LJ: President's Day

[5-20]

Well, I wasn't going to do a write up but after thinking about it, it turned out to be a pretty good day and thought you guys would appreciate the humor in this report.

I woke up late on Monday and initially planned to pull out my tube which I hadn't used in years to fish around the coronado bridge. Was also thinking about just keeping it easy and doing some bank fishing, but around 10am or so, oh man, the day was turning out to be pretty damn beautiful!

After taking a quick look at NOAA, the LJ webcam and Magic Seaweed and seeing that things were looking really good with the incoming tide peaking at 6pm, I quickly scrambled to get my yak stuff together and I probably finally got to LJ a little after noon.

Hadn't gone out of LJ in probably more than 3 weeks and this was the first time I'd do it without being able to drive onto the beach. I wheeled my Outback to the steps closest to LJ shores and noticed there was a pretty good drop.

Now, I have the nice wheeleez beach cart that you're supposed to be able to use to bounce a hobie down stairs and all that, but I did a pretty terrible job at strapping the cart in. I used only one strap instead of two... the ramifications of doing this coming up next.

So, there were like three guys packing up their gear by this access point. Thanks to the dude that helped me lift and place my yak down the steps to the sand. And guess what, I did such a terrible job at lashing the cart on, the cart collapsed after the dude put it down! But man, I got it back on the cart after a few minutes of wrestling with the yak. A cute girl helped me a little bit, too. But since my yak isn't a two seater, I had to bid her farewell and continue on my way.

Oh boy... So, I finally make it to the area closest to la avenida playa and since i hadn't really planned on fishing LJ the night before, I needed to spend a bit of time rigging everything up I thought I'd use while on the water. But man, it was so nice being out in the sun, that was all that really mattered. I'd be out there soon enough, you know.

So, the swell was pretty gentle, but it was sort of bigger than the last time I went out of LJ and since I'm still new to my Outback and how it handles in the surf, I thought I'd better try and rush out past the waves. Well, guess what I did. I put in the mirage drive wrong! And oh boy, I guess that would have been a good time for me to flip right there. But there was a bit of a lull between the waves and while I was just bobbing in the water between the waves. Luckily, I had enough time to pull the mirage drive out and put it back in the right way before the next set came through.

So, while I'm out there making my way to the fish grounds, I notice I can't fill up the bait tank.

And then I'm having more issues with the fish finder. It's not working...

And I'm wondering what's going to happen next........

I try to make a single piece of bait that I can troll while fan casting and I can't even do that.

Beautiful day, but oh boy, I was starting to wonder just a little bit if I should've just stayed home...

So I'm cycling through my baits, trying to experiment with a few approaches. I start throwing a heavy jig... and oh man... I got a NICE BITE FROM A !!!!

And the fish's ripping off drag pretty good. I fought it for probably close to 10 minutes and then I started to get that kind of odd feeling. And sure enough, the fish had run under something.

And that something was pretty sharp. My line went pop!

Nonetheless, pretty stoked to get that bite!!!

I quickly tied another heavy jig on and got another bite, from a rockfish this time. And while I'm reeling it in, it goes under the exact same piece of structure that cut me off and I lose this fish, too!

But you know, it was absolutely beautiful out there. A couple of dive boats, one boat trolling around, saw only one other guy in a yak out there. One of those rare days where it kind of felt like I had the entire area almost to myself.

The swell was starting to mount throughout the afternoon. Nice and easy 5-7 rollers out there past the point. Beautiful looking water. Nice, clear and sort of blueish. Not all churned up from the rain the way I was sort of thinking it would be.

Started on my way back to the launch a little after 4. Fished the kelp on the way back hoping for a nice halibut. No takers.

With the way my day started, I was sort of wondering what would happen on the way back in... but I managed to pull off the landing without any more mishaps!!!

This is the only picture I took that day -- of my frayed leader.

Pretty damn satisfying day all in all!!!

See you guys out there sometime soon.