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.