12-12-2003, 02:03 AM
Here goes, believe it or not this is a true story. In 1949 the albacore were running half way from Pt. Fermin to the West End of Catalina. The best way to locate the longfins was by finding working birds, boiling fish, sauerbacks and kelp paddies. The skipper of the Fisherman II was cruising the area looking for them when he noticed an object on top of a large kelp paddy. As he gunned the boat to the paddy he almost swallowed his hat. The object had two long ears and was hopping around on the paddy, obviously trapped. Yes, it was a Jackrabbit. The skipper humanely shot the rabbit and chummed the area where they proceeded to catch a big bunch of albacore. How did the hare come to be on a kelp paddy 15 miles to sea? Well, it seems that Santa Barbara Island was about 15 miles up swell and the island in those days was loaded with Jackrabbits probably brought there by the early farmers. The rabbit some how got on the paddy and floated down the albacore area. Ask me someday about the "stuff" that can be found on those massive kelp paddies in the middle of the ocean.
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