San Diego Trip, 7/25-8/2

Fellow yak'rs in SD.  I'm heading down there this Saturday, 7/25, and am looking to get on the water Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Anybody up for a NorCal visitor?  Can you recommend some launch spots?  Any organized outings? Last real fish I caught there was a yellowtail.  Not sure if they are that far north yet, but I am hopeful.

Would appreciate any helpful hints.

Tom

My brother lives on Pacific Beach.  He usually launches close to the jetty in Mission Bay.  When I have gone with him we usually catch lots of guitarfish, sharks, calico bass, bonita and hali.  I will call him and see if he plans to fish when you are in SD.  If he is keen I will PM you his number.

Hey Sirius,

Will you be looking for Ocean Fishing or perhaps working the bay?

My buds and I have fished La Jolla and the Sunset cliffs area quite a bit.  Just yesterday we were out off Sunset and my pal J landed a couple of beasty calicos.  Anyway, we launch for that trip on the bay side of South Mission Beach on the sand beach by Mission Point
( http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/missionbay/facilities.shtml ) #7 on this site Map.  From here it takes us about 30 minutes to get to the nearest Sunset Cliffs kelp.  There's kelp forest starting at the Ocean Beach pier and stretching all the way to Point Loma.  We catch a lot of Calicos, Barracuda, Bonito the occasional White Seabass, various rockfish and Yellowtail.  The Calico bite has been on lately and is supposed to get even better.

The La Jolla Kelp is where many of the party boats go and the fishing there last week was pretty good too. 

I suspect Jim Sammons at LJKF would be a font of knowledge for all areas of kayak fishing down here. 

My experience in La Jolla is pretty similar to Sunset Cliffs.  I love fishing the kelp forests and so that's what I do.  There's more open water in the La Jolla area.  There are a lot of big fsh harvested by private fisherman in the area between La Jolla Cove and the Scripps Institute Pier (there's a buoy line that marks the outer edge of the La Jolla underwater preserve.  Make sure you're outside the preserve before you put a line in the water.).  You can launch right off La Jolla Shores.  Make bait outside the preserve.  There's sandy bottom for Halibut and I've caught Leoard Shark, kelp for calicos, barries etc, and the outer edge of the kelp and open water for White Seabass and Yelows.  They've set up a launch area where you can back your truck/car pretty much right up to the high tide line and unload.  Saturdays can be really busy at both places.

In both areas, I throw swimbaits (Fishtraps and MC's) as well as surface and heavy irons.  I've heard many people will troll a magnum Rapalla (green or blue mackerel patterns) or live bait to good success.  Most of my success on yellows has been trolling a live sardine or small mackerel.

For bay fishing there are launches around both bays where you can make an easy entrance.  San Diego Bay's back bay area is supposed to be a fun place to fish (lunch at J Street or Glorietta Bay Park).  I've caught excellent numbers of Spotted Bay Bass and Halibut on grubs or krocodiles.  At the way south end of San Diego Bay, I've heard tales of Bonefish and Corbina both of which would be a kick on light tackle.  There are soft sand beaches in both bays where you could make an easy launch as well. 

The Eel grass beds in both bays would be a great place to target the spotties and the sandy bottom offers halibut and bat rays.  I've caught calicos, needlefish, barracuda, mackerel, white seabass, croacker, corbina and corvina in Mission Bay and I launch as if I was headed to Sunset Cliffs.

I guess after all that, if you're hitting the bays, there are literally 100's of places to put in.  If you're headed to the ocean, the 2 places I launch are Mission Point or La Jolla Shores.

Here's a couple pics of our last trip to Sunset Cliffs.  J's big calico was about 6lbs.  The "small" one was about 4.75lbs.  My big one was about 3.25lbs.  We got about 25 total that day.

Remember too if you're off the water early, the surf bite picks up around sunset.

Polarcat (John Shirk)

Your best bet is to hit la jolla, blacks, or cardiff kelp. Make bait at the pier (review where the reserve is) and head out across the canyon to the point and let out a flylined greenback in 90 feet of water in front of the big white building. That's it ... action can happen at any time. If you can't keep the cuda, cali, or neato off your bait, use a bigger greenback, they still work for fatties. If you're really lazy, good fish can be had in 10 ft to a couple hundred yards right off the pier at the edge of the canyon. You can also deadline iron or troll baja catch style. Unless you use spectra or are a madman, most good fish will be lost in the kelp, but trolling along the kelp line can provide a good mixed bag. Yo-yoing iron can also produce if you don't mind working for it. Drifting live bait on the bottom can get some hali just like anywhere else. The water is warm, have fun.

great shots PolarCat! and way to help out us northern folks.
LJ and the COMIC-CON! are on the list for next year

Great info, folks.  Much appreciated.  Look forward to seeing you all out there.