FISHING IS FUN.......

[THE DARKHORSE]

Fishing is fun, but pales in comparison to catching.



Staying on top of the Yellowtail pattern is easy fishing five days a week, but once a week is a different story. It pays to keep your eyes and ears open to maximize your time on the water. Monday afternoon my plan was to hit south La Jolla around Marine street, but I never made it that far. There was a solid 12mph wind with a tight interval swell, but beautiful warm water kept my interest. It was a good thirty minutes of peddling (that's 45 minutes of paddling for those of you ), before I dropped my first bait. It took all of two minutes before my lively greenback fulfilled his destiny. The fish did a straight run from deep water towards the kelp. I put a few more pounds of drag on and began to pop through deep kelp stringers. A couple minutes of grunting, and I have a Hamachi salad with blood orange vinaigrette on deck. The spectra did it's job, but my flouro leader was shot. While peddling back to the spot in deeper water I tied on another leader. I put another lively greenback on and let him run for his life. I kept my rod in hand and felt my terrified bait become more and more nervous, then a solid thump, and line is ripping through my fingers. I kept the heavy drag on this fish and released a healthy stoked Yellowtail in short order (same size fish). I peddled back to the spot in deeper water and sent my third bait out. I had to wait for almost a minute before I was slammed again. This fish nailed the bait so hard that he knocked it off the hook. Oh well, that's fishing. Another lonely summer afternoon on the pond, with two kayak anglers that showed up after the party, and one boat in the distance. The Yellowtail should be stoked that I can't fish till next week, but maybe someone can take my spot. Good luck!

[Shortbite]

Congrats!

[dorado50]

Nice one Josh!, hell I'm stoked you can't fish till next week, maybe I'll get a yellow that was meant for you!!!

[h2ofishfo]

GREAT JOB !! BUT YOUR CATCHING IS GETTING OLD

[TheSherThang]

Dang Josh, time to move back down to SD for me! What time was the bite?

[john p.]

It appears there is a pattern,( For you at least ) to be a p.m. bite or is that just your availability time to fish? Anyway good job and kudos on releasing the excess

[THE DARKHORSE]

Originally Posted by john p.

It appears there is a pattern,( For you at least ) to be a p.m. bite or is that just your availability time to fish? Anyway good job and kudos on releasing the excess

Hey John, honestyly I've had my alarm set for 4:30a.m. for the few days that I fished, with intentions to fish all day (from grey light to grey light to find the pattern). Each time I just couldn't do it, and sweet talked myself back to sleep. I usually wake up around 7:00 a.m., annoyed at myself for not getting up, relegated to coffee and the launch cam. If I miss the early grey light hours I simply wait till all the boats are off the water (around 4:00p.m.). I really think a big part of my summer success is simply avoiding boat traffic. Finding a productive area that hasn't been disturbed in a while, and letting the stealth of the kayak do most of the work.

[bajadog]

ditto on the released YT

[glenniesan]

Nice work dude - that's some fine right there! I'm envious for sure. Kudos on the release as well but what I dig most about your style is the thought that goes into finding the pattern(s) - I only wish I had the ability to be OTW to do similar. Meanwhile I shall live vicariously through your sessions! Keep it coming!

[lamb]

Nice fish Josh!

[esdees]

Are you sure you can survive without fishing for that long? Thanks for the report.

[forefrazier]

Those Hobie 'yak's seem to cover some ground...I would love to give one a test "peddle". Being a bigger guy 6'-5", 240 I was directed toward the X-Factor.

Nice work on the Yellow! Still waiting for my first from the 'yak.

[ratdog]

Amazing! You not the fish!

[herefishyfishy!]

Dude Josh nice fishy. Darkhorse my a$$, you are the freaking Fishwhisperer!

[THE DARKHORSE]

Originally Posted by forefrazier

Those Hobie 'yak's seem to cover some ground...I would love to give one a test "peddle". Being a bigger guy 6'-5", 240 I was directed toward the X-Factor.

Nice work on the Yellow! Still waiting for my first from the 'yak.

The X-FACTOR will serve you well. It will give you an excellent platform to land many big fish (so would a Hobie Outback ). Enjoy it now, and perfect your game. When your not used to pulling on giant fast fish while seated, and throwing irons (tend to throw you off balance) a learning curve is inevitable (even if your an expert from the deck of a sportie).

I'm sure the Hobie people wouldn't want me to say this, but I think the Hobie crafts are meant for a more advanced angler. Nothing against you, my comment is really directed towards Hobie owners. I tend to see Hobie anglers zipping all over the place like they are trolling for Albacore (with their greenback skipping across the surface). Almost never stopping in a "fish looking area" to soak a bait. I have a different tactic, that goes against the mentality of most every kayak angler. I fish where I fish, and travel when I travel (not dragging bait, especially when the jetsom flotsom is abundent). I would rather spend 30 minutes in the right spot, than dragging a tired bait for miles. I find the lack of effort needed with the Mirage Drive system refreshing (coming from an x-factor myself) and the ability to go fast (when I need it) my secret weapon. How many times I barely missed frothing schools of Yellowtail, that sunk out just as I made it on the scene comes to mind (not anymore ).

[blackcloud9]

Josh, congrats on the yellows!

The sporties are fishing out front here @ Big Rock straight out and to the south a bit, 10-15 minute pedal, launch conditions are cake. Bait can be an issue to find here though.

I've been catching a few halibut, calicos and sargo from the beach during sunsets this week and last, in weedy rising tide conditions.

I really need to roll out the yak this weekend ...