Easy catches in the La Jolla kelp?

[jbm]

Originally Posted by Willy

The way I got started, and getting my comfort out in LJ was to bring out large mouth bass weight equipment, and fish for Calico bass in the kelp.

Pound for pound, a Calico can be one of the best fighting fish out there, especially when caught on lighter equipment.

You can fish the kelp line, or inside the kelp in the sunrooms for them, using live mait or lures. I've had especially good luck using soft plastics.

If you hit up the edges of the kelpline, you can still let out a live bait on flyline in case that hungry yellow swims by.

Willy

By soft plastics, do you mean something like Big Hammer swimbaits? I have those. Do you fish the bottom for Calicos? If you're fishing the bottom with a swimbait, how do you handle the retrieve?


I went out yesterday, it was pretty exciting seeing the bait jumping all around me. I actually saw a pair of yellowtail swim under my boat. Then the sea lions started coming to surface, and I think they were the ones scaring the bait.

The beach got pretty interesting once it hit high tide and the swell increased. It was a shore pound giving all the renters a wet sandy return to shore.