First problem........parking-area/beach-closure......next, fish-finder fail......and then……………......

[iethinker]

......it turned out to be a good day......yay!

This is a kayak fishing report from 11/07/2015 at La Jolla.

Executive Summary
1. Del Mar dog beach partially closed due to construction
2. Lots of fish caught on the bottom but most kinda dinky
3. Rockfish, Sheephead and mystery fish
4. Saw a PB pull a YT on a jig by a lobster-pot.
5. Red Tuna Crabs are swimming through the area.
6. Need advice on FF maintenance, vent-tool and species IDs

Events

I set out to target Rockfish at Del Mar but unfortunately my parking area was closed. Also, four large construction project dozers/diggers were on the beach. Sand was piled 25-feet high and yellow do-not-enter-tape was across the path. It seems Dog Beach is undergoing some type of massive re-construction. Does anyone know what this is or when it will end?

Given the Del Mar situation, I drove to La Jolla and launched there. After passing the relatively calm surf-zone I set-up my fish finder. I could not however get it to turn on. It would blink the screen sometimes when I was holding the power button. I have struggled with corrosion in the connector and can no longer get it to work even by bending the pins. Hopefully someone can provide good advice regarding how to repair this economically. The unit has been in service for two years.

With no GPS and no Sonar, I debated re-rigging. It was going to be tough fishing the bottom without these tools. Well, I decided to just go and try and I'm glad that I did. The result was a day with as many fish caught as any other great fishing day that I have had.

One type of fish that routinely hit my various bottom rigs (droppers) are unknown to me and they do not appear to be from the Rockfish family. Also, I am not an expert on Rockfish and this was really my first effort to target them. Any help on the IDs for these would be helpful. I do recognize the female Sheepheads that I managed to catch. The photos below are samples of what I caught.

Mystery Fish

Species ID please - These were a dime-a-dozen during the first part of my session. And, I guarantee I caught over a dozen of them:


This one was a bit bigger:


Rockfish

Dink Rockfish variety #1:



Rockfish variety #2:



Rockfish double: Yeah these two were about 13-inches and came-up together. Two best models of the session all at once!



Rockfish variety #3: Treefish...allright I know this one!



Treefish use red lipstick:



Dink model from Rockfish variety #4:


I noticed that several of the Rockfish had to be nursed for a while upon release until they swam back down. Their bladders were sometimes displaced as well. Should these fish be vented before releasing? What's the best tool for this if so.

Sheephead

Sheephead: Yes this one did bite me! Those hillbilly teeth hurt!



This Sheephead was bigger so no more fingers in the mouth.


Note that I saw several Red Truna Crabs swimming around. It seemed the birds were grabbing them up. I also saw one power boater pull a Yellowtail on a jig near a lobster pot. He held it up real high for everyone to see as he deserved to!

HMMM...I wonder what people in other states do in November?

Shot of La Jolla on the way out. I'm glad I went:


All fish were returned to the ocean. So, I'm ordering pizza!

Enjoy,
Matt