Chasing calicos creates quite a fishing experience

Morning anglers disembark the Southern Cal with paltry sums of fish and snide remarks for the afternoon bunch waiting to climb aboard. “Don’t get your hopes up because you won’t be catching much,” one of them grumbles, darkening the mood on an already gray day.

Capt. Colin Nakano is no more optimistic and makes the unpopular decision to abandon the barracuda grounds down south and try for calico bass up north.

“You’re supposed to go that way!” one of the passengers bellows from the stern deck, pointing to his left with outstretched arms, as the Southern Cal clears the Long Beach Harbor breakwater and veers to starboard.

Nakano risks mutiny because, despite the uneventful morning, all fishing activity had been to the south, and calicos are far more unpredictable than barracuda.

But soon something remarkable happens. As the Southern Cal glides in beyond the kelp line off Palos Verdes, the marine layer recedes as though on a curtain string.

The ocean turns blue and sparkles. Calicos emerge from their amber forest and smack anchovies flung overboard as chum. Casts are made. Rods are swung and cries of “Hookup!” fill the air.

And for the next three hours not a thought is given to what might be occurring down south. “We rolled the dice and they came up 7s,” deckhand Ryan Parker says, when asked about the logic behind the decision. “It’s that simple.”

Half-day dynamics

For what he lacks in experience, Nakano, a second-year skipper, makes up for with needle-sharp instincts.

Sure, this is barracuda season, and the sleek and speedy game fish are the bread-and-butter of the half-day fleet.

But the season is off to an unusual start. Barracuda have been covering lots of territory, biting like crazy one day and sporadically, if at all, the next.

Some believe the presence of Humboldt squid this year has made the barracuda skittish.

Undoubtedly, predation on hooked barracuda by sea lions has become a major turnoff for anglers and crews, as for every barracuda landed another is lost to the “dogs.”

“I got six barracuda yesterday, but for the most part we were reeling in just the heads,” says Alex Diaz, a Long Beach angler on board the Southern Cal for a second day.

Sea lions were lounging beneath almost every boat during the morning run, Nakano explains, and the added traffic of numerous private skiffs seemed to further spook the barracuda. “I saw that we had some fishermen aboard for the afternoon run, so I decided to take a chance,” he says. “Plus, sea lions don’t really like calicos.”

Calico allure

Certainly, calico fishing is a different game. Barracuda are longer, stronger and much faster. But calicos are tastier and present a greater challenge. They remain so close to the kelp that a dead aim is required to cast close enough without becoming entangled.

Anglers have to be quick after a strike, or the fish runs into the kelp. “It’s good because it’s real finesse fishing,” says Evan Shroeder, after bouncing a plump bass over the rail.

Diaz was also after barracuda, but had never tried calico fishing. “This is a rush, man,” he says, after reeling in his third keeper-sized calico, thus finalizing dinner plans.

Eric Lee, of Long Beach, collars the largest calico of the day, but it’s of spawning size so he sets it free. “This is different, that’s for sure,” he says.

Even the crew is fishing, and deckhand Reed Smolan and galley cook Ed Galensky land two of the day’s largest calicos.

Finally, though, the call is made to wind the lines in and the amber forest is left to settle back into a peaceful state.

Forty-nine keeper calicos were taken by 10 anglers, and back at the Pierpoint Landing dock there is plenty to boast about. But, alas, nobody is waiting to climb aboard.

Noteworthy

* Fishing: The above story was written off a Monday excursion and on Wednesday and again Thursday the barracuda bite erupted into a frenzy off Orange County and in Santa Monica Bay, with landing totals ranging from 100 to nearly 400.

* Surfing: Carissa Moore, 14, out-performed more than 60 boys to win the recent Quiksilver King of the Groms competition on Oahu. The prestigious youth event has been a career springboard for many of the world’s top male surfers.

Moore is tabbed as a future world champion.

* Nature: Girl Scout troop 1209 from Carlsbad accompanied Matthew Sutton of the Catalina Island Conservancy to the burn area last Sunday and clipped and replanted more than 1,200 plants to help restore the coastal dune habitat.

The girls are Gabby Gastelo, Avalon and Sidney Johnson, Lexi Predmore, Katie Beyer, Elizabeth Vargas-Haack and Sophia Kormanik.

* Grunion hunting: Grunion runs occur only in Southern California and northern Baja California. The silvery fish will ride in to lay and incubate eggs along dark, sandy beaches over the next four nights.

It’s open season but only bare hands are allowed and those 16 and older need a fishing license to legally catch them. For an informative website try: grunion.org.

--

pete.thomas@latimes.com