The surf keeps on pumping!

[THE DARKHORSE]

Depending on your perspective and vessel of choice, that's either great news or your patience is starting to run thin. If you try to fight the Ocean, though, more often than not you'll end up on the losing end. And that's a fact, Jack! Personally, I think it's great. Our storm track coming off Japan has looked like every surfer's wet dream (pun intended). If you looked at a LOLA chart for the past two months there's been beautiful orange/red blobs with even a few purple goblins to boot! Enough consistent swells in fact that, I don't know about you, but have you noticed the lack of crowds lately? Guys even saying crazy crap like, "no you go", "I'll get the next one"! It's almost as if the Girl Scouts wrote some kind of fictitious rule-book, that all the lineups are following now. Apparently, there's been enough swell that pretty much everyone is surfed out. Who are we kidding---surfing is the most selfish sport in the world. Like kayak fishing, it's an addiction as much as it is a sport. More of an addiction, though. I mean seriously, sharing waves? Taking turns? Come on!

Let me digress a bit: Somehow, someway, I missed out on the best Winter in the last decade a few years ago. Being a surfer on the West Coast and missing out on an El Nino Winter is an unthinkable act. For many reasons, mind you. The biggest being that you have literally years to plan for it. With that ample preparation time comes the anxious nerves associated with it. Time to get your quiver dialed in and make sure your fitness level is in tippy-top-shape. Alas, with a new quiver of short boards to guns that Winter---I was sick as a dog for two months straight. This, after not being sick in five years! The timing was unthinkable; I was disgusted by the uncanny series of events that fell into place---one misfortune after another. Thoughts began to swirl in between bouts of fever and endless congestion: "who in the hell keeps putting needles in my Voodoo doll?!?" I don't need to tell you, I'm sure it's a unanimous vote---having the flu sucks. It sucks whether you prefer to surf or fish, but I kid you not, the surf was pumping the entire time while I patiently waited my illness to run it's course. I watched in horror for weeks on end. Double-overhead surf coupled with light winds on most days brought me to the breaking point. Those weeks grew into months and before I knew it I was on the verge of a full blown depression. And by the time I was healthy enough to paddle out, Murphy's Law reared her ugly head. That's right, you guessed it---pretty much flat as a pancake from there on out. Welcome to my life.

Being kayak fisherman, whether you're an old-salt or relatively new to the sport you've probably noticed something: It's quite the challenge getting a solid read on mother Ocean. It's a never ending puzzle with many many pieces. As soon as you think you've got it figured out she throws you a curve ball. And if you surf, you'll quickly learn to take advantage of every opportunity you can. As the saying goes, "when there's surf---surf!" But what do you do when the surf is absolutely firing; and you like to fish, too? Decisions decisions. Being that 99.9% of the members on this forum are men the answer's quite simple, really. I'm sure we all thought the same answer in unison like a well choreographed ballet. After all, by nature, men like to have their cake and eat it too.
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So why not do both? Yes, I have a dirty secret and might as well get it out now---I don't always fish from kayaks.

Deep color...seconds before this gentlemen loses his La Jolla Yellowtail virginity.

A couple more circles as the pressure mounts...

And bam! A bloody mess ensues. Notice the exhausted angler sit down from utter fatigue?

Then he quickly realizes you only break your Hymen once. After all, this is a moment that should be cherished no matter how bad it hurts!

While watching your friend get lucky is cool, it's not as cool as getting a happy finish of your own, too. One bit of advice: if you happen to run out and pick up a skiff I'd suggest running the same sonar that you run on your kayak. Just swap the face from vessel to vessel as you see fit. This will allow you to only have to master one unit. And learning to "master", not kind of figure out what you're looking at, should be the goal. If you learn to master that unit your results should run parallel no matter the vessel. If you have Humminbird Piranha Max 12, or similar, disregard this bit of advice entirely, though.

It wasn't until I received the photos that I realized we didn't zip up the board-bag. And apparently my favorite short board was melting in the sun the whole time. By this part of the trip my wetsuit in the bow was full of blood. While I don't typically fret about Great White Sharks while surfing the La Jolla reefs and points along Sunset Cliffs (even though we all know Jaws live here year round)---surfing in a blood soaked wetsuit is just plain stupid ! Like I've always said: "I'm not that smart; just smarter than fish."

Now, I wouldn't suggest filling the boat's gas tank and driving down from Oceanside or Dana Point after reading this. While these fish were caught after my last fish I posted, I didn't catch them yesterday. If you've ever read a report of mine, you'll realize that a major storm has swept the slate clean. So status quote in regards to timing. In essence, the water has rolled and the clock has been wound back to zero. So don't expect to come on down to La Jolla and fill the, um, boat. Or kayak for that matter.

Being the fishing reports section, though, I will give you some hot of the press, dope. With the current going uphill from the recent South winds and green conditions in La Jolla, we decided a trip down South might be in order. We headed towards Coronado with the Islands in clear view. And yesterday we knocked 'em dead. All the action was square off the bottom; with sporadic clusters of heavy action. There was times of utter and complete nothingness, but when you found them---you found them. It was a mid-afternoon bite, but then again we didn't get there early (so who knows?). We ended up with a bounty capable of feeding a small village. Afterwards we shared some cold beers while watching another ball drop over the Pacific Ocean. I'll post up the photos as soon as I receive them. I just hope some of the pictures turn out; as I did my best not to be the photo Nazi this time. Some of them are absolute Pigs!

I'm sure you'd agree that sometimes life sucks; Just not right now.

[mtnbykr2]

great write up, and even greater confession,
how does one get in on that...thank you for sharing...

[JPSURF]

Very nice Read!!! And second the Surf this Year!!

JP

[blitzburgh]

[NextBite]

You do charters for boats now

You still

[Regor]

Catch any more and your gonna take on water with all that weight leaning over the side

[dmrides]

Surf, kill fish, surf, repeat. Leaves me wondering only one thing
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Where was my phone call?

[RK]

Ladies and Gentlemen....







Mr. Ryan Bracker -------- the kingpin of LJ.





Look at the shit eating grin, Ive seen that look at at a large rock outcropping south of windansea before.

Legendary dude to put on a pig........Look at the stoke on his face sickkkk...

[Roon]

Darkhorse !
This was such an inspirational post I had to finally register to comment. Yes, I've been lurking trying to get a better understanding of this whole new world that's been hiding right underneath my nose. I'm so astonished at the amazing stories and reports and am getting close to posting one of my own.
I have always struggled with the Surf or Fish question and seems like every time I choose to fish the surf is firing and vise versa. I take a ton of crap from my surfer buddies that don't get fishing. It's nice to see others that are as passionate about both.

[ashmoz]

Holllllllllly YT orgy!

[kayakhunter]

That was a good day for sure.

[GregAndrew]

I call BS without pics (of the surfing). Sure, you can put a quadraplegic on fish, but can you ride the tube (not in your yak)?

[bigbarrels]

those are some fatties Nice looking skiff you have there. Good to hear you have been scoring some surf as well

[j mo]

Nothing beats an amphibious assault...

Sometimes, just sometimes I wish I would have stayed in La Jolla.

[THE DARKHORSE]

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

I call BS without pics (of the surfing). Sure, you can put a quadraplegic on fish, but can you ride the tube (not in your yak)?

Let this be the first and last time I ever say this to a man. Greg, if you show me yours' I'll show you mine.
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I'm still waiting on the pictures, gang. Sorry for the suspense. I'll put them up as soon as I receive them. Hopefully by tomorrow; Pigs I tell you, Pigs!

[GregAndrew]

lol, I don't know if they make a board long enough for my fat arse. But I did just watch a surfing movie last night, so how hard could it be? Right?

[THE DARKHORSE]

Thanks for your patience, guys. Like I said, we knocked 'em dead. I was starting to get worried the pictures might be lost. Have you ever had someone take trophy photos for you---and wait for what seems like an eternity? I suppose that's a good problem to have, but, well, It kind of sucks!

I'd hate to have guys calling if I didn't have photographic evidence. As previously mentioned, all the action was square off the bottom. Surprisingly enough, they didn't fight as hard as I would have expected. In a short while we had limits for four anglers. A feast fit for a king! Enough for the entire village to sink their teeth into. I could only get five in the photo, but we harvested forty pigs on this day.

There was a lot of blind stabbing around in the dark and then you'd feel a solid bump with the spike---actually, reminded me of high school in many ways. Crazy fun, though. Something I could really see all your significant-others getting into. If she likes going shopping at the mall, gossiping while texting and driving at the same time---she'll absolutely love fishing for these guys. Seriously!
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What? Were you expecting something else? Even Yellowtail get boring after a while. My next post will have an incredibly dead, White Sea Bass.

[driftwood]

Those are some BIG clams you got between your legs.

[steamroll]

Surf pics?

[RK]

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

But I did just watch a surfing movie last night

Greg please tell me it was either blue crush or the bethany hamilton movie.