Jetty's

[wade]

We dont need no stinkin' jettys!!...


I may not live like a king..but I sure as hell try to eat like one..



Launched around 5:00 pm Tuesday 5th with Eric #431 aka Deepdvr.
Landed around 4:30 am Wednesday Jan 6th, 2010.

My first open ocean bugs! Every net produced at least between 5-10 cxxt-hair clickers on every pull..
I have never seen it this consistent anywhere up the entire coast of my spots. But I previously only targeted harbors & jetties. When I first moved to SD ten years ago, I found this "somewhat" remote beach that I have been wanting to go hit for years, but could never find anyone serious to reconnaissance it & Fully test it out at night..On my lunch breaks whenever in LJ, I would go to this very spot to get my grub on & enjoy a smoke gazing at the potential I knew was underneath.This is the kind of spot where the crawl begins when you drop..We launched in washing machine conditions.The wind let up a bit but the pulse got stronger throughout the night, as we could hear the reef exploding & the boiler zones & reefs near by churning up mere feet away..
Around midnight we decided to head north a bit, and land the usual way...without stitches.
Eric had one & I had two nice ones now. One 1/4" over & another 1/8 over.
I could have had four more keepers as the gauge almost locked but didn't want to chance it..

*(2011 F&G Amendment: Carapace lower hairs will count as overall measurement.)*

Another hour paddle to the Shores, but safe..& I'm damn glad we did. We paused for a break just outside the reserve and dropped the hoops one last time for sh!ts & giggles. I had pretty much completely given up on hooping LJ shores as of last year. No way would I waste my time anymore when i would only produce 3 micro bugs for an entire evenings work to show for..Somehow this one fat bastard, (Middle one) came up on the 2nd pull.
Pulled the sets 2 more rounds & called it a great night..
Misc catches: Brought up a small eel, that slipped though mesh unnoticed. When i adjusted my headlamp to measure the bugs I noticed I had a small conger & started spastically searching for anything to fling him overboard before he tried to neuter me?!..
(Last week I learned the hard way just how powerful those filthy Sculpins poison really is.
It completely rendered my hand useless. For almost a week my right hand was seized and frozen..)

I finally got to bed around 7 am after cleaning them, with the sound of pounding surf emanating in my head...
(I live inland Oceanside btw)
Cant say enough how thankful i am Deepdvr for your wing man skills last night. Had a blast!!!

[nabeeko]

[Whizz Bang]

Congrats guys, tasty lookin fellers. Eric #634A is indeed a great wingman.

-Eric #538B

[deepdvr]

WING MAN????

I'm just happy that you didn't call me a pussy for dropping those subtle hints about how gnarly the landing would be. It would have been a plastic and flesh pinball game against those boilers. When that north wind was blowing pretty good I was estimating the time it would take to paddle to Mission Bay.

That was alot of fun. Although my gauge is worn out from measuring all those damn barely illegals. In one molt they'll be dinner. I'm going to eat my langosta and then fall asleep for a long time.

E

[wade]

NO man's da top dog in those situations!..
its ALL Wingman 2 Wingman compadre..

..& let the red bugs bite!

[emrliquidlife]

You gents are better men than me. 6 hours in the yak and I can barely walk afterward.

Fawk 11 hours! How many pulls did you do? The pain hurts just to think about it.

Ed

[greenscales]

I thought about open water last night w/the mellow conditions, but was solo an opted for the one the bays. No one around but a huge knot head. With in an hour he had torn off one cage, pulled all of my fresh mack bodies out to only leave the heads in 3 nets, and crushed the one cage that had half a yellow tail head in it. After a few hours there wasn't enough bait to keep up the pull.

I agree with pulling at LJ Shores, too much pressure to get many legals. I did a long night like that the first week of the season and brought a rod and stayed until first light to p/u some fish at sunrise. 150 bugs - not one legal.

But time on the water pays off.

[blackcloud9]

Cool story, that's dedication.

I hooped last night for only the 3rd time this year, open ocean style,
totally flat conditions no wind, no moon. Beautiful night.

Sacked one nice 3.5" legal in about 3 hours on the water, released a
buncha bait eatin' shorts as usual.

Today maybe the last easy launch day outside of LJ Shores. Lots of swell
on the way for the weekend and next week!


P.S. I've never hooped near a jetty before. Photos ->
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...loud9/Fishing/

[Willy]

Great post.
It's crazy getting close to the boilers and shore break in the dark...hearing not seeing.
Getting out on the big water opens up a whole new world of buggin'. The jetties just dont feel the same after that.

Last night was an epic night on the water. Flat, calm.
We set out from Mission Bay, moving toward the south. The bugs were crawlin'...mostly clickers. The dogs were prowlin'. Relentlessly.
I've come to think the dogs are somehow channeling the spirits of the environmentalists. The follow me. Taunting me. I outwardly curse hippies every time I see the glowing eyes in my light. The rings in the dark around my buoys.

Found a couple ladies getting ready to spawn, with the white plate on their brest.
They went back in the drink.

Keep at 'em.

Willy

WTG! Guys