Birthday Trip 1/11/11

[Jimmyz123]

Well I learned a lot yesterday from the trip that I took for my birthday.
1) People are very cool. This guys comes up to me while I'm getting the Kayak off the roof of my SUV and hands me a Brand New COD drift sock and says, "I sold my Kayak and have no need for this, it's never been used." FREE! That was great.

2) My bait pump worked great and would have done well going off of La Jolla
3) I should have launched at La Jolla because it would have been a lot less paddling than I did yesterday.

All the lessons I learned from yesterday will make me a stronger Kayak fisherman in the future. I paddled almost 8.5 total miles yesterday paddling to the SD bay bait barge, then to the spot I wanted hit, with no love at all, then over to Zuniga Jetty for no love, then back down to North Island across from S.I. and then back to S.I. All I caught the entire day were two stinking lizard fish. There wasn't any water movement in the bay yesterday and that made for a very tough fishing day.

I mapped the route that I took yesterday for about 8.5 miles, and I mapped the possible route that I would have possibly taken out of La Jolla and I would have done about 2.5 miles or so of paddling, way less paddling and more fishing going to La Jolla. The sad thing about the bait that I bought yesterday was another omen telling me I should have gone to La Jolla, the scoop was full of Dines, Macs, and Greenbacks. Every scoop of bait was Saying to me, "You should have gone out of La Jolla." So I have learned from my lesson and will get everything dialed in on the Kayak so that I can start launching there now.

I should have listened to you all. The best part about the day though was that it was beautiful out there, the water was glassy, and I wasn't at work, oh and my wife through me a great party to go along with it.

The best thing about this day was I wanted to do this paddle and I stuck with it. I'm very proud that I did. I'm feeling it today however. =)
So I may not have caught a lot of fish but I did get to see all of this





It was a fun day for sure.

[mtnbykr2]

Happy B day
sounds better than working on your day...

[Jimmyz123]

Even though I could have done a lot more fishing had a changed my plan, I'm still pretty happy with sticking to the plan I set out on. It was a beautiful day out on the bay, I'll post up some photos later.

[blitzburgh]

Happy Birthday! Next time try launching at Spanish Landing or the small beach next to SI.

[Jimmyz123]

Thank you for the Birthday wishes. I did launched at the small beach at S.I. and paddled to the bait barge and then Zuniga Jetty and then back down to S.I. I was in search for Halibut however did not find any.

[Ndavissd]

A day on the water is always good, fish are the bonus round. I am looking for mb this Sunday hope to see a few spot ties

[Jimmyz123]

I hear MB is going off right now. Good luck man.

[Amish Ed]

Happy Birthday and thanks for the post and pics.

[Jimmyz123]

Thanks man.

[herefishyfishy!]

Happy birthday! That IS alot of paddling. Try using the RunKeeper app if you have an iPhone or droid. Keep your phone in a drybag and track your distance. It will give you time/mile, mph, distance, gps tracking, calories burned (probably not accurate since its paddling not running), then when done it will automatically save it to their server and you can track every trip online. I freedive from my kayak at Zuniga often and use the app to track every trip. If you launch from Lawrence street (the small beach across from Harbor Police) its 2.15 miles to Zuniga. Usually takes about 30 minutes depending on wind, tide, etc.

B-days on the water are the best!