Catalina Yellowtail Still There...

[Bob Ballew]

Today, the combined count for yellows by private and sport boats was around 15 fish. All were taken on the backside in 75' of water, on a current with the rising tide...Productive areas were Eagle Rock down to Whale Rock...some squid scattered along the backside...no dense concentrations presently..lots of sea lions/seals bird-dogging the boats...flat conditions at the island....

[Natedogg]

[Nate Baker]

Originally Posted by natedogg

I was out there Saturday afternoon after the fleet left. I wasn't even supposed to dive that day, but it sort of came together late Friday night.

I dove the outside on the upcurrent end of the reef (current was east to west). Nothing. Cormorants kept spooking the blacksmith and getting my hopes up. Alas, no luck.

When I got out of the water about 3:00 I saw dozens of cormorants and a few pelicans going apeshit way inside, so I moved the boat in and hopped back in hoping for a plump & juicy, distracted calico. On the swim in from the boat I was nearly rammed by a cormorant in hot pursuit of a sardine hoping to use me for cover. I cringed and braced for impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes only to see to webbed feet kicking around 2 inches from my mask. Pretty funny.

I got inside in the semi-dirty water and got the calico I was looking for. Unfortunately, as I hauled him up, I was treated to the site of a school of wsb crashing a small ball of sardines 10 feet below me. Half of them weren't even legal, but I was a speargun-loading diver from Hell. I didn't even string it. Just loaded it and let the calico flop around on the shooting line.

Two dives later I stoned a small white. Same express loading technique, and dive. I could't quite draw a bead on a second fish (high teens, maybe twenty) before it melted into the murk.

Ironically, when I got my bearings, I saw that I was only 50 feet from the spot where I shot my biggest California white last April. Go figure. Anyway, as soon as the feeding stopped, the whites quit making passes. I looked and looked, and heard them every third or fourth dive, but never saw them again.

As I left at a little after 4, the birds had started working the outside. I don't know what was pushing the bait. I had seen barracuda earlier in the day at Eagle Reef and Cat Harbor and bonito at Eagle Rock, and a frightening, mutant, laviathan-like mackeral inside, so it could have been anything.

The visibility ranged from 30 to 50 feet. Pretty fun day, and it will remain that way as long as I don't admit to the exact size of that white (other than it was legal).

[John Hughes]

Great job Tomol! We checked it out Sunday morning and it looked dead. The only bird I saw was the eagle sitting up on the cliff. It was reallly cold and we opted to go back around the frontside and hop in once the sun started coming up. Makes me feel like I'm gettin old.

[Chris Oak]

Nice work Nate! Too bad you didn't wait until monday, you could've had the first wsb of the year.

What were the conditions across the channel? Did you see a lot of bonita? I've been craving fresh sashimi for weeks.

[southbound]

Way to go Nate! I was over there with Hughs and Natedog, what a day to be out. C-level, the ocean was awsome, flat and 0 wind. The water was 58 with vis on the front less than the back 15-25. There was another boat I spoke with who got lot's of surface bonies on the frontside. We opted for calico taco's.

[Nate Baker]

It really was about the prettiest day you could imagine, and very few boats other than at Eagle Rock.

I did see a private boat with a dive flag at Eagle Rock. It looked to be about 23 feet with a dark hull. Was it anybody here?

The highlight for me was the visibility at Cat Harbor, which is usually a mud hole. I could see the anchor on the bottom at 45 feet. This is the west side of the cove.

[Eyt@nnah]

nice shot what else was out there