I finally decided to try my hand at ocean
fishing, so I brought my pole and reel with me when I went to Catalina with my
students for a Saturday fieldtrip. I
have been lake fishing all of my life, but the ocean was calling, and I had some
new ocean gear thanks to a profitable Christmas season.
I was after calico bass, and Avalon harbor is filled with these little
guys who fight like heavyweights.
The
first stop was the Pleasure Peer in Avalon to get an idea about what tackle to
use and what bait had the best chance of pulling these fish in. Once there, I watched a couple of local kids
pull out two small calicos at the same time.
These kids didn’t have a clue - I watched as one stepped on the fish
while the other pulled the hook out with pliers. After the hooks were out, they
kicked the fish off of the pier and back into the water, splinters and all. If these kids were loading up on calicos, I was going to
knock them dead.
I purchased some squid and anchovies and headed over to
the scuba area where I hiked out on the rock break wall.
I was feeling confident with my new ocean pole and Okuma reel.
My only concern was how many of these little calicos I was going to pull
out of the harbor. After cutting a
piece of squid, I put it on the hook that I had purchased in town, and leaned back
for my first cast ever into the Pacific Ocean.
My bait never reached the water though, as a nest of 20-pound test
emerged on the reel causing the line to slam into the rocks.
The squid met a different fate as it had pulled free from the hook in
midair and arched on a dangerous path toward one of the multi-million dollar
yachts that are always anchored in the harbor at Avalon.
I was not worried … after all it was only my first
cast (and the yachts were mostly empty).
As I started to unravel the mess of line,
I stepped down on some algae and I fell chest first onto the jagged rocks.
After lying their for a moment to take stock of the situation, I was
disappointed to find that I had broken something in the fall ... my new Okuma
reel. One cast, no water hit, and essentially my first ocean fishing
experience had come to an end. Several minutes later, a teaching friend
of mine dropped his Swiss Army knife into a shallow pool in the break wall.
Since my reel was now useless, I got back down on my stomach and reached down
into the clear pool. With my face planted firmly on the rocks, I stretched as
far as I could when a small crab raced out from a crack and made a beeline for
my nose, but I managed to jump up seconds before it got me. After
being defeated so soundly by the ocean, I was not about to let this crab keep me
from getting the knife, and once it scurried past, I made a second attempt. This
time I was able to get my shoulder and head between the rocks and with only a
few inches left, I noticed something huge making its way from the back of the
pool toward my hand. I had no idea that lobsters hung out in Avalon as well, and
once he raised his claw in defiance, I decided that the knife was
going to be a gift to the sea. 
All in all, I was a little bruised, no calicos were caught, my new Okuma reel
was broken, and a Swiss Army knife was lost forever. Not bad for a first
day fishing the ocean ... after all, it can only get better from here.