Mission Bay, 10-15-15

[Amish Ed]

Launched just before 6am with Landwhale from the Ski Beach ramp. It cloudy, breezy, and there was off and on drizzle. Not much current and clear. Water Temp was 74. Boat traffic was minimal until about 8am. Then the skiers came out.

We fished our typical areas, but never got into a decent bite. Lots of short biters, few fish boated, and no legals. Finished with only 6 a piece.

Best bait was a 5" Paddlerz in Sexy Mullet. Second best was a 4" Paddlerz in Bad Shad. Also caught one on New Penny. All baits were fished on Warbait Slayer heads in either 1/2 or 3/8 ounce. Got hammered a few times on a skirted bait, but couldn't set the hook fast enough. And that was pretty much the theme of the day. Fish were biting really quick with no follow up hits. Hot Sauce for flavor of course. At 10am I got swamped by a couple of ski boats and called it quits. Back was hurting anyways.

Part of the reason for the back pain is that I'm finally wearing a pfd and it's taking some getting used to. It hinders my hooksets also. Got to change how I do it and I don't like change

[YakDout]

Do you have a high back PFD? I cant fish with the low back ones.

[Amish Ed]

It's a Hobie with a very thin back. Just not as thin as nothing.

[Dave Legacy]

Originally Posted by Amish Ed

It's a Hobie with a very thin back. Just not as thin as nothing.

I googled the hobie thin back and it still looks like a lot of material. I wear a NRS Chinook that is mesh along the back and I was surprised that I don't really notice it. Good on ya for giving a PFD a go.

[Amish Ed]

@ 6'2" 325lbs my options are minimal. I'm getting a bike tomorrow though, and hopefully I can shed some excess weight.

[Harry Hill]

Originally Posted by Amish Ed

@ 6'2" 325lbs my options are minimal. I'm getting a bike tomorrow though, and hopefully I can shed some excess weight.

you don't look 325, I thought you were wearing a PFD last week but I guess I wasn't paying attention. I got swamped pretty good by that guy in the skiff last week but my boat drains pretty fast. I'll let you know how we do at Newport tomorrow, hopefully a good report.

do you ever fish for Sand Dabs in Mission Bay? I hear if you find the right spots you can clean up on them and they are great eating. I've been riding my bike but my knees aren't happy about that yet. It takes about 1/4 mile for them to loosen up. My wife's min pin runs with me so we both get some exercise.

[YakDout]

Thanks for report by the way.

[Harry Hill]

Launched a little after 6am, it was my wife's first trip on salt but she did fine. Newport is a great place to start someone out as long as you don't get run over by the boat traffic. We spent a little time casting white flukes on scrounger heads, my wife caught a spotty right away but it was short. We headed towards the mouth of the bay trolling krocodiles with no luck then we spent the morning fishing around the bait barge. Lots of fun catching greenbacks but the sea dogs were heaving into the stealing business. My wife's first greenback got grabbed by a dog and played tug of war until the fish broke in half. The dogs were aggressive, I landed one mackeral and the dog came right along side my yak and snotted me, then it started bumping my boat from underneath. I saw one guy catch a really nice calico, maybe 5 pounds, I caught some short calicos if I could get my bait to the bottom. All in all a good day, about 6 hours on the water, saved a couple of mackerals for cat food, the macs are fun on light tackle. Most importantly my wife had a good time.