Angels Gate 1/13
In order to make immediate (and hopefully often) use of my $50 2006 California resident sportfishing license (including second rod stamp), I met Breakwall Darryl at his house in Carson this morning for a voyage on his ol’ lady’s boat, the SS Chaparral.
Our plan was to fish Angels Gate early with artificials – since Honey doesn’t allow live bait aboard – then zoom out to Pt. Vicente for a round of opaleye angling with algae. The intestinalis growth at Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach is lacking this week, with most of what is there yellow and dying. I raked up as much of the green as I could but most of it was brittle and of short length. For those who don't know, Angels Gate is the main entrance for ships destined for The Port of Los Angeles.
Back on the freeway, thick fog enveloped the city starting at the western boundary of Long Beach. I had to slow down a little, arriving at Darryl’s ten minutes past my 4:00 goal.
As we neared the end of the Harbor Freeway at Gaffey Street, we were fog-free all the way out to The Gate. We launched from Cabrillo Beach, entering through the road off 22nd Street. That entrance opens earlier than the old gate on Stephen White Drive, which isn’t available ’til 5am. The $15 parking fee for truck and trailer was a bit steep. Wasn’t too long ago the toll was only $5.
Out at The Gate by 04:45, we positioned the boat outside fifty yards from the end of the Federal Breakwall then drifted back inside, all the while metering scores of fish near the bottom, likely sand bass. There is a run of the sandies right now, just like last January. I thought since they were around so early twelve months ago, it would be a banner year. I was wrong, as the daily 1,500-per-dock totals anticipated for all spring and summer never happened. Let’s hope 2006 will be different.
I started out with the big guns, a six-inch Storm WildEye Mackerel while Darryl tossed out a three-inch Berkeley Gulp! pearl white shrimp mounted on a ½ ounce white leadhead. He hooked up like nuts catching three 12 ½-inch sand bass per drift. I stuck with the big lure until daylight in order to disinterest the little guys.
At 06:30 with nothing caught, I bummed a shrimp off my buddy and flung that behind the boat with my 20lb baitcasting outfit. Darryl, using 15lb line with his new $200 Calcutta reel and $600 custom rod was out-hooking me five to one. A few were under the 12-inch legal minimum, however most were 1 ½ pounds, with a smattering of two pounders and the early jackpot, a 3-pound beauty mixed in.
We decided my use of the heavier line was impeding success. I broke off the shrimp to tie it to my 10lb BG15 spinning outfit. That worked, I was now up to his two to my every one hook-up.
Each drift was the same. Start just outside on the Federal end and wind up inside right in the middle of The Gate. There were always readings of tons of sandies each time on the Humminbird.
The incoming tide to be high at 08:00 kept the current the right way until 07:00 when it all sort of stopped. We then started our drifts just inside the Federal wall, slowly working our way out, or just sort of neutral. Didn’t really matter. We were still nailing the 13- to 15-inch sandies like nuts. Also, a shrimp would last 10 fish before being destroyed. That’s a pretty good deal.
Each time we passed near the breakwall rocks I would toss my lure closeby. That resulted in the boating of two calico bass, but they were too small to keep.
One drift we saw gulls and pelicans diving on a presumed meatball. To see what all the commotion was about, we motored over and tossed out. Turned out to be a school of bait-size mackerel, as witnessed by the one each lifted out. Some day I’d love to haul a bait tank full of those out to Catalina for forkies.
At 09:00, the Long Beach Police asked us kindly to stay out of the gate. I guess they’re worried a freighter will come in and run us over. We said, sorry sir, then motored back over 100 yards inside. We didn’t let our drifts take us as far into the gate, as if they wouldn’t notice.
Sometime around 10:00, with 20 keeper sand bass on ice and at least that many released, we zoomed out to Point Vicente to check the opaleye bite. First thing when approaching the big rock 100 yards out is to cast a swimbait for bass. I had lots of hits but they weren’t sticking to the hook. After three casts I saw my WildEye Sardine had lacerations and was missing it’s tail. That could only mean there were scooters hanging out. Then I saw one of the pencils less than a foot long attack Darryl’s lure as he reeled in.
We cast to a few more boiler rocks between the point and Via Pacheco with our swimbaits but nothing was responding. We thought about trying for the opaleye but by 11:00 the swell was five feet and the wind was kicking up some whitecaps on this side of the peninsula, so back to the harbor we went.
Off Portuguese Bend we passed two dues in another vessel, one of who was making hand gestures for us to come on over. Darryl cut the engine, we idled by. We thought maybe they were having boat trouble and needed some assistance. Nothing like that. Saying they never keep this specie unless they die after being caught, he lifted a plastic bag with two 2 ½ pound calicos and asked if we wanted them. Hell yeah! Thanks! As we pulled away we accidentally snagged the other dude’s line around the prop and broke him off. Too bad! Don't wave crazy boaters over next time.
To finish off the day we motored over to the back of the harbor where a few times way back when we hooked large halibut, even though right now it’s a little early in the season for those guys to be around en masse. With the new mole they put in the last five years the whole scene has changed since I was here last time back in ’97. We used to go far back into an inlet that is all closed off by riprap and truck roads now.
We kicked back and snoozed while our Carolina-rigged Gulp! shrimps dragged the bottom as we drifted. In two hours there were no halibut landed but I did catch two white croaker and Darryl one.