Made a solo trip last night from about 6pm-midnight.
Tried the usual first spot, lake like conditions and no salad, but felt pretty dead. Packed it up after about 2 hours and headed south.
Spot #2 I've wanted to try for years but whenever I drive by it looks weedier than Willie's bus. This night there were almost no weeds. Small boulders in the sand kept me on my toes but it felt fishy.
Sure enough, 9pm rolls by and I get a good first hit. 47" leo on the tail half of a mackerel.
A few casts later I got another about 3', tail hooked so I didn't bother with a pic, quick release.
Rest of the night I had maybe one set off the clicker with a very short tug to find my bait mauled. Others were silent but equally thieving.
Pardon my fascination with destroyed baits.
I sent a whole mack hoping for less thievery, but it came back shredded and gutted.
I did see some lobster molts on the ground, so maybe they were having a day out there.
Also saw this seabird limping and cawing, so I walked down to inspect it. Not limping away from me so I picked it up with my hoodie and checked its feet to make sure it wasn't tangled in trash or anything. Then I bird sat for about 10 minutes before it hobbled off and into the rocks.
A western grebe, for all you nerds.
2 decent leos in 6 hours is still a slow night, but it's the best I've done in a bit. Solo nights on the beach are my happy place regardless of fish, but I'm hoping it breaks open with the exotics real soon.