How Does This Happen?

This was the only thing I caught on Saturday morning in marine stadium:

That is an actual fish, probably a baby sardine, that I caught using that lure. I snagged its belly on my cast when the hook hit the water. . .Pretty shocking.

What is more shocking is how much I am liking pop music. I am liking it more than my sister, who swoons for acts like Nsync, Hanson, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and O-Town.

One of the songs that is topping my charts is Shakira's SheWolf. The video is out of control for these reasons:

• Sick intro with brass on a Daft Punky bass groove.
  
• Robot-with-a-limp combined with pop-and-lock-bellydancing in a ruby cave.
• Cage gymnastics in a flesh toned leotard

Today's Lesson: Don't Fish on the Docks

Last time I fished from the docks, I had a great day. I caught a leopard shark and walked home with some serious game fish.

Today I fished the docks at Alamitos Bays, looking to catch a bat ray. I ended up catching 3 Long Beach Police Officers and a warning.

There is nothing like hearing an armed officer say, "Sir! Please put the fishing rod down." like it was some sort of weapon. It was a good thing I wasn't cutting bait or it would have been a much scarier, "Sir! Please put down the knife!"

Once I was "un-armed" they started asking me questions. The first one was easy:

Q: What are you doing today?
A: I am fishing. Are you Fish and Game?

then it started getting complicated,

Q: We are with LBPD. Do you have a boat around here?
A: One on gangway 16B.

Q: So you don't have a boat on this gangway. What are you doing here? Did you see the "NO FISHING" signs?
A:I don't have a boat here. I came to fish by the park, but I saw all the signs, so I moved over to the docks.

Q: So you saw the signs?
A: Yes, and I thought it meant I couldn't fish from the walkways, so I picked a spot where I wouldn't bother anyone.

Q: You said you had a boat here, so why aren't you fishing by it.
A: I wanted to fish this spot by the park.

Q: And the boat is in your name?
A: No, It is in my grandparent's name.

Q: Do they know that you use their boat?
A: Yes, they own is specifically so that the grandkids can use it. It is on 16B do you want me to show you?

At this point they probably think I am lying. So I give them a data dump.

Q: What is the name of the boat?
A: Summer Salt II. She is a 31 ft motor-sailor. Slip 634 I think. It is registered to William and Gertrude Carroll. They are my grandparents.

He takes my ID and scans my record.

As it turns out I am clean. I have no criminal record, warrants or parole, and I start class tomorrow. This all adds up to someone who will take a stern warning to heart, so they let me off easy.

One of my Best Weekends

Having just finished my first week of work for Viterbi Admission and Student Affairs and learning that it is my last weekend before school starts, I made sure to make the best of every day this weekend.

Friday night I met up Graham and Brendan in Newport. We did some midnight surfing at 36th. There was no moon, tide or surf but it was an awesome session. This is what is looked like:


The next morning we went out to Harbor House for omelets. Then I went out to fish Newport Bay near a spot called "The Rail". I wanted to catch a spotted bass. I had just learned about spotted bass a week prior so I specifically was hunting for one. After 45 minutes of throwing plastics, I nailed one and released it.


Then for the first time in 6 years, I got new swim trunks. Surprisingly not from Kanvas by Katin(that will be my next pair). I then went to a friend's going away party.

Sunday morning I made plans to go fishing in the Back Bay of Newport with my cousin Michael and my bro Andrew. We fished the docks looking for bat rays, but ended up catching a leopard shark. Andrew had the urge to swim with the shark, so he did.

If that wasn't enough of a good weekend, a boat came to the dock and handed over a yellowtail and two dorado. We rolled up the fish in Andrew's towel:



And to top it all off, I am setting up interviews with an aircraft interior manufacturer and a medical device manufacturer so that I can have a full time engineering job in December.

Not too bad...

Short Term Future Planning

I came up to USC today to do some work and start figuring out my short term future plans. Today's tasks include financial aid, design work to build marketable skills, and finding a job.

I already found out that I need to come back tomorrow for financial aid.

I am about to start weighing the different options that may or may not be available to me in upcoming weeks/months. This includes living at home, living at school, living wherever a good job takes me, getting a job on campus, getting a labor job, or getting a real engineering job, taking my class in person, or taking my class online.

3 things are important right now.

1. I need to finish my last class.
2. I need a place to live.
3. I need a job.

I am gonna start brainstorming creative housing situations and job styles. I need to come up with a game plan to start charging on right away, but have plenty of fallbacks in place, just in case.

Freak Fish

I was fishing plastics in the river mouth at Seal Beach, and found 3 fish washed up on the sand, each semi-alive.


This is a lizardfish. It is super slimy and prehistoric looking. Some people where trying to convince me that it was a catfish, but I knew better. Catfish (even the saltwater variety) have a fu manchu like this:
The other fish, below, is one that used to annoy me at Newport Dunes. It is a needlefish, although I have never seen one as big as the one washed up on the beach.

The fish probably could not handle the bathwater type temperatures that the powerplant creates as it cools its generators. I put them out of their misery and used them for bait, fishing for sharks or bat rays.

Logistical Issues(Catalina Canceled)

I was supposed to sail my relatives over to Catalina this weekend, but for "logistical issues" the trip was canceled. That is as far into the details that I have been told...pretty vague...pretty lame.

I then say screw em, I'll take the boat over with a small 1 or 2 person crew. I already booked some nights to camp in Little Harbor and had visions of spearfishing. But no, they want to go for a day sail on Sunday. Weak.

My Uncle Cliff is in town, so I convinced him to go fishing on the whaler. Smart choice. We had the most productive day of fishing I have had all summer(for him the past 3 years). We pulled in about 10 bass each and other assorted fish. We had another octopus spit onto the deck. We fished the octo-bait but no real hits. The action was on live-anchovies and it was relentless. Here is a shot of Cliff with the knife for a scale(I forgot the measuring tape again) with a nice calico bass.

The action was soo hot that I broke the pole that I got in Italy when I tried fishing on Lago Maggiore. I wish it had broken on a fish hookup, but sadly it was when I snagged the rocks. I found out that the pole was made of carbon fiber, ultra low quality, but carbon non-the-less.

While we were on the water, I saw the Bell Family sailing over to Catalina on Seeker. I yelled out to them and they stopped by the boat for a "stop and chat". I wish that I could have hopped a ride with them, but I had "logistical issues".