Looking outside the box.....

[THE DARKHORSE]

After my last couple of dismal trips fishing La Jolla I've been poking my nose around some of my old stomping grounds. Last week I may have taken my last inshore/offshore trip of the season as the dropping water temps of late have taken the wind out of my sails, literally. Last week during the hot, flat, calm conditions I made a trip outside the 9 mile bank. After reaching my zone 18 miles out on a west southwest track I came across a beautiful paddy, and a stacked meter a hunderd yards up-current. After not seeing any porps schools all day this was a welcomed sight to say the least (even though all reports on local paddies have been dry except a couple random rat-Yellowtail). Right as I'm about to toss a couple of Sardines out and drop my flyline in the water, I see a few live squid shoot across my bow beneath me, then a lone stragler swim a few feet below the kayak to take a look at me. They were about 15' below, but easy to identify in the clear water, beautiful. This trip was full of healthy Bonita, Blue Sharks, and Mako's to round out the flouro-leader ruining fun . Every trip so far has had the aid of afternoon wind at my back, but not this time. I found myself still 13 miles from Point Loma, in greasy flat calm conditions, and less than two hours till dark. This wasn't the best scenario, but I felt pretty confident with my extra lights, new "helicopter mango" colored Revo, matching PFD, and internal GPS floating marine radio with position transmitting distress beacon I picked up a couple of months back.

I fished La Jolla for two greylight to greylight sessions last week for every species, but my target Of Yellowtail. No shortage of bait, that didn't seem to have a care in the world. I couldn't help but think all the Yellowtail have their minds elsewhere, squid. I checked all the deep water squid spots I know, but never found the right signs.

This week when asked about the la jolla fishing conditions, I replied "I'd love to go fishing, but La Jolla is the last place on my mind". The game plan changed to some old stomping grounds, fish a couple of different spots for Yellowtail in the morning, and hunt for some Halibut around lunch time. While my fishing partner and I were wheeling our kayaks to the beach, a surfer asked me "why do you have such big gear"? I replied "because I catch big fish". We made easy bait that consisted of giant horse sardines 9"-11", yes Sardines, and mini-greenies as the sun started to rise. I told my partner to flyline out his first bait and start fishing as we were sitting in the zone of the morning. Thank goodness I didn't take the surfers advice and fish with the bass rod, as my 11" Sardine is slammed while my rod is in my hand.

I'm stoked it's a big fish, but pretty sure it's not my target species.

Even under a heavy load the 80 lb rated rod doesn't bend much.

While the ferocious first strike got my attention, instantly spinning my kayak, and taking me on a sleigh ride, I wasn't too excited. After the first ripping run and popping through a couple of kelp stringers I put the breaks on this fish, as the head shakes were there, but no coveted tail-beets. I started to think about the spotted variety, and after a couple of minutes I'm giving a good morning hug.

The other wrong kind spotted variety, not the Halibut impersonating Leopard Shark.

My partner and I spent the next couple of hours fishing the kelp corners, and donating baits to Bonita. After an early lunch we moved to the Halibut grounds, and were surprised by the visibility as we could see our baits on the bottom. After an hour of sight fishing for Halibut (watching our baits below) I had my first follower, a Halibut that looked just around keeper size, and marked the spot on my GPS (a clue). A couple of minutes later I called over my partner, as I watched a larger definate keeper pounce on my bait then let go, mark #2 on the GPS. Finding the zone is the challenging part, and I knew putting food on the table wouldn't take too long.

Seared Halibut, served over a bed of roasted garlic and fresh herb enhanced rice, drizzled with a burre blanc, paired with one of my favorite bottles of Chardonnay, yummy!

After Halibut number one was clipped, my partner and I were pretty buisy GPS'ing strikes, watching agressive smaller models chase our baits in the clear water, and releasing a few others to get bigger. Before it was time to go I caught another Halibut that was around the same size and made sure my partner could provide a delicious meal for his family too. It's hard to imagine something more enjoyable than spending some quality time on the water, can't wait till next week.