La Jolla Report July 1, 2, 3 and 5

Day1- Launched La Jolla on Friday 7/1 with Glenn of SanDog Kayak Fishing. Also in our group was a couple from Minnesota, who had experience fishing walleye and canoeing, but nothing like this. We easily jigged up medium to large macks, and small Spanish macks. We fished them on top, on the bottom, and mid column. Not even the calicos were interested. It was SLOW. But minuets before the end of our scheduled guided trip hours, Jennifer (from MN) radioed up “Glenn I have a fish and its taking a lot of line”.  As slow as this day had been, I sprinted over to see what was going on. She was in the midst of a proper sleigh ride.
The husband and myself made wide circles around her to view the action, while Glenn and his assistant coached her to land the fish. The fish was so strong there was some discussion weather it was a YT or perhaps a big BSB, but as the bright shiny fish came to color, it was clearly a BIG YT. Glenn gaffed the fish without any problems and a slow day became one to never forget. The fish was not officially weighed or measured, but it looked every bit of 40+ lbs.  We prepared Jennifer for the 15 minuets of fame she was about to experience on the beach.
Day2-4, Highly motivated by yesterday’s eleventh-hour homerun, I launched solo at first light, made bait, and fished on top and one mid depth. Managed a few nice calicos as by catch, but no YT for me. That afternoon Fisherman’s Landing called me to cancel my 1.5 day trip aboard Mustang as the wind had picked up significantly. I was bummed needless to say, but the inshore conditions were still tolerable so I viewed it as an opportunity to yak La Jolla some more.
I fished La Jolla a total of 4 days in a row and did catch a few calicos, but mostly avoided them in search of my YT. Unfortunately that opportunity never presented itself, but the whole experience of fishing new (warm) water was still a total pleasure. Being a part of the impressive fish on day 1 was also quite enjoyable. Maybe next time…

I want to thank ThreemoneyJ and Ex Kayaker for their advice and wisdom. I felt much more prepared due to their sharing of knowledge.  La Jolla is a badass fishery, a beautiful location, and an all around super fun spot. Our house hosts graciously invited us back again soon, so future expeditions are on the table. If you are in the SD area and want to fish La Jolla but need a day of local knowledge to learn the ropes, I highly recommend San Dog. Glenn knows his shit and is fun to fish with.

https://sandogkayakadventures.com/

great pics! Oh man that is a NICE YT. I can see why you were able to tolerate the mustangs cancellation now.

You didn't miss much out on the water....we spent one night southwest of SCI getting the snot kicked out of us with a dozen other boats and high tailed it to mexico around 3 am before it got real nasty.

Glad you got into some action on the beach though, looks like a way better option lol. 

great pics! Oh man that is a NICE YT. I can see why you were able to tolerate the mustangs cancellation now.

It was definitely a disappointment. The wind follows me around I swear. Fishing La Jolla repeatedly was a good fall back plan though.  It would have been fun to go shallow and toss swimbaits for calicos, but I have this incessant drive for big game fishing.  Its a curse; and I love it!   

thanks for the report! that YT is impressive...I may need to make my way down to SD in August - already booked for Lobster Opener

You didn't miss much out on the water....we spent one night southwest of SCI getting the snot kicked out of us with a dozen other boats and high tailed it to mexico around 3 am before it got real nasty.

Glad you got into some action on the beach though, looks like a way better option lol.

Thanks again for the jigs dude.  I will put them in the water eventually! I swear!!! Really appreciate it.

Great report and what a yellow tail! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Brad

thats so awesome. thanks for the recommendation on a guide ill definately look into that next trip down there. I used my brother in laws hobie sport in one of the lagoons down there and im not sure about surf launching that squirrely little thing, did the guide have rental yaks as well?

thats so awesome. thanks for the recommendation on a guide ill definately look into that next trip down there. I used my brother in laws hobie sport in one of the lagoons down there and im not sure about surf launching that squirrely little thing, did the guide have rental yaks as well?

San Dog has a fleet of Hobies. Im not sure how many, but he had the couple in matching boats.  I forget the model, but I dont think they were Revos. One of the newer models I suspect. The La Jolla launch can get pretty tricky I imagine. Conditions were flat and calm on day one, but a S swell was building all week and the breeze picked up.  The waves break at least 20 or 30 yards away from the beach so you have punch through several on your way out, and back paddle through some on your way in too.  Since I paddle a Revo 16, I fully battened down the hatches for landings, by removing/stowing away reels, and securing rods lengthwise down the yak.  Im proud to say I stuck the landing evetime. And a good thing too, there were hundreds of people watching me come in every time.  Nevermind the warm water or the exotic fish, the crowded beach was how I knew I was in SoCal!  

I’m glad you had a good time! And that I was able to give some sort of advice. Usually I just spew rumors and speculation on here  That is such a neat place to fish that the weather and scenery almost make up for not catching (if you don’t catch).