Santa Barbara is a fishing town with a computer problem, this El Niño summer. Boats are on trailers or in slips in the harbor, filled with gas and loaded with fishing tackle.
All we need before we get on the water to go fishing is a stop by the store along the way for ice, drinks, food and bait. Then we can be on our way.
Well almost. The final item we need to check off the list is safe marine weather.
Therein lies the rub and the reason our eyes have been glued to computers instead of glued to our rod tips out on the water.
This August and September have featured brutal winds beginning from just beyond the horizon from the shore (roughly four miles out), on out 60 miles and beyond. Very large boats can brave those big wind-driven waves and salty spray, though many people get seasick.
Most private boats are not safe and comfortable out there in these brutal seas. That is why boats have been on trailers and in harbor slips. Even the rental slips have been full. We spent most of this summer waiting for fair seas and light winds.
Sailboaters, kite surfers, and wind sailboarders have been out having the time of their lives. Surfers have been celebrating big overhead swells. Fishers meanwhile have been relegated to our computers watching dismal and frustrating marine forecasts.
Anglers spent the summer feeling highly motivated to get out past the Channel Islands and hook into some of the big pelagic fish that ride warm water currents pushed northward towards us by the big hurricanes off the west coast mainland Mexico and the Baja Peninsula.
We could be catching yellowtail, dorado, marlin, tuna, bonito and barracuda, but here we sit in front of our computers.
Having spent decades captaining boats offshore and doing more fishing than most folks can dream of, I know I can keep my eyes glued happily to rod tips when I’m fishing. I can do that all day long.
What is hard to do is keep my eyes glued to marine forecasts on my computer, waiting for updates every several hours and hoping for drastically improved forecasts. My eyes get sore and tired and dry, staring at a computer screen, and I don’t see how computer professionals can do it.
The weather may break and give us some opportunities before those big pelagic gamefish go home when the water begins to cool. I sure hope so, and now my hopes are joined by thousands of other local fisherfolk who want to get in on the sizzling El Niño fishing opportunities.
We have waited years for this brief window of opportunity and it will likely be years before the next strong El Niño summer.
