La Jolla 7/7/7

We arrived in La Jolla about noon on Friday and after a burger we went down to the beach and checked out the launch.  We spoke to a few locals including some of the guys from the Plastic Navy and Jim Salmons and also stopped by OEX and they gave me a free miniature Franco's map of the area.  The launch was 1-3 foot waves at the time but building throughout the afternoon.  The local fishing report was "Slow but lots of bait."  Among the kayak fishers I spoke with and checked out, I only saw one small Thresher (5-foot maybe?) and a barracuda over 3-foot.  I hooked up with my friend Brian and we went to get him a license.  After we got the one day license we looked at the date 7/7/7 figured it would be good luck.

Saturday 5:20 or so we rig up and are on the water before 6.  Launch to small sets of small waves up to 1.5 feet warm 68.4 degree water shorts and chafe guard plus sun shirt, nice.  We paddled past the reserve and I made bait and set up Brian with a live one while I continued to fill the bait tube with sardines and mackerel.  Once we had eight or so I dropped one in too and we proceeded to the outside of the kelp beds among lost of fishing boats and kayaks of all types.  We felt like we were in the best spot to catch fish as many times there were schools of sardines jumping out of the water simultaneously in the same direction right past us and our bait.  At times bait was on the surface all around us.  We found that the mackerel were much hardier than the sardines and lasted much longer.  We had a few bites but only one really shredded mack to show for it.  We saw a few fish caught by pbs(two barracuda and one small WSB).  We were able to catch bait pretty much at will.  We saw cool dolphin and jelly fish. And we did not catch any fish.

The landing was fun. like surf landing on a kayak freeway with tourist standing around in the middle of it all.  I found myself close to the breakers in a fairly large set so I spun around and rode it out backward until a smaller break came when I spun again and landed forward.  It had been a long but fun day and I will do it again one day.  The next morning after body surfing with the family, I went over to talk to the southern kayak fishing brothers and while the bite  was still slow, one guy had a 25-30 lb yellow tail.  I can not believe now that I did not take a photo of it.

Anyway, here are a few photos.  I recommend fishing here even though the bite was off.  The scenery both on the water and on the beach  are spectacular.  And fishing in warm water is really great.

 

  Looks like fun, Nice try

Thanks for the report.  Sorry you didn't hook into anything.  La Jolla sure is a beautiful place, I'm hoping to make it back down there soon.

Nice report. Sounds like you had fun.

Thnx for the pics&port sackyak.  That TERRORIZED BAIT looks like IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!   ....and can't beat those NICE LOOKING CONDITIONS and warm water?! 

That TERRORIZED BAIT looks like IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!

No doubt! Might try having a sliding mooching rig and have the second hook just under the dorsal fin of the mack for those tail biters.

Looks like a great time sakyak!! And the warm water and weather.. so jealous!

Z

Thanks for the report! Now that I've gotten the chance to fight a YT, I'd love to go back there and try to catch a bigger one  Those efers can put up a phenom fight 

It's amazing how much bait thay have there 

great report!

isnt it ironic that they can drive their trucks on the beach and launch, while in Santa Cruz you are not even allowed to hand launch a kayak?  How ever do they manage with all those injured swimmers with kayaks impaled in them?