LJ Reds and almost Ling 8/12

[The pelican]

Originally Posted by ultimatejay

My friend and I went to La Jolla last month when everyone said it was slow. My 10 year old son and I caught 4 yellowtail that day and my friend who was fishing right next to me didn't catch anything. Only difference was I was using mono top shot with flouro leader and he was using braid with flouro leader. You be the judge 😉

It sounds like you're mistaken but I'd recommend doing whatever you think works best for you and gives you the most confidence on the water. A 4 yellowtail day is a great day at La Jolla but there are many people on this forum who've had many days like that or better. It can take a long time to draw conclusions about what works and what doesn't. Be careful about reading too much into one day on the water.

I fish braid to flouro near kelp and have caught plenty of yellowtail and not found them to be turned off by the braided line that consistently allows me to cut fish out of the kelp. Braided line also lets me feel the bait much better. I can sense when it's nervous and know a few seconds before I get bit (more often than not). Those are two big advantages when it comes to hooking and landing these fish.

In the wintertime mono works great in open water when dropping irons, for example. You can pull way harder, don't need to cut kelp, and don't need to feel a bait swimming.

I'm not trying to be a jerk but there are a lot of factors that could account for the reason you caught fish and your buddy didn't on one day. The first thing that comes to mind is luck. What are the chances that a coin toss comes up either heads 4 times in a row or tails 4 times in a row? It's 1 in 8 that you or your friend would have caught all 4 of the fish on that day. Your sample size is so small that even if you're right about the exact same presentation, it's not smart to come to any conclusion.

It's also possible that you think your presentation was the same as your friend's but it wasn't. The really successful guys on the water do many small things that might not be noticeable to most of us. Those small things add up to a big advantage.

A friend and I fished a kelp about 10 miles off LJ on my boat a couple weeks ago. We used the exact same set-up and bait. I caught 3 dorado and he caught none. I only tell this story to (a) brag on a kayak site that I have a boat, (b) rub it in your face that there are quality dorado just outside of kayak range, (c) find an excuse to tell you about fish I've caught and (d) to immediately contradict my coin toss example and tell everyone on the site that I have more skill than my friend who used the EXACT SAME SETUP and caught nothing.

It sounds like you had a great day at La Jolla and maybe you're reading into it a bit much. Just trying to be helpful and steer the OP away from what I consider misguided advice. If the guy finally puts the pieces together and gets slammed by that yellowtail he's been targeting, but loses it in the kelp, he's going to be rightfully bummed.

I won't beat a dead horse any longer.