Got out on SD Bay today with a guy I met at a kayak event a few weeks ago (let's call him Tim). He had a coupon for a free scoop of sardines, so that's what we fished. We spent most of the day hanging out close to the bait barge. This was also my first time trying out the fish finder. It worked for a while, but then it kept giving low voltage messages and turning off. I'm guessing I need to improve the saltwater resistance of the connection on the bottom of the unit.
The bite was slow, sardines were getting chewed on but no hookups, so I started throwing a small megabait. I caught this future shark bait.
Tim got this nice sculpin on one of his sardines.
Finally I got a good hit on my rod and fish on!
It was fun bringing this fish up because we were in a really deep spot, 40 or 50 ft. I guessed what it was long before it reached the surface. My first kayak halibut.
It was probably a legal, but I didn't have a tape measure and wasn't really interested in keeping fish, so I let it go. When I got home I measured the width of the kayak and I'm guessing the halibut was 23 or 24".
The waves were really picking up with the wind so we hightailed it back to where we launched. We tried fishing near some yachts but didn't get anything else.
Overall it was an excellent day even though we only caught three fish between the two of us. I almost forgot... I also caught a big mantis shrimp, but it fell off the hook while I was getting my camera out.
My goals for next time are to get the fish finder working 100% and try soaking mackerel chunks to try for smoothhounds and whatever other sharks or rays want to give me a sleigh ride.
