Did a solo trip in La Jolla yesterday. I showed up later than most, which made for tough parking, but unloading gear without a headlamp was nice. The surf was less than a foot which made for a super easy launch.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013991796_295af76e59_c.jpg)
I finally figured out how to turn contour lines on my fish finder map, which meant I could actually plan out where I wanted to go. My plan was to bottom fish in 300 ft to try to get a squarespot rockfish for my lifelist, so I dropped a waypoint a few miles away and started paddling.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013386328_2379483256_c.jpg)
Unsurprisingly, the bottom there didn't have any structure, but it was more of a proof of concept than anything, so I dropped pieces of squid down to see if I could pull something up. Right away I had small savage bites, and I started pulling up sanddabs. The first one was a longfin, which is a new species for me!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013914261_ec9de41932_c.jpg)
Proof of my 300 ft sanddab fishing:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013915451_2dcc05808b_c.jpg)
I caught a few that were big enough to keep and stashed them in a walmart bag in the shade.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013914576_1fa8906a6d_c.jpg)
While I was out there I had some juvenile fish use my kayak for shelter. Pretty sure they were halfmoons. They enjoyed chopped up squid tentacles.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013385698_2a6cdef3c9_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49014117302_9967c406e9_c.jpg)
A few dink rockfish were mixed in as well. Here's a halfbanded and a blue.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013914981_7592a529c3_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49014117127_8d28524e61_c.jpg)
For the remainder of the day I paddled over to the 150 ft to 75 ft deep area near the kelp where most of the boats fish. I had a genuine shot at a mako that was finning near me, but I whiffed and missed my chance. Caught some more variety from the bottom including copper rockfish, gopher rockfish, kelp rockfish, scorpionfish, whitefish, and mackerel.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013914446_b09f993547_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013385073_5e500f211d_c.jpg)
This guy ate both my baits:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013384878_905f131084_c.jpg)
Here's the the route for the day.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49014136832_524a2306dc_c.jpg)
miles: 10.09
hours: 6:51
And the fish that came home:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013458118_460b0a329c_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49013986426_3d5ddc8380_c.jpg)
I take a lot of pictures. :D
Hell of a yak journey Ben! You missed some great piles though after seeing your journey.
Great bunch of fish and even better looking bags of groceries!
: Latimeria November 05, 2019, 06:22:35 p
Hell of a yak journey Ben! You missed some great piles though after seeing your journey.
I can definitely plan out a more strategic route for the next trip. Google maps satellite view shows some interesting spots that might hold fish.
Very cool indeed, awesome photography..........