La Jolla Manday - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Fiskadoro · 03-18-2009, 02:46 PM

la Jolla Seabass Fishing
Short version: Went down to La Jolla Monday, fished sunup to sundown, saw some good fish, hooked two landed zero. Kind of snakebit all day but I still had a great time.

After my last trip at La Jolla I was pretty excited about getting down there again. I rigged up my yak, and put new fluoro topshots on the rigs and then it all sat for several days. Finally Monday I decided I could make it down and I packed up the truck abut 2:00 Am.

I don't know about you guys but I can get to the point of where I over think things. Usually on the way down I think about everything I have put in the truck and what I'm going to do that day. Well maybe forty miles down I suddenly realized I had not loaded my center hatch for the Kayak. I pulled off the freeway and sure enough it was not there, so I turned around and headed back up and found the hatch on my work bench. Sometime while going through the gear I had in the center hold I put it there and just never noticed that I forgot to put it back on the yak, and in my hurry to get out the door I just missed it.

So now I was not only late, but now low on fuel as well so I went and got diesel and in the end made it to the beach at 6:30 Am.

So I was then in a hurry, loaded all the gear in the yak and when I locked up the truck I put the keys in my paddle jacket pocket and zipped it up. Usually I wear a dry top and put the keys in it's main pocket which is very secure but it got too fishy last week, when I stuck my yellows and some ice in it for the ride home. So I launch without incident, and a little while later at the squid grounds I decided to take off the jacket because I was getting hot. Well when I pulled off the jacket I heard something ping against the yak then plink into the water.

I look over and there are my keys three feet down and going another 138 feet.

Ouch.. not pretty.

Turns out the pocket zipper had snagged and not fully closed, and in my hast to get out I missed it.

So now I'm locked out of the truck as well as my studio, if and when I figured out how to get back, man I was humped.

I thought about just heading in but what can I say? I was there and it's not like going in early would make any difference anyway, so I decided to fish.

No squid for me on the usual spots, and no bait on the sabiki for the stops I did on marks.

I had some frozen squid so I just went and fished the kelp line with it for nothing. Another yakker came up and he said he had one bite about 3:00AM.... Man... That's just hard core. He then passed me the rest of his squid which was a better quality then my own, and headed in.

I drifted a few drifts then after a while I decided to do some sight fishing and worked through the kelp looking for signs of seabass. Beautiful clear day, but no signs of fish. After while I see Rick a guy I had never met but recognized on sight due to the pictures I'd seen of the 52 pound Yellow he'd caught a week or so before.

I head over to him and we shoot the shit, and then after a while Josh peddles up on his Hobie. He'd taken a fifty five seabass the day before so he told us all about that fish and we started talking about the fish in general and what might be coming in the weeks ahead. It's going to go off but the question is when.

It's funny in hind site but here you got three guys all of whom had supposedly caught quote "fish of the lifetime" in the last few weeks and we're just talking up a storm with no egos no BS, all very cool. It's great talking to guys that love the ocean and don't feel they have to pretend they own it.

Well eventually the conversation turns to going home and the topic of my keys comes up in relation to going in. I mean I was was stuck and I knew it.

Rick offers on the spot to arrange a AAA tow all the way back to LA. Just too Cool!!!, but by now I'm so fired up from talking about fishing I can't leave, and tell him I'll figure something out. (Rick if your reading this.. Thanks Man!!! I really appreciated the offer even if I did not take you up on it.)

So, Josh gives me some info as to where he caught his fish and they head in while I continue out.

I work up the line. and work some edges and some holes in the kelp. Maybe an hour later, and a mile more down the kelp the wind starts coming up and I pull deeper into the kelp. I found a spot that was holding some quality white fish.

Caught some bass:

Eventually I found a large open area with bait, a relatively clean bottom and some meter marks that looked like Seabass.

I got the vision of them doing the midnight express round the pole thing down at thirty feet so I tied off to the kelp put down some squid and waited for a while.

It looked good but nothing happened.

By now the wind was really blowing and outside it was solid whitecaps with a building broken swell.

The pics don't due it justice, pretty nasty and I did not want to paddle through it.

Well I had seen the forecast and figured it would last at least three hours. So all I could do was wait it out till dark, so I was stuck for the duration. I slid forward and put my feet up on the gator hatch, laid back my seat, and actually took a nap.

I kid you not.... I slept for maybe an hour or more (first time in the yak for me) and actually had a dream about chasing big seabass in the kelp.

Well my clicker woke me up with a good sustained run, but by the time I got it out of the holder it was there for only a second then gone.

I looked for more squid and all the good stuff was used up so I dropped a six inch Spanish down. I got nailed in short order. I'm not sure what it was but it felt huge. Ran about ten feet stopped and made some huge head shakes then ran about ten feet the other way and stopped again, massive head shake and he was off, just spit it.

So then I put down my other Spanish from the tank, a big one about seven inches long. This one get's nailed by a fish that just came up and inhaled it then sat there. I set the hook and after a few huge head shakes he takes off screaming drag towards the far side of the hole heading into some dense kelp.

I max out the drag and he's still going and just after he entered the kelp I put my thumb on the spool to really put on the brakes. Big mistake he snapped my forty like a rubber band and almost pulled me out of my yak in the process. Total f'n blunder I had the short top on 65 spectra I should of just followed it in.

So now I'm out of macks, and all I have is some rotten squid.

I'm still reading what looks like fish on the meter...

....and at one point I see a big silver shape down below though I could not make out what it was.

I break out the sabiki cut up some squid and get a little slick going to make bait. A mass of smelt comes in with a few Spanish here and there.

The meter get's pretty crowded, I'm telling you it just looked juicy.

I'm trying to get one of the Spanish when I see this big silver shape rise up charge the smelt and inhale one about a foot long right on top maybe seven feet away from the yak. Seabass no doubt, and I kid you not it looked six feet long and well over sixty. It made my forty eight look like a minnow, just huge. If I had to call it I'd say pushing seventy pounds or more.

Well after that the bait clears out and I'm left sitting there with a bunch of rotten squid. No bait and big fish right under me. Talk about frenzy and frustration.

I finally get a few smelts and I drop them down for nothing. Maybe thirty minutes later I get some more Spanish and put them down but it's a no go. Still metering the fish but they were not hungry. Bottom line three bites within maybe fifteen minutes all on the high tide. No telling for sure but I think they were the right kind.

Stayed until the wind died right before dark, and paddled in.

When I got back to the truck I got into the cab and then piece by piece loaded all my gear into the shell through the front window. I made a lock pick with a piece of stainless steel wire, and it only took about ten minutes to pic the ignition and steering wheel lock and get the truck started, and once I had it running I just drove straight home.

You know what they say... All is well that ends well.... LOL

It could of been a lot worse on a number of levels, and I certainly did enjoy my time on the water. Of course I did have to break into my studio when I got home but that is a whole other story..

So there you have it.

Jim

Dennis · 03-18-2009, 03:12 PM

Very cool report Jim. That's what I love about this sport... everyone is willing to help. Bummer about the keys and misses..
-D

GHOSTHUNTR · 03-18-2009, 03:16 PM

That is just a tough run of luck there. Hopefully next time everything goes right.

PB fisher · 03-18-2009, 06:58 PM

Yeah but u know it was worth it...

Fiskadoro · 03-18-2009, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PB fisher

Yeah but u know it was worth it...

F-yeah. It's not like I'm just doing it for my health

tthor · 03-19-2009, 07:08 AM

Great report. "I max out the drag and he's still going and just after he entered the kelp I put my thumb on the spool to really put on the brakes. Big mistake he snapped my forty like a rubber band and almost pulled me out of my yak in the process. Total f'n blunder I had the short top on 65 spectra I should of just followed it in." That is one of the great things about fishing, the fact we can second guess and beat our selves up when we lose a fish. I'm still thinking about my lost YT a few of weeks ago!

Tom

Sebastian · 03-19-2009, 08:11 AM

Great Report Jim, keep them coming. Sorry about the keys, but looks like you had it all under control!

Geoffkoop · 03-19-2009, 09:42 AM

What a great read to start out this fine morning in the office

. You'll get em next time.

roosta · 03-19-2009, 10:44 AM

Jim, your reports are always full of great information!
Thanks for keeping us updated and hope to see you on the water soon.
I fished Tuesday around the same area with no luck so I moved outside into about 220ft under hundreds of birds. There were tons of krill underneath them with pacific and spanish macks feeding on the krill. No decent fish though...
We'll get 'em next time!

03-18-2009, 02:46 PM	#1
Fiskadoro ....... Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,509	La Jolla Monday la Jolla Seabass Fishing Short version: Went down to La Jolla Monday, fished sunup to sundown, saw some good fish, hooked two landed zero. Kind of snakebit all day but I still had a great time. After my last trip at La Jolla I was pretty excited about getting down there again. I rigged up my yak, and put new fluoro topshots on the rigs and then it all sat for several days. Finally Monday I decided I could make it down and I packed up the truck abut 2:00 Am. I don't know about you guys but I can get to the point of where I over think things. Usually on the way down I think about everything I have put in the truck and what I'm going to do that day. Well maybe forty miles down I suddenly realized I had not loaded my center hatch for the Kayak. I pulled off the freeway and sure enough it was not there, so I turned around and headed back up and found the hatch on my work bench. Sometime while going through the gear I had in the center hold I put it there and just never noticed that I forgot to put it back on the yak, and in my hurry to get out the door I just missed it. So now I was not only late, but now low on fuel as well so I went and got diesel and in the end made it to the beach at 6:30 Am. So I was then in a hurry, loaded all the gear in the yak and when I locked up the truck I put the keys in my paddle jacket pocket and zipped it up. Usually I wear a dry top and put the keys in it's main pocket which is very secure but it got too fishy last week, when I stuck my yellows and some ice in it for the ride home. So I launch without incident, and a little while later at the squid grounds I decided to take off the jacket because I was getting hot. Well when I pulled off the jacket I heard something ping against the yak then plink into the water. I look over and there are my keys three feet down and going another 138 feet. Ouch.. not pretty. Turns out the pocket zipper had snagged and not fully closed, and in my hast to get out I missed it. So now I'm locked out of the truck as well as my studio, if and when I figured out how to get back, man I was humped. I thought about just heading in but what can I say? I was there and it's not like going in early would make any difference anyway, so I decided to fish. No squid for me on the usual spots, and no bait on the sabiki for the stops I did on marks. I had some frozen squid so I just went and fished the kelp line with it for nothing. Another yakker came up and he said he had one bite about 3:00AM.... Man... That's just hard core. He then passed me the rest of his squid which was a better quality then my own, and headed in. I drifted a few drifts then after a while I decided to do some sight fishing and worked through the kelp looking for signs of seabass. Beautiful clear day, but no signs of fish. After while I see Rick a guy I had never met but recognized on sight due to the pictures I'd seen of the 52 pound Yellow he'd caught a week or so before. I head over to him and we shoot the shit, and then after a while Josh peddles up on his Hobie. He'd taken a fifty five seabass the day before so he told us all about that fish and we started talking about the fish in general and what might be coming in the weeks ahead. It's going to go off but the question is when. It's funny in hind site but here you got three guys all of whom had supposedly caught quote "fish of the lifetime" in the last few weeks and we're just talking up a storm with no egos no BS, all very cool. It's great talking to guys that love the ocean and don't feel they have to pretend they own it. Well eventually the conversation turns to going home and the topic of my keys comes up in relation to going in. I mean I was was stuck and I knew it. Rick offers on the spot to arrange a AAA tow all the way back to LA. Just too Cool!!!, but by now I'm so fired up from talking about fishing I can't leave, and tell him I'll figure something out. (Rick if your reading this.. Thanks Man!!! I really appreciated the offer even if I did not take you up on it.) So, Josh gives me some info as to where he caught his fish and they head in while I continue out. I work up the line. and work some edges and some holes in the kelp. Maybe an hour later, and a mile more down the kelp the wind starts coming up and I pull deeper into the kelp. I found a spot that was holding some quality white fish. Caught some bass: Eventually I found a large open area with bait, a relatively clean bottom and some meter marks that looked like Seabass. I got the vision of them doing the midnight express round the pole thing down at thirty feet so I tied off to the kelp put down some squid and waited for a while. It looked good but nothing happened. By now the wind was really blowing and outside it was solid whitecaps with a building broken swell. The pics don't due it justice, pretty nasty and I did not want to paddle through it. Well I had seen the forecast and figured it would last at least three hours. So all I could do was wait it out till dark, so I was stuck for the duration. I slid forward and put my feet up on the gator hatch, laid back my seat, and actually took a nap. I kid you not.... I slept for maybe an hour or more (first time in the yak for me) and actually had a dream about chasing big seabass in the kelp. Well my clicker woke me up with a good sustained run, but by the time I got it out of the holder it was there for only a second then gone. I looked for more squid and all the good stuff was used up so I dropped a six inch Spanish down. I got nailed in short order. I'm not sure what it was but it felt huge. Ran about ten feet stopped and made some huge head shakes then ran about ten feet the other way and stopped again, massive head shake and he was off, just spit it. So then I put down my other Spanish from the tank, a big one about seven inches long. This one get's nailed by a fish that just came up and inhaled it then sat there. I set the hook and after a few huge head shakes he takes off screaming drag towards the far side of the hole heading into some dense kelp. I max out the drag and he's still going and just after he entered the kelp I put my thumb on the spool to really put on the brakes. Big mistake he snapped my forty like a rubber band and almost pulled me out of my yak in the process. Total f'n blunder I had the short top on 65 spectra I should of just followed it in. So now I'm out of macks, and all I have is some rotten squid. I'm still reading what looks like fish on the meter... ....and at one point I see a big silver shape down below though I could not make out what it was. I break out the sabiki cut up some squid and get a little slick going to make bait. A mass of smelt comes in with a few Spanish here and there. The meter get's pretty crowded, I'm telling you it just looked juicy. I'm trying to get one of the Spanish when I see this big silver shape rise up charge the smelt and inhale one about a foot long right on top maybe seven feet away from the yak. Seabass no doubt, and I kid you not it looked six feet long and well over sixty. It made my forty eight look like a minnow, just huge. If I had to call it I'd say pushing seventy pounds or more. Well after that the bait clears out and I'm left sitting there with a bunch of rotten squid. No bait and big fish right under me. Talk about frenzy and frustration. I finally get a few smelts and I drop them down for nothing. Maybe thirty minutes later I get some more Spanish and put them down but it's a no go. Still metering the fish but they were not hungry. Bottom line three bites within maybe fifteen minutes all on the high tide. No telling for sure but I think they were the right kind. Stayed until the wind died right before dark, and paddled in. When I got back to the truck I got into the cab and then piece by piece loaded all my gear into the shell through the front window. I made a lock pick with a piece of stainless steel wire, and it only took about ten minutes to pic the ignition and steering wheel lock and get the truck started, and once I had it running I just drove straight home. You know what they say... All is well that ends well.... LOL It could of been a lot worse on a number of levels, and I certainly did enjoy my time on the water. Of course I did have to break into my studio when I got home but that is a whole other story.. So there you have it. Jim Last edited by Fiskadoro; 03-18-2009 at 07:42 PM.

03-18-2009, 03:12 PM	#2
Dennis Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: South of La Jolla... Posts: 1,193	Very cool report Jim. That's what I love about this sport... everyone is willing to help. Bummer about the keys and misses.. -D __________________ Hmmmm.....

03-19-2009, 09:42 AM	#8
Geoffkoop Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: So. Orange County Posts: 302	What a great read to start out this fine morning in the office. You'll get em next time.

03-18-2009, 03:16 PM	#3
GHOSTHUNTR Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Poway Posts: 160	That is just a tough run of luck there. Hopefully next time everything goes right.

03-18-2009, 06:58 PM	#4
PB fisher feeesh Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Carlsbad Posts: 61	Yeah but u know it was worth it...

03-19-2009, 07:08 AM	#6
tthor Junior Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 21	Great report. "I max out the drag and he's still going and just after he entered the kelp I put my thumb on the spool to really put on the brakes. Big mistake he snapped my forty like a rubber band and almost pulled me out of my yak in the process. Total f'n blunder I had the short top on 65 spectra I should of just followed it in." That is one of the great things about fishing, the fact we can second guess and beat our selves up when we lose a fish. I'm still thinking about my lost YT a few of weeks ago! Tom

03-19-2009, 08:11 AM	#7
Sebastian Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Carlsbad Posts: 35	Great Report Jim, keep them coming. Sorry about the keys, but looks like you had it all under control!

03-19-2009, 10:44 AM	#9
roosta Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 68	Jim, your reports are always full of great information! Thanks for keeping us updated and hope to see you on the water soon. I fished Tuesday around the same area with no luck so I moved outside into about 220ft under hundreds of birds. There were tons of krill underneath them with pacific and spanish macks feeding on the krill. No decent fish though... We'll get 'em next time!