Quote:
Originally Posted by wiredantz
"The entire stretch is scenic and very fishy. The whole route can be done (weather permitting) in about 2 hours. Since we’re fishing along the way it usually takes us about 4 hours. "
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I'll be straight up here. I've fished Catalina a ton, and the trip your planning is completely dependent on conditions. If the conditions are not good you could easily end up in lot of trouble. You need to plan ahead for bad weather and have a backup plan if things go wrong.
Essentially you'll fishing the backside or weather side of Catalina Island. It's not always a nice place to fish and at times it's downright dangerous.
I know of more boats lost on the backside of Catalina and of more boating related deaths there then anywhere else in California. Private boater guys fish it all the time and I have a bunch of trips back there but the deal is we usually fish it mornings, watch the forecast and leave before the wind comes up. Boats can power out of there when things get bad kayaks can't, but we still try to play our cards right, always be on top of the situation and definitely know when to cut our losses when it comes to dealing with the backside..
Think of the island as the top of a mountain surrounded by water thousands of feet deep. On the backside you have the whole Pacific on one side, and the other side cliffs something like a thousand feet tall. The swells barrel in from the open ocean smash against the cliffs and are reflected back out making a washing machine effect close to shore. The wind in the afternoons is almost always blowing towards the shore and it's intensified by the islands shape making a mildly windy day for anywhere else into a very windy day on the backside Catalina. It can be downright dangerous in the afternoon when the wind comes up, plan for it, and if and when it does come up you need to be off the water as quickly as possible.
Your radio will be almost useless once you leave Cat harbor due to the cliffs so if you get in trouble it will be impossible to call for help unless someone just happens to be out in front of you away from the island somewhere between Catalina and Clemente. So essentually you guys will be on your own. Depending on your experience level and skills that may or may not be a problem. I would strongly suggest you find a private boater with experience that will be in the same area the same day, to run support, or at the very least relay radio calls for you guys on your trip in case you get in trouble.
Lots of doom and gloom....huh....
Well I'm just trying to warn you that things can go bad back there really quick. For example.... let's take today. Say you took the boat over and walked your gear across the isthmus and now were just launching on the other side.
Forecast calls for:
9:00am 12 knots
12:00pm 15 knots
3:00pm 15knots
6:00pm 12kinots
With all the wind out of the west.
A pretty normal day for Catalina.
Add the island effect caused by the cliffs back there and you can figure plus three to five knots to all those numbers. So if you were there today you'd be launching into around 18 to 20 mile and hour winds, into whitecaps and a washing machine conditions, and then you have to paddle all the way to little harbor, and then still set up your campsite once you get there. Could I do that personally..Yeah I probably could. Would I want to? Nope! Not really.
The next morning you'd have to break camp load your gear and hopefully get back to Cat Harbor before noon because according to the forecast it's going to be even windier tomorrow at noon and going back you'll be paddling against the wind and whitecaps when it comes up. so you don't want to be paddling back in that direction after the wind comes up.
If you get a really good weather day you'll have a great trip, get a bad weather day and it'll be almost unfishable. On short trip an average days like today and tomorrow plan on mostly paddling and work with a little fishing in the morning.
Might be a blast and at any rate it will be an adventure.
Good luck, Jim