A good day fishing.....
Sunday July 16,2006
It was a little after Noon and I had planned to do as little as possible today. The wife got a phone call from a friend in L.A. and she decided to go there for a few days. I had heard of this place before, but it didn’t sound like anyplace that I wanted to be (traffic, pollution, noise, etc.). She left around 2:30 and so I looked around the house for something to do. The lawn needed mowing. The weeds were beginning to get taller than the plants. The truck needed to be washed. I think you get the idea. So I loaded up the kayak and went to Ventura Harbor. I got to Marina Park a little before 5:00 but still had to wait for a parking spot. I launched and pedaled (more on this later) out to the breakwater. It was slightly overcast and almost dead calm. I looked inside my tackle box and found an old sabiki rig, so I tied that on first and hooked up a small sinker. After trying to un-snarl the sabiki for about five minutes I tied on a new one and dropped it a few feet. Then I tied up the other pole with some frozen squid and all of a sudden I was fishing. I wasn’t catching anything yet, but I was fishing! After about 15 minutes, I caught a small rockfish about 11 inches and sent him back to the deep. Then I tied on a Storm 4” Shad and started to cast next to the rocks and retrieve real slow so the jig would stay near the bottom. On my second cast I hooked up. Hang on. I HOOKED UP!!! That Calico gave it her all but in the end she was in the yak. 19 inches. Sweet! My day was beginning to get better. I went to get my stringer out of the tackle box and after I couldn’t find it I remembered that last time I went fishing I cleaned it of all things and hung it out to dry. It was still there when I got home, but back to my story. Fortunately I was able to use the leash on my gaff to secure my prize. After I got everything back to normal I pedaled back to the rocks. I tossed my jig into the same place a few times in the hope that the last one had a mate. I didn’t have a problem with decimating that lineage. A few minutes later I hooked up again and this one really pulled hard also. I had to turn the kayak because I was getting pulled into the rocks and another swell was coming. After I pedaled out about 10 yards I reeled in my newest best buddy. It was another Calico about 13 inches. It must have been little sister. I let it have another chance to bite my hook at a later date, but before I let it go I gave it a stern lecture about biting other peoples hooks. I didn’t want Pineapple to find her before I did. The wind started to come up real fast. Before I knew it there were whitecaps and it got harder to fish. Later I lost that jig so I tied on another Storm 4” Bluegill. I hadn’t given up on my honey hole yet though, so I tossed it in. It took 3 casts this time before the man of the house (or honey hole) decided to show me who was boss. He ended up in the yak also. He was 15 inches of angry Calico. He ripped my jig all the way up its back so I had to tie on another shad. I stayed in the area for another half hour or so but the wind was not my friend and it was getting late so I headed in kinda slow and trolled just in case. In my experience, trolling inside the harbor is a waste of time. I wasted my time all the way back to the dock except when I hooked up on some kelp and almost lost my rod because I wasn’t paying attention. I never did catch anything on the sabiki. I kept getting bit on it but when I reeled it in some small mackrel were biting the sinker. All in all it was a pretty good afternoon for a spur of the moment fishing trip. Sorry guys, no pictures. I am kind of electronically challenged but I did take some film pics of them. Maybe someday when I don’t have anything else to do I can figure out how to get my pics from film to disk. Yeah, that could happen. Maybe next Septnever. Anyway, you can find me out there in one of three counties in my red Hobie Mirage with the mirage drive pedal system. This thing really rocks for fishing because you don’t have to put down your rod, just pedal and turn the rudder. On a personal note to Yaksailor, I also have a sail but the only time I used it I capsized outside the breakwater and decided to leave that sort of thing to someone who is not as challenged as myself. Maybe you could help me. Lord knows I can’t help myself most of the time. Until next time, See Ya!
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