Looking for some advise

I'm going to be in the long beach area for a few days including a weekend for one of my frequent projects out there and with my business partner and some other guys we're going to try to do some diving around the catalina island

I could use some advise, when I dove the area in san clemente last year around the same time, the temp was 70 so I could get away with a 3mm, what do you guys think the temp will be the first week of sept?

can anyone share with me some general pointers on what section of the island could hold fish? what's the main game fish there, yellowtails? should I look for kelp beds or rocky bottom? depth? we'll be in a boat.

any advise will be appreciated, thanks guys

yeah, I just checked the bouys, 64 degrees, that's kind of chilly

keeping the expectations really low, last year taught me that :laughing3:, it's more of a leisure trip than a hunting trip so it's all good

thanks though

well, thanks guys.

Don, I'll be arriving in long beach on 8/23, then heading out to Catalina on 8/28 until 8/29, will stay over in the island on 8/28, I would appreciate that very much!

Freediver, that is close to my size, I wear a 52ML or 54. I might take you up on that. where are you located?

Thanks!

Quote from Don Paul

Roger that I'll PM you the latest info I have before you leave. There are also some good spots close to Avalon you can hit from shore or rental kayak, but you should have a float because of possible boat and PWC traffic.
What gun do you have, reef fish or Yellowtail and bonita?

Cheers, Don

i'll be using an RA 110 with reel, ready for whatever! but will mostly look for reef and yellows. the boat will be with me at all times and there will be a couple of other guys in the water as well, mostly as spectators I suppose :laughing3:

thanks don, I appreciate the help!

Quote from The freediver

I live in Costa Mesa which is Orange County about 30 minutes south of LB. If you want to borrow the suit then you can pick it up and head right out of Newport Beach on the Catalina Flyer which is a badass Catamaran that gets you there quick.

cool! let's do that, please check your pm!

thanks!

so I made it over there this weekend, thanks Ben for the 5mm top!

it was a nice experience, the weather was beautiful, but the water was just too cold for me.

one of the most memorable moments was seeing the blue whale migration from north to south, what a view!

we took the chopper on Sat 1pm, got on the boat by 2:30 and headed north on the inside of the island to bird rock, ship rock. the water was choppy out there 3-4 with a cold NW wind, the vis was good, maybe 40', but the water was freezing my friends, 63 on top and felt like mid 55s once you got past 50', the structure was incredible with kelp and rocky drop offs but no fish, dove from 30-70 for about 2 hrs before I couldn't stop shivering anymore.

I was wearing a 3mm bottom waist high, and 5mm top, I'm a wuss, so I think I'd need like a 7mm/5mm!

day 2 we went on the west side (open ocean side of the island), and had some nice swells rolling in, 4-6', which in turn made the vis really bad, it was a hazy 10-12'. worked a kelp bed in 45' and knew i had 2 hrs before my balls would freeze over and call it a day. an hour into it, diving down along two kelp branches, at around 35' down I spotted a large WSB just hanging there, from about 8' I shot behind the eyes what I was hoping would be a kill shot, I was off by about 1 inch, the fish went nuts, pulled a bunch of line out of the reel before I got to the surface, what a mess.

I called the one guy in water with me over, he is not a diver, no second gun to put a kill shot. All I could was lock the drag, hand the gun to my friend, and work the mess, told to hang on to it. after 4 or 5 dives i got enough of the mess undone to bring the fish up, it looked to be a 35-40lb fish, the guys on the boat said it was 50 but they were drunk. so after wrestling and finally putting the knife to finish it off, had to cut the shooting line all tangled up in the kelp, so hand my friend the shaft and gun while I bring the fish to the boat.

I come back to my friend holding the gear, and he is dry heaving in the water LOL, still has the gun but the shaft is gone :angry5: , i asked him where the f is the shaft and he has a blind confusing look...oh well.

get back in the boat and the 2 drunk sailors are getting ready to fillet the fish, since we are heading back over soon, plus they are so excited to have a big fish on the boat :laughing3: , one kept telling the other, dave, this is the biggest fish that's ever been in your boat, while trying not to fall over :laughing3:

so I said, take a picture of me and the fish before you cut it, and here is the biggest mistake, the most intoxicated guy, johnson, takes a picture. about an hour later on our way back, while having a sandwhich and a beer, I asked, "johnson, let me see the picture!", guess what, the picture isn't there! all he has is a picture of me still in the water bringing the fish to the boat, now all we have is fillets!

here are a few pictures, loved the trip but next time I need a thicker suit just in case!

Quote from Rolo

Great story Oto. So, let me get this straight, two guys on the boat were drinking and dicking around and one of them is named "Johnson"? Hmmmm:thinking: Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres

One other thing, they allow fileting of fish on the boat? How did that turn out with two drunk astronauts doing the carving?

you know, those are all good questions. I gotta tell you, the whole trip was very entertaining. at times I was laughing so hard I'd get hiccups.

one guys name is Johnson, the guy drank 70 beers over a 48hr window :@ , they were hook and lining, all they had on the boat was like 2 or 3 12" fishies. Johnson was so drunk that he kept falling around on the boat, the only other guy that was sober, besides me, got severely seasick on both days.

the whole thing with the filleting was bizarre, I think it had to do with the fact that they wanted to clean the fish before we headed back to mainland to save time. the quality of the filleting job was alright, I saw some meat on the carcass, but since I wasn't taking any of it, it was fine.

it was so funny, johnson would be standing over Dave, barely standing, with beer can in hand, and he kept saying, "Dave, do you know what the f... you're doing? you've never had a fish this big on your boat!"