Red Tide Fishing at DP - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Salty · 05-02-2020, 08:04 PM

Decided to brave the red tide today and hit DP. It was much worse this weekend than last. Last weekend the water cleared up at about 1.5 miles out. Today, it never really did 100%, even about 2-2.5 miles out. Fished live bait in around 150-250ft wherever I could find interesting bottom contours or marks. Got plenty of bites without takers, but I did eventually get a decent sculpin. On the way back to the buoy, marked a ton of fish at around 50' and decided to drop on them, even though the water looked like mud. Must have caught 10 calico and a few sand bass in the course of an hour there. Most undersized, but everything went back anyway. I stopped taking pics after the first couple as they were biting every time I dropped on a mark. Best fish were caught on a 1oz neon-green tube bait (hook up bait), not really much taking my live bait, but my buddy got a nice 19" sand bass on live. That one was released as well.

Salty · 05-02-2020, 08:13 PM

Also, what did this to my Mac??? No sea lions in the area at all... Something slammed it hard but didn't catch the hook! Other pics are of my strangest catch of the day... Lockheed-Martin Weather Balloon that I found tangled up in a kelp paddy with about 100' of line running down into the water column. had to cut most of the kelp with my bait knife to get all the line out. Interesting....

daperrin · 05-02-2020, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salty

Decided to brave the red tide today and hit DP. It was much worse this weekend than last. Last weekend the water cleared up at about 1.5 miles out. Today, it never really did 100%, even about 2-2.5 miles out. Fished live bait in around 150-250ft wherever I could find interesting bottom contours or marks. Got plenty of bites without takers, but I did eventually get a decent sculpin. On the way back to the buoy, marked a ton of fish at around 50' and decided to drop on them, even though the water looked like mud. Must have caught 10 calico and a few sand bass in the course of an hour there. Most undersized, but everything went back anyway. I stopped taking pics after the first couple as they were biting every time I dropped on a mark. Best fish were caught on a 1oz neon-green tube bait (hook up bait), not really much taking my live bait, but my buddy got a nice 19" sand bass on live. That one was released as well.

Thanks for the report. Were you jigging those Hookup baits?

igotpron · 05-02-2020, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daperrin

Thanks for the report. Were you jigging those Hookup baits?

Hook up baits are stupid. All I’ve ever done with them is let them sink.

And for some reason they just get bit. Perfect bait for kids. Either let them cast it out. Or drop it straight down. But they get hammered!!

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Salty · 05-03-2020, 12:46 AM

I get some every once in a while jigging the bottom with them. But have the most luck on the drop.

05-02-2020, 08:04 PM	#1
Salty Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 434	Red Tide Fishing at DP Decided to brave the red tide today and hit DP. It was much worse this weekend than last. Last weekend the water cleared up at about 1.5 miles out. Today, it never really did 100%, even about 2-2.5 miles out. Fished live bait in around 150-250ft wherever I could find interesting bottom contours or marks. Got plenty of bites without takers, but I did eventually get a decent sculpin. On the way back to the buoy, marked a ton of fish at around 50' and decided to drop on them, even though the water looked like mud. Must have caught 10 calico and a few sand bass in the course of an hour there. Most undersized, but everything went back anyway. I stopped taking pics after the first couple as they were biting every time I dropped on a mark. Best fish were caught on a 1oz neon-green tube bait (hook up bait), not really much taking my live bait, but my buddy got a nice 19" sand bass on live. That one was released as well. Attached Images

05-02-2020, 08:13 PM	#2
Salty Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 434	Also, what did this to my Mac??? No sea lions in the area at all... Something slammed it hard but didn't catch the hook! Other pics are of my strangest catch of the day... Lockheed-Martin Weather Balloon that I found tangled up in a kelp paddy with about 100' of line running down into the water column. had to cut most of the kelp with my bait knife to get all the line out. Interesting.... Attached Images

05-03-2020, 12:46 AM	#5
Salty Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 434	I get some every once in a while jigging the bottom with them. But have the most luck on the drop.