Kayak Tuesday 3-29-11

Good weather with sun was predicted - finally. Unfortunately, the weather forecasters were wrong again. The sun tried to peek through the clouds but the clouds refused to let more than a few rays of the sun through and the wind breezed in around 10 am to chill the air. The water conditions were less than stellar as well - 59 degrees, dirty and green with the surface smooth then ruffling from the wind churning it into a moderate chop.

OK, so the conditions weren't great, but I still enjoyed the day on the water. There are always interesting things to watch while fishing. The pelicans flew in formation a few feet above the surface of the water silently heading over the horizon. The seagulls chased each other straight up in the sky screeching and (well it is mating season). Small bait fish occasionally skipped across the surface of the water possibly being chased by something below the surface.

Porpoise lazily arched over the surface gradually moving along the coast. Not like previous weeks when they chased bait non-stop all day long. One sea lion swam around as if searching for his friends - coming right under my kayak at one point - unannounced - causing me to take a huge breath. I even had a bee hitchhike a ride for a while, resting his wings until a breeze carried him away.

Fishing? Well that is just what it was for me - fishing. Nothing even on the meter except a few small fish along the bottom just out of the harbor in about 35 feet of water. I had plenty of small fish eating the bait off my 7/0 circle hook but nothing large enough to take the hook so I moved to deeper water and found a meter with nothing on it. Six kayakers fished frozen squid, plastics, live sardines and jigs. Tim had 6 small fish (using a 2/0 hook) - sand bass, calico and rockfish. Warren caught a small sting ray and Jack had a sand bass. Nothing big enough to keep.

We returned to harbor early - just four and a half hours on the water traveling six and a half miles this Tuesday.

After cleaning up my kayak, I had Tim do a kayak upgrade - adding a larger rudder and turbo fins on my peddles. I also signed up for Tim's Kayak Mothership Charter departing April 15th on the Islander fishing San Clemente Island. Can't wait for that trip. If you are adventuresome enough, join me! There are still a couple spots available. Give Tim a call at (949) 661-4947.

Kayak & Hoop Netting 3-15-11

First daylight savings time kayak trip so it seemed early and rather dark when we hit the water. The overcast and slightly foggy weather contributed to the dark feeling.

William and I were first to leave the harbor. Tim, Warren, Jack and a couple others followed.  The water was 58 degrees and absolutely filthy - muddy looking with lots of debris on the surface including wood sticks and small logs. This was very discouraging.

We headed out for a mile or so to 85 feet of water with only slightly better water, however, we metered bait but no fish out there. Plenty of bait everywhere including big clouds of bait from surface to the bottom showing up on the meters. Birds and seals chasing bait today but the porpoise were absent. Interesting seeing so much bait out here but finding none in the receiver (the bait rolled over due to the Tsunami). Fortunately we still had frozen squid for bait.

I fished the reverse dropper loop with 30 lb. fluorocarbon connected to 20 lb. Spiderwire Ultra Cast, and a 6/0 Mustad circle hook. I covered 6 miles in my travels along the pipeline for mostly nothing this day.

I worked my way back in to 60 feet of water and connected with a small thresher shark. This 5 footer spun me around in my kayak three times then raced off a hundred feet or so on the surface then back to spin me again. We continued this process a few more times while I called in Tim to help with the release. I brought the pretty little shark to the surface and Tim released him for me. We thought about a photo but only after the fish had been released. Oh well.

I pulled my kayak out of the water at noon - earlier than usual. I cleaned it up and raced home to pack for another fishing event - hoop netting for lobster.

I packed up my lobster gear, made a run to Trader Joe's for the night's picnic dinner on board Jason's Trophy skiff, and drove to San Diego. I parked at Fisherman's Landing where the skiff was tied up to the dock next to the Excel. We loaded my gear and the food and drinks on the boat then baited the nets - 10 total. We used sardines and some bonito that Bob Hoose had given us.  A messy affair at best – shoving dead bait into bait tubes.

Once the nets were baited and loaded on the boat, we headed to the harbor area in front of the Hilton Hotel.

Rudy and Brandon joined us. Around 5:30 pm we set the nets then spent the next hour eating dinner and fishing (we fished in between each pull of the nets).

Using our bass gear, we fished plastics, Gulps, dead sardines and squid (leftover from my kayak fishing). The lizard fish were on the chew! We all caught them. I caught a small halibut (released), Jason caught a nice spotty and Brandon got a nice sculpin but mostly lizard fish.

 

We began pulling nets just before dark and made a pull every 30 to 45 minutes until midnight for a total of 7 pulls. I pulled the nets first then we rotated between Jason, Brandon and me. We brought up blue crabs, an octopus, sting rays, big sculpin and one lobster for the entire evening.  That’s fishing.

At least it was a nice night on the water and we had fun.

Kayak Tuesday 3-1-11

Arriving at the harbor, I noticed the porpoise and birds were working an area of bait and it was only 7 am. I thought this was a sign of good things to come.

Warren was already there when I arrived and Wayne showed up shortly after, followed by Tim, Jack and William. We set up and launched the kayaks and headed out of the harbor. The water was a cool 57 degrees and an onshore breeze was blowing over it providing a chill to the air. The sun was out but clouds were racing to provide a filter to the sun's warmth. I looked down into the water and saw a muddy green color. This wasn't going to be like last week!

We fished the pipeline again.  I fished close to Jack for most the day as he had forgotten his gaff and was sure he would need mine.  At one point, the clouds parted and the wind ceased and we were surrounded by porpoise chasing bait.  Unfortunately, it only lasted about 15 minutes and that was the best part of the day. Jack and I were not getting bit but we kept at it.

Porpoise Pushing Bait

Tim seemed to do well as he caught 6 sandbass two of them on the way out to very deep water. He also caught a couple sand dabs. William fished in shallower water and said he caught all five of his fish first thing in the morning. I don't know how the others fared as I came in early - around 1 pm.

I fished the same set up as last week, dropper loop with dead squid but only caught a couple short sandbass for the entire day. I caught those on the way back to the harbor in 30 feet of water. I guess the fish were in shallow. At least I got my exercise - 7.6 miles of peddling.

Next week is Fred Hall Tackle Show in Long Beach (March 9 to 13) so no Kayak Tuesday until after the show.  Hope to see you all there.  Look for me in the Berkley Booth.