A Fish Report...and a long read...

[Tman]

I got a call Thursday eve from a buddy inviting me to go fishing with him at oh dark thirty. For once it was doable since the lad and I were at his buddy's house having fish tacos and ceviche from what we caught on Wednesday when we took a 3/4 day trip along with his buddy Julian and Dad Helge to celebrate Julian's birthday. Seems the lads (Clay, Miles, and Julian) had planned a sleepover, and after getting permission from Clay, I still had to go home and load up.

Met my bud at the launch at 3:00, loaded the yaks, and proceeded to launch in lake conditions, no wind, and ankle slappers to punch through. We saw a couple boats out on the horizon, and went on our way to try to make some esqueeed. Tough going, even paddled over to one of the boats that were lit up, soon after the lights were shut off and for good reason. No bait was metered, luckily my bud had some fresh dead, and down they were sent on dropper loops and the iron...for no love.

Didn't feel too bad about not hooking up since in those early morning hours I was in the company of 3-4 serious fishermen, a couple boats, and not a hookup to be heard. Only sounds were of the birds and the dogs hacking at the surface from gorging themselves...at least they knew where the esqueed were.

At one point, lounging back, admiring the stars, soaking in the serenity, trying not to fall asleep, a fin breaks the surface next to me. "Uh oh, here we go again", I thought, only to hear the swoosh from the blowhole...the largest dolphin I had ever seen. They were all around that morn, cruising around, LJ full of life.

Started the paddle in around 9 or so, ran into a familiar face, and handed off the rest of the esqueed, hope he put it to use. A bit dismayed as I was landing since the conditions had not changed and I was forced to paddle all of the way to the sand. Loading up, ran into another friend who had stopped by to see if there was anything going on...just the sea...

Headed home, and called Helge to see what time I should pick up the lad. No hurry he said as the kids were helping him get ready for the Halloween party Saturday night, but the kids wanted to go to the beach, could I bring some poles so they could do some surf fishing, and he'd call me when they were ready to head out. I got home a 1/2 hour later, rinsed the gear, unloaded the truck, and after checking emails, set the alarm for a much needed siesta. Just as I was getting ready for a warm blanket, the phone rings.

"We're heading down to the beach, make sure you bring some poles for the kids." Loaded up the truck and headed down to the local beach. Conditions were prime, flat surf, just needed a bit of water movement to stir the bite. Helge and I fished for a while without a nibble, sand crabs hard to find, the kids digging away in the sand, doing what kids do. Helge decides to head to the store for some drinks, and I ask him if he would stop by Pac Coast Bait and Tackle and pick up some bloodworms.

I set about rigging the extra poles up, and we now have some water movement and the swells seem to pick up a bit. Helge comes back and we pinch off a couple pieces and pin them on. First cast I'm getting short bites, the whole time a little sprite next to me, 9 year old Brenn from RI who tells me she loves to fish. The pressure's on, and after putting another piece on and casting out, start to get hit...set the hook, feels like a decent fish, and hand it over to Brenn and coaching her on what to do, keep the pole up, pressure on, and don't stop reeling. She performed like an expert, the beauty shot...



Do you think she was excited?



The boys were impressed...



Cast out again, another hookup, and hand off to Miles...then to Julian. Notice Helge still hasn't hooked up, ask to see his rig, and advise him to put on a smaller hook. He does, and immediately hooks up and hands it off. The next hour or so is spent hooking and handing off, the kids all getting multiple chances to reel in a fish, helping one another to handle the fish and remove the hooks. Needless to say they were stoked.
Clay and Julian decide they want to land their own fish, so soon the boys take over. Clay hooks up, as he's reeling in, Julian hooks up...double hookup! Julian's first perch catch, can you tell?



Managed to land a small corb as well, released to grow another day, and as the swells started to roll in, water movement changed, and the kelp pieces started flowing in effectively shutting off our perch fishing fiesta.
The kids left the beach very stoked and wanting to go fishing again.

So there ya have it, a fish report. Hope you enjoyed it, I know it was one of the best Fridays I've had in a long time...