well, if Brandon's report did nothing else, it inspired me to tag along with my dad to catalina. he had to go to avalon for something so i brought along the rods. i learned to fish in avalon and i've been fishing there all my life. i know avalon harbor better than santa barbara harbor. i also brought my float tube to try out in the harbor. we got there on saturday morning. i headed straight for my old spot on the "mole" big concrete pier that is kind of situated on a rock jetty so only one side is really exposed to water, it serves as a breakwater for the harbor. if you've been to avalon, it's like that thing next to where the boats come in. i threw plastics for a couple hours because i was too lazy to go find some squid. however, i did stop by high tide traders and pick up a good looking fish trapl it had a brown back, yellowish side and silver stomach and tail. they only had one left in the box so i figured it had to be a pretty decent color. so, after about an hour of nothing i see a good sized fish come up and pick at my plastic. after my heart skipped a beat, i realized it was just an opal eye. so, after an hour of nothing else, i moved down the mole and farmed a calico bass. i called it quits after that. i was under the impression that the express boats dump the remainder of their food in the harbor at night and the bass come and feed on it so that night i tried fishing the docks for nothing. man, you wouldn't believe how many hot chicks were like, oh that's so cute... dude, if i ever need a hot ass chick... wait a minute. ok, so the next day (sunday morning) after finding that there was no squid available in avalon, i literally fished the whole harbor for halibut and came up with one farmed small fish which almost bit the tail off my swimbait and another missed hookset. man, i was off. so i tried the mole one last time in the afternoon. now this is probably the most frustrating thing that happened. i'm working this kelp stringer, a really nice bass comparable to one of jamon's fish, comes up, misses the bait, turns around, misses again and darts back into the kelp. damn. i cast back there, it comes back out and misses the thing again! i couldn't believe it and after a few more casts to that kelp, i gave up. so a little advice- i never would've known that fish was there if the water wasn't as clear as it was. so, cast and recast to a spot. i worked that spot for at least fifteen minutes before that bass showed himself. and even then i never would've known if i didn't see him. water temp was 60 degrees today, and there wasn't much difference between clarity in the air and the water in up to 40 feet of water, so as always crystal clear. note to self- throw big jointed rapala magnums in both corners of harbor and drop swimbaits on the farthest mooring.