La Jolla 12-31-13

[FISH11]

Went out to fish of La Jolla on the last day of the year and on that fishing license. Had to park in the parking lot and wheel it down to the opening by the Hotel. Launch was easy very small waves and no swell. There where quite a few other yaks out there. Made bait and trolled out a rapala straight out to 200' then found some bait balls and tried yo yo ing for and hour. No luck so I started fly lining a mack and started noticing some whales in the distance. A while later, while drifting I saw some closer and started trying to take pictures and shoot some video. After a little time I was using both my cell phone and digital camera at the same time. When one I was filming sounded and did not come up for over two minutes, I heard the sound of another's blow spray. I see this one coming straight towards me and as he kept getting closer I could tell he was almost straight at me. I had turned of my sonar so as not to distract then or the porpoises. When he was about 60 feet in front I kicked the side of my kayak to make a little noise so he would know I was there. He veered of a little to my left and was about 25 feet from my side when my reel started screaming and he had my mackerel and was quickly pulling line. I engaged the reel thinking he was just dragging against the line, but that made my kayak turn and start to go on a sleigh ride. I realized that it wasn't just rubbing against him and 65lb braid was not going to break so I reached for my knife and cut the line. I had been hoping to catch a trophy fish (yellowtail) but a whale was not my idea. It made for a great video and besides a whale is a mammal and not a fish. It was a perfect day to end the year. Unfortunately the stills I got are not as close up or as largely out of the water as in the video. Mark

[blitzburgh]

Looks like it was beautiful out there

[walrus]

What a way to end the year, and a good report too.

[FISH11]

Here are a few pictures I pulled from the video of the gray whale that took my mackerel and almost took me on a long ride. The day seemed like a summer day and where else can you be out on the water on Dec. 31 in a hawaiian shirt and bathing suit while ocean fishing in a kayak. If you look close on the picture of the whale's fluke you can see my braid line over the top of the tail. What a wild experience. Love La Jolla. Mark

[Southman]

That's a whale of a story. Great pics, good post. Thanks.

[capntim]

What a way to end the year!!!

[rhyak]

That's awesome. Is that your line coming off the tail of that whale. What a slay ride that would be all the way down south.

[FISH11]

Yes that is my 65lb braid and had a wire leader. I quickly realized that after engaging the reel thinking maybe the line was just around and would pull away, but no..ooh. My pole quickly bent over fast and the kayak turned and started on a sleigh ride. I figured even if I let out more line out to allow for the depth he would dive to, there was no way that line was going to break loose and did not want to get spooled. So I quickly reached for my knife and cut the braided line. When he took the line and the reel started screaming I just started laughing, because I could not believe it was really happening. Those last two pictures are stills I pulled from the end of the video I was taking with my nikon coolpix and cell phone at the same time. Had to turn both off, just before cutting the line. The 1080p video is cool, just wish I had taken off my polarized glassed because it made it hard to see the screens and keep the video on target more of the time. It was quite the experience. It rates up there with the Mako shark I caught in August.

[FISH11]

This is a link to the high definition video I took on 12-31-13 of La Jolla. The software youtube used to try and take some of the shakiness of the video make the fishing pole look like it flexes. Should not have used that feature. http://youtu.be/kIw4V1casnA

[CaliShark]

Wow that video is awesome, swam all the way over just for your Mac...must have been epic experiencing that.