La Jolla 8/14-8/15 Report

Short story short. No yellowtail. 3 new species and a 36” halibut. I didn’t see or hear of any yellows caught while I was here either. It sounds like the bite is slow.

I fished out of La Jolla 2 days. The weather was great, the water was ~70 the swell was down and the wind was manageable. Lots of kayak fishermen both days I fished.

I slow trolled mackerel and sardines, deep dropped mackerel and sardines, fast trolled Krocodile spoons and rapalas, jigged with flat falls, and threw swimbaits in the kelp.

Live bait fishing resulted in me feeding the sea lions. Trolling netted me a bunch of small bonito (new species and fiesty. Would love to hook a big one) deep jigging caught me a barred sand bass (another new species) and a 36” halibut. Swimbaits resulted in lots and lots of calico bass (another new kayak species).

Southern California kayak fishing is different than what I’m used to. PA 14’s seem to be the kayak of choice and they seem to be scared to launch in knee high waves  Safety seems to be an afterthought, probably due to the warm water. Rockfishing is done super deep so I didn’t even bother. Calico bass fishing was fun, but really it’s just like the shallow rockfishing we have up north.

I learned a lot about the fishery and plan on coming back soon for another shot!

Hope you get some yellowtails. 

As we are considering to retire to Oceanside within the next 5-8 years. 
I have been interested to take a guided trip for yellowtails, from La Jolla with Kevin Nakada (Sea Samurai), but his not available most of the weekends I am available.

Please let me know how your trip goes.

Paul

I lived in Oceanside (ok Camp Pendleton, but same same) many years ago. My brother is still living and working down there (Coronado Island). I love San Diego and would love to retire there, or maybe nearby across the border. I’ve fished there out of the kayak once, and a bunch of times on charter boats. I can do without most of Southern California, but the docks, boats, and fishing is a totally disconnected world from the rest of SoCal and I love it.

I guess you served in Marine.  I spent 4 years in Navy mostly in the Washington DC area.

I grew up in Santa Monica and most of my family members still live in the LA area.  I would like to retire near the ocean and Oceanside is still priced reasonably compare to Irvine and San Diego.  Also, my wife would like to be a reasonable distance to a major city.

I worked for Uncle Sam in the DC area (Fort Meade) for 7+ years, working closely with a lot of military people.

We lived in San Diego for a short time, and my brother-in-law lives near Del Mar. I've never kayak fished there, but have been to La Jolla shores to observe a few times. Would absolutely love to try San Diego kayak fishing, but somehow never been able to make it happen.

Sadly, my brother-in-law had a severe biking accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. My wife would like to move closer, so we'll probably end up in that area. But, it's hard for me to see it happening before we retire, and that's a ways off in the future.

Anyways, be sure to post some pictures!

I wish I could join you but hope to fish it soon!  Caught my 30 and 35 pound YT last year, around this time, just drifting in 80+ Fow in front of the condo.  I try to flyline my macks so that it swims as deep as possible.  They'll usually bite when you've been trolling all day and stop to take a piss or talking on the phone LOL!  Good luck and let me know if you have any questions! 

Spent 7 years of my life in SD... never kayak fished it though.  BigTuna just moved down there.

Contact Jim Sammons La Jolla Kayak Fishing.  He does guiding, but also great guy he will share info with you. Tell hm you are NCKA.

Bushy

Contact Jim Sammons La Jolla Kayak Fishing.  He does guiding, but also great guy he will share info with you. Tell hm you are NCKA.

Bushy

+1  Jim is also a super good source for fishing baja's east cape.  Super friendly and loaded with info. 

Home base has been established in La Jolla 

Truck won’t fit in the hotel garage with the truck on top so street parking it is. I got a spot a block and a half from the launch so I won’t need to move my truck at all which is nice.

Swam with the leopard sharks this afternoon which I always get a kick out of! (Sorry no pics). I definitely suggest doing it if you’ve ever considered it. Then we played in the surf and laid on the beach for a bit.

Tomorrow will be a fishing day. It will be windier than I would like, but the waves and swell will be down so it should be good out there!

Exciting territory to fish! Looking forward to the ongoing report!

can't wait!

Good luck! Please report.

Have a great catching day.
Waiting for report☺️

Good luck and hope we hear of some YTs catching report