After I'd pulled my boat up on dry land at the end of last week's trip, I noticed an air leak underneath the outer rim of one of the air valves. Wasn't quite sure what to make of it, if it was bad factory glue job on the air valve or what, so I monitored it for about 10 minutes, found it wasn't leaking a significant amount of air, and packed up to deal with it at home.
The next day I blew up the boat and the leak wasn't there anymore. Left it inflated overnight and no lost air. Totally weird. I sent a video of the leak to a repair shop and haven't gotten a reply, but my best guess is that the PVC may have expanded with the heat of the sun just enough to reveal the leak when it did at the ramp, and the PVC shrank back in the neutral climate of the garage.
I really wanted to make my longest trip yet this week up the Santa Barbara coast, but that was obviously not going to happen. I decided to launch out of SBH but keep within 30 minutes of the harbor. If the leak showed itself, I could head in quickly, and I brought the hand pump on board just in case.
Launched around 0730. Water was glossy until noon.
Came up on my whitefish spot. Last time it was limits in an hour on the kayak. First drop with the bass gear and I got walloped by the best of the day, but it got harder after that.
Picked off 6 and kept 3 over an hour before I decided to go check out some new spots.
Not a lot of current today, I'm surprised I got bit as much as I did. In 100' I was using 2oz of weight and keeping it under the boat. I moved to 150' and still only needed 4oz.
A little less life at the next spot, but I was getting pecked. Got my first ever Calico Rockfish, species #113.
Nabbed another before moving to the next spot. There was a boat where I wanted to be, but there were other boulders to be had. I had no problem getting bit here as well, and I nabbed a Rosy Rockfish.
Got a squarespot as well as another calico rockfish or two, then a second rosy. Felt like I'd gotten the gist of the spot, so I decided to head back to my whitefish spot to try and fill out my bag.
On the way over, out of the corner of my eye, I thiiiink I saw a ~3' blue shark go full aerial about 100 feet from me. Though to be honest, it reminded me more of a chinook jumping in the Sac River. Salmon isn't out of the question, but probably a blue shark. Lots of bait in the water everywhere today but no signs of cudas or bones yet.
Got another 2 whitefish and a blacksmith to round out the day.
Final bag.
The first couple whitefish in the bag had been chilled for a while, and the meat looked gorgeous.
Back at the dock at 1230. Leak never showed itself.
I had a DFW surveyor pick my brain for a minute at the ramp. She asked me if there was another name for a Squarespot Rockfish as I was rattling off my count, to which I said, "nope, a squarespot's a squarespot." I just looked into Milton Love's description of them, and he remarked, "Arguably, this is the most abundant fish on medium-depth Southern California reefs. We just see zillions of them."
So shame on her for not knowing!
8 Whitefish
4 Calico Rockfish
2 Rosies
1 Blacksmith
1 Squarespot
Didn't feel like a 16 fish day, but dinks will make you feel that way I suppose. Good trip nonetheless.
