La Jolla: 4/26 (7-11 Seal Mascot?) - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

5-20 · 04-27-2015, 09:17 AM

Yesterday was probably the coolest day I've spent out on the yak.

I reached the launch around 6am only to see some orange cones blocking access to the beach and a "special event" sign saying "no kayak launching". I looked around and the beach was pretty deserted and I wondered why I didn't see anything about that on this site. I was a bit upset but then noticed that the closure was only for 8am-10:30. Really don't know why those guys tried to block the road with those orange cones a couple hours before 8am - a bit misleading.

But anyway, while waiting for Charlie to show up, I had a good 20-30 mins to kill and spent most of that time watching the swell. Boy, I thought it was gonna be really tricky launching. It was a short period swell, and not only that, it was one of those times when there would be a lull in the waves and then a series of 2'-3' waves would pretty much pop out of nowhere.

I actually started thinking about how maybe it was just meant to be one of those days to just fish for halis in the bay...

But then Charlie showed up, no misgivings on his part and we were ready to go in about 10 mins.

Well, I was pretty impressed with him. He got out into the surf pretty much immediately without any real hesitation. And sure enough, oh boy... just as he was gonna make it out of the break zone, a big wave came up looking like it was gonna break on him and I couldn't help but watch with a bit of rapt fascination, wondering if he was gonna flip. But nah, he made it through with just a second to spare, probably and jumped that wave!

So, it was my turn... and I wasn't feeling entirely confident, just because I had a feeling I'd have to fight my way through those waves too. I waited a bit for a lull and then decided to just go for it and started paddling furiously. But yeah, thanks to the incoming tide, it felt like I was stuck in glue and then sure enough, I got caught in a set of those waves that popped out of nowhere, and boy, there was nothing I could really do but fight my way through that set. Gotta say my XFactor did a really great job of doing that, and somehow I made it out of that set.

There was a dude who showed up with a PA right before we launched. At the end of the day we commented about how we never saw that guy out on the water. I think watching us paddle out was enough for that guy, maybe.

When we were working on making bait, right by the condo on the point, we saw a huge whale breach right by the kelp line. That was really cool. Around 20-30 mins later, we saw one or two more smaller whales breach again. Pretty awesome start to the day.

We trolled greenbacks close to the kelp line up to the NW corner without any luck. Charlie wanted to go hit a rockpile and when he paddled off, I wanted to stow some gear and throw a fresh greenback out. Just around when I did that, I got a bit of a scare. A seal poked his head out of the water right by the yak. Never had one come that close!!! Once I got over my initial surprise, I realized it was a baby. It actually was pretty cute. It kept on swimming around the yak trying to climb in. It'd come over to me and I actually petted it a few times.

Well, it had 7-11 shaved into it on both sides. The second 1 was more like an upside down F but looked close enough to 7-11. Guessing it might have been a rescue seal?

But anyway, it kept on trying to climb into the yak and I had to shove it away with my paddle. Then it noticed my greenback swimming around and oh boy, the seal went for it in a flash and grabbed it pretty fast. Well, I really didn't want to hook it. (I hooked a seal around 3 weeks ago and really didn't want to go through that again, especially with a baby) so I thought I'd try to rip the hook out of the mack before it could swallow it.

Well, the seal wasn't strong enough to hold onto it so once I ripped the fish out and reeled it back to me -- I had it up in the air and was going to just toss it to the seal, but boy, that sucker was pretty determined. It pretty much leaped into my lap and ripped that mack back down into the water.

While I was still fighting the seal right by the boat, I got a bit worried. A huge seal, one of the biggest I've seen, swam up aggressively right by the yak and I started to become a bit nervous. I wasn't sure if it thought I was trying to hurt the baby and was coming to its defense or if it was just interested in the greenback, too. But regardless, the baby finally ripped the greenback off the hook and the big seal didn't hang around.

So then the baby kept on circling the yak and actually climbed into the rear cargo area. I had to push it off with the paddle. This ordeal was probably going onto 20-30 mins so I simply paddled off and yeah, that seal followed me for around 15 mins, still trying to climb into the yak.. until it finally went off somewhere else.

Oh boy... pretty interesting experience.

Charlie got a couple of fish off that rock pile. The swell was pretty massive out there. Felt close to 10'. Whether that's a real measure or just perceived, you know what I mean.

We thought it'd be a good idea to head back in. Was wondering what type of conditions we'd find at the beach. When we got there, I saw a bit of a lull and thought I'd better hit it as fast as I could and I had a pretty uneventful paddle back in, which was definitely a bit of a relief. Charlie, on the other hand, hung back for a bit longer to stow away some stuff and oh boy... I hate saying this... but the waves picked up a bit right after I got in and he might've had a bit of a mini yard sale.

It actually wasn't that bad, he jumped out in shallow water just as the yak kinda halfway flipped over.

On the way home, I stopped at a carwash in PB to wash everything down and took a look at tourmaline. Oh boy, the wind got crazy in the afternoon and the surf was pretty messed up. We probably got off just at the right time.

All in all, a pretty awesome day even if we didn't get any YT or big fish!

octico · 04-27-2015, 09:40 AM

Nice read

Baja_Traveler · 04-27-2015, 01:12 PM

Glad I decided to hit the bay instead of La Jolla - I'm one of those PA peddlers, and I can attest they do not do well through rough and tumble surf. Like trying to push start a Mack truck getting it going...

h2ofishfo · 04-27-2015, 01:38 PM

Whooooooo I'm tired. Need Gatorade no pics BS is that applicable ? . Just kidding cheers . Seriously though did u catch anything

FlyFishinYakr · 04-27-2015, 02:56 PM

Very entertaining read.
Thanks for posting.
FFY

Southman · 04-27-2015, 06:19 PM

nice read x2

I might have made a mess of my pants when that huge mamma showed up.

04-27-2015, 09:17 AM	#1
5-20 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 241	La Jolla: 4/26 (7-11 Seal Mascot?) Yesterday was probably the coolest day I've spent out on the yak. I reached the launch around 6am only to see some orange cones blocking access to the beach and a "special event" sign saying "no kayak launching". I looked around and the beach was pretty deserted and I wondered why I didn't see anything about that on this site. I was a bit upset but then noticed that the closure was only for 8am-10:30. Really don't know why those guys tried to block the road with those orange cones a couple hours before 8am - a bit misleading. But anyway, while waiting for Charlie to show up, I had a good 20-30 mins to kill and spent most of that time watching the swell. Boy, I thought it was gonna be really tricky launching. It was a short period swell, and not only that, it was one of those times when there would be a lull in the waves and then a series of 2'-3' waves would pretty much pop out of nowhere. I actually started thinking about how maybe it was just meant to be one of those days to just fish for halis in the bay... But then Charlie showed up, no misgivings on his part and we were ready to go in about 10 mins. Well, I was pretty impressed with him. He got out into the surf pretty much immediately without any real hesitation. And sure enough, oh boy... just as he was gonna make it out of the break zone, a big wave came up looking like it was gonna break on him and I couldn't help but watch with a bit of rapt fascination, wondering if he was gonna flip. But nah, he made it through with just a second to spare, probably and jumped that wave! So, it was my turn... and I wasn't feeling entirely confident, just because I had a feeling I'd have to fight my way through those waves too. I waited a bit for a lull and then decided to just go for it and started paddling furiously. But yeah, thanks to the incoming tide, it felt like I was stuck in glue and then sure enough, I got caught in a set of those waves that popped out of nowhere, and boy, there was nothing I could really do but fight my way through that set. Gotta say my XFactor did a really great job of doing that, and somehow I made it out of that set. There was a dude who showed up with a PA right before we launched. At the end of the day we commented about how we never saw that guy out on the water. I think watching us paddle out was enough for that guy, maybe. When we were working on making bait, right by the condo on the point, we saw a huge whale breach right by the kelp line. That was really cool. Around 20-30 mins later, we saw one or two more smaller whales breach again. Pretty awesome start to the day. We trolled greenbacks close to the kelp line up to the NW corner without any luck. Charlie wanted to go hit a rockpile and when he paddled off, I wanted to stow some gear and throw a fresh greenback out. Just around when I did that, I got a bit of a scare. A seal poked his head out of the water right by the yak. Never had one come that close!!! Once I got over my initial surprise, I realized it was a baby. It actually was pretty cute. It kept on swimming around the yak trying to climb in. It'd come over to me and I actually petted it a few times. Well, it had 7-11 shaved into it on both sides. The second 1 was more like an upside down F but looked close enough to 7-11. Guessing it might have been a rescue seal? But anyway, it kept on trying to climb into the yak and I had to shove it away with my paddle. Then it noticed my greenback swimming around and oh boy, the seal went for it in a flash and grabbed it pretty fast. Well, I really didn't want to hook it. (I hooked a seal around 3 weeks ago and really didn't want to go through that again, especially with a baby) so I thought I'd try to rip the hook out of the mack before it could swallow it. Well, the seal wasn't strong enough to hold onto it so once I ripped the fish out and reeled it back to me -- I had it up in the air and was going to just toss it to the seal, but boy, that sucker was pretty determined. It pretty much leaped into my lap and ripped that mack back down into the water. While I was still fighting the seal right by the boat, I got a bit worried. A huge seal, one of the biggest I've seen, swam up aggressively right by the yak and I started to become a bit nervous. I wasn't sure if it thought I was trying to hurt the baby and was coming to its defense or if it was just interested in the greenback, too. But regardless, the baby finally ripped the greenback off the hook and the big seal didn't hang around. So then the baby kept on circling the yak and actually climbed into the rear cargo area. I had to push it off with the paddle. This ordeal was probably going onto 20-30 mins so I simply paddled off and yeah, that seal followed me for around 15 mins, still trying to climb into the yak.. until it finally went off somewhere else. Oh boy... pretty interesting experience. Charlie got a couple of fish off that rock pile. The swell was pretty massive out there. Felt close to 10'. Whether that's a real measure or just perceived, you know what I mean. We thought it'd be a good idea to head back in. Was wondering what type of conditions we'd find at the beach. When we got there, I saw a bit of a lull and thought I'd better hit it as fast as I could and I had a pretty uneventful paddle back in, which was definitely a bit of a relief. Charlie, on the other hand, hung back for a bit longer to stow away some stuff and oh boy... I hate saying this... but the waves picked up a bit right after I got in and he might've had a bit of a mini yard sale. It actually wasn't that bad, he jumped out in shallow water just as the yak kinda halfway flipped over. On the way home, I stopped at a carwash in PB to wash everything down and took a look at tourmaline. Oh boy, the wind got crazy in the afternoon and the surf was pretty messed up. We probably got off just at the right time. All in all, a pretty awesome day even if we didn't get any YT or big fish!

04-27-2015, 01:38 PM	#4
h2ofishfo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Santee Posts: 821	Whooooooo I'm tired. Need Gatorade no pics BS is that applicable ? . Just kidding cheers . Seriously though did u catch anything __________________ GABE<@)((((>€~~~~team ?????uuuh it's fishing

04-27-2015, 09:40 AM	#2
octico Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: The city of Orange Posts: 1,278	Nice read

04-27-2015, 01:12 PM	#3
Baja_Traveler Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Table 17, Bay Park Fish Co. Posts: 943	Glad I decided to hit the bay instead of La Jolla - I'm one of those PA peddlers, and I can attest they do not do well through rough and tumble surf. Like trying to push start a Mack truck getting it going...

04-27-2015, 02:56 PM	#5
FlyFishinYakr Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Nor Cal...30 min from Bodega/Tomales Bay, 1hr from Clear Lake, 2+ hr to Berryessa & the Delta Posts: 729	Very entertaining read. Thanks for posting. FFY

04-27-2015, 06:19 PM	#6
Southman Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Laguna Niguel Posts: 89	nice read x2 I might have made a mess of my pants when that huge mamma showed up.