Surreal indeed Chris... 8)
Got to the beach in the dark. Overcast, but hey – it’s LJ. I met a girl once who said she lived the whole life in CA. She said the coldest town she ever lived in was La Jolla. Most of the year, the Sun comes out over LJ at 1:00 PM.
Made it past the can at gray. No swell no wind to talk about. Warm and clear water. Thick bait close by, spanish and greenies. Lots of life. Picked up a nice sardine and fly-ed for a bonnie. Distraction, but worm up.
Seemed pretty slow for everyone at first. I got lucky and got picked up inside before 7:00 AM. It was in about 70’, right outside all the crazy bait piles… Fought it nice and long, luckily didn’t seem to attract the attention of the dog that passed me by (thanks for the heads up Jim). It must be the dog didn’t have problem inhaling his breakfast – there was an abundance of bait. 21# lamb on board.
Switched to halilamb attack mode – went a bit deeper bouncing Spanish, still flylining greenies (how could you not). Nothing for a while, then around 8:45 AM my bottom rig got slammed … I hardly yanked out the rod out of a holder… Heavy thing on… It felt like I was pulling commercial lobster trap with some headshakes. Lifted it up some than my main freakin' Powerpro spectra snapped someplace in mid column.
Probably BSB, hear reports of it. Still, I would have appreciated an opportunity to meet him and greet him.
Worked that area and got a right kind biter around 9:00AM. Easy transport to the surface, quick gaff, rope job, and pulling gills and all - 22# on the deck. Stoked.
At 9:30 AM all hell broke loose. Birds diving all over, YT boiling like in the pot. Awesome, as good as it gets. Lots of bent rods and happy faces. Picked up 2 more rats and let them live. It was crazy for a good ½ hour
in big area about 70' to 90', inside the NW cornet to ¾. That is at least that I know of - I paddled away as I had to be on land.
Good seeing all the old guard, nice meeting new folks.
One of those unforgettable days fishing LJ.