lj 5-23am -was LJ hit by a hurricane lastnight..?
 

launched a lil b4 6 and paddled out to find condo sized kelp paddies EVERYWHERE!! The only kelp left on the surface is a small ~200x200 foot batch in about 40 feet of water just past the boiler rocks short of the hotel :shock: <-which looked like it was about to give up and de-root any minute... Out around 80-100 feet I was yoyoing where there used to be bull kelp down deep everywhere, and couldn't snag a thing.. Drug a mack around dodging kelp and grass for a few hours then went over to the little kelp that was left and played with the calicos for a bit.. They were busting on smelt and slammin the plastics on the surface grind :D Called it a day early around 10:30 when the wind picked up..On the way in, a group of about 15 harbor seals popped up 10 feet from me and all stared at me like I stole their kelp forest or something :lol: Reached for the camera and they took off :(

Only good news is that the rain didn't effect the water color, and there was a ton of smelt wandering in search of a new home...if some current pushes them together there could be some action in the evening...

question for you guys that have been fishing LJ for years.. have you ever seen a kelpless summer..? I have no clue if kelp can grow in the summer or if it's too warm, but I'm curious if you think LJ can sustain enough bait without the kelp to keep yellows around??

Ryan,
Thanks for the report. I was going to hit the pm shift, but the wind has picked up a bit... didn't feel like fighting it.
-D

I was surfing Blacks end of last week and was pretty sure I saw a kelpcutter out there harvesting kelp. This morning there was giant piles of kelp on the beach. I have seen this before after the kelpcutters go through.

it can grow a foot a day, so you shouldn't panic to much dude. unless there's a ton of sea urchins down there munchin at the holdfasts. If that's the case, then all you guys are screwed :shock:

Ryan, I've never seen a kelpless Summer, but I have never seen a Summer just like the one before. Every year seems to bring something different.

I got away fron the floating kelps, by going long. Saw a YT boated around 8:30 in the same area you got that WSB T Shark wannabe. Only thing for me was a cuda and a few calicos on the way in.

thats the thing about the sea urchins, they eat the crap out of the kelp, so sea dogs are required to keep urchin populations down. It's a lose/lose for us (unless your slaying the fish, then who cares). But I am by no means slaying, two calicos and a ling for my career which spans all of about two months.

andy- my friend and I had the same idea..go long to avoid the kelps and hope some tail popped up..saw arne on the c-bass spot and he said he got picked up by somethin on the bottom but it dropped it...

Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with the kelp.. I just hope new stringers are growing as the rest are dying off...

>thats the thing about the sea urchins, they eat the crap out of the kelp, so sea dogs are required to keep urchin populations down.

I don't think pinnipeds eat sea urchins. But Sheepshead do, and the commercial urchin divers do a lot to keep them under contol.

(Real men and their women do it in a skiff!)

your right, I was thinking of sea otters. :oops: