We left Huntington Bch Harbor and had fairly choppy seas in the Catalina Channel. All the LA charter boats seem to know where the fish are because a small fleet of private and charter fishing boats went from spot to spot. We ended up going north towards Long Beach.
The fishing in the first spot was pretty good. We were hooking Calico Bass and Barracuda right away using live bait and jig lures. I hooked a monster yellowtail and got it to within about 20 feet off the boat and then it broke off taking the bait and hook with it.
The 2nd spot was dead. Then we moved a little north to the 3rd spot and the fishing was intense and almost non-stop. With the Jig & bait caster rig we were hooking big Pacific Barracuda on every cast. The crew staring get in on it and between the 4 of us, I figure we caught over 50 barracuda in an hour. It would have more, but it takes time to fight the fish, reel it in, and decide whether it is a keeper or not. It was lots of gaffing and measuring.
In the middle of all that we were using live bait with spinning rigs and catching more barracuda and calico bass. The only hard part was dealing with the increasing swells. It's hard doing that while that little boat is rocking 20 or 30 degrees.
I highly recommend Captain Eric and EZ Sportfishing. He'll get you on the fish. He has a lot of experience in these waters, and he was on the radio with a buddy who was also a fishing charter captain. They were sharing information and it proved to be invaluable in terms of finding the fish. My buddy and I were a little bummed at not getting a Yellowtail, but that is the luck of the draw. Nearby boats were getting 2 or 3 of them.