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With Capt. John King
Time of My Life
Afishinados has just begun year
11 in the charter business.
We have had some good years
and some great years, but I would
be lying if I did not admit that fish-
ing has become more difficult in
the span of the last 10 years.
Sadly, I look at some of our pic-
tures from previous charters and
wonder if this year will bring us
more of the glory fish that every
angler strives to catch.
And then, I got the most incred-
ible surprise from a recent charter
and remember that fishing in
and of itself is still a great way
to spend time on the water.
I had a group of five adults and
three kids charter Catallac for a
half-day of sightseeing and fish-
ing.
This is a pretty small group to
be chartering a boat that can car-
ry 49 passengers, but the woman
making the arrangements said,
"Money is not a problem, we want
a boat we can enjoy as a group."
I told her she had come to the
right place since Catallac is the
only boat in Avalon Harbor that is
set up and legal to fish with more
than six customers.
What I did not tell her is that I
was worried.
If I spent the kind of money that
these folks spent chartering me, I
would have very ,high expectations
even if the trip was scheduled in
February when nearly every fish-
ery is either closed or in hiberna-
tion. We picked up the group at the
break of noon (kids do not get up
'The fight was epic. The
fish dashed about and
made a number of runs
• and then darted under the
boat .... We all gasped
at the size of the leopard
shark attached to this
customer's line.'
-Capt. John King
early these days) and headed for
the backside of Catalina Island
since they had requested to visit
Little Harbor.
Westin two of the kids and two of
the adults were in slumber mode
and not feeling great.
"Oh, boy," I thought,
"Let's hope we can tuck
in to Little Harbor and
catch something."
We finally came into
the protection of Little
Harbor and since we
were the only boat there,
we set up right in the
middle of the bay.
It was a beautiful set-
ting on a gorgeous Feb-
ruary afternoon with the sun shin-
ing bright.
As the group broke out their
lunches, Lance and I started chum-
ming and setting out lines.
Since we had a very inexperi-
John King
Columnist
50 feet to the rod, but this time our
customer stepped up and set the
hook nicely.
The fish took off
and made a beeline for
the shore. We figured
it to be a big bat,ray, but
there were-a few odd
moments where the
fish had some serious
change of directions,
so, not likely a ray.
The customer was
winding against the
drag, which is never a
useful technique.
However, with a bit of coach-
ing, he learned that the rod moves
the fish and the reel collects the
line. You cannot grind in a fish on
a light-spinning reel.
enced set of anglers on board, we The fight was epic.
The fish dashed about and made
a number of runs and then darted
under the boat.
With a bit of luck it came to col-
or ~ind we all gasped at the size of
the leopard shark attached to this
customer--s line.
It was a real monster and very
game.
Lance was able to get our big
net under enough of the animal to
A leopard shark cruises quietly in daytime waters. Public domain photo lift him to the deck and get a good
hold on him so the fish would not
As we passed Church Rock I took to making rounds, changing hurt itself or our customers.
was hopeful, baits and trying to get something I could not count how many
The swell was minimal and the to bite. pictures were taken of that shark
winds were calm. Lance got the first bite and it as the beautiful coloration showed
We came upon a huge school of had all the signs of a halibut. Still very nicely in the late afternoon
dolphins and sea lions, which is al- he handed off the rod to one of sun.
ways a big hit for our customers, the youngsters, who successfully We gently put the animal back
The view of dolphins just below brought a nice angel shark to the into the water and the group spon-
the surface from the twin bows of boat. Very exciting stuff, taneously applauded as it swam
a catamaran is as good as it gets. Catallac is a big boat for two to away. Time to head home.
We were also lucky to see a couple fish, so there were a few bites that The ride back from Little Har-
of grey whales just off Salta Verde. we just did not get to in time. bor to Avalon is always nicer than
We continued on into the typicglly As I was casting from the bow, I the ride there.
building afternoon wind asad svczell. ~ noticed a.rod tip bend in the stern. The dolphins swam in and vis-
By the time that we rourJded l~en It took a few seconds to sprint the ited us again, but this time we were
'We gently put the animal
back into the water and
the group spontaneously
applauded."
-Capt. John King
head!ng home. As we pulled into
Aval0niand just before landing at
the Green Pier, the leopard shark
angler met me on the bridge and
said, "I had the time of my life, I
do not remember having a better
time on the water. I needed that.
Thank you !"
As Lance and I were washing
down Catallac, I told him what the
customer had said; amazing that
one leopard shark could turn a nice
day into "the time of his life."
You gotta love the surprises
that mother ocean delivers you ev-
ery once in a while.
Capt. John King is the own-
er and founder of Afishinados
Charter. Contact him at (310)
510-2440 or (323) 447-4669.
The Santa Catalina Island Com-
pany recently began new construc-
tion on the interior of the Atwater
Arcade.
For the next two-three months,
the Island Company needs to close
off the Sumner Avenue entry to the
Arcade to allow the contractor to
complete the tenant improvements
on the east side of the building:
Access from the Metropole side
will remain available.
In addition to providing spaces
Letter departures have been in the areas defined vision of the Island so we this new vision.
of conservation, education and may all become better acquainted While the Conservancy owns
From page 3
scientific research, with them. and is responsible for ecologi-
for science, education and ecologi- That does trouble me since When we drafted our new long- cally managing the majority of the
cal restoration of the Conservancy these losses have included some aage plans for the Conservancy Island, it is always best to have the
back in the '90sand spoke against extremely capable people in the in the mid-1990s and they were understanding and support of the
it. primary mission areas oftheorga- approvedbytheBoardofDirectors, residents here who are often the
I have never worked directly nization, we made them available in print first line of communication our
with Ann Muscat, and therefore Without such institutional at the library and Conservancy visitors have with the Island.
cannot comment from experience memory and continuity, progress office, on our new web site and
about her "management style" is often slowed significantly. I discussed them in several meet- Dr. Bill Bushing
as it has been referred to. I do hope the Conservancy will see fit ings open to the public. Avalon
know that the majority of the staff to publish the plans for their newly I hope the same will occur with
for several new tenants, the Island
Company will make improvements
to the common areas including new
flooring, lighting and paint.
As' the Islander reported last
week, when the work is done, it
won't be the arcade anymore.
Island Company CEO and Pres-
ident Randall Herrel said the for-
mer arcade would now be called
the Shops'a~t Atwater.
"We ai:e renovating and adding
neff shops to the Atwater Hotel,"
said Herrel.
Harrel said the Atwater Hotel,
the B!uewater Grill and the planned
2014 construction of a new spa at
E1Encanto were three of the Island
Company's current projects.
Staying connected with Catalina
ust got a lot easier.
310.510.0250
310.510.8957fx
4 i Friday, March 8, 2013 THE CATALINA ISLANDER