Went to La Jolla on Saturday to fish for Calico bass--haven't been there since 10/2020. It was shocking how barren it looked and fished. I know the kelp has taken some hits all along the coast but this was terrible. It used to be so thick at the point you could never get through it in a Hobie with the drive down. Saturday there were just a few half-dead looking stringers and even those were hard to find. It wasn't a matter of the current pushing the kelp down--there wasn't that much current and no kelp on the sonar.
The signs that used to give you hope that something was about to happen like bait boiling, birds working the area, smelt skipping through the kelp getting chased by something none of it was there. Whine, Whine, Whine--I know it was only one day but it was depressing to see La Jolla looking so lifeless.