LJ Shores 6/12 - Fish Catching Report (a first!)

[DDS]

Launched 5:20am to heavy surf. Checked SurfLine ahead of time and it said 1-2 feet expected yesterday - way off - like someone posted for Sunday, the surf was actually 3-4 feet with some 5-6 foot rollers in tight succession.
Got lucky on launch and timed things well - took a couple to the chest but got through without a yard sale.

Caught some spanish on a sabaki and filled the bait tank with about 8 good sized...followed the bait tank thread closely on BWE recently as my bait tank has been giving me problems lately - got a longer intake for the PA14, fresh charge on battery, disassembled and cleared pump - things started off great and it worked well for 3 hours and then stopped pulling in water successfully - looks like time for a new battery. Thanks to all those that posted fixes and helped diagnose bait tank problems in the other thread.

Looked back in bait tank after 3 hours and saw 3 live spanish in 3 inches of water and 3 dead ones - Not happy with the bait tank but hooked up two fish - one on dropper loop and one on fly line about 10:20am on a Owner 2/0 light mutu hook with 15 foot 25lb Seaguer Pink Leader tied with Seaguar knot to 50 lb braid.

Fly line got hit hard about 10:30 in 80ft of water (temp was 67). Good fight, those YT pull like a freight train... not much experience with fighting a decent size fish on a kayak and learned a few lessons...lucky to land it as rats nested my line while trying to gaff and ended up just putting the rod down and old man and the sea style hand lining the last 10 feet straight onto the boat after hearing a few sea lion air pops close by (lost my only other hook up with a YT last year to a seal lion and didn't want to go through that again). Will not be using the light mutu anymore, hook was bent pretty significantly upon inspection after landing the fish - need a regular or super - went with a smaller hook after having no luck catching fish with larger ones - YT measured in at 38".

Fished another 45 min - hit a kelp paddy or two holding some small YT (6"-12") but no further good luck. Landed around 11:30 to heavy surf - thought I timed it correctly until a surf kayaker paddling out while I was paddling in yelled "there is a huge wave coming up on you" - turned to see a 5-6' wave and made a valiant effort but ended up spilling - luckily all lashed and leashed and didn't lose anything.

So no longer skunked, which feels good. Fish tasted great, but if I'm going to keep catching fish I better bone up on my filet skills...

Thanks to all those who have given advice on this forum and those who were willing to answer questions on the beach over the last couple of years...

[sdmosch]

Congrats!

[Aaron&Julie]

WTG on the yellow. I have a feeling you meant the kelp paddy was holding 6-12lbers not 6-12 inch yellows

[GTboosted]

Hell yeah. Thats how to do it!

Time to update your sig....

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by DDS

looks like time for a new battery.

I was shopping for replacement batteries a few days ago. Bought a 12v for my FF and have these 6v bait tank batteries on my wishlist:
$21 each or 2 for $30.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FNXBTRC...=2YZUX7Z3NHYA3


Nice fish. Congratulations!

Good to hear you got back in safely. It's been rough out there. I got smashed by a wave on Saturday. Didn't capsize, but it knocked me out of the kayak. Everything was secured and ready, so I did pretty well. Knocked off a rod holder. Lost my Shamwow, LOL.

[jorluivil]

glad you landed one.

As far as gear goes I always go with the heavier stuff, 65lb spectra with 40lb mono/fluoro and I NEVER use hooks that say 'light' anywhere on the packaging, I prefer to not take a chance on losing a big fish. The last big fish that I lost wasn't due to gear failure, it was all Roby's fault. Anyway, congrats and keep putting that time on the water.........it pays off!!

As far as your bait pump goes don't rule out the fact that your actual pump might be going bad, I'm going on my 3rd pump in 8years. If you get a new battery and you're still having issues (short battery life) it's definitely going to be your pump.

[FISH11]

Congrats on getting your first. Now you can update your comments in the signature and post name areas. Like Jorge says, switch out to 65 lb braid and 40 lb fluoro carbon leader. I usually use a leader 7' long. Also the most important use Owner Mutu circle hooks, never anything with the name light. Great job in being tough enough to go out today. I changed my mind after continuously seeing the forecast for Monday and Tuesday on magic seaweed. It had 2-3' and turning to 3-4' with winds going up to 16 mph or higher. The worse part was the intervals 7-8 seconds with the in-between secondary adding to the fun. When I watched the BWE Web Cam on Sunday and Monday the surf looked like 4 seconds apart if not 3 seconds sometimes. I chose to fish all over Mission Bay today, caught and released bunch of potties. Peddled out the Jetty but it was all wind chopped. All I could do all day was to wish the weather didn't suck, so i could have been at LJ. On Saturday morning around 6:15 am I showed up at LJ and with several friend that had arrived before me, we kept looking at the surf, but the real problem was the seas were already wind chopped and looked like a washing machine and that was before the wind was supposed to pick up around 9. I can't remember when the weather window has been this bad for that many days. Nice fish!

[DDS]

Originally Posted by Mr. NiceGuy

I was shopping for replacement batteries a few days ago. Bought a 12v for my FF and have these 6v bait tank batteries on my wishlist:
$21 each or 2 for $30.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FNXBTRC...=2YZUX7Z3NHYA3


Nice fish. Congratulations!

Good to hear you got back in safely. It's been rough out there. I got smashed by a wave on Saturday. Didn't capsize, but it knocked me out of the kayak. Everything was secured and ready, so I did pretty well. Knocked off a rod holder. Lost my Shamwow, LOL.

Not the ShamWow! Oh the humanity! LOL -
Thank you very much for the tip on the batteries...I appreciate it, and thanks for the congrats as well - feels like along time coming, hopefully won't be as long until the next.

[DDS]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

glad you landed one.

As far as gear goes I always go with the heavier stuff, 65lb spectra with 40lb mono/fluoro and I NEVER use hooks that say 'light' anywhere on the packaging, I prefer to not take a chance on losing a big fish. The last big fish that I lost wasn't due to gear failure, it was all Roby's fault. Anyway, congrats and keep putting that time on the water.........it pays off!!

As far as your bait pump goes don't rule out the fact that your actual pump might be going bad, I'm going on my 3rd pump in 8years. If you get a new battery and you're still having issues (short battery life) it's definitely going to be your pump.

Thank you, sounds like it is time to upgrade to some heavier duty hooks/mono/braid - and if the battery doesn't do it, sounds like I'll be shopping for a new pump as well - Do they make a heavier duty replacement for the pump in the hobie bait tank?

[MITCHELL]

Originally Posted by DDS

Launched 5:20am to heavy surf. Checked SurfLine ahead of time and it said 1-2 feet expected yesterday - way off - like someone posted for Sunday, the surf was actually 3-4 feet with some 5-6 foot rollers in tight succession.
Got lucky on launch and timed things well - took a couple to the chest but got through without a yard sale.

Caught some spanish on a sabaki and filled the bait tank with about 8 good sized...followed the bait tank thread closely on BWE recently as my bait tank has been giving me problems lately - got a longer intake for the PA14, fresh charge on battery, disassembled and cleared pump - things started off great and it worked well for 3 hours and then stopped pulling in water successfully - looks like time for a new battery. Thanks to all those that posted fixes and helped diagnose bait tank problems in the other thread.

Looked back in bait tank after 3 hours and saw 3 live spanish in 3 inches of water and 3 dead ones - Not happy with the bait tank but hooked up two fish - one on dropper loop and one on fly line about 10:20am on a Owner 2/0 light mutu hook with 15 foot 25lb Seaguer Pink Leader tied with Seaguar knot to 50 lb braid.

Fly line got hit hard about 10:30 in 80ft of water (temp was 67). Good fight, those YT pull like a freight train... not much experience with fighting a decent size fish on a kayak and learned a few lessons...lucky to land it as rats nested my line while trying to gaff and ended up just putting the rod down and old man and the sea style hand lining the last 10 feet straight onto the boat after hearing a few sea lion air pops close by (lost my only other hook up with a YT last year to a seal lion and didn't want to go through that again). Will not be using the light mutu anymore, hook was bent pretty significantly upon inspection after landing the fish - need a regular or super - went with a smaller hook after having no luck catching fish with larger ones - YT measured in at 38".

Fished another 45 min - hit a kelp paddy or two holding some small YT (6"-12") but no further good luck. Landed around 11:30 to heavy surf - thought I timed it correctly until a surf kayaker paddling out while I was paddling in yelled "there is a huge wave coming up on you" - turned to see a 5-6' wave and made a valiant effort but ended up spilling - luckily all lashed and leashed and didn't lose anything.

So no longer skunked, which feels good. Fish tasted great, but if I'm going to keep catching fish I better bone up on my filet skills...

Thanks to all those who have given advice on this forum and those who were willing to answer questions on the beach over the last couple of years...

If you look at that wall to the right of the Marine room and see white rollers going down it, it's going to be rough going into the launch.lean from your mistakes so you don't loose gear or injury your self.

[DDS]

Originally Posted by FISH11

Congrats on getting your first. Now you can update your comments in the signature and post name areas. Like Jorge says, switch out to 65 lb braid and 40 lb fluoro carbon leader. I usually use a leader 7' long. Also the most important use Owner Mutu circle hooks, never anything with the name light. Great job in being tough enough to go out today. I changed my mind after continuously seeing the forecast for Monday and Tuesday on magic seaweed. It had 2-3' and turning to 3-4' with winds going up to 16 mph or higher. The worse part was the intervals 7-8 seconds with the in-between secondary adding to the fun. When I watched the BWE Web Cam on Sunday and Monday the surf looked like 4 seconds apart if not 3 seconds sometimes. I chose to fish all over Mission Bay today, caught and released bunch of potties. Peddled out the Jetty but it was all wind chopped. All I could do all day was to wish the weather didn't suck, so i could have been at LJ. On Saturday morning around 6:15 am I showed up at LJ and with several friend that had arrived before me, we kept looking at the surf, but the real problem was the seas were already wind chopped and looked like a washing machine and that was before the wind was supposed to pick up around 9. I can't remember when the weather window has been this bad for that many days. Nice fish!

Sounds like you had better info than me on the surf...once I was up and rolling I figured I'd try to make a day of it despite the surf...The only time I was really nervous was by the pier - big rollers near big wood pillars is un-nerving...
Sounds like you made it a great day on the bay instead -
Once I was out there the seas weren't too bad, the wind died down a bit after the sun got up in the sky a bit more...around 9:30 it settled for about an hour but go going again around 11...wind seemed to switch directions as well from off shore to on shore...
Found the http://www.ownerhooks.com website for hooks as well, been buying some off amazon, but the prices on the owner site seem better - and I love those weighted sabiki basket rigs they have...

[DDS]

Originally Posted by GTboosted

Hell yeah. Thats how to do it!

Time to update your sig....

Done! Felt good deleting that skunk stink off my sig

[Croaker Dave]

Owner 2/0 and 3/0 light mutu circle hooks have done me just fine on

[NICKWORN]

Originally Posted by Mr. NiceGuy

I was shopping for replacement batteries a few days ago. Bought a 12v for my FF and have these 6v bait tank batteries on my wishlist:
$21 each or 2 for $30.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FNXBTRC...=2YZUX7Z3NHYA3


Nice fish. Congratulations!

Good to hear you got back in safely. It's been rough out there. I got smashed by a wave on Saturday. Didn't capsize, but it knocked me out of the kayak. Everything was secured and ready, so I did pretty well. Knocked off a rod holder. Lost my Shamwow, LOL.

I believe those are to wide for the hobie bait tank, the length is fine but I think the width will make the hood flex up, could work though but won't be flush like normal.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by NICKWORN

I believe those are to wide for the hobie bait tank, the length is fine but I think the width will make the hood flex up, could work though but won't be flush like normal.

Thanks for the heads up, but I think they are the same. I just measured.

ExpertPower 6v (link) is 5.9 x 1.9 x 3.7 inches
My own Remco brand 6v I got from Hobie: 5.9 x 1.9 x 3.7 inches

The 12v is a different size, but the same as my 12v. It's 1/2" thicker in the width.
5.9 x 2.5 x 3.7 inches
The 12v I'm previously using for my Lowrance FF before ExpertPower is called DiaMec. I use it in a size-specific plastic battery holder from Hobie that hangs in the lid of my rear hatch.

All three of these brands look like clones of the same batteries, same specs.

I know Hobie likes to change things a little to force customer loyalty upon us and jack prices up 3x, but in this case I think they use a standard size battery without a Hobie brand design monopoly.

For anyone buying a battery, please verify for yourselves. There are other batteries with different amps that are different sizes.

[FullFlavorPike]

Congratulations. Did you get a weight?

[DDS]

I did not get a weight...wife would have killed me walking that bleeding fish through the house looking for the bathroom scale - just one more amazon purchase solved that problem...found a good scale on amazon - prime! should be here before the weekend...
I'm betting it was around 20-25 lbs...or 55(!?!), yeah that it, that's the ticket

[SLYAKER]

nice catch!... im gunna try and get out next week maybe Monday and test my tank again to see if it works. not feeling too good about it tho. hopefully i wont have a ton of problems with it dont want to deal with getting it fix from the shop or hobie, damn thing is brand new!!

[blitzburgh]

Nice feeeesh!

[JohnMckroidJr]

Congratulations on breaking the skunk ! I have had similar frustrations with live well intakes failing due to the battery getting low. To help reduce battery usage, fill the well manually with the pump capped off until the well is full of bait, or use an aerator for two or three baits, and only use the intake pump when you have a full well. Some guys in my area just use 2 D battery aerator pumps and always keep the intake capped to prevent what happened to you. Some guys put a check valve on the intake, but have found that to hurt the water flow.