LJ 7/23 long unproductive day-again

[easyday]

Decided to get a late start this morning due to the fact we haven't been catching anything in the am. Truck battery ended up being dead, so we fixed that problem, once we got on the road i realized I forgot wallet at home had to go back. Was to busy talking about nothing and missed the exit. Got to the launch around 1030 or so surf was decent size for la jolla and breaking pretty far out and no time between sets. Got set up and realized my battery box was at at home, no big deal cut wires and hard wired straight to battery and made a waterproof container with a grocery bag and lots of duct tape. The launch was pretty uneventful, took one wave right to the face in the tarpon. It like to go straight through waves and not over. Pretty big rolling waves today for la jolla standards, Finally got out and started fishing, we saw a huge gathering of birds crashing on the surface so we hauled ass over there my buddies flyline starts screaming he put it in gear and nothing.......spent the rest of the afternoon making bait and cruising around with a flyline out and throwing irons, for nothing. Current was rpping hard and it started getting a little rough so we decided to call it quits. On the way in I dropped down some squid for 2 vermillion kind, hey its dinner. Sitting outside of the breakers it was hard to time sets because it was so inconsistent. We found our gap and went I almost made it until one came up out of nowhere and rolled me. I recovered quickly and got the kayak to the beach. I lost my game clip which was attached at some point, a tackle box full of weights, and a knife. It could have been worse so im not complaining. I believe this is my 6th Wednesday at la Jolla in a row now and probably my 20th time overall and I have still to get the YT. So will be out there next wed trying it again.

[makobob]

Never say die Josh!! your day is coming. Eventually......... it will be your turn.

[momo fish]

Don't worry josh it will happen. You have plenty of company

[FlyFishinYakr]

What they ^ said + never say die!
Patience is a virtue.
I'll bet when you finally get one it'll be one definitely worth posting (after all you've been through).
FFY

[Bert Vega]

Keep at it. It's going to happen!

[Cbad Mike]

Thanks for the report Josh.
I launched at least twice as many times before I saw my first fish with a yellow tail that wasn't on someone else's kayak.
Since then..............
Hang in there yours is on its way.
Maybe I'll join you next week.

[Widgeon]

My stats are similar to yours.
No YT yet.
Our time will come.

[the dude]

my Tarpon was by far the best paddling kayak I've ever had....it also was the worst surfing kayak I've ever been on. Your lucky you only lost a couple items.

[ctfphoto]

Wow, how did I miss you as I was on the water for 7 hours yesterday, and yes it was extremely slow. I spent 6 hours trying to catch one greenback to no avail.

Surfing a tarpon is fun, I use to dread the landings, now I look forward to them

[Dirty Curti]

After the battery died and then having to go back home for the wallet was a good sign to stay home. But you ventured on anyway and it's to bad it didn't pay off for you this time. Keep at it and you'll get one eventually. It appears you enjoy the time on the water anyway.

[otterpupster]

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[paintnfish]

Tarpon 140-160, best thing I ever learned landing
the Tarpon if the surf is up is to get accustomed to
coming in side ways dragging paddle on the inside.
Dry everytime !

[taggermike]

Keep swinging and you'll hit a home run soon. I've been fishing LJ for 40 years, 15 from a kayak and its kinda lame to say, but La Jolla is a great place to not catch fish. Every trip there is a learning opportunity, plus there's a chance to see some thing amazing.

The tarpon series looks a bit like my prowler 15, and the prowler is a very poor surfing kayak. Coming in back wards has worked. If you can time it right coming in on the back of the last wave in a set is good too. My preferred landing technique is to take advantage of a long fast boat; get your gear secured, gather your chi, wait for a bit of a lull, and sprint paddle with all you have for the beach. Of course every one of these techniques can fail so learning to ride side ways and brace is well worth mastering. Bracing feels wrong at first because its a natural inclination to lean away from the white water. You gotta lean in to the white water, and I mean lean. Your paddle is way out in the white water and your body weight is toward the white water too. On my prowler I'll even hang my wave side leg off the kayak. Maybe try a few launches and landing without gear to get the feel of it. Mike

[GregAndrew]

And Ron ^ is who got me all excited to learn how to surf my kayak. When he said " Lets go back out a surf a little" after fishing San O, I thought he just meant "Lets go out in the surf and see who gets clobbered first". When he paddled his Tarpon into that first wave an rode off into the sunset, I was in awe. And when I caught my first wave, I was hooked. Easy, keep at it. My curse for a couple years was that I was always a day early or a day late, or left 30 minutes before they exploded. Besides, the wintertime slobs are well worth the wait.

[easyday]

I have the whole dog into the wave thing down. I just leaned to far and rolled into the inside. I also love the speed of the tarpon getting out is so easy


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[makobob]

Originally Posted by easyday

I have the whole dog into the wave thing down. I just leaned to far and rolled into the inside. I also love the speed of the tarpon getting out is so easy


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So Josh, if I am hearing you right the new Thresher by Wilderness should be even better in the surf? So I guess that is what I will order when the Adventure Island sells. Thank you for your insite Josh.

[icelogger]

Your time should be coming shortly. It's all about putting your time in and one day you'll break the seal. I fished 4 to 5 days a week for a month before I got my first LJ YT. I would fish after work until dark and weekends. It was about about learning something new every time OTW and studying how people catch YT. The dedicated catch lots of fish.

And the only reason I caught my first one is timing. I happened to be out there one evening when the squid bite was on. Everybody was slaying them. At the time I had no idea people could catch squid and that YT love squid. I was amazed. I sat and watched how people were catching them and learned the techniques. A really cool guy Eric gave me one of his rods and threw on one of his squid. I missed 2 that night but now I knew the techniques to catch one. A couple days later I caught my first YT. A day after that the squid bite was gone.

I agree with taggermike. Just getting the chance to get out there is a gift. I've been away from La Jolla for a year now and still think of fishing there regularly. I can't wait to go yak fishing LJ again. Appreciate what you got right in front of you.

Cheers

[easyday]

Yea the thresher looks like it's going to rock in the surf


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