Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge  

Go Back   Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge > Kayak Fishing Forum - Message Board > Kayak Fishing Reports

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-10-2018, 07:52 PM   #1
DDS
Finally landed one
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Diego
Posts: 35
Fishing Report La Jolla May 9th plus a sonar question

Haven't seen too many reports lately so I thought I'd add one....

Late start - 7:30 am on water. Parking pretty easy.
Waves were 2-4 feet with close frequency...thought I timed my launch better - then took to bow breakers to the chest...got a bit worried as the PA 14 totally filled with water and started to list to the side...thankfully drained from the footwell and made it out before the next set came in....

Phrase of the day was Tuna Crab...everywhere....

Had a tougher than usually time making bait. Tried to get away from Tuna Crab so went out deeper and a very ambitious sand bass got the only bait I had left after the dogs took a few fly liners.

Headed in and spoke with a few other boaters...couple kayaks were skunked, one power boater had a keeper halibut.

Headed in about 11:30 am having pulled in two Sand Bass that were not keepers. The larger of the two Sand Bass puked up a Tuna Crab while I was trying to get the hook out - so even they were stuffed....

Thank you to the gentleman who extended my day by an hour by giving me a few extra greenbacks before he headed in - extra karma points to you...

Question on Sonar - the first two images - am I reading those right that there is just a blanket of Tuna Crab hanging above the sea floor suspend about 20 feet vertically?

Second sonar question - in the last image on the lower right side...is that a big old white sea bass just taunting me?

Is it worth heading out there trying to fish when the Tuna Crab are this thick?Do the game fish even go for our fly lines or irons if they are stuffed to the gills with Crab?

Hope to head out again tomorrow AM (Friday - La Jolla Shores) after dropping the kids off at school - don't know if any of you fishing masters can share any tips or wisdom on the sonar images or successfully catching game fish when there is tuna crab everywhere....
Thanks for any tips....
Attached Images
   
__________________
2014 Hobie Tandem Island (to fish with the kids)
2017 Hobie Pro Angler 14 (for solo missions)
DDS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2018, 06:09 AM   #2
YakDout
Brandon
 
YakDout's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: San Diego
Posts: 2,345
That is definitely a nice fish in the third shot. Hard to say what it is.
YakDout is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2018, 07:45 AM   #3
Caseym
Senior Member
 
Caseym's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Temecula
Posts: 194
I would say Yes to the Tuna Crab in the meter. In the past when the water is stuffed through the whole column, i have messed with my gain and found that the higher sensitivity settings pick them up all the way to the bottom, only when i turned it way down (50% or lower) did it eliminate the pesky little critters from the screen.
Theres always give and take with these meters....errr I mean fish finders!
Caseym is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2018, 03:25 PM   #4
Ggiannig89
Senior Member
 
Ggiannig89's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: El Cajon
Posts: 512
From your questions and lack of responses I’m led to believe that people are just as inexperienced as me when it comes to reading a fish finder. I would assume the same thing as you with what the pictures look like.
Ggiannig89 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2018, 06:57 PM   #5
exfactor
Junior
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 20
When you learn that the meter only shows you whats there, and doesn't mean that anything will happen from what you see, you'll slowly start piecing together how every day you put your bait down, only sometimes does anything happen when you do! I've learned that if i just use my meter to find bottom, and bait, the rest just takes care of itself
exfactor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2018, 12:38 AM   #6
fourtogo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 139
Fish finder meter

Entertainment till excitement happens .
fourtogo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2018, 10:15 AM   #7
seck66
Junior
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Diego, on a good day west of shore
Posts: 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by exfactor View Post
When you learn that the meter only shows you whats there, and doesn't mean that anything will happen from what you see, you'll slowly start piecing together how every day you put your bait down, only sometimes does anything happen when you do! I've learned that if i just use my meter to find bottom, and bait, the rest just takes care of itself
Agreed. I also like it to help me know when I've cleared the kelp. It took a little while to learn the difference between kelp and a bait cloud. The obvious difference is bait isn't attached to the bottom.
seck66 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2018, 06:30 PM   #8
vincentek9
MAYNEE-YAK
 
vincentek9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: So Cal
Posts: 531
first 2 pictures definitely look like a big cloud of red crab.
third picture looks like a big something. i might even go as far as to say it looks like a solid seal.
lower part of third image looks like you were trying to bounce a bait and you were working it up.

my FF is used mainly for these reasons
50% find structure (rocks, kelp, wrecks, etc.)
40% find bait
10% actually look for big fish (fishing kelp paddies and under dolphins)

if i had to say the ratio of seeing good marks vs getting the hookup, i'd put it at a pretty low number. as Fourtogo said, entertainment till excitement happens.
__________________
vincentek9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2018, 07:06 PM   #9
Ddwineguy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: san diego
Posts: 210
Quote:
Originally Posted by DDS View Post
Haven't seen too many reports lately so I thought I'd add one....



Late start - 7:30 am on water. Parking pretty easy.

Waves were 2-4 feet with close frequency...thought I timed my launch better - then took to bow breakers to the chest...got a bit worried as the PA 14 totally filled with water and started to list to the side...thankfully drained from the footwell and made it out before the next set came in....



Phrase of the day was Tuna Crab...everywhere....



Had a tougher than usually time making bait. Tried to get away from Tuna Crab so went out deeper and a very ambitious sand bass got the only bait I had left after the dogs took a few fly liners.



Headed in and spoke with a few other boaters...couple kayaks were skunked, one power boater had a keeper halibut.



Headed in about 11:30 am having pulled in two Sand Bass that were not keepers. The larger of the two Sand Bass puked up a Tuna Crab while I was trying to get the hook out - so even they were stuffed....



Thank you to the gentleman who extended my day by an hour by giving me a few extra greenbacks before he headed in - extra karma points to you...



Question on Sonar - the first two images - am I reading those right that there is just a blanket of Tuna Crab hanging above the sea floor suspend about 20 feet vertically?



Second sonar question - in the last image on the lower right side...is that a big old white sea bass just taunting me?



Is it worth heading out there trying to fish when the Tuna Crab are this thick?Do the game fish even go for our fly lines or irons if they are stuffed to the gills with Crab?



Hope to head out again tomorrow AM (Friday - La Jolla Shores) after dropping the kids off at school - don't know if any of you fishing masters can share any tips or wisdom on the sonar images or successfully catching game fish when there is tuna crab everywhere....

Thanks for any tips....


Hi, I’m the guy in the hobie compass that gave you my bait on the way in. Sounds exactly like my day out there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ddwineguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2018, 12:51 AM   #10
TJones
Senior Member
 
TJones's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,522
Dont eliminate the possibility

Of it being a shark. Possibly a thresher. White Sea bass will appear distinctively because of there large air bladder and have a worm like shape. What kind of unit are you running ? Transducer? Your structure scan is pretty kool. Thanks for report.
TJones is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2018, 09:20 PM   #11
DDS
Finally landed one
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Diego
Posts: 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ddwineguy View Post
Hi, I’m the guy in the hobie compass that gave you my bait on the way in. Sounds exactly like my day out there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks Again!
Appreciate the bait on the tips on the regs....

Went back out on Friday - no bueno - white caps, swells, easier bait, no fish.
__________________
2014 Hobie Tandem Island (to fish with the kids)
2017 Hobie Pro Angler 14 (for solo missions)
DDS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2018, 09:27 PM   #12
DDS
Finally landed one
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Diego
Posts: 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by TJones View Post
Of it being a shark. Possibly a thresher. White Sea bass will appear distinctively because of there large air bladder and have a worm like shape. What kind of unit are you running ? Transducer? Your structure scan is pretty kool. Thanks for report.
Thank you very much for the insight...just getting used to the new unit and trying to learn as much as possible about how to read the results...I hadn't thought of shark as a possibility....Good to learn the differences on the sonar of the different larger animals down below...

Unit is a RayMarine Axiom with RV-100 All in One transducer on a berleypro mount. So far so good. Learning the 3d scan...definitely gives me something interesting to look at while waiting for a hook up.
__________________
2014 Hobie Tandem Island (to fish with the kids)
2017 Hobie Pro Angler 14 (for solo missions)
DDS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2018, 09:28 PM   #13
DDS
Finally landed one
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Diego
Posts: 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by seck66 View Post
Agreed. I also like it to help me know when I've cleared the kelp. It took a little while to learn the difference between kelp and a bait cloud. The obvious difference is bait isn't attached to the bottom.
That has been the best use of my sonar so far...nice to be able to drop a bait near the bottom without worrying about it continually getting fouled in the kelp.
__________________
2014 Hobie Tandem Island (to fish with the kids)
2017 Hobie Pro Angler 14 (for solo missions)
DDS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2018, 09:34 PM   #14
DDS
Finally landed one
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Diego
Posts: 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by exfactor View Post
When you learn that the meter only shows you whats there, and doesn't mean that anything will happen from what you see, you'll slowly start piecing together how every day you put your bait down, only sometimes does anything happen when you do! I've learned that if i just use my meter to find bottom, and bait, the rest just takes care of itself
Very Zen Wisdom...always good to keep perspective...gets difficult when the sabiki rig is tangled, the lures get snapped off in kelp and the only thing making my reel sing is the sea dogs poaching my bait...but with time and experience I'm sure the fish will come easier...
Still learning the new sonar (only 2nd day on the water)...so very much in the early phases of learning still. Have not yet achieved much success on the water besides some great exercise and a big money vacuum....but having a great time learning.
__________________
2014 Hobie Tandem Island (to fish with the kids)
2017 Hobie Pro Angler 14 (for solo missions)
DDS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2018, 07:13 AM   #15
JohnMckroidJr
Senior Member
 
JohnMckroidJr's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Fort Lauderdale
Posts: 1,848
Thanks for the report. If you have an older PA, I have found that some window insulation from home depo works wonders to keep water out of the front hatch.
Nice Fishfinder - is that a lowrance carbon unit ? Does the sidescan transducer slowed you down much ? I took my Garmin Echomap 9sv off cause the sidescan transducer was costing me .3-.4kts, and I am already a slow boat PA14.
JohnMckroidJr is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 07:39 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
© 2002 Big Water's Edge. All rights reserved.