Report for all of you that turned around at the launch today!

[Handymansd]

"Wind variable less than 10 kt...becoming NW 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less. Swell W 3 to 5 ft at 10 seconds." Ya right... more like 5 to 7ft with occasional sets to 10+ft at around 9 seconds.

"Launched" early 4am... and a waay outside pair of waves flipped me end over end, after I thought I had cleared the surf zone. Glad i was wearing PFD, the set was easily 8-10ft! I have never had that happen before. Climbed back aboard with nothing amiss but my dignity, and soggily headed to the pier, with a pile of leashed goods in my lap and just happy that no one caught that on tape!
Bad idea to go to the pier... as the swell was crashing at the tip of the peir every 90 seconds or so. So, off to the kelp... solid 10-15 ft of Spanish mac/sardine mix everywhere. loaded up and trolled inside, outside, upside, and downside, for nada. Obviously there is still alot of bait around. Had one run at around 120' on the NW corner on fly-lined Spanish but I quickly 'd it. Probably the T-man with the way the bait was behaving.

Landed in substantially smaller surf, though there are still a few good sized sets if your not careful. I had to just sit and watch the tourists land for a few minutes, that's some funny shit! Beautiful warm day on the water... surprisingly good vis for all the surf.

Even with a miserable launch and no fish love it sure beats being in some office... or worse.

[dsafety]

Thanks for the report. It is supposed to be worse on Thursday. I was planning to go but maybe it would be better to sleep in. According to the forecasts, lake La Jolla is supposed to return next week.

Bob

[flydigital]

Originally Posted by Handymansd

"Wind variable less than 10 kt...becoming NW 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less. Swell W 3 to 5 ft at 10 seconds." Ya right... more like 5 to 7ft with occasional sets to 10+ft at around 9 seconds.

"Launched" early 4am... and a waay outside pair of waves flipped me end over end, after I thought I had cleared the surf zone. Glad i was wearing PFD, the set was easily 8-10ft! I have never had that happen before. Climbed back aboard with nothing amiss but my dignity, and soggily headed to the pier, with a pile of leashed goods in my lap and just happy that no one caught that on tape!
Bad idea to go to the pier... as the swell was crashing at the tip of the peir every 90 seconds or so. So, off to the kelp... solid 10-15 ft of Spanish mac/sardine mix everywhere. loaded up and trolled inside, outside, upside, and downside, for nada. Obviously there is still alot of bait around. Had one run at around 120' on the NW corner on fly-lined Spanish but I quickly 'd it. Probably the T-man with the way the bait was behaving.

Landed in substantially smaller surf, though there are still a few good sized sets if your not careful. I had to just sit and watch the tourists land for a few minutes, that's some funny shit! Beautiful warm day on the water... surprisingly good vis for all the surf.

Even with a miserable launch and no fish love it sure beats being in some office... or worse.

Thanks for the report... I'm heading down tomorrow with a few buddies, we may turn around or fish MB if its too wicked.

Note the period. There is some big 5-6 second interval west swell, the 10 second stuff isn't as bad. Lower than 10 though and the canyons don't funnel the wave energy away from the shores. It may be actually smaller tomorrow even though there is a bit of building W at 10 sec. At least this is how I've noticed things go there, its really unpredictable though.

Also remember SWELL height is usually always less than actual wave height. The waves around here tend to jack up to about 1.5 times the swell height when they hit the bottom. So 7-8ft waves from 5ft swell sounds about right, given the period.

If anyone else decides to brave it, see you out there.

[frugalfisher]

I remember a few years ago when I had a garage sale on the beach with all my gear. I tried three times to make it out and finally made it with your help.
Thanks,
James

[FISHIONADO]

Originally Posted by frugalfisher

I remember a few years ago when I had a garage sale on the beach with all my gear. I tried three times to make it out and finally made it with your help.
Thanks,
James

Thanks for the report Chuck. James, I think that was me that saw you getting tossed in the spin cycle several times. I was so impressed that you would not give up, really hoped you would be rewarded with an epic catch that day.

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by Handymansd

"Wind variable less than 10 kt...becoming NW 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less. Swell W 3 to 5 ft at 10 seconds." Ya right... more like 5 to 7ft with occasional sets to 10+ft at around 9 seconds.

"Launched" early 4am... and a waay outside pair of waves flipped me end over end, after I thought I had cleared the surf zone. Glad i was wearing PFD, the set was easily 8-10ft! I have never had that happen before. Climbed back aboard with nothing amiss but my dignity, and soggily headed to the pier, with a pile of leashed goods in my lap and just happy that no one caught that on tape!
Bad idea to go to the pier... as the swell was crashing at the tip of the peir every 90 seconds or so. So, off to the kelp... solid 10-15 ft of Spanish mac/sardine mix everywhere. loaded up and trolled inside, outside, upside, and downside, for nada. Obviously there is still alot of bait around. Had one run at around 120' on the NW corner on fly-lined Spanish but I quickly 'd it. Probably the T-man with the way the bait was behaving.

Landed in substantially smaller surf, though there are still a few good sized sets if your not careful. I had to just sit and watch the tourists land for a few minutes, that's some funny shit! Beautiful warm day on the water... surprisingly good vis for all the surf.

Even with a miserable launch and no fish love it sure beats being in some office... or worse.

I know the feeling of thinking you're in the clear just to have some wicked wave sprawl out of nowhere.

This is from my last LJ trip

1,2,3....jump in and . I get through the white wash from the large breakers and once I thought I was in the clear I started to take my time paddling until I saw a HUGE wave building about 50' ahead of me.....I don't know why but I stopped paddling for a few seconds then told myself, "WTF are you doing...PADDLE YOU IDIOT! The wave was so large that when I was about to clear the crest of the wave my yak was sitting in about a 45degree angle and when I came down the bow slammed into the water. It took me at least 5-10 minutes to gather my senses, had I waited two more breathes I would have been picking my sh*t up from the waters edge.

[Handymansd]

Hey James, I have helped clean up a few yard sales over time but I think it must have been Dave that day. I do remember helping you on your relentless pursuit of the almighty T though.... Are you still in that giant yellow Prowler?

Dave, I have your sunset at the pier photo blown up to a 24x36 framed and matted on my office wall! Thanks

[fishinfreak]

NOAA forecasts always seem to make the swell less than it truly is. on monday NOAA said swell like 3-5 feet, but when i was surfing blacks monday morning it was well overhead with sets to 10 foot. (i was happy about this though, because it translated into a couple of really nice barrels for me!) i guess the only way to truly know the surf is to go look at it yourself!

[Iceman]

There are some signs that reason may win the day though, or more to the point litigation. The fear that someone will sue a forecaster for calling a 10 foot wave 5 foot has prompted the National Weather Service in Honolulu and much of the Hawaiian media to start using face size in their reports.

Right beach would have 10 foot face sets with 3-5 foot swell

I'll take long period big surf over short interval thump any day!

[-scallywag-]

WOW !!!!.

10ft barrels at the launch?

Pretty hardcore!!

[Dan]

Originally Posted by -scallywag-

WOW !!!!.

10ft barrels at the launch?

Pretty hardcore!!

eddie would go

[Regor]

Originally Posted by fishinfreak

,,,, but when i was surfing blacks monday morning it was well overhead with sets to 10 foot.

Originally Posted by -scallywag-

WOW !!!!
10ft barrels at the launch?Pretty hardcore!!

Note ... 10' at Blacks, not LJ Cove, it is more protected at the launch.

[DESTROYER]

Nice! I got down there and decided that I wanted nothing to do with the waves so I had breakfast at Harry's.

Thank you so much for the extender. I owe you a beer or 2

[Aaron&Julie]

Originally Posted by Handymansd

"Wind variable less than 10 kt...becoming NW 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less. Swell W 3 to 5 ft at 10 seconds." Ya right... more like 5 to 7ft with occasional sets to 10+ft at around 9 seconds.

"Launched" early 4am... and a waay outside pair of waves flipped me end over end, after I thought I had cleared the surf zone. Glad i was wearing PFD, the set was easily 8-10ft! I have never had that happen before. Climbed back aboard with nothing amiss but my dignity, and soggily headed to the pier, with a pile of leashed goods in my lap and just happy that no one caught that on tape!

Regor, note Handymansd's original post. He was referring to the launch area.

[flydigital]

FWIW fished LJ today about a 5:45am launch... the waves weren't that bad... 2-3 occasional 4-5 whammy set every 20 minutes or so. It was a bit smaller on the way in around 1. Was measuring 6-7 foot swell pretty much straight out of the west via the sonar 8-10 seconds on the period.

I got a 4 footer to the face on the way out, always fun. Landing was uneventful.

[cabojohn]

.

[Handymansd]

Originally Posted by DESTROYER

Nice! I got down there and decided that I wanted nothing to do with the waves so I had breakfast at Harry's.

Thank you so much for the extender. I owe you a beer or 2

No Problem Matt, hope you get more use than I did out of it! Harry's has got nothing on 6 gallons of sea water down your throat at 500 fps for breakfast... next time I will be a bit more stringent on my surf judgement and join you!

[DESTROYER]

Far too many good days in SD to battle the bad ones

[blackcloud9]

fyi ... the forecast for Saturday is bleak for a launch at Shores, but great for going surfing.

My prediction is for TPO buoy to show readings of 7' at about 8 seconds, for a launch rating of "Extremely Treacherous".

You just may see some 6-8 footers at the launch, perfect for rent-a-kayak fleet entertainment.

Sunday may be much the same, we'll see. Great fishing weather predicted though.
http://www.larryl.com/favorite_kayak_conditions.htm

[Reel Anxious]

Originally Posted by blackcloud9

fyi ... the forecast for Saturday is bleak for a launch at Shores, but great for going surfing.

My prediction is for TPO buoy to show readings of 7' at about 8 seconds, for a launch rating of "Extremely Treacherous".

You just may see some 6-8 footers at the launch, perfect for rent-a-kayak fleet entertainment.

Sunday may be much the same, we'll see. Great fishing weather predicted though.
http://www.larryl.com/favorite_kayak_conditions.htm

This is really helpful Larry, Thanks