Fish

So on Saturday, Hung (a co-worker of mine) took me out fishing on a boat out of San Pedro. I left Meghan and Wallace early and got to the pier at 5am to claim our spots at the back starboard corner of the boat (Hung said it was the best spot and it was!). We loaded onto the boat after breakfast at the diner on the pier. The plan was to head out towards Catalina and spend the day casting next to the kelp beds (where all the life of the ocean is, Hung said). About 13 miles out on the 60 foot fishing boat we ran into a school of feeding frenzied giant squid. The captain of the boat announced that we were coming up on the squid...I thought to myself, "That'll be fun to see the giant squid." At the same time, the more experienced fishermen--including Hung--grabbed their poles and started tying on big jigs with large hooks to their lines. I continued to think that I would just sight-see, but after Hung pulled the first squid onto the boat he cast out again and handed me the pole to bring the next one in. As Hung went and got another pole ready, I got my first bite and pulled in one of the giants. After that, we both started just dangling the jigs into a foot of water and the squid were grabbing on right away. The deckhand with the gaff (long hooked pole) helped pull up the monsters onto the boat.
With the exhiliration of pulling in squid after squid for about an hour, we moved on to Catalina and arrived about 40 yards off of Two Harbors where there are large kelp beds. We started casting all over up and down the island and although it wasn't as easy as the squid being pulled onto the boat, we got a lot of bites and caught some pretty good fish. Hung almost caught his limit of Calico Bass and I caught a few, as well. We also hooked a number of Mackerel, but let those go because they don't taste good.
After a full day out on the water and many layers of sun screen later, we headed home for the two hour ride to the harbor. The crew cut the bass and squid into filets and we bagged them up, keeping them cool the whole time with ocean water hoses. By the time we arrived in San Pedro again at 5:30, I truly was wiped out and wondered how Hung could go almost every weekend for such a long day. I definitely learned a lot from the pro and had an amazing time out there.

Here's Hung and I with some of our Calico Bass..."Why is mine so much smaller than Hung's?" is the first thing Meghan said when she saw this picture.


Me with one of my squid. Ink was all over me and I had to wash multiple times to get the stench of the seafood out of my hands when I got home.


One of Hung's squids--notice the size of the eye on the squid. It was like a baseball almost...at least the size of a racquet ball.