Malibu Kayak report 1/23/05

[salmonslamer]

Launch: Escondido Beach, Malibu---pt Dume Malibu.


Time: 8:00am


Tide: 5'+ swinging from high to low -.03'


surf: declining wnw swell 2-3 feet.


weather: clearing skies, fog to the north, textured seas wind from the north at 5+knots 65 degrees and warming.


water: Guessing upper 50s about 2 foot visiblity, not much trash in the water but murky and dirty lookin.


met a friend at my house, loaded up my yak and gear and was off to do some fishin. Decided to launch at Escondido beach and paddle north towards Point Dume.


My friend picked up a new Kayak to demo and I was eager to check it out. It was a Malibu Kayak X Factor which is their newest model. I guess their still working out the bugs and this kayak was one of the first ones they produced. Apparently something went wrong when they produced this particular yak and it came out 20lbs heavier than it should. I guess their still trying to work out the production issues..According to the owner they have it all figured out now. And damn it was heavy as a brick wall. Good lookin yak, but I like my Extreme better.


got the yaks down to the beach and their was still a bit of residual swell left over fromour big WNW swell we had last weekbut launching was fairly easy if you were patient. Both of us made it out no problem headed out to the kelp and made some bait. Threw some plastics for nada and had a HUGE sea lion in the vicinity. I swear he must have weighed over 1000lbs. He was giant and kept popping his enormous head up and rolling on the surface every so often. I kept thinking I hope he doesnt come over here..and he never did..fwheeew!


The wind started to pick up a bit so I suggested we make a paddle up towards Dume to hopefully shield us from the wind. Paddled for about 1/2 hour and made it to the Little dume area. I was right about the wind, the bluffs gave us good shelter, the surf was definitely bigger there tho so hitting the shallows for halibut was not gonna happen. fished for bait and just hung in the channel checking out the surf and wishing I had a board with me. There are some weird currents out there.Earlier closer to Escondido we would drift south because of the wind. But once we got to Dume I noticed we started drifting north west and before I knew it we were closer to Big Dume. Paddled into the bay and tied off to some kelp.


I had a smelt on a circle hook with a 3/4oz egg sinker and I sent it down. maybe a minute goes by and I get hit. Reel up a nice 3+lb barred sand bass. I only had a few pieces of bait because I was being impatient and wanted to spend my time fishing for fish, not bait. I was going for halibut so I decided to tie a dropper loop with 3/4 oz torpedo sinker. Pinned on another smelt and waited...nada..waited some more, then grabbed my other rod and tied one a green/blue with red tail fishtrap and tossed it towards a pile of kelp. Immediately get hit and I pull up one of the largest sand basses Ive ever caught in the area. He was at least 6-7lbs. Took a couple pics with him and then tossed the old guy back..he was pretty weathered but swam away with alot of energy. The dropper loop was still sitting at the bottom not making a move. So I decided to reel it up and rig it back to the way I had it before. Drop it down again and WHAM it gets hit. A niice 3+lb calico munched the bait. Let him go.


Ate a sandwich and drank a beer. We then paddled around a bit..cheated death at the point off of little dume in the surf zone. My buddy almost got taken out by a head high set wave but he was able to paddle over it..Damn that would have been a good one to watch..except he had one of my rods and that would have sucked.


we then made the long paddle back and landed safely back at Escondido around 2:30.


Even tho I didnt catch the halibut I was hoping for it was a great day on the water..good weather..good company all fish released(except bait)and a hell of alot better than working!!

[BlackLion]

SalmonSlamer,


NICE REPORT!! I love to hear reports off the kayak. Sounds like you guys had a good trip all things considered. Thanks for the report and hope to hear more.


BlackLion

[SoCalSteve]

way to go ryan...sound like u had a blast! I gotta get out there and yak with you one of these days!

[creekster]

nice ryan!..good report, felt like i was there...thanks man....GO TROJANS!!!!</font>

[ODH33]

nice report Ryan. now where are those pics?

[Joey805]

Nice report! Lets see some pics!

[salmonslamer]

waiting for the pics myself. They were taken with my friends crappy disposable so we'll see how they turn out. Ill post a few when I get em.


I had my digital with me. But when I took it out I noticed the on switch somehow was moved to the on position..Battery was dead..and the worst part was the fact that it was a brand new battery....oh well!

[Flipper]

Hey, thats a great report slammer. Sounds like a nice day to get out and paddle around. Even though you didn't get your halibut, that nice hog of a sand bass is killer! Plus the others and calico ain't bad neither. All in all, sounds like a nice day... and yeah... not matter what, better than working![img]smileys/[/img]


Thanks for the report man... cant wait to see the picture of that big sandie.

[Batman]

Nice report salmon slammer. The year has just started so you will have plenty of time to get that hog halie. You did start your fishign year off in a nice way though.


Batty