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16

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 9/13 La Jolla AM

« on: September 15, 2020, 08:43:36 PM »

Sun's getting up a bit later everyday. On the sand at the usual time but this week in almost full darkness. Thumbnail shaped moon shining through the haze providing just enough glow to see short interval 2fters breaking at the exposed low tide sandbar. Took a wave to the shorts but kept the beard dry.

Beelined it to the pier with graylight peeking behind Mt. Soledad. Complete 180 from last week with the bait offerings. Scratch fishing for greenbacks. Landed a pancake halibut which was my cue to leave for greener pastures.

Made it to the condo where the micro bonito and larger greenbacks were making a show for the plastic navy. 70-71° SST, a mild breeze, and more hazyness. Actually felt like fall fishing but with summer crowds. Radio battery died. No comedy on channel 72 today I guess.

Started trolling around metering all sorts of bait but many schools lockjawed. Ran into a flurry of calicos in deeper structure again. Many looking post spawn with faded checkers. And of course I hook into a random but obligatory whitefish.

Had a tug on the troll rod mid morning. It dropped it so I let out line hoping it circle around again. It picked it up again so I let it run a for a bit. Thumbed my spool and it dropped it again. Mack felt dead so I slow wind it back. It gets picked up and dropped. It did this a few more times until about 20ft out it takes it and runs. Quick fight later I bring to the surface and see it's the wrong color. Ended up being a baby mako. Young shark and already had the parasites on it's dorsal fin. Took some quick pics to show the kids then it does a self release alongside the hull.

More trolling separating myself from the crowd. Not much life out west. Did see a sea turtle. First one of the year. But it's been almost impossible to snap a pic before they high tail it. Sea lions were on the kayakers today. Got jacked once then stalked for a bit after that. Dropped an iron in it's face and it left me alone after that. Paddled back in front of the condo where small floatilla of skiffs were anchored. They were having at it on the smaller bonito.

Back on the sand by lunch to meet the first DFW survey taker of the season. Quick chat and learned no real trophies to talk about from other anglers. New guy probably getting some field experience before the lobster friendzy gets started.

No smoked meat action Sunday as kid has sports in the evenings. Monday made quick work of some bonito and  tritip then started binge watching Cobra Kai. Now I'm on some 80's nostalgia kick. Lord help me. 

17

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 9/6 La Jolla AM

« on: September 06, 2020, 08:11:53 PM »

On the sand at graylight. Swift launch thru knee high breakers. 68°, glassy, and a layer of smoke dissipating to the West.

Made a right turn and headed for the pier. Met up with the absolute most aggressive school of mixed mini macks and sardines to date. They wanted in the bait tank. Pod of dolphins getting their fill didn't even phase this school. Best bait quality and quantity in a long while. Filled up and headed for the corner.

On the way marked a couple deep spots at canyon's edge that lit up the screen. Dropped the yoyo but the dinks were on it. Not wanting to waste more time I continued on to the target zone.

Upon arrival silence for about 5 minutes then all hell breaks loose. Boils, birds, and jigs go flying. Instant hits on all you want calicos. That was the name of the game all day. Schools of anchovy would breeze thru and the calicos would demolish all they could along with the birds. An occasional yellow would break the surface but the bass were on the jig/bait before the yellows even noticed. Lots of doubles on the double rig. Even had a couple sculpin join the party.

And of course the day wouldn't be complete without a handful of whitefish in the kill bag.

Landed to a cool and crowded beach. Packed up and blasted the AC for the ride home. Pulled up to the driveway and opened the door to a 106° oven. And that's with the smoke screen. Yikes!

Smoked chicken wings, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes for dinner. Paired up with every cold drink available in the fridge. Every, cold, drink, available.

18

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 8/30 La Jolla AM

« on: August 30, 2020, 10:30:27 PM »

Up at 0400. Enjoyed my usual coffee and oatmeal before loading up. Easy drive down to the beach and on the sand by graylight.

Set waves breaking at about ankle high. Had a school of spotfin crusing by my feet and under the bow of my kayak as I drug it out before hopping in. I'm convinced they know they're in the reserve. Way too much swagger in their swim.

Massive temp drop to 64° this morning which set the bar for expectations for the day. Crap luck making bait. Only scored 1 greenback and one spanish. Plenty on the meter but lockjawed... at least for what I was offering.

Very uneventful morning all around. Current fell into a short lull. Did have birds going nuts for a few minutes. Looked like a school of smaller sized sardines pushed up to feed. Nothing underneath as the floatilla tried casting everything at it from all sides for nada.

No signs of yellows, bonito, or cudas. Calicos were being shy as well. Tons of bait though. Gave up dragging live ones and cut em up to load up on fish taco meat instead. Had to hit up deeper spots to find them. They only wanted cut bait, little love for the metal. The small white fish have been on me like flies on dung all summer. Had one cough up octopus tenticles and the rest small anchovy and what look liked market shrimp. At least they're eating good.

Easy paddle back. Easier landing. 67° SST at noon. Cruised right over a decent sized leopard in about 6ft. Should of snorkled today insead. Smoked 2 racks of St. Louis ribs and had a sip of some fruited up Kirkland sangria. Washed it all down with some Lagunitas.

19

Fishing Talk / Rockfish Tag Report

« on: August 25, 2020, 09:23:19 AM »

Some cool info I just received from the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program. They are a program that hold a variety of fish tagging trips along our coast. I've been a volunteer angler on some of these trips and got to see first hand fish come over the rail, get tagged and recorded, and sent back to the blue sporting some new jewelry. Very cool program and the guys that are involved in the research are fisherman like you and me but with a science degree.

A week or 3 ago I caught a 16" Red in the NW corner of LJ in 115'. Fish was kept for dinner. It wasn't until I went to prep the fish that I found the tag on it's back. It was covered in moss and I had just assumed it was seaweed as I was snagging it all day. Read the ID number and sent the report in via website ( there is also a phone number on the tag you can call ).

I was just sent bank this information.

"The Vermilion Rockfish you caught with the ID 23151. It was originally tagged on 7/18/2017 off La Jolla in 112 feet of water. At that time, the fish was 33 cm (13 in.) in length. Since being tagged and released, the fish grew about 7.6 cm (3 in.),  spent 1119 days at liberty, and was caught about .5 miles from where it was originally released."

So 3 inches in 3 years and pretty much stayed local. Now it was caught both times during the summer so who knows if it traveled anywhere in the winter months. But very cool info I really had no idea their rate of growth.

This was my second tagged fish I caught but first one with info returned. If I had known it was tagged I would have released it after recording the ID number. Gonna check twice for tags now. There also could be a reward available for recording your catch whether you release it or not. Mines in the mail.

20

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 8/23 La Jolla AM

« on: August 24, 2020, 12:16:15 PM »

Feels like summer, finally!

Fish alongside a couple first time LJ kayakers. Couldn't have asked for better conditions to pop the LJ cherry. Grease calm, flat surf, crystal clear water, 75° SST felt like a jacuzzi honestly I pushed for a how to reboard your kayak tutorial as an excuse to jump in.

Easy paddle to the bait grounds. Clouds of spanish mackerel spread out and moving around. Hard to find greenbacks but did manage a couple. Micro bonito making a mess out of everyone's sabiki.

Started dragging our offerings making our way around the corner. Anything worth metering was in the bottom half of the screen. Ran into schools of calico still in spawning colors. Not just 1 or 2 but an overwhelming majority. That's good news for that fishery I'll take it.

Cloud cover burned off quick. Wind was but a whisper. Lots of stuff on the meter but moving fast. Bigger grade of bonito west of the kelp. Had lots of fun on those on the bass rods. They hit anything with chrome and sharp hooks.

Fair amount of traffic with shared results. Heard of one radio fish soon after my first swing and miss. 0-1 for the day and puts me into double digits for the summer. 

More moving, more metering, more bycatch. Filled up on taco meat before dragging our last few baits back in. Chatted with another guy going out as we were heading in. In 40ft of water he notices my rod get twitchy. I give it a count down and go into gear, swing and a miss. Back into freespool it goes and get picked up again. Go for the connect and boom... 0-3 for the day. Reeled up my bait and not exactly convinced. Had the mash marks but also pin holes. Maybe a toothy critter went for the scraps?

Hard to he bummed after such a beatiful day and getting a couple others hooked on LJ. One of them had a swing and miss as well so sharing the laughs later on made for a bitter sweet end to the session.

77° SST back at the launch. Didn't wear a shirt all day until I had to swing by Costco. Smoked tri tip for dinner. 130° internal temp then reverse seared. 

21

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 8/16 La Jolla AM

« on: August 18, 2020, 12:07:36 AM »

Scouting the forecast days before Sunday left me with low expectations but it's my fishing day so...

Super calm start with lake like conditions at the launch. Didn't even get wet from the knees up. Water temp dropped from 69° to 67°. Air slightly muggy. As I cross the reserve line a slight breeze awakens with the grey light emerging from the horizon.

Scattered schools of smaller spanish macks spotted starting down at approximately 17ft deep. I'd pick off one or two before having to search for another school. After filling the tank I spent the morning weaving around flotsam and jetsam dragging my offerings thru the mid water column which is where on my fathometer showed signs of the right kind. But alas the marks were few and far between. No takers not even a nibble, drats... foiled again!

Around mid morning the SSW breeze started building as well as the uphill current. By then I had already hooked into a few deep water Calicos and a new personal best sarcastic fringehead with it's neon lips and freakish mouth opening abilities. Definitely a species I'd like to display if a saltwater aquarium were ever to become an option. It was pretty easy to determine the fat lady wasn't warming up before saying it was time to go. And just like that the seas once again reminded me who's boss.

Taking the long way back with my bow pointing towards Cancun I noticed a frenzy going on at the kelp line with what looked like a few lucky anglers scoring huge numbers on the checkered kind. Birds of a different feather all filling up on an easy meal based on their body language. It was tempting to get in on the fun but given how hard the wind was bullying me towards the Razor house I decided to keep on truckin' and save it for another day.

Wet paddle coming in. A very uneventful landing to end the journey. Another session in the books. Longer read shorter fish count. Gotta make up for it somehow. Kept a few jacks in the tank to surprise the kids. All but 2 made it home alive. Had a short window of fun watching the kids play the "crane game" with a pair of tongs before placing them on ice. Smoked tri tip for dinner. Scrambled eggs mixed with "poor man's yellowtail" and a dash of salt for breakfast. Ice cold brewed coffee to wash it down.

22

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 8/9 La Jolla AM

« on: August 09, 2020, 10:41:44 PM »

Way too many morning follies. Ants suck. But the show must go on.

Waters warming up. Was reading 69° all morning. First time in awhile I felt the sunrays on the water. NW breeze a little stiff. Weak current. Chop was manageable but then again I've had my fair share of conditioning lately.

No signs of yellows what so ever. Well maybe, did run into 2 different areas where there were nothing but scales in the water. Could of been anything tough.

Hit the rock piles and loaded up on taco meat. No love on the jigs. They only wanted bait. Even the "micronito" showed they wanted the bare hook over the flashy chrome metal. Bizarre.

Reloaded on borax. Gonna be a slaughter this week. Damn things crawling on my feet while loading up in the dark... not cool!

23

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 7/26 & 8/2 La Jolla AM

« on: August 02, 2020, 04:11:18 PM »

7/26: NW winds. Miserable.

8/2: SW winds. Miserable.

In 4 outings I'm 0-9 on hook ups.    They've dog boned every mack of every size and I've even given them a 20 count. Curse of the rubber hook!

Can't wait til December when the weather warms up.   

24

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / 7/22 TP AM recon

« on: July 22, 2020, 11:37:16 PM »

Walked the southside this morning armed with morfs. Ankles frozen like it was January. Rod spikes spread a good 100 yards. Decent haul of spotfin for those guys using bait. Little to no structure. Only found one spot of micro crabs mixed in the many carpets of clam beds. Loose salad coming in with the rising tide. Was able to manage one nibble on the c-rig morf. Went to spot B to get rid of the stripe with a dink spotty. 

25

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 7/19 La Jolla AM

« on: July 19, 2020, 03:32:07 PM »

Same as last report.  Just replace suicidal calicos for whitefish, mixed barries for micro bonito, glassy and sunny for choppy and breezy. But keep the same fact I failed to connect with a yellow  . Went to check on my mack, felt a good tug on the retrieve, but it dropped it quick and didn't come back for seconds. Saw the right kind on the meter but saw way more red crab clouds as well.

Off to marinade some pork butt. 

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Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 7/12 La Jolla AM

« on: July 12, 2020, 03:32:37 PM »

Calicos went suicidal. Barries in the mix. Couldn't connect with the yellows because macks were huge. Going to perfect my trap hook rig this week. Thanks for reading.

27

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 11/11 LJ quickie

« on: November 12, 2018, 11:15:13 AM »

Later than normal 7:30am launch. Glad I did. As the sun broke the horizon I saw crystal clear water and FLAT surf on the way out. Water 68. Air went from chilly to warm real fast. Wind was a whisper all morning. Typical holiday weekend crowd enjoying the weather.

Started out with fish finder gremlins. Ended up being bad connection due to mild surface corrosion on the plugs. A little scrubbing and were all good. Then my trolling rig had no anti reverse. Opened it up and loosened the salt cake frosting. That did the trick. Oh the joys of used and abused wave battered kayak equipment.

Tied on a Rapala X-Rap and drug it around. Metered macks all over. Heard a blow up behind me. Something hit the X-Rap but missed. Kept paddling and it hit again. Solid hook set this time. Fought and landed a solid November bonito.

Boxed the area immediately after but the kelp drifted in soon after. Not wanting my sashimi to spoil I decided to head back. Ran into whales and bait ball boils just west of the line. Threw metal for a bit and hooked into what I thought was a mackeral. Fought like a wuss right up until it was alongside the kayak. Big fish! It saw me and ran like hell. Peeled drag and popped off in a blink of an eye. Enjoy the new face jewelry.

Paddled in to crystal clear water. 20ft down was like looking into an aquarium. Flat surf landing dry as a bone. Home, gear put away, and all showered up by noon!

28

Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports / 8/5 Hot and Steamy

« on: August 06, 2018, 05:59:05 PM »

Fished the Jewel on Sunday. Launched at graylight. 76 degree SST and green. Same yuk green water I've seen all year as a matter of fact. Took an unimpressive 2 foot wave to the lap. Boom broken fish finder mount. Old brittle plastic was the culprit. A quick MacGyver job and I'm back in action.

Bait making unsuccessful at the Sabiki grounds. Swapped hooks for jigs and paddled west.

No current. No breeze. Felt like fishing a swamp. Metered the red crabs as I weaved through a floatilla of  kelp stringers. Complete desert until mid morning.

A small foamer popped up in front of me and another fellow kayaker. We both approach and make our offerings. Fish sink out in a hurry. Shucks!

Later I find a piece of ridge that's loaded and score a smorgasbord of rockfish. Different species every drop. Some on the plastic the rest on a Megafake. Also noticed when I drifted off structure I'd get sandbass. Way more than usual. Didn't stay long as I didn't want my bounty to spoil in the heat. At this point I'm using my bait tank as a fish hold but with water now at 77 degrees I was already making cioppino.

On the way back just outside the reserve birds everywhere... diving... and moving... fast. Every now and then a foamer pops up then sinks within a few seconds. I hang out for a bit watching this. Birds from the cove all the way to Table Rock. Whatever was pushing bait was moving fast. Too fast for me didn't even consider chasing them down with a 3kt top speed... ok maybe 2 1/2... with a Preworkout shake.

Very uneventful landing just how I like it. Eye candy in full effect. Got about 8 "are you leavings" and 2 honks while loading up. A new record!

29

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / S.I. Pier mack attack

« on: July 20, 2018, 09:59:00 PM »

Took the boys to S.I. pier on Monday start of the outgoing. Then again today start of the incoming. Both days all you want candybar macks. Water is loaded with fry and smelt. Micro bass on the chew right on the pilings. Just-short flatties throughout the day as well.

Small jigs work good. But strip mack absolutely killed them. Doubles all day. It was rare I actually touched my rod as I was too busy playing deckhand and cutting bait. Just a heads up for you guys looking to stock up for your catfish conquests.

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Rod Building / FHLB 2018 Batson Giveaways

« on: March 04, 2018, 11:58:50 AM »

Family shot of all the custom rods that will be given away at this year's Fred Hall show in Long Beach. Amazing work from amazing builders right here in San Diego. Big ups to Bill Batson and crew of Batson Enterprises for their generosity. Nothing is asked for, no compensation, all done for the love of rod building. Good luck to those attending this year's show.