South LJ 3/3 and 3/4
 

Saturday and Sunday I launched near Big Rock in tiny surf and gin clear
water after fishing the beach for some halibut from the sand.

Saturday the rockfish deepwater bite was goin' on at 120 feet or so,
somewhere off Bird Rock. I released between 8 and 10 lingcod and
managed 4 vermillion, a couple sculpin and some bass, all on 2 oz plastics.
It was dead in my usual hardbottom haunts outside off of Marine St area.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11.../Rocker026.jpg



Sunday was a beautiful day and I wanted to drift for halibut. Loaded the
tank with 10 smelt and some big macs on the inside and headed off Bird
Rock area to 60-80' of water. Water temp was showing 60+. Got a number
of sand bass and nice calicos on bait, before having 2 mutu lights
straightened out using smelt. Changed to bigger hooks with macks, and
got freight trained on 12" mack into the kelp which eventually broke off
and another something big came unbuttoned in the stringers. :doh: Jeez
:rolleyes: I need some practice. At 2 pm the wind kicked in strong from the North
and I was outta bait. :doh:

Free divers saw some wsb ... big ones out there.

Very nice... Thanks for the report, Larry.

I’m probably interpreting the regs wrong but it is worth discussing. As I read it RCG Complex (including all species of Rockfish as defined in Section 1.91) are closed to fishing from Mar-June in waters less than 180 ft and in waters deeper than 360 ft.

180 ft-360 ft = OK

Nice report Larry.

From the DFG site, no minumum depth of 180, just a max of 360.


[QUOTE]

Rockfish The recreational fishery for rockfish (Sebastes sp.) is open to boat-based anglers from March 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007. These species may only be taken or possessed4 in waters less that 360 feet (60 fathoms) deep (except in the Cowcod Conservation Areas – see below). The fishery for these species is open year-round to divers2 and shore-based anglers. The daily bag and possession limit is 10 fish in combination of all species within the RCG Complex (includes all species of Rockfish, Cabezon and Greenlings) per person, with a sub-limit on bocaccio (1 per person, minimum size limit of 10 inches total length, also included in the 10 fish RCG Complex aggregate limit). Yelloweye rockfish, canary rockfish and cowcod may not be retained (bag limit: zero). [/QUOTE]

When I was dealing with the MLPA kayaks and float tubes were considered shore based anglers. From what I can tell that would mean rockfish is open all year. Anybody got a contact at DFG to shoot an email?

It has changed............Idiot:D

:banghead: :dontknow: oh well, worth a shot...

Can anyone that went out on Sat. and Sun. confirm Larry's temps?

I dove both days and my friend's boat's meter read 54 degrees while my dive watch registered 55. My numb hands said "too f'ing cold".

I also didn't see any kelp. But I didn't go as far as Bird Rock.

Not much to report. Since there was no kelp, I dove shallow for bugs and reef fish, but didn't stay long due to the cold water. I did see a small school of huge greenbacks in about 20'. These suckers were about 1' long and about 3' tall.

Nate

My transducer is mounted outside my yak and the highest surface temps I got this week
was around 56. I paddled as far south as North Windansea.

Is his transducer mounted in his hull? That would explain higher readings.

I dove both Sat & Sun Bird Rock area.... I also had 54 degs on my dive computer both days... maybe he found a temp break ?

chris

Wow, lots of replies. They're just rockfish. Yes, season is open, and
lings start April 1, not that anyone much cares. Rockfish taste bad,
those yellows are yummy.


My transducer is mounted inside the hull and the midday sun was out so
could've been reading a little warm. I believe I saw the 60 ish reading
sitting inside the kelp stringers, where its very calm with little no
current to stir the solar surface warming.

Nate, that's you that always swims in at Big Rock from the boat with your spear-dive gear, right?

Larry,

I don't know if it's always me. I have done it a couple times, but usually I'm north of that area.

Where did you talk to the freedivers? I'm going out again tomorrow. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Nate

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.p...eas=wtmp&uom=E

Temps seem to fluctuate throughout the day... I've been using this for a year now and this seems to be a pretty standard thing.. Could be surface temps affected by the sun, tempbreaks, etc...

Nice going on reds Larry! On Sunday, we couldn’t find reds in 160 – 180ft, spots where we were casthing them last few years. We only found the tiny ones at the canyon edge… :( We were really looking forward to eating a few.

I was reading 57ish on Sunday… Lil warmer yesterday. It’s getting there.

I also found those buoy readings to be right on the ball last 1+ year I've been watching… The LJ one shows what the temp is outside the kelp.

La Jolla Buoy

Torrey Pines temps more to get an idea what’s coming our way with downhill current from the canyon…

Torrey Pines Buoy

Both we can thank NOAA for... They have an awesome site going with a lot of data... Pick your buoy and drill down - http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/Southwest_inset.shtml

Here is the LJ buoy temp link I use:
http://cdip.ucsd.edu/?nav=recent&sub...em=temperature

... and that is surface temp like 5 miles offshore - brushing 61 degrees at times lately. It's certainly a few degrees cooler underwater where you guys are chasing fish.

Nate, there is another avid free-diver spearfisher guy who lives in Bird Rock and often swims in from a boat with his gear, and walks home. I usually talk with him on the beach. Anyway, if the current is not ripping, the floating kelp area is like straight SW of Hogan's point out in 50+' of water where the whites were allegedly chillin'.

That is the area where all the bait was concentrated, straight off Bird Rock Ave. Its no secret .... last Sunday there were like 20 boats all drifting outside that area for bottom fish.

The buoy forecast is showing some surf for the weekend, but I should be heading out on Sunday mid AM to that area if kayakers want to join up for light tackle rockfish, send me an email at Larry@LarryL.com . 20#spectra and light bass gear fishing 120'. Blast.

:cheers1:

Larry,

I know a handful of guys that are spearos that live in the Bird Rock area. I know a guy that "swims home". Did that guy tell you he saw the fish?

BTW, where is Hogan's point relative to Bird Rock? I'm not familiar with that land mark.

No.
 

There are no WSb at Bird Rock, or any where close to Bird rock.Maybe up at Torrey Pines you could fing a few.
No posts, no pictures= no crowd:doh:

Freediver, everyone knows that *most* of the white seabass hang out in the canyon up by the point anyway, and, the rest mostly in North County. (Now I will get hate mail from North County.) Sheesh. I've never caught a decent WSB south of the Seal Pool.

I don't know what I'm talking about, hence, I clearly can't be giving anything away. You must know something that I don't .... its posts like that which really get people's attention. You've got mine, so, please tell us more.

Any reports of mine, "hearing that someone may have seen one WSB" are "alleged", and, I will deny all knowledge of said statement on the witness stand. Arne will represent me. :arne1:


Regarding S La Jolla, even on the most crowded day, there seems to be no one around. It can be lonely, and, dangerous. Spectacularly dangerous. Bird Rock reefs are crappy surf spots too. : )

BC, I apologize. I did dive the Bird Rock area on Tuesday. My post was to hint that there were some fish there. I had my riffe stolen a few months ago so I was shooting my back up AB 60:( . I missed an easy shot at a female. Guess I need to do some target practice because it definitely shoots sloopy.

I understand Freediver's sentiment. You guys have to know that there are lots of freedivers that lurk on this website to see what you kayak fishermen are saying. I know freedivers as far as LA and the SF Bay Area are using this website to keep tabs on LJ and when the WSB start showing on your reports. Which is why I PM'd Larry with my questions, but guess he didn't see it.

So freediver, did you go out on a boat or from shore? How deep were you when you saw the fish? PM me if you'd like. :D

I am Farly new to this board.......when I fished in Monterey and Big Sur it was for shallow water rock fish. It was a lot colder up north! we (norcal board) fished for Lings, vermilion,cabozon etc. White sea bass you would hear of but few and between. Halibut Fishing turned out really good! oh well what I am saying as well the vermilion (reds) are quite tasty......you are hearing from a top level chef! can't wait to get out there and get Yellow tail and white sea bass those are high on my to do list:D

Chefstefano

how bye the way I did grow up in this area;)

I was on my kayak, a blue P13. I actually planned on diving the kelp around the point, but moved along further south. I was in about 50 -60 feet of water. I tied up to some kelp that was standing straight up. Lots of jumbo macks in the area. I saw a total of three fish, first one was a big. Really big. I was already in the water pulling the kayak to a better mat of kelp and was looking down and saw it.No chance for a shot. It was about 10 ft down with a male. I tied up again and on the first dive I saw a female at about 20 ft(depth) to the left. Missed the shot. Went back up, loaded again. Dove two more times and saw her again about 15 yards where I missed her, I'm certain it was the same fish. Couldn't get lined up and she spooked.

Sweet. Thanks for the report Free Diver.

www.maps.google.com; "100 Bird Rock Ave, San Diego, CA 92037"

Then go straight West, Young Man.
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