I'll actually finish this later.  Just know we stayed away from the crowd and worked the area hard.  What we thought was a 40-50 pound yellow grabbing the rapala turned out to be a 50# BSB!!!!  I was in shock, but my buddy was super stoked as it was his biggest game fish in California!  He's caught 30# flatheads out here and lots of 20-30 pound fish, but weirdly enough, never broken the 50# mark since he doesn't Bat Ray fish.  LOL

I have the pictures, but will leave them out of the AI spotlight.

Long story short and we caught a big BSB, a few halibut and a bass on the 7" deep diving Rapalas.  Totally never would have expected that, but I'll take the strange day over the usual any time!

Is that a nuclear chicken color lure on the first pic?  That right there may be your problem.  lol

Well done boss and glad to read someone else's fishing post.  Forums these days have given way to a quick snapshot on social media and a quick line like "Look how great I am" or "Go get sum" instead of telling the story of the trip.

Damn, I started the post, but I forgot I have a Dr Appt for my shoulder MRI, so I will finish it later.

Fishing was really slow but there was no skunk for the Curmudgeon.





I'll finish the post later today.

Koga and Jeremy are in again this season.  Tim?  $30 to test your NFL luck?

I get down to the bay with hopes of capitalizing on the filling tide.

Water was warm, but pretty dirty with lots of floating grass because of the wind.

Jet skis were on the water early this morning.

90 minutes and only two bites.

11" spotty skunk buster but my shoulder was killing me so I called it quits.

Long week of work ahead of me again. Saving my PTO for fishing and going to find out in a week or two if I need surgery.

Thanks for reading.

If he had a tag number on his wing, I could tell you where it was hatched and raised or if a wild one.  We had a breeding program at the San Diego Zoo and saw them all the time.

Super cool to see in the wild!

Wow, great write up and pictures Jeremy!  I especially loved all the Koga digs you slipped in there as he'll never see it because I question if he even knows how to work a computer.  lol

Bummer about the extra drive and closed MB, but it looks like a trip that I need to do.  Really fun read and thanks!

Your kids are chomping at the bit to get a yellowtail! Don't settle for whitefish!  lol

Quote from: jrodda on August 07, 2026, 07:15:38 PMI've known about the banana trick for years and never ever remembered to bring a banana (at the same time as a knife anyway). Only jealous you got on 'em first. Super cool. Going out tomorrow to a pretty mullet heavy area and I am itching to try this.

Did you try it?  I keep wondering if they were breathing in my bait or actually eating it.

The picture on my phone looked much clearer.  lol

Quote from: sasquatch on August 10, 2026, 09:27:01 AMI knew when my phone dinged you had one. Congrats.

I was hoping you felt that "ding" when I hit send.  lol

Squatch and I planned to hit La Jolla for his birthday trip.  The yellows are big and plentiful right now so what better time than to get out there!  Unfortunately, he came down with a bug the day before and called in sick so it would be a solo trip for me.

First off, I knew there wasn't any real bait at the receivers since the inlet was packed with boats trying to get mackerel.  Basically, plugging up the inlet and it is really annoying.



I run straight to where the fleet has been on them not expecting many boats, but there was still about 20 there already.  I would have figured most would have been offshore, but they appeared to be all over.  I get away from the fleet and was setting up some Rapalas to troll when I looked on the finder and saw one INCREDIBLE sonar mark!  I had no idea what it was and wasn't prepared, but I grabbed the first heavy jig I could get my hand on and pinned it on my heavy bass gear since my jig stick had a surface iron, and this fish was 100 feet down.
The jig was 160-gram Colt Sniper which is HUGE for this rod I'm using, but it all worked and I slung it out and drip 160 feet.
As I was tearing it in, I get slammed, but it didn't stick, so I let it drop and started cranking in fast again and it just stopped... and then started going the opposite direction!  Fish on!

I could tell this was a bigger model even with the bass rod...  5 minutes... losing line.  10 minutes... take line, give line...  15 minutes... I thought I had him and he dumped all of the line I gained.... 20 minutes.... I know he's tiring but so am I, now all death spirals.... 25 minutes and I finally get him to gaff.  Whew....  He hits the deck and the jig literally just pops out like it was barely stuck in him.  Thank goodness I didn't give him any slack the entire fight.




Big girl!  I was guessing in the 28–30-pound range.  (turned out to be 31 on the scale).  This one was much healthier than the old decrepit one I caught a few weeks ago but she still was sort of long and thin.  She was full of eggs and sardine chunks also.  Not sure if it was slurping chum or what but the sardines looked like it was swimming an hour before.

First thing I did was to text Steve the picture...  hehe

By now, it was the bent rod invitational, and I was surrounded by boats.  I crept out of there to get some space and started trolling for more yellows, but I did get a first cast fish so maybe the curse?

I saw fish on my side finder and quickly cast out the little iron and caught some bonito.  I then thought I had weeds on my Rapala, but when I reeled it in, there was also a bonito.  The grass started getting thick, so I made a move to new waters to get away from the cluster.  I work it hard for a few hours for nada and run on some distant spots of fish that all disappeared when I got there.



It was time to head back with the wind kicking up and now the cluster of boats at LJ was about 75+.  The terns were diving all over though and it looked super fishy!  Only issue was it was surrounded by boats that wouldn't even let a kayak into the circle, so I trolled the outer fringes.  BAM, on again!  This one also felt like a monster, but after 5 minutes of the fight (or him stripping line) he pulled the hook.  It almost felt like it was grabbed by something, but I didn't see any sea lion surface with it so I'm not sure what happened.  I texted Squatch to let him know he just lost his birthday Yellow...  Bummer...  lol

Anyways, I trolled for 10 more minutes and the wind and clock forced me off.  I was good though and it was great being out there and seeing some life.  Strike while the iron is hot!

Thanks for reading and until next time. 

That pass is atrocious!

Great seeing another trip up there and yes, I definitely have to go.  BTW, if you want a yellow on the boat, you need to get to LJ!  There are a ton of them around right now!

"Too many things to do and no time to do it" is my motto these days.

It's been 2 years since I caught a local mahi and it's been that long since I made my macadamia nut encrusted mahi-stuffed avocadoes!

Well, I tried a little variation, and it didn't disappoint!

My buddy from Brooklyn called me out of nowhere about a month ago and said he was coming to SoCal with his girlfriend and her kids. Both of them are freshly divorced, and she somehow convinced him to head west. You need to understand, this man is Archie Bunker in every possible way. He's spent years swearing he'd never set foot in California because it was "full of fruits, nuts, and Libs." I figured the only way I'd ever see him again was if I flew back east. So yeah... I'm still shocked they actually came out.

They were only here for six days and planned to cram every tourist attraction into that tiny window. I couldn't believe their schedule when were they planning to sleep? They wanted to do the usual sightseeing when they came down to SD to hang with me for half a day, but I pitched a whale-and-dolphin run on my boat instead. If I was taking the day off work, I'd rather be on the water than stuck in traffic pointing at landmarks. They agreed, and the plan was simple: cruise the coast, find whatever marine mammals we could, then finish at the Barefoot Bar for drinks and lunch.

They're all Italian, which means two things: they love food, and they're always late. So I brought a couple rods, my bay bass setup and a big troller in case I stumbled into pelagics or yellows.

I got there a few hours early to squeeze in some bay bass fishing. I launched the boat, parked the trailer, and spotted a banana peel in the back of my truck. Who the f@ck put that there? I tossed it into a plastic bag, got distracted by a phone call, and—without thinking—brought the bag onto the boat. Great. The curse was officially onboard.



I fished for bass for about an hour and only got two short bites. It looked so good back there, but with time to spare I ran to the bridge hoping for a halibut. No dice.

So I decided to open up the Curmudgeon in the high‑speed zone. Hit 43.8 mph... any more trim and I'd be dolphin‑hopping. Then I saw fish jumping and boiling in the distance. All mullet. And all I had was a swimmy. No chance.

I didn't bring tackle, so I did the classic "Sasquatch" move and searched the boat for random hooks. Found a few rusty big ones and a tiny pack of trout hooks. No bait. Nothing usable. Then I remembered the damn banana. I'd heard rumors about mullet eating banana skin, so I grabbed the gill scissors and figured... why not?

I didn't even have a split shot. Just a small bronze hook tied to 10‑pound. I cut a tiny piece of banana, pinned it on, and cast. It hit the water and—ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ—gone. What the hell? Tried again. Nothing. Third cast—hooked a monster. Got it to the boat, tried flipping it into the livewell to keep the deck clean for my buddy's girlfriend and daughter, and snap... the hook broke.

I tied another and went 3 for 12 on mullet. If they didn't hit within a minute, I'd reel in and recast.

The first two I actually landed were the usual 14‑inch models.



Most just came unbuttoned, but two absolute units broke the hook on their initial runs. Drag was tight, but they were dumping line like crazy.

One even spooled me, so I chased it with the boat to get line back. Scooped its head with the bait net and dropped it into the livewell.

A two‑footer. Absolute tank.



I checked my phone and.... my buddy and his crew were already waiting at the ramp! Time to boogie.

The trip with them was great. We found tons of dolphin and sea lions, and they were fired up. Total success. But honestly? The cherry on top was battling those monster mullet. I still can't believe how powerful they are. Next time I'll bring peas or something else—anything but a banana. That was a total accident, and I'm not risking that curse again.

Until next tide.