We finally pull up to the Isthmus on the front side, two hours later, and the wind was ripping straight down the island… no calm water in sight. We were drifting so fast, and the water was so rough, that the trolling motor was completely useless. I got us in as tight as I could, and set up a drift, heading East.
Within the first couple of casts, we were both on. We looked at each other and smiled, hoping that regardless of the wind, it would be a good afternoon. Five inch, Basstrix swimbaits in smoke/red flake and olive brown bait were the ticket. We had a half dozen fish each in the first 20 minutes, easy. That's when I went to the blade. As usual at Catalina, more bites, less hookups on it… but Tommy was consistently catching fish.
The current was really ripping, so I'm assuming that's why the fish were on the chew. All the kelp was laying down, so the blade was really drawing a lot of strikes, but the fish were averaging 1 to 2 pounds, so a lot of them couldn't quite get to the hook.
We drifted the outside of the kelp for the next half hour or so, with a steady pick on the fish. Then…
Tommy gets bit and swings… The reel starts screaming as whatever is on the other end of his line, starts ripping line…
Now, we're both fishing 12lb, on smaller, light action rods. Tommy had my Calcutta 200TE and a light, 12lb, 8ft Calcutta rod. He's totally bendo, and the reel is still screaming with the drag pretty much buttoned down. He looks over at me on the bow and shakes his head… ”Whatever this is dude, it's got some shoulders…”
I figured right off the bat, that it could be a big white sea bass. The rod tip was bouncing pretty good, and it just looked solid… I mean, Tommy was arched all the way back, trying his damndest to move this fish, but he was having issues. I thought it might have been hung up in the kelp, but we'd drifted far enough off of it, so I wasn't sure. All I could really do was watch this unfold in front of me, and see what happens.
About 5 minutes later, after a few, long, blazing runs in every direction, Tommy starts short pumping this fish, and making up line. I grab the Boga-Grip out of the console, and move around him, over to the gunwale. As my eyes followed the line into the water, I could see something down about 12 feet, and it definitely was NOT a White Sea Bass, because it was BROWN! You know how your mind goes a mile a minute when you're all excited and all that adrenaline is coursing through you? Mine was going twice that speed. Was it a lingcod? A Leopard Shark? A Black Seabass???
............................(Continued)
Sandy Collora: Hoists up a trophy bass caught at San Clemente Isle. If the weather is right, SCI can host some of the best Calico Bass fishing that Southern California has to offer!
........And as the saying goes...
If you do anything long enough you'll eventually get lucky. Hell, it's the law of averages; right? Wrong. That being said, I've never caught a Calico Bass that was as big as the one my buddy Tom Mishek caught on my boat late last month, and I've been actively fishing for them for over ten years!
Here's the rundown on this amazing fish:
Tom and I Headed to Catalina from Davies launch ramp, in Alamitos, through 20 knot winds and a hell of a bump. Just snotty the entire way over… my boat is really dry, but we got soaked. Wind was oddly straight out of the north, and we were both wearing water 5 minutes into the trip. In the afternoon, you can pretty much count on just a bit of West in that pesky wind, which will help with the angle, but every blue moon, when it blows hard straight out of the North, I don't care what rig you're in, if it's a center console, you're getting wet.