Although there's been talk of an earlier squid bite
going on, Saturday was the only day Brian and I
could fish together. Brian drove down from
Paso Robles, then we met up at the La Jolla Shores
beach at 5 am. The sand was full of cars not to
mention the big van spinning its wheels digging
sand holes while blocking traffic... in the dark.
We both agreed there were more boaters, and
kayakers than we've seen in a long time, all over
the place. The squid grounds were packed.
In front of the condo, packed; and,
the Half plus the NW corner, packed. After getting
our fill of greenies, we took a route that touched
on all the groups while keeping a keen eye out
for hook ups.
The yelling and screaming started around 7:30 am.
It came from multiple sources, including the 1/2 day
sports boat. Our excitement washed away as soon
as we figure out it was a world wide calico bite. Ahhh...
The day lingered on, and on, and on. No signs of birds,
bees or gamefish. After 7 hours, and at the bottom of
the tide, I found myself around a cluster of way points
I stored as potential wsb and halibut locations. I also
found the last remaining private boats anchored on
those way points as well as a couple of free divers
hunting wsb. I had 3 fresh greenies left and decided
to work the area. All the signs were there, except no
moving water. Bottom of the tide, right?
In the back of my mind I kept telling myself that
ambushers like wsb and halibut love the low tide since
it pins foraging bait in the shallows. So I started drift
fishing with my dropper loop. I drifted in between my way points,
bouncing off those anchored vessels while making
new friends
Soon, I got a good tug then nothing. Checked my bait to
see if it was smashed or raked. It was gone. Back to the
same spot and it happened again. Now I'm complaining
to Brian. He insisted it was those calicos again.
I almost gave up but since I had one frisky bait left,
what the hell, let's do the route one more time. I wove
my way through my new found friends, again.
But this time I got hooked up. My heart instantly raced when
I saw the halibut. I knew I had to prepared my deck for
its arrival. My Fish-n-Dive has a large storage hatch ready
to accept large fish. After I gaffed it, into the belly of the
kayak it went.
Is the moral to this story, to trust your instincts and really
work an area hard when all the signs are there? Or, never
trust Brian? You choose, I already have!
Big shout out to Tim and Ryan, hope you guys had some luck too!!
37-inches, 26 pounds
