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07-16-2021, 07:38 PM | #1 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: San Diego
Posts: 59
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Bait, Barracuda and Beaked Dolphins, Oh My! (LJ)
An eventful day at LJ. No YT or WSB but a few interesting moments.
Launched at dawn and stayed inshore searching for bait. Impatience got the best of me and I couldn’t resist chasing birds offshore. I brought my rockfish set up so I knew I’d be able to make the offshore sprint worth it. Got to the diving birds about 2 miles off shore and bait was boiling everywhere. Unfortunately it wasn’t YT but a bunch of Barracuda. It was awesome watching the breach while occasionally getting spooked by a pelican crashing after bait 20 ft away. I decided to have fun with the Cudas and put on what I know is irresistible...a Yo Zuri diving minnow with a rattle. I trolled that around for 3 Cudas with the biggest at 30’’. All released. I was able to quickly pickup a few nice green backs and continued further offshore to a few rockpiles I had marked. Then I was amazed by the biggest pod of Dolphins I have ever seen. I got to see some of them charge bait in a line pushing up a ton of water and then what looked like them slapping them with their tail. It felt like planet earth until my fly lined mack made a couple short clicker spurts and then the clicker goes off. I put the reel in gear and WHAT A FREIGHT TRAIN. For a second I thought it was a YT but not even the homeguard I caught in April ran this hard. I even put it the drag on full (28 pounds) and it looked like I was going to get spooled. With the dolphins all around me I just assumed that’s what it was and quickly put my thumb on the spool and the line broke. It was 30# mono. Since I was offshore I put my rockfish set up to use with a couple strips of squid. Released 4 medium size Red’s and kept two. Broke my PB for Vermillion’s at 5.9 pounds. Alot of work in 250’ to land those and descend several so I called it a day and started the long trek in. Once again LJ gives out another amazing day....tight lines.
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Vibe Shearwater 125 (Tsunami Red) |
07-16-2021, 08:47 PM | #2 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Pine Valley when not fishing La Jolla
Posts: 2,643
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Sounds like a great day a La Jolla. It's awesome when there's a big show put on by the local wildlife. The Dolphin are magical, they always bring a smile to my face. After a great day, you still got to bring home some dinner. Tight Lines!
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MARK ......... 2016 MALIBU X FACTOR, 2020 SOLO SKIFF (Fishing Kayak on Steroids ) |
07-19-2021, 09:49 AM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: el cajon
Posts: 239
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Thanks for the kayak report. Looks fun. I have never seen a dolphin take a bait, just the big fish or seals that swim with them.
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07-19-2021, 12:44 PM | #4 |
Junior
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Dallas
Posts: 9
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Great job
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07-19-2021, 02:09 PM | #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Fort Lauderdale
Posts: 1,945
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Interesting report -- and nice rockfish! When I worked on Headboats in SoCal, it was rare to see a dolphin get hooked. Tunas are known to feed with dolphins -- ya never know?
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07-19-2021, 06:13 PM | #6 |
Junior
Join Date: May 2019
Location: Arizona, relocated from N. CA
Posts: 16
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Sounds like a great day OTW. Well done.
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07-20-2021, 09:49 AM | #7 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: San Diego
Posts: 59
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The dolphin thing is a total hypothesis...no other mammals I could see. Wasily could have been a sea dog below the surface. Perhaps it was a mermaid!
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Vibe Shearwater 125 (Tsunami Red) |
07-21-2021, 07:24 AM | #8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Menifee, CA
Posts: 1,473
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I've actually hooked a dolphin twice on the kayak, accidently, once in LJ on a mackerel and once at Dana Point on a sardine. I was fly lining a sardine in a open spot in a kelp bed when a missive school of sardines rushed under the kayak, followed by a frantic pod of dolphins chasing them. Got picked up and trust me, you don't want to hook those, there's no stopping them.
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So long and thanks for all the fish... |
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