fish were all kept come out of the fish holds like popsicles, and in horrible shape. All brown and beat up. A trade for cans was available - was 3 or 4 pounds for one 6.5 ounce can. Did not seem like a fair deal to me - but what do you do with a few thousand pounds of brown tuna? After the trip, I did an interview for the local Gardena newspaper, and even got a mention on 976-TUNA. By now, I am a full blown fishing addict!