Years ago there was a fishing barge that they would anchor off the west coast of Southern California, sometimes tow it to different spots where the fish would be hanging out. It was rather large with an asphalt surface, could hold quite a number of people. A launch would take you out to it, and pretty cheap, it might have taken thirty or forty minutes to reach the barge. There was a cook shack on it where you could get a grilled burger and cold drinks. A swashbuckler lady named Lena ran it, and there were benches to chill on in the shade. She sold some gear as well. As a kid it was a great way to spend the day, both fishing and watching and shooting the sh*t with other fishermen. The close in catches were more like lucky, often lots of lines in the water, but there was a far corner behind the shack, where if you could cast out with distance with a spinning rig and feather lure, you could sometimes get into schools of Bonito that would be running out there. They seemed to move in and out a bit, but sometimes you could be fighting those fish almost the whole day. People away from that corner that couldn't reach the spot, would have envious looks on their faces. Bonito are in the same family as Mackerel, fast swimming good fighting fish. Not much you can do with Bonito, a very oily fish, but when you got back to the pier, there would sometimes be Asians waiting to take the large and heavy sack off your hands. They ate them somehow, maybe smoked and dried. The barge was very cool, but I don't think that they have it any longer. Parents didn't have to worry if their ten year old kid went out there with a bud, give them a few bucks for lunch and they were good. I got some bad sunburns though.
Record year for Puget Sound Coho salmon this year. So it could happen.
