No prefishing, No sleep for 36hrs, skunk on the right kind for the first several hours. LONG day to say the least!
Nice to see the kelp up there healthy, strong, and pretty thick...at least compared to Malibu's current conditions.
Got there later than expected, but was one of the first few to arrive. Get down to the beach expecting flat stuff....surprised to see decent surf for the area, and a TIGHT interval with no real windows, and a pretty decent downhill current that whips some yaks to a 75-80 degree angle to the surf almost instantly. Watched as the first few brave souls were not so kindly rejected by the big pond...tossed back to the shore several times before making it out soaked like dogs.
Next up a Malibu local...took a few over the bow and pushed back...but this guy's a pro so he makes it out fine as expected and just in time as a he passes over the first waves of a set...fully rigged and nothing stowed but his sonar. Watch a few more casualties, then make my dash expecting to take at least one to the face. Pass some lost gear...no time to stop as I have a clear shot....nice and 100% dry with all 5 rods out and nothing stowed either. Float Tubers made their way down the beach looking for better launch conditions...and perhaps were headed to where the fish are.
Now for the gameplan...where's the fish??? Hmm..some head north, some head straight out...way out...some head south. Kelp stringers around right away good sign!
I eventually find a lush kelp bed, but not before farming what could've been. Metered some nice strucure and marks...cast out the 5" tailgunner...wind up the slack and dead weight...darn got the structure..wind down to pop it out and then get a lovely thump....thump...WIND!!!! Still HEAVY! Thump thump! Those be headshakes!! Then half way up slack! ARGH!!! Never swung on him...brand new swimbait had some very nice rake marks.
Anywho...fish the kelp for ALL the wrong kind. Lots of these.
They all fell for the
SLUG
Then one of these plays a trick on me..Giant Kelpfish took a
5" Larry Heron
Ok enough of that only a couple of hours left. Getting tired of not being able to call in the weigh boat. As I see other's getting weighed.
Get out to deeper water and finally something that counts...one of the few sandies that were weighed in...this one took the
Slug.
I'm finally on the scoreboard...
"how many fish so far?"
"Yours makes 12."
Hmm either somebody's really good and I'm way behind or the fish are spread out amongst all the participants...I'm hoping for the latter.
Alas....more time goes by..."anything to weigh?"
"Nope!"
With time winding down I toss out the crankbaits to let them haul in some fish and I can just sit back and paddle around. No sooner do I get one out...Ugh..fouled with some salad...god SB salad sucks! Winding it in I look at the sonar and see a nice rockpile...one rod laying on deck gets popped into freespool as I drift over the spot. Get back to the fouled line...then watch as the other rod goes off on the sink!! Quickly grab it with one hand..thumb the spool and swing! Zzzzzz fishy on! Toss the other rod down and work up a nice calico. With less than an hour to go I find some fish!
Work up another calico and farm a bunch more shortbiters, and a few that take me down into the weeds to work themselves off as I'm forced to freespool and work them out. Here's the rest of the pics...sorry for the long story. Wont steal Big Hammer's thunder so I'll wait til they post the results to say anything. $$$
Oh yeah...the calico's were after the
5" Boiler Crab and Christmas Tree's that day.
That be a liter bottle right thar!
And thanks to Brian for all the paddling he put in...several miles to say the least! Nice choice in yaks..bet it made it alot easier to get around with the swell, wind, and chop.
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