Today I fished Catalina Island with Keith Munemitsu. The trip over was pretty slow due to the swell and chop. Our first stop was Church Rock just around the backside. The water temperature was 57 degrees. We began fishing in what looked like great conditions but only picked at the fish for about 45min. We ended up with eight calico's, but nothing over 1.5 lbs. We then headed around to the front side to find the 61 degree water I had heard about the day before. The warmest we metered was 58.7. It took some time before we spotting good conditions, but it was worth the search. We managed to pick up some fish on our first few stops. Then the quality of the fish suddenly got better. We were catching calicos in the 2 to 3 pound range when I heard Keith say he just got another hit. He made a big strip set with no resistance then let out a grunt as the big calico came back for another pass. I could tell it was a big fish by the way his 9wt. was bent, big time! After some boat manuvering he was able to pull the fish from the kelp it was wrapped in. A little while later I caught a 6.28 pound fish just shy of 23".  I wish we could have stayed longer but I had to pick up my girls from school. Both these fish buried us in the kelp and took along time to boat. I was probably on mine for fifteen to twenty minutes.  

These are pre spawning females that are fattening up for the season. I'll be surprised if these big fish are as aggressive once they begin the spawning cycle. We'll see?

All the best

Bill Calhoun