La Jolla 1-15-2021

[FISH11]

Finally made it out to LJ again on the Solo Skiff Yesterday. I was going to go Wednesday and Friday because Magic Seaweed had those as 2 days in the crazy surf forecast that were not too bad compared to the 4'-6' or more for many days in the last couple weeks. Then they updated the forecast on Tuesday night after I was all loaded up, so i decided to just go on Friday. Man it was a beautiful day and warm. Early in the morning there was a ton of life outside, birds, porpoises and Humpbacks. Went west of the pier to find bait and made 5 greenbacks then they were gone so I went west and back over the deep canyon looking for nice marks on the FF while making it back to the LJ point. Never did see any good marks and then even the birds and porpoises had left. Trolled a greenback and another line with a Colt Sniper at idle going 1.8-2.5 mph. Headed west from the launch and around 190'-200' deep, saw some marks and Humpback and then the line with the greenback out about 70+ yards and with a slider 4 oz slider weight on the braid , started screaming and peeling fast. I turned the Solo and put it in neutral. Started reeling in and it was pulling drag. Man I was getting exited and after a couple of minutes the line pops and I'm like WTF. When I got the line in I checked it out and saw that the end had a very small curl on the end and figured the 40lb fluorocarbon leader had broke at the knot to the ringed circle hook. That's when it hit me that I had gotten lazy and not re-tied the swivels or hooks in several weeks. The little rust that forms even with rinsing with fresh water had caused a weak spot that had cost me a nice Yellowtail. I re-tied the swivels and put a new hook on the leader. Pinned on another greenback and continued trolling a while later The same rod gets hit again but it's a much slower pull, so I quickly wind in the other line with the Colt Sniper. As I start winding in some line I see a very large swirl like mark on the surface and as the line get tight I see this juvenile Humpback breach and as I pull it makes a screech type of noise goes down and breaches again this time as i try to cut down the distance by putting the outboard in gear and accelerating closer, it dives and my line 65 lb braid breaks and I loose my 4 oz slider weight, swivels, circle hook and greenback. At least I got it on the GoPro cause the battery on it just died after the line breaks because I had forgotten it recording a couple times. Had over an hour of GoPro video but very little fishing video. Went around covering a lot of water and ended up by the South La Jolla reserve border and found more bait and even got and released a legal Calico on the sabiki. Over all it was a great day on the water and couldn't have asked for better weather. Were else can you fish out on the open ocean wearing just board shorts and a hoodie in January. Got to Love La Jolla. .