The winter of the turnaround
Dropped by Mark Wisch's Pacific Edge tackle/bait tank store in Huntington Harbour this morning and while the fishing stories and reminisces were going back and forth a marine hardware salesman came in. His first name is Eric and I'm not going to trust my memory for the last, but the bottom line of our conversation I do remember because it had all to do with bottom - as in we've had to hit the bottom in the fishing and boating industry and it's all up from here.

The good news is that the only direction from here is up and the recent development that has Bart Hall and Duncan McIntosh banding together to present an on-the-water boat show during this March's Fred Hall Show in Long Beach is a good sign that we're headed in the right direction.

Fishing and boats go together and you see everyone from half-day fishermen and the top marlin guys and gals at the Hall show. The Hall family has stage the best indoor "outdoor" show for many years and McIntosh is the king of the on the water boat display. With the new layout that makes it easy to get to the water from the Long Beach Convention Center, nothing could be better.

Meanwhile on the fishing front, Mark said the squid are thicker than ever, with huge new batches of the squish moving in at Catalina, but the seabass have finally backed off, even along the coast. The water is cold and dirty, but the good news is you can scratch up a decent catch of bass, sculpin and the occasional halibut along the coast despite the cold, dirty water. After all, its been cold for a long time, so it's no shock to the bass and I heard there were some decent catches at Clemente (the island) during the recent SWBA event.

The weather seems to have settled into a calm January pattern, but to match the strangeness of this year it was still ominous on the drive south along the Coast Highway with the smog layer and the rigs off Huntington nearly obscuring Catalina.

Where do we go from here? Onward and upward!

Rich Holland's Roundup