Chula Vista 12/15

[Harry Hill]

Jeff Lowe and I decided to give Chula Vista another shot. We thought with the storm coming in it might put the fish on the bite. We were on the water by about 6:15. While paddling out of the harbor I saw one of the osprey flying by with what looked like a corvina in it's talons. That was the only corvina I saw. The spots were biting okay but mostly on the small side. I had two keeper sized for the day that were released. I also kept my sabiki in the water looking for bait and managed to get two jack smelt. I put a large one on a sliding sinker rig and started slow trolling for halibut cruising the shoreline of Coronado, then all the way across the bay to the Chula Vista side and back to the harbor getting back about noon. The second smelt I fly lined while I was slow trolling hoping a corvina would take it. I still haven't managed to catch a legal halibut or corvina, Jeff did good on the spotties though as they stayed active most of the morning. The bad news is when we got back to the launch and went to load my yak on the trailer it had a lot of water in it. It was very heavy and you could feel it sloshing when I lifted it. It was a good thing I had help because I wouldn't have gotten it loaded by myself. There was enough water that two hours later when I got home it was still draining onto the trailer, and I can't find a hole or crack. I'll put it back on the trailer and put some water in it to see if I can find the leak. It's funny how the morning started out pretty warm, then about 9 it got real cold for about an hour then warmed back up. The tide never turned into an issue, though I thought because of the king tide it would cause us problems. I'll keep looking for the secret to catching halibut but I think the secret is time on the water.