Kayak Fishing Blog

Kayak Fishing in Two Harbors - Catalina Island

Catalina is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California.  It measures 22 miles long and 8 miles across at it’s greatest width.  It has one town - Avalon which has appx. 3200 persons.   The second largest “town” or should I say village is Two Harbors which is located at the isthmus of the island.  It has one hotel / bed and breakfast - The Banning House and campsites.  The village of Two Harbors has one general store, one restaurant, one grill for breakfast and lunch.  It has a Visitor Center and the “Two Harbors Dive and Recreation Center”.  They rent scuba and snorkling gear, kayaks and skiffs and mountain bikes.  The kayak rentals are located right on the beach.    We left out of San Pedro - which is one of the only places that goes direct to Two Harbors - and went on the Catalina Express.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get there.  There were some pretty good swells going across to Two Harbors and a few people on the Express were feeling sea sick.  The Express serves snacks, beer and well drinks.  Some people got on the boat with mountain bikes in tow.  That would be a fun way to travel around the island as there are great paths to walk, hike and ride on.  When we arrived in Two Harbors we checked in at the Visitor Center and they called up the Banning House.  The Banning House Van comes down to the “arrival area” and picks you up - really nice. 

 The Banning House Lodge was built in 1910 as the summer home for the pioneering Banning brothers who owned Santa Catalina Island.  It is now a bed and breakfast Hotel with 12 rooms, all with there own bath.  There are rooms that can accomodate up to four people and the entire facility can be reserved for special occasions.  There is a great patio that overlooks Two Harbors and another large patio off of the “living room” from which you can see both sides of the isthmus.  There are no TV’s, alarm clocks, or telephones in your room.  The living room has a fireplace, chairs, sofas, tables, and loads of books and magazines to relax with.  One table had a puzzle in progress.  Very relaxing.  They have a nice dining room which serves a free continental breakfast each morning.  We had fresh fruit, muffins, bagels, cereal, coffee, tea, hot chocolate etc…  Very Good.   During the summer season they serve an appetizer social time on Friday and Saturday evenings.

We got unpacked, checked around the Banning House, had a beer and relaxed a bit.  We then headed down and walked to the Cat Harbor side of the isthmus.  From that side we took the picture with the upside down boats in the foreground.  We had a great lunch at the West End Galley and headed back to the Banning house to relax before dinner.   The Galley closes at 3:00 for lunch and then there is an outside bar that opens.  At any time, you can have the Visitor Center call for the van to pick you up.  We found the “path” and walked most of the time, but it’s great the way they will come down and pick you up any time you call them. 

We had made reservations for dinner at the Harbor Reef Restaurant for both nights we were there.  We probably didn’t need to as it wasn’t the busy season, but I would still recommend it any time of the year.  There are people coming over for dinner from the campsites, Banning House and boats.  The food and service at the restaurant were great.  There is also a large bar, pool table and darts to enjoy.

Saturday morning we enjoyed the continental breakfast and then got ready for kayak fishing.  We rented two Ocean Kayak Prowlers and rigged them with our gear.  They come with flush  mount rod holders, a seat and paddle.  We took leashes, Fish Grip, Gaff, Tackle, Dry Bag, Snacks etc…  It was a bit on the cold side that day and the wind was blowing at 20 knots.  We headed out to the north side of Two Harbors and stayed in close to coves and the island.  We tied off to some seaweed and fished the kelp but had no luck.  We then headed out to the outside of Bird Rock (you can see this big rock in the Catalina Express picture) and caught Calico Bass and a Sheepshead. 

We had a nice workout paddling back in with the wind in our faces.  We got in, called for the van, got cleaned up and went down to have a bite to eat to hold us over till dinner, but missed lunch by about 5 minutes.  No worries, we headed over to the market for a chips and salsa lunch picked up some beer and headed back to the Banning House and enjoyed our Happy Hour on the patio.  We found out you can bring your beer from the  market or from home I guess, and keep it in the large walk in fridge at the Banning House.  There is also beer and wine available for purchase and kept in the big fridge.  We had another great dinner at the restaurant that night and then had a nice relaxing night by the fireplace in the living room at the Banning House.

We took a nice hike to Cat Harbor before checking out on Sunday - by 11:00 am.  The Banning House will keep your luggage and when they see the boat come in, they bring it down for you.  There was only one boat coming in at 2:00 since it is off season.  We had lunch at the Grill and sat on the large patio and watched LOTS of young adults coming back from camping.  The line for the boat was LONG and I never thought we would all fit… but we did :) 

I would definately recommend going over to Two Harbors and staying at the Banning House.  It is a treat and we met many people who have stayed there many, many times.  Be sure to make reservations for EVERYTHING before heading over.  Not only the Catalina Express and Banning house, but remember to reserve your kayaks and make dinner reservations.  Here are some links:

www.CatalinaExpress.com

www.VisitTwoHarbors.com - for the kayak rentals, Banning House, Restaurant, camping and much more!

(Above map from: www.npr.org)

(Above map from: www.catalinaconservancy.org )

Path down to Two Harbor’s Village from the Banning House

Path to Two Harbors Campground

Calico Bass

Sheepshead

Camping - Doheny State Beach, Dana Point, CA

2/24/08 -

Doheny Campground, Dana Point, California

In order to get a beach-front campsite at Doheny, we had to go in February – ha ha   If any of you have tried to get a beach front camp spot in the prime summer months, it’s tough!  Even in February, they can be hard to get. When reserving a campsite through Reserve America, you can make reservations six months prior to the date you want.  So, if I want a good spot at a popular campground in September, I can try and get a spot on March 1^st – 8 am – fingers ready to go, racing others at their computers, all trying  to get the site you want. 

I knew the weather might not be on our side, being in February and all, but we like to camp and would take our chances.  About a week ago I started checking the forecast and it didn’t look good.  We planned on arriving Friday afternoon and leaving on Sunday.  The forecast showed rain on Friday, clear Saturday with rain starting around 11 pm that night and continuing to rain into Sunday, letting up around noon.  We had pretty good luck with no rain after we arrived Friday afternoon and Saturday was beautiful.  The “real” weather arrived around midnight on Saturday night and the wind was unbelievable.   It rained, but the wind was crazy!  We had to go out around 2 am and put the awning down – not an easy task in the wind and it started to rain again while we were out there!

 But…. enough about the weather, if you like to camp you’ll like the Doheny Campground.  It’s a beautiful place with a long sandy beach, good surf down towards the jetty wall and lots of nearby restaurants and shops.  This trip we didn’t take the kayaks, but Mark did some shore fishing and caught a perch.  We saw our friend Ray out kayak fishing and hoped he would get the “big” one!  I walked down to the beach to sit and enjoy the sun while Mark was fishing and saw trash all over the beach that had washed up from the rain earlier in the week.  There is a nearby creek and the trash just pours down into the ocean.  I got three trash bags and filled them up.  Right when I finished picking up trash, I looked down the beach and about 60-75 high school kids from Dana Hills High School were cleaning the beach!  Glad I could help a little bit – Thanks Dana Hills High School kids (some had on cross country shirts) for cleaning our beach!

If you plan on kayak fishing while you’re camping at Doheny, you can launch your kayak at the far end, near the jetty wall.  You can also drive down to Baby’s Beach and launch from there.  Visit our Dana Point page on our website that has pictures of the area: http://www.kayakfishinggear.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=74

Talking about fire pits J  We have the coolest fire pit – the inside (drum) of a washing machine.  Not only is it portable but it lets the heat out of the holes and you really don’t need a rip roaring fire to get warm.  Some of the fire pits at the campgrounds are so deep, you need a bundle of wood just to get warm.  We stick in 3-4 pieces at a time and it’s HOT!  Here’s a picture of our fire pit when we were camping last year.

If you plan on camping at Doheny and have any questions just let me know, I’d be more than happy to answer them.

karen@kayakfishinggear.com