Christmas at La Jolla
 

Since Julie was working I decided to hit La Jolla, to enjoy a day on the water, catch bug-bait, maybe get lucky with the right kind. The first two were easy, like Meatloaf sang...2 out of 3 ain't bad. Only 2 other yakkers out there, and 1 private boater (for a while).
Freezing at the launch at 6:00AM, but I was in a T-shirt in the afternoon.
The usual assortment of company, sea lions (yeah, those bastards), sea gulls, dolphins, pelicans. I hate to think it, but there's a pelican out there with his lower bill at 2 o'clock while his upper is at twelve. It kind of looks like someone may have wrenched it over intentionally, maybe pissed off because the bird dove on his bait or jig. I hate to think someone would intentionally do that, but it had that appearance. I'm all for wiping out the over-abundance of sea lions (or cormorants) like they do when deer populations are too great to be healthy, but to just maim an animal on purpose, well...that's another story.
Here's a couple of shots I took of this beautiful day:

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...e/Goodjump.jpg


http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x.../2dolphins.jpg

looks killer out there.

Freezing at dawn, 70's at noon - I love it!

so whadja catch?

been wanting to ask.......this time of year, how calm is the water in the mornings and how long do you usually stay out? I guess I could get used to the morning freeze as long as it warmed up a little and did not take that long. (that is one reason I had problems when I flipped I guess, I had dressed for the temps and not for the potential of an unexpected swim).

Beautiful pics!

It was nice to meet you Aaron, There was just three of use out there. I stayed tell dark. Even with squid I didn't get nothen except macks all day my self.
It was a beautiful day to be out though. Never seen so many different types of porpoises before.
Wade.

per my original post:

(1) enjoy a day on the water, (2) catch bug-bait, maybe get lucky with the right kind. The first two were easy, like Meatloaf sang...2 out of 3 ain't bad.

So, the correct answer is mackeral.

It was nice meeting you, too, Wade. Didn't want to mention who I ran across. Sometimes the mere mention of a name of who was fishing out there incites people on this website. And my God, you better not report someone other than yourself caught the right kind, with or without including their name, or you'll catch hell from the not-so-silent major Minority.
It was a pleasure talking to you and the other kayaker, at the launch, and/or on the water.

Julie and I tend to stay out 8 hours or more. Sure, we'll head in early, should we catch all we want. Our shortest day was summer before last when we had 2 WSBs each, all 4 over 40lbs, we were done fishing by 7:00AM, after launching about 4:30AM. Some go for only a few hours, to each their own.
This time of year is more unpredicatable than summer, but if you don't mind cold mornings, and occasionally getting wet on launch, you can catch good day time weather, with whales to watch, to boot.

About what the weather, tides and wind, we use these 3 websites, which help greatly in our decisions, and are generally fairly accurate:

For weather today and about 5 days in the future (updated every 10-12 hours), click on the map, where you plan on going, do it again, and again, to pinpoint the exact location you're fishing:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/

For current wind (updated every 10-30 minutes):
http://w9if.net/cgi-bin/torreywx/wx.pl

For tides (not predications, but accurate calculations):
http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/locations/3220.html

We name these on our "Favorites" pull down menu as Weather, Wind and Tides, all you need to know. The tides are important when leaving your kayak at the launch to park or retrieve your vehicle. Too close to waters edge, a rapidly rising tide coulld wash your kayak off of the beach, especially with no one watching after it.

Thanks guys...I've added this post to my favorites to consult whenever the need arises...kudos to you...