LJ 10/30/16

[Aaron&Julie]

2nd trip to LJ this year. After missing nice weather on Tuesday's cancelled trip, blowing off Thurs and Sat because I didn’t like the predicted wind, I finally made it out today with the predicted small swell and milder wind. Slight chance of showers after 11AM did come to fruition at 2:15PM, sprinkles turned to full rain for about an hour. Water got bumpy, and I had to fight both an increased NW wind and current to the south by that time.

Managed a fairly dry launch, with just a little white water over the bow. It was nice out there all morning albeit overcast.

Can’t say the same about the fishing. Out of 35 or more trips to LJ this was the first one I didn’t catch any bait, none, zip. I even used both hot tickets, tipping the sabiki with squid strips, and using Friskies “Mariners Catch” for chum, which did the trick 2 months ago.
Soon as I cleared the MLPA area, I did nail two 1 pound bonito early on the sabiki, and thought about using them for bait for WSB or large yellows. Nixed that, expecting to find mackerel sooner or later, wishful thinking. In the past I've caught yellows on strip bonito, but passed on that too.

Saw some bird activity in the first hour and paddled towards it in the hopes of anything. Had the sabiki soaking below me, so I chucked the B/W Salas 6X Jr the same one I nailed a legal Calico on in the last trip. First cast a nice barracuda, about 30”. Was trying to decide whether to keep him knowing he’d probably be mush by the end of the day. Then he helped with my decision shaking the jig off alongside me. No biggie.

I had brought whole squid and shrimp this trip in the hopes of some bottom fish. I worked a 2 hook ganion most of the day around the lobster buoys hoping to find the right rock with no luck. Since I didn’t have live bait I was trolling a Storm plug, and a plastic lure at times, when I wasn’t fishing for bottom fish.

I’ll tell you without the presence of 6 football fields (at least) worth of kelp out there as in the past, the area has really dried up for fishing. I work hard every trip I go on, and like last trip it finally paid off.

I had ventured almost as far south as the MLPA boundry allows, although I did still see a couple of more commercial lobster buoys south of me before turning back to the launch, with a long, hard, wet paddle ahead of me. Trolling on the inside I finally got rocked on the 10” Storm. Did take some drag at first and gave me a good tussle, then I finally landed a worthwhile fish, a 3.5 pound Calico, my best ever off of LJ.

Hurray! Enough good meat to make 4-6 fish tacos. And ended another long day on a high note. I figured I paddled a good 10 miles or more during my 10 hours on the water. I’m sore, but content.

Here’s a cheesy tailgate photo of my Calico with a 2L bottle used for reference.


Here's the Storm plug I used to nail this fish. BTW, we picked these up at Walmart about 8 years ago, they also come in blue/white mackerel pattern. We once had a double hook up trolling both patterns on two big whites, unfortuntely Julie lost the bigger one when it came unbuttoned. Mine went 40lbs, her's probably 50+. What's good about these #1 they float, so if you stop paddling they won't sink down and cause a snag, #2 they dive deep, the faster you paddle the deeper they'll go, #3 they vibrate like hell, sure to get a fishes attention.

[Piranha]

Nice calico, Aaron! You earned it but it's probably great just being out there! After a long spell off the sea! You need to bring your good luck lady along next time!

[Aaron&Julie]

Thanks Jerry. She did Tidelands in San Diego Bay with me about a month ago, where we caught a couple of spotted bay bass on live smelt. She couldn't make this trip, but she wants to go on the next one.

[Phishphood]

Wtg Aaron. Sometimes it's just the best fun getting hit hard by a big calico on trolled Rapalas.

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[CorvinaLoca]

thanks for post. always nice to read your stories

[TJones]

But from what you just described, it sounds exactly like the scenerio of my last Lj trip during summer. I was hoping with the water temp dropping that things would start to return back to normal and that the forest would start to grow back, but it does not sound good. Thanks for report.

[Vikingj]

Nice report, as usual and good photo of bass. Thanks for the update.

[Aaron&Julie]

Originally Posted by TJones

But from what you just described, it sounds exactly like the scenerio of my last Lj trip during summer. I was hoping with the water temp dropping that things would start to return back to normal and that the forest would start to grow back, but it does not sound good. Thanks for report.

I'd say there's more kelp now than there was 2 months ago, but not much. Didn't really see any floating, but saw some just below the surface, which I didn't before. Also I could feel my sabiki going thru kelp more often. I'd say it's starting to come back with a long way to go. Fortuantely, kelp grows extremely fast, so with a chilly winter maybe we'll see a lot more by springtime.

[FISH11]

Nice Calico and catching your best ever at LJ makes it a worthy trip. Congrats

[Aaron&Julie]

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone.

Word of advice for the kayaker who flipped launching Sun morning, if you can't see a larger wave coming your way because of the dark, NEVER slow or stop you're paddling, even if it is going to curl right on top of you, if anything SPEED up while being perpendicular to that wave. You have to punch through it. I can't tell you how many times both Julie and I have had large waves curl right onto us in the dark and though sometimes we were soaked head to toe, we always punched through minus one occasion. On that one occasion, it was winter and we launched an hour before sunrise, the small waves were 3 footers, the large ones 4 footers, but their periods were spaced apart. It was the biggest surf we've ever launched in, and the other 1/2 dozen kayakers on the beach were waiting on sunrise, because of their size. But, Julie being the toughest kayaker I know was willing to try a launch. I barely made it out, but was completely soaked. Julie was not so lucky, one of those 4 footers hit her so hard even paddling hard and perpendicular wasn't enough. She got tossed sideways enough so that her 'yak turned on it's side and off she fell. Fortunately, we always keep everything strapped in and down, and she didn't lose anything. It was so dark that I hadn't even known she'd flipped. As I ventured back, just outside the launch, I saw her onshore regrouping, so I was like WTF! I watched as she launched again, and she made it out this time. After telling me about what happened we went to Scripps pier, made bait, and by the end of that day, she caught a 33lb white, her first, and I caught a 34lb yellowtail, rewarded for our perseverance. Karma can be funny.
Funny in that most of our most successful trips we'd been either thoroughly soaked or had some other dilemma to start our day. Getting soaked on launch even on smaller wave days has happened so often with us, we expect it and most of the time we don't look for "windows". We've waited for windows just to get soaked anyway, so what's the use. As soon as the sun comes up, you'll dry out.

I didn't see you flip Sun morning, I just saw 2 guys landing on the beach and a 3rd guy getting ready to launch, who helped you. I thought you might have been night fishing for whites. When that 3rd guy made it out to where I was prepping, he told me about your flip and how you may have lost gear. I guess that has to be my 3rd tip, ALWAYS strap in "all of your gear" on launching but especially landing. Even on winter days with 5 or 6 foot swells, it's probably best to keep things strapped, just in case your'e leaning the wrong way. We haven't flipped in many years on landings, though we had in our early years a couple of times each. Landing is much trickier, flipping a couple of times when your'e new is almost expected. Though we've made over 70 landings/launches between us, having everything strapped down during that process has saved us hundreds of dollars in lost gear on those rare occasions years ago that we did flip.

Sunday the waves were so small, I only had a little white water come over my bow to wet my feet and underside of my legs a little. I don't believe any kayaker, even a first timer should have flipped even on the biggest waves of that morning, if they'd only followed the advice of launching in the dark. If you can't see well in advance the waves coming at you, #1) ALWAYS BE PERPENDICULAR TO THE WAVES, #2) WHEN IN DOUBT ABOUT CLEARING A WAVE PADDLE YOUR ASS OFF INTO IT TO PUNCH THROUGH. In a daylight launch there are times you can see the large waves coming and stop or reverse your paddling to AVOID it curling on you. A wave curling on you is the worst. In the dark your'e not so lucky to have the time to stop or reverse your paddling.
I've had large waves turn me about 45 degrees, but I immediately went perpendicular and paddled hard for the next hit. I've had it happen where 3 waves in a row pushed me back and 45 degrees sideways, but because I righted myself right away, I was able to get past the large set eventually. I truly believe you couldn't have flipped if you'd followed this advice.
And of course I'm sure you'll remember #3) ALWAYS KEEP EVERYTHING STRAPPED IN/DOWN.

Sorry to hear about your flipping, I hope you didn't lose too many valuables.

And if I sound redundant in this post, I'm just trying to emphasize to anyone who has doubts about launching in the dark (or daylight) the importance of "how to launch" so as to not experience what you did. Better luck next time.

[Phishphood]

Some good words of wisdom right there

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[Aaron&Julie]

A la Yani-in fact years ago when Yani was a bass kingpin in the Dana Point area, his first recipes were of whole Calicos with their skin sliced open for herbs and lemon slices.

So today I filleted up my bass from Sunday after keeping it chilled and I tried something different tonight, not letting anything go to waste since it was such a large bass. The fillets are still destined for fish tacos. But I saved everything except the guts and the skin that was attatched to the fillets, and baked it all, the head, the rib meat, the collars and the backbone w/tail. Everything except for the backbone still had skin attached so I scaled those sections, then put slices into the skin for the seasoning to penetrate into the meat. I seasoned it all with Tony Chachere's salt-free seasoning and lemon pepper, then baked at 350 for about 40 minutes. I was really surprised at how much meat I was able to pull off each section as I removed the bones and skin. I'd say for any bass or rockfish 2 lbs or more it's worth doing this. It was all delicious. And for the 1st time in my life, I tried a cooked eyeball. I've seen so many TV shows, especially on Bizarre Foods, where it seems like they're salivating waiting to eat them. Well they can have them. While I found the taste not so bad, much like the meat itself, the texture or lack of it, was enough to put me off. I don't see the point in eating fishy snot, which is how I can best describe the substance. I hope your'e not eating now. Anyhow, the 2 photos show the baked results, and the bowl of meat I pulled off of those pieces, sorry that photo is rather blurry. When I was pulling the meat off of the head, which was quite a bit, it was surprising how easy the whole head came apart exposing many areas of good meat, all juicy and tasty. In fact, except for the topside of that backbone which came out a little dry (the underside wasn't) everything was cooked well and was moist.
After cooking:



After decimation:

[Deamon]

Very cool story and effort!

Jim