LJ- 9/13: First beach launch/landing
 

Went down to La Jolla with a buddy of mine and our first beach launch/landing was uneventful. No yardsale, which is about as good as you can ask for! Waves were minimal and we may have over-prepared a bit. But with all the horror stories I've heard, I figured an excess of caution couldn't hurt!

Launched at 5:30am and came back in at about 1:00pm. Making bait was pretty easy. Lots of Spanish, 1 greenback, and a handful of small squid that liked my sabiki a bit too much. Lots of bonito around. Got 3 on a single pull that made a mess out of the sabiki. I think the technical term is "clusterf*ck?" After zigzagging along the ridge for a few hours and picking up a couple hungry calico I hooked up to a nice yellow on 4oz Carolina rig. Fought it for about 10 minutes, had got it to color, but the 30lb failed about 15 feet under me and I lost it. thinking it might have been damaged by bonito earlier and I really should have clipped and retied it. Super bummed, but at the same time super stoked to have even had the chance to fight one on the kayak for a while! My buddy had a few big bites as well, but the hook didn't stick on either.

It was a bit of a nightmare on the landing. Didn't realize Disneyland moved to the beach! lol again, it was a smooth, quick landing for us, but not for a lot of others out there that we watched. It's easy to see how things can go sideways(sometimes literally) in the blink of an eye. Wanted to thank everyone here that has posted safety tips for beach launching/landing, etc. Just things that I might overlook otherwise, like not leaving any hooks exposed, tying EVERYTHING down, stowing reels and electronics in a drybag, securing the gaff SAFELY... Super grateful for you all to allow me to learn from your experiences. Saved me a lot of potential heartache :you_rock:

Congratulations on a successful first surf launch and landing. Not having a yardsale on your first trip equals a success. I launched at first light and the 5 second intervals were giving a lot of kayakers a rough time, due to the low tide making it be late shore breaks. Saw a few wade out into deeper water before jumping on. There shure were a lot of bonitos, especially near the point, were everyone was trying to make bait and there were surface boils going on all over. I finally found nice grade greenbacks a little further south on the kelp edges. After a while of trolling my flylined macs, I decided to go further south and troll my Rapala greenback, cause I got tired of feeding the Sea Lions that got attrackted by all the kayaks and boats. Trolling the Rapala didn't find any Yellowtail just more bonitos and a Calico. Released the calico and kept a few bonitos for lobster net bait. The landing is always a mess because of the number of people swimming or trying to learn getting on a SUP in the BOAT LAUNCH area. Yesterday was the first time in a long time I saw a lifeguard on a golf cart using the bull horn to warn people to get out of that area.

I see you or your buddy has a Hobie Passport like I recently got. So far OK with it. Was a little concerned about the rounded bow vs sharp but not any big issues so far and saved me a few $$. Good to see the action is heating up at LJ.

Congrats on your first successful launch and land . We are heading out at first like tomorrow. Sounds like there some action out there. Thanks for the share.


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Thanks Lol and yeah I was one of those guys at the shoreline with a headlamp on waiting for it to get light enough to see any waves. Intervals had me a bit worried so I waded out to waist-high water and hopped on. Bait boils made getting bait easy. Was lookin for marks on the finder when the boils would pop up next to me. Like "Oh... there's bait I guess." And I can relate to the sea lions because after long time flylining my only greenback, it eventually got taken by a sea lion, even though I saw it coming and cranked it in as fast as I could!

Yeah the passport is mine! The rounded hull has never been an issue for me other than bogging down a bit at top speed. But I rarely ever get splashed over the bow in normal to less-than-fair conditions. I've been out is some pretty extreme conditions in it and it got me back to shore just fine! My buddy's Outback cuts through water well and the hull shape offers less resistance, but he definitely gets splashed a LOT easier when we're cruising side-by-side. I've taken this thing out at least 1-2 times a week since getting it early in the year and still don't regret it. Biggest downsides: Limited hull-storage, the rudder system is not great and has failed on me a few occasions, putting me in some dangerous situations near rocks, the seat could be improved a bit and the hull material isn't as heavy-duty as pricier kayaks. Some day I'll upgrade probably, but for now it's like driving a base-model Honda vs. a new Mercedes. Sure, they can both get you to where you're going, but the Mercedes is gonna have a lot more features and be a lot more comfortable while getting there! But saving about half the cost allowed me to invest in a lot of other add-ons that would've hurt the bank a lot more if it was on top of a PA or OB...

Squid???

Yeah I was one of those setting up in the dark. I remember seeing you because I recognize the blue and white Passport. You provably saw me I was in the Solo Skiff. I'm hitting LJ again in the morning and hoping for another yellowtail like the trip a week ago Thursday, only bigger. Couldn't make it last week due to the Valley fire and needing to be ready to evacuate when otherwise I would have been fishing La Jolla.

Oh yeah, I for sure saw you out there! On the teal skiff? I'll have to say hi next time. I hope the fire isn't a threat for you guys down that way anymore. Fire season sucks. But good luck on the YT tomorrow!

Almost certainly a joke not worth thinking about any further.

Lol I wish I got a picture! Pulled up 3 live squid on one sabiki soak. Got some ink squirts on the kayak which was fun. But I didn't keep them because I didn't want them inking up the livewell and messing up the rest of my bait. Curious, is this common at LJ? Never seen it in DP where I usually go at least.

Squid get pinned on the low rig asap. You released LJ gold! :eek:

Well, shit now I know! So used to bonito stealing my frozen squid in DP so I didn't think much of it lol

Squid...:wsb:

Was thinking squid was around. Dropped a squid jig weekend before last. On the second drop, I was cut off (barracuda/shark???). Just bought an underwater camera and will be checking out those mysterious bait balls.

That'd be pretty cool. Hope you share some vids/pics!