awesome report Josh. LJ's a long drive for me and really haven't been able to do it much. and besides, it'd be a roll of the dice as I know that the ratio of fishing to YT is very much in the fishes favor, for every nice yellow, there's ten or more stripes.
of all those mlpa meetings and those imbeciles, I had to laugh. our stocks are great. and I had to laugh even harder if they knew me. I'm really not that great a fisherman. as I tell my students, "I'm great at fishing, just really suck at the catching part!!"
i've never caught a YT or WSB from the yak. missed the "bite" many times at LJ and even the bu c-bass run. would I keep a fish or two? sure. would I keep my first YT or WSB from the yak? yes.
last year I fished from the surf and kayak over 50 times. caught hundreds of perch (many with my 7 y/o son and we ALWAYS throw everything back. he's learned CPR at a very early age!!), bass, etc., and I can tell you exactly how many fish I kept all last year. 4 rock fish from dume canyon. that's it. I got several gigs of photos, and a few pounds of fillets.
you're right that what we do is far more than about the fish. i'll be honest, sometimes it's simply the launch and landing that makes the day (I think we get bigger surf up in our neck o' the woods
). just standing on the shore with the paddle in one hand, the handle of the yak in the other, timing, waiting, then the rush. it's life affirming.
love being on the water. haven't fished a boat in a few years. no desire to do so anymore. it's just not that fun.