Went Lobster fishing for a weekend
at an undisclosed time, to a pair of uncharted islands in search of large
marine insects, The plan was to go to an ultra-secret spot at an island
we'll just call Cantina We intended to fish for bugs all night
and then leave at dawn the next day for another island I'll nickname Roberto
Clemente, because he is my favorite baseball player of all time.
Our secretive Skipper
(let's just say he wouldn't be a starter in the NBA) took us to a spot
that had been producing a late night crawl. The sky was clear and
swimming with stars when we got to this enchanted isle after a pretty bumpy
ride across the San Pablo Channel. I (call me Ishmael) was third in
command behind our experienced big game hunting Dentist (we'll just call him
the Extractor).
We tried to get live squid from the
San Pedro and Long Beach guys, but everyone was fishing them commercial style
because they were getting $700 per ton for the dead ones and they can keep ten
times as many dead as alive. Therefore, no one was selling to the few
fishermen with low enough self-esteem to take it in the face for that
nocturnal channel crossing. We got a scoop of trout sized sardines
instead.
After we arrived we put out
our hoops in 15 to 35 meters of water, baited with Laguna Tuna and Rushdie
heads. We then commenced to hammering our way through seemingly unlimited
supplies of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mountain Dew and extra hot Beef
jerky. The first few pulls were pretty sparse, with lots of ruby red
crabs that tried to pinch us as we released them. We got about 8 legals
in the first 40 pulls, as well as twice that many shorts (and not by
much). Things started to heat up around midnight, as we worked out way
into the second day of our three day bug hunt (multi day permit).
We fished until about 4 am
when we pulled into a mooring at Valhalla Cove, where we enjoyed a pleasant nap
for about 45 minutes before going ashore for the Extractor to deliver a
huge dose of internal emancipation at the facilities next to the green
pier. We also got some much needed coffee for the ride over to Roberto
Clemente Island.
The ride proved to be pretty rough
for a dawn patrol crossing, and we were grateful to get to the shelter of North
by Northwest Harbor. We kept chasing bird schools diving on breaking fish
with our trophy sardines and surface irons, but all we caught was more lobster
bait. We tucked in for some big calicos and sheephead along the
front side. It was our intention to fish south toward triangle cove,
where we would lobster fish all night at this pristine location. While
working our way down, we noticed thousands of commercial traps, which could
prove to be a serious hazard for working a string of rave lighted hoop buoys in
the fatigued darkness.
When we got to the
Sphynx, we took a look around the corner and saw nothing but deadly buoys,
so we made the hard decision to run 60 miles back to the front side of Cantina,
where we set up at our previous spot about 4 pm. We set out our hoops before
dark, but were soon joined by the always oblivious divers who weaved their
boats through our well lit buoy line, dispensing humans with flashlights and
bags. One of the boats had no lights, but that did not prevent him from
parking his boat in the middle of our string (probably because it was a source
of light) while his divers worked around our hoops. We had several meager
pulls - again with the ruby red crabs and a few shorts, punctuated by occasions
for hope in the form of a legal or two.
We were getting pretty punchy and at
one point the Extractor managed to board the drifting dive
masters as they bobbed by us. He flung himself onto their deck and
rolled inside their cabin to release a few KFC -powered farts that
sounded like Klaxons. Their crew was terrified and climbed, with their
eyes watering, out onto the foredeck to escape his presence, as well as
his presentation. He jumped back onto our boat after telling them they
were free to go back to the mainland if they hurried.
When the derelict dive
boat finally left before midnight, things started to happen for us. The
bugs crawled even later this time, while we consumed a six and a half foot
sandwich that the Extractor purchased from a war surplus store for $2.75.
It was like the loaves and fishes all over again.
We rolled into San Pedro just
before dawn and collapsed into a sleep that lasted a couple of hours - long
enough to down a couple of red bulls and get the boat cleaned up. We
caught 38 legal bugs for 3 dudes, so it was close to limit fishing once again
on Secret Skippers boat.
I happened to be staying with
my family of seven at the local Residence Inn in Dana Point, due to huge flood
created by an unfortunately large species of feces left in a running
commode by one of our sleep -over surfing house guests. Because
of that lack of housing, I said I would bring this bounty of the sea to my
Mom and Dad's house for a big family feast. I stopped off at the market
to buy some steaks, where I perceived the discomfort of others at the fishy
cache' eminating from my clothing. I wiped my self down repeatedly with
those sanitary moist towelettes that all of the stores have at the door and got
out of there as quick as I could, with the intention of getting in a shower and
sneaking a quick nap at our under construction home before heading over to
extended Familyville.
We were in the middle of
a substantial heat wave and I had been glad for the free air-conditioning at
the Residence Inn (A great place to stay, by the way). When I
activated the garage door to our house, I was blown down by the incredible
stench of our outside refrigerator, which was surrounded by all of our
belongings in our garage. Our house was in the custody of our
contractors and the breaker for the garage got tripped by power
tools. The freezer, containing tuna, squid and salmon, was
now in the bloom of a week long cooking contest. The warm
liquifaction that I got to clean up made the lobster bait scent I was wearing
seem like Chanel. I got it all cleaned up and after a week of several
bleachings, scrapings and gallons of high-powered cleaner, I finally got that
fridge (for which I had just purchased an extended warranty) back into good
enough condition for our contractor to load it into his truck and take it to
the dump.
We are back in our
house now, though it is not done. We have all new toilets, as befits our
station in life. We enjoyed a fabulous surf and turf dinner with all of
the family, my folks and my sister Mary Lou, thanks to the efforts of Secret
Skipper and the Extractor, so it worked out. I even used my Iphone's
camera feature to snap what I thought was a photo of my bride and two youngest
posing with the bugs before i slaughtered them (the lobsters). You can see
from the attachment that I really know what I am doing when it comes to
devices like I-phones.
Enjoy your pumpkin, because after all...
These are the Days
