First attempt trolling La Jolla

May 24, 2020

At this point I can confidently say I have bottom fishing from the kayak figured out. It's been good for adding to the lifelist and filling the freezer, but it's time that I start challenging myself with other ways of fishing the ocean. There have been reports of yellowtail, bonito, and barracuda showing up, so I decided to spend a day trolling lures. I launched from La Jolla at sunrise and paddled west until I passed the kelp. For the rest of the day I trolled a Rapala Xrap Magnum 15 on one rod and a Magnum 20 on the other. The red tide has mostly cleared up, but the visibility was still very low, around two feet several miles offshore. I didn't notice any marks on the fish finder in the top 30 feet of water, so it wasn't surprising that I didn't get a bite all day. It's a good thing I enjoy the exercise! To avoid being skunked I fished the seamount west of La Jolla for a few minutes and caught some rockfish - squarespots, blues, and vermilions. This squarespot in particular was a huge improvement over the one on my lifelist.

Squarespot Rockfish (Sebastes hopkinsi)


Blue Rockfish (Sebastes mystinus)


Other than the rockfish my only catch for the day was a mackerel. As I was paddling back to the kelp I ran into one of my neighbors. I've seen him driving past my house with his boat countless times, and we often chat about fishing, but this if the first time I've run into him on the water. Right as I showed up one of his rods bent over hard, and I hung around for a while to see what was on the end of his line. To their and my surprise it was a medium sized sevengill shark!



I added a deck mounted compass to my kayak, and this was my first time using it. You can see a few straight segments on my route where I maintained a heading for a few miles. I'll probably never actually need the compass, but it's a good backup in case my electronics fail on a day where I'm far from shore and dense fog rolls in. You never know!



Miles: 13.37
Hours: 6:39
Water Temp: 65 F

Next week I have a rudder kit arriving, so this was my last rudderless trip in the Trident. I'm feeling pretty confident with my long distance training, but I think the rudder will up my game even more for covering long distances in open water.

May 30, 2020

Ok sorry, I lied. The rudder kit did come last week, but after looking over the instructions I decided it would be best if a kayak shop did the install. OEX will be open in June, so I'll have it on sometime in the coming month! Yesterday I got out to La Jolla again, and I was able to meet up with Anthony, another kayak angler from http://www.bigwatersedge.com/. We were on the fence as to whether or not we should go out with the wind and swell forecast, but on Friday we made the call that conditions were good enough and we'd make the most of it.



We both wanted to troll and jig for yellowtail, but I asked Anthony if we could load up on rockfish first. I've been giving away a lot of the vacuum sealed fillets in my freezer to friends, and I wanted to restock my supply. We dropped in the usual spot along the edge of the canyon and were quickly pulling up rockfish from the bottom.

Greenspotted Rockfish (Sebastes chlorostictus)


Between the two of us we tried a variety of different jigs. I used a 5.3 oz knife jig with a single assist hook at the top and an 8 oz glow jig with treble hook at the bottom. Anthony used a big flatfall with an assist hook at the bottom as well as a few others. They all produced fish, but I put a piece of shrimp on the hook for most of my drops, so I can't really conclude which jig style was the best.



I caught my limit of 10 rockfish with 9 of them being sunsets. The two biggest ones were 3 lbs and 3.5 lbs. The freezer will once again be well stocked! I feel very fortunate given everything that's going on this year that I can get out and source my own food and share with friends.

Sunset Rockfish (Sebastes crocotulus)


While I was switching my gear over for trolling, Anthony hooked into something big. I stopped what I was doing to see what he pulled up. After several minutes of cranking, he got whatever it was to color. We saw something large and brown, but then his line went slack and the fish disappeared from view. The hook had come out! We were pretty sure it was a big halibut, and it's a bummer we didn't land it, because it would have been the fish of the day.



Anthony fell for the same temptation that I do on many of my trips, and that's to spend most of the time bottom fishing despite having other targets. While he finished rockfish hunting I spent a little time trolling a big lure around, but it didn't get any hits.



Miles: 9.29
Hours: 5:56
Water Temp: 64 F

Overall it was a good day. We agreed that the rough wind and swell conditions were good practice and a good reminder to take the forecast seriously. We didn't make any progress on yellowtail, but we got out there and caught some fish. Next time we'll leave the rockfish gear at home.

Red tide rockfishing in La Jolla

Red tides are gross. For the past few weeks southern California has been dealing with phytoplankton blooms all up and down the coast. The organisms that cause them are called dinoflagellates. They turn the water an opaque reddish brown, they stink, and they use up oxygen in the water, leading to fish kills in the lagoons. As far as I know they don't affect bottom fishing though, so I headed out to La Jolla yesterday to try for more deep canyon fish. I started out in the center of the canyon targeting anything but rockfish. I didn't feel any bites, but I did have one hook come up with its squid missing, so maybe there's something down there!

After a few hours of entertaining the fish at 1000 feet with my excellent jigging techniques, I made the call to come up to legal rockfish depths of 450 feet or less. I dropped at a few spots along the canyon's edge, but the only bites I got were from small halfbanded rockfish. Everything changed though when I swapped my squid out for shrimp. Instant bites!

Vermilion Rockfish (Sebastes miniatus)

Edit: The vermilions in this post are probably the closely related sunset rockfish, Sebastes crocotulus. From what I've read, adult fish in less than 328 feet are usually vermilions, and those in more than 328 feet are sunsets. Sunsets also tend to have a yellowish-orange hue to their sides, whereas vermilions are more of a brick red.

I switched to a 6 oz jig with a teaser circle hook about 12 inches above it and added shrimp to both of the hooks. The jig only caught one fish, the small vermilion in the picture below. All of the other fish caught were on the teaser hook.

After a few more vermilions I pulled up a small, bright red rockfish that I didn't recognize. I made a note of the depth (425 feet) and took lots of photos to make sure I could ID it when I got home. Eventually I settled on pinkrose rockfish, and just to be safe I had Milton Love confirm it.

Pinkrose Rockfish (Sebastes simulator) - new hook & line species #661

Shrimp on the teaser hook continued to get bites, and it only took two hours to catch my limit of 10 rockfish. Towards the end of my session there were a couple of bocaccio, and the rest of them were decent sized vermilions.

Bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis)

Many of the fish were puking up red crabs and small shrimps, which explains why they bit so quickly on shrimp. The bocaccio were the only ones spitting up anchovies. One of them had a few hanging out of his mouth and a few pushing out through his gills.

Northern Anchovy (Engraulis mordax)

I caught my limit before 11:30, and after that I took my time paddling back. There were a lot of dolphins, including more juveniles than I've ever seen before.

I also came across a pair of harbor seals.

One of the bait boats was out working, which was good to see. Last week there was a line of them docked in San Diego Bay.

I landed on the beach shortly after noon. There were quite a few people out walking around, which wasn't surprising. I couldn't believe how many people were swimming and playing in the water though! I guess red tide isn't enough to stop people from getting in the water when they've been cooped up in their houses for the past two months.

It was nice to have a shorter session for a change. I've been getting a little crazy with those long paddles.

Miles: 7.76
Hours: 6:49
Water Temp: 70 F

Next time I'm going to see if those 1000 foot fish like shrimp!

Kayak tour of San Diego Bay

Six weeks of no kayaking and no fishing. The coronavirus pandemic will likely continue the rest of the year, but we had some good news this past week when San Diego opened up its beaches and bays. The surf forecast for La Jolla looked a little rough, so I planned out an epic tour of San Diego Bay. My goals were to catch a fish (so I could post about it on this blog) and do my longest paddle to date. I started in South Bay at the Pepper Park boat ramp in National City.

I launched at 7:00 am, and the water was calm and flat for most of the morning. My fishing gear was the bare minimum to catch a fish: one trolling rod and a couple of crankbaits. I trolled a Rapala Xrap Magnum 15 in about 20 feet of water and quickly hooked up with a spotted bass.

Spotted Sand Bass (Paralabrax maculatofasciatus)

With my first goal out of the way, I packed away the fishing gear so I could focus on the longest paddle goal. If everything went well I'd be in the open ocean before noon and make it back to the boat ramp by 4:00 pm. It didn't take long to make it to the Coronado Bridge.

I've kayaked both ends of the bay plenty of times, but this was my first time doing the middle section, so checked out all the touristy sights. There was a farmers market in Seaport Village and a couple of kayakers and checking out the USS Midway. It was a good day to be out.

A Disney cruise ship was docked a few spots down from the Midway. I wonder what its story is with everything going on.

The outgoing tide was moving along at a pretty good clip, so I was able to paddle the length of Harbor Island and Shelter Island very quickly. My Garmin shows my two fastest miles averaging 4.4 mph through that part of the bay. When I planned my route I told myself I'd stop at the end of Shelter Island and decide whether or not to continue to the end of Point Loma. Conditions looked good, and I was ahead of schedule, so I gave myself the green light to keep going.

Around 11:00 am I reached the end of Point Loma. After taking the photo I paddled out a little further so I could be sure that I was in the open ocean.

There was another cruise ship anchored offshore. I looked it up when I got home - it's the Celebrity Eclipse, and it has 63 coronavirus patients currently on board. The Disney ship I saw earlier is the Wonder, and it has 46 patients. That's awful!

I waited for several fast moving yachts to go past before I crossed the channel. The boat traffic was picking up, especially the sort of vessels that have slips in the marinas. The rule that only people from a single household could be on a boat was definitely not being followed.

The other side of the channel has a (mostly) submerged jetty that was becoming exposed at low tide. Pelicans were taking advantage of the rocks. I paddled north towards the Navy base on Coronado, and the going was a lot slower than in the morning. Slack tide plus chop from the wind and boats meant I could only maintain about 3 mph.

As the bay curved to the east my pace improved. Having the wind at my back helped, and there were fewer boats once I was past the busy marinas. I stayed close to the Navy base to avoid the boat traffic while staying far enough away from the docks and shore to avoid having one of the Navy boats come over and yell at me.

I'd like to say it was easy paddling for the rest of the trip, but it actually got quite miserable once I passed the Navy docks. Having the wind pointed directly at your back is good. If it's coming from any other direction and strong enough, then it becomes almost impossible to keep a rudderless kayak going in a straight line. I paddled from the Coronado Ferry Landing back to Pepper Park pretty much only using my right arm. When it really got bad I would paddle for a few strokes on the right side and then use the blade on the left side as a rudder to correct course. My average speed for the last few miles was 2.5 mph.

Eventually I made it past the Navy fleet and Mile of Cars and rounded the corner into the channel leading to Pepper Park. The wind was at my back again, and I paddled hard, keeping the fish finder's GPS speed at 5 mph until I reached the dock. It felt good to get out of the seat and stand up straight.

Miles: 27.50
Hours: 9:03
Water Temp: 68 F

With a rudder I think the crossing to Catalina is completely doable. Who wants to join?

Social distance kayaking

I think we can all agree that these are interesting times. The coronavirus pandemic has changed day to day life in California and around the world. Our governor recently issued a stay at home order, so I've been wrestling with whether or not I should go kayaking. The order says that outdoor exercise is allowed as long as social distancing is practiced. I felt that a solo paddle certainly fit that description, so yesterday I headed out for my longest paddle to date. I launched at 5:17am, a full hour and a half before sunrise. Paddling in complete darkness is pretty unnerving, but I had all of the lights and safety gear required for non-motorized vessels, and I was dressed for immersion (wetsuit top and bottom). Swells were 1.5 feet, and the wind was 5 mph. I stopped to take this first picture about an hour after I launched after I had paddled a little over 3 miles.

The sun was finally lighting up the sky when I reached my first fishing spot, a rock pile in a little less than 200 feet of water. I expected the usual mix of rockfish, and I planned to focus more on bringing home food than catching new species. I also wanted to try out a couple of heavier jigs that I recently purchased, hoping they would attract bigger fish.

I switched back and forth between a rod rigged with dropper loops and one with a jig. My first fish on the dropper loop was a flag rockfish, definitely big enough to bring home. It looked like it would be a good day of bottom fishing!

Flag Rockfish (Sebastes rubrivinctus)

Next I sent down a pink speed jig with an assist hook at the top. It didn't take long for something to grab it, but I was amused when I saw how small the fish was. The starry rockfish that came up wasn't much longer than the jig! I'm pretty sure this is the first fish I've caught with an assist hook.

Starry Rockfish (Sebastes constellatus)

Next on the dropper loop was a former nemesis of mine, the elusive squarespot rockfish. This is a species that took me years to find even though all of my friends, including some who have only been to San Diego one time, have caught. I got one a few month ago though, so the curse has been lifted. Also on the dropper loop were numerous calico rockfish. They were the annoying little species of the day (there always has to be one).

Squarespot Rockfish (Sebastes hopkinsi)

Calico Rockfish (Sebastes dallii)

Once the sun was up it was hard to imagine that I had paddled all that way in complete darkness. On the way to my second spot I came across a kelp paddy in 260 feet. As I approached it I envisioned a huge school of halfmoons and blacksmiths underneath it, with yellowtail cruising around nearby. However, when I reached the patty there were no fish to be seen, either visually or on the fish finder. Ah well.

The second spot was another rocky area, this time in 275 feet of water. I caught another fish on the pink speed jig, an ambitious scorpionfish. Sadly on my next drop the jig got stuck in some structure, and I wasn't able to pull it free. On a side note, it's pretty difficult to break off 40 lb line from a kayak!

California Scorpionfish (Scorpaena guttata)

The bites were steady at this spot, and I added several more species to the day's count. Not pictured are ocean whitefish and Pacific sanddab. I figure my readers have seen enough of them in my recent kayaking posts and would appreciate the break.

Rosy Rockfish (Sebastes rosaceus)

California Lizardfish (Synodus lucioceps)

Greenspotted Rockfish (Sebastes chlorostictus)

My third spot was a seamount due west of Mission Bay, and it was the furthest I would be from shore, about 6 miles from the jetty and 7 miles from where I launched. As I approached the GPS pin someone in a small boat waved to me, and lo and behold there was Emerson and his dad. They decided to fish the same seamount and had already put several nice vermilion rockfish and a keeper lingcod in the boat.

It took a bit of paddling around in circles before I could find good structure, but eventually I got a vermilion of my own. It wasn't big, but I added it to the cooler, which was beginning to fill up with similarly sized rockfish and whitefish.

Vermilion Rockfish (Sebastes miniatus)

I looked at my watch and saw that it was a little past noon, which meant there was no way to make it back by 1:00pm, which was my original plan. The wind could start picking up any time, so I said to myself "one more fish" and dropped two fresh strips of squid down to the bottom. My one more fish turned out to be a new species, a speckled rockfish!

Speckled Rockfish (Sebastes ovalis) - new hook & line species #660

Emerson and his dad had drifted out of earshot, so I gave him a call to let him know about the catch and tell him that I was headed back to shore. I turned towards the east and took this picture, which at first glace looks like the open ocean. If you look closely though you can see the coast, which gives you an idea of how far I had to paddle back.

I decided to skip the last pin I had marked, but when I saw it on the fish finder screen I decided I needed a break. Also, I had a 6 oz chrome diamond jig in my tackle box that I needed to try out. I sent it to the bottom, jigged it up and down a few times, and almost immediately got bit. This fish was bigger than anything else I had caught, and it turned out to be a decent bocaccio, weighing in at 2.5 lbs.

Bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis)

I sent the jig down again. This time I had to jig it up and down a bit longer, but another decent fish hit it, and I knew it would be my last fish of the day. It was a nice big vermilion, weighing 3 lbs. The cooler was completely full, so it was definitely time to pack it in.

Vermilion Rockfish (Sebastes miniatus)

The wind picked up more and more as I paddled back towards the jetty, which made the water pretty choppy. It wasn't enough to make me uncomfortable, but it slowed my progress. I stopped a few times to let the lactic acid drain from my arms and drink water, and eventually I was back at Mission Point Park, where I had launched 9 hours and 40 minutes earlier.

Miles: 19.90
Hours: 9:40
Water Temp: 61 F

I was surprised by how many people were hanging out in the park when I was loading my gear in the car to head home. It was disheartening actually, as it made it impossible for people to maintain the recommended 6 feet of distance from each other to avoid spreading the coronavirus. It's making me rethink whether I can in good conscious go to public places like Mission Bay or La Jolla Shores to launch my kayak. If things get worse, I'll probably hold off on any more outings.

Stay healthy everyone, and take care of each other! We'll get through this.