Dana Thursday
 

Hit Dana Thursday at 6am. Glassy conditions with no wind. Caught a few big macs near the harbour mouth and trolled north for a while. No bites. Threw some plastics around the red marker and big boiler rock for 4 calicos.
Lots of small bait around but not a lot going on (at least for me). Not much kelp on surface. Swell was a bit lumpy and coming from all directions. Sun started to bake and wind picked up around noon. Off the water by 1. A few other guys out but didn't get close enough to see how they did. Always good to be out there.

Why does the wind and chop always hit on weekends?!!! Arggghhhh.. Fished mouth and then out to Headlands Today 8/20 In water 6:30 picked up a scoop of dines. All I had was a small WSB. Water was 64, probably why marina was actually dead Paddled right up to bait barge at 6:30. Oh well, at least I didn't get skunked! Off water by 11:30

The weather has been this way all summer. I told a retired neighbor to watch it's nice during the workweeks and windy on the weekends. He said no way, but then played attention for months and now he says I was right.

Anyway, last weekend I was out in the wind. Lots of 6"-7" Macs closer to the beaches and bigger 11"-12" Macs further out but not as abundant. I was stoked, caught my first Bonito of the summer near the harbor mouth trolling a waxwing even though the water cooled down to 68°. Was hoping for more Bonito tomorrow but water dropped again to 64°? That's gonna hurt fishing for sure.

Today I caught 4 little bonito on my sabiki at the same time. What a tangled up mess that was! I could see a big school of them on my FF. Water temp was 66 degrees.

Didn't see any Bonito on Thursday. Too bad. The big ones are fun on light tackle. Just big macs and heaps of smalller bait. Around 5 to 6 in. Not sure what they were as I didn't have a sabiki. Used a 1/2 oz hopkins with a single hook to make bait. Probably why I only got the larger macs. Big bait, big fish. At least that's what I was hoping for. Oh well. If wishes were fishes.

Macs don't count as skunk beaters?

No more than sand crabs, right? Aren't macs the sand crab of kayak fishing?

I believe that macs over 10 in. are officially recognized by the IFGA as skunk beaters.:D

since I will eat the occasional mackerel I am never skunked if I can bait

Seldom Skunked
 

I'm of a mind that if it makes my pole bend and is not some inanimate object like kelp or a rock or Grandma's combat boot, it gives me the thrill of the bite and the "I wonder what's at the other end", then I have not been skunked. I caught my first WSB yesterday, but it was only 22" so I had to release it, which meant I could not eat it. But I was stoked at catching it! You all can have whatever you want as a definition of "skunked". I am perfectly happy with mine.

Perhaps you mean Sand Dabs? Those things don't count as skunk beaters! They're bait stealers IMO.

On 2lb line class they make screaming drag runs!

Yep, water down to 63.5° this afternoon and windy. Lizards, baby Croakers, and Macs on the Sabiki. Battled the wind for nothing else.

Nope, Sand Crabs. I was comparing a sand crab to a mackerel as an important bait item; My roots are in surf fishing. I could see someone not counting a fish they caught to be used as bait.

True. I tend to base a fish's worth based on the fight they give.

Ditto

I like a good fight but I think edibility us just as important. So if I catch a mess of sand dabs I'm a happy camper, the same with rock fish. If I catch a halilbut that is keeper size I am happy. As a matter of fact, just fishing makes me happy.

I'm with you...

Agreed. If I can go home with a meal and had fun then I'm a happy camper.

X2

What were you using to troll with for those macs at the harbor mouth? Only thing I can ever hook up there at that spot are leopard sharks lol

They are still there. I was out by harbor mouth on 8/25 and used the sabiki to catch 25-30 7" macs, a doz 10-12" macs, and 4 Bonita. Getting a start on some lobster bait! Going out tomorrow for some more.

mmmmm lobster.