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Personal Craft Fishing => Saltwater Personal Craft Fishing Reports => : BenCantrell November 25, 2019, 03:07:31 PM
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Yesterday I hit up La Jolla again and ended up doing really well on rockfish. The surf wasn't too bad for launching, but I didn't realize the high tide was going to be so high! The water was actually pushing up onto the street at the launch. It was chilly too.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124052813_7e0ced4ae3_c.jpg)
I met up with a guy Esteban who wanted to give deep water rockfishing a try. We were the only two people who launched at sunrise. I had a waypoint marked about 4 miles from shore where it looked like there would be good structure. Along the way we stopped for a break and caught some whitefish.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124218596_e80ba0192b_c.jpg)
It was really cool to see the bottom change from flat and featureless to what looked like a small seamount when we reached the waypoint. It pays to do your homework! I dropped a 4 oz megabait tipped with squid to the bottom and almost immediately hooked up with my first starry rockfish of the year. Esteban got a starry on his first drop as well.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124407472_81e048d34c_c.jpg)
My primary target was a squarespot rockfish for my lifelist, so I switched to dropper loops with smaller sized hooks. Starries were by far the most common catch of the day, but there was plenty of variety mixed in.
Flag
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49123722598_4e25c3bd1d_c.jpg)
Blue
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49123722343_0b2f73dc22_c.jpg)
Rosy
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124217951_c5a7c2a261_c.jpg)
Scorpionfish
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49123722123_50e1a4de34_c.jpg)
Sheepy
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49123721843_463c3aee8b_c.jpg)
Esteban wanted to fish the kelp closer to shore, so he took off while I stuck it out at my spot. It was between 200 and 250 ft deep, which is where I've always seen other people catch squarespots, so I knew they must be down there. And sure enough, one eventually turned up. Species #648 on my list. :D
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124406307_582f3e79c1_c.jpg)
After that a school of mackerel moved in and wouldn't leave my bait alone, so I put away the dropper loops.
Halfbanded
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49123721478_f6af2bd3fb_c.jpg)
Mackerel, aka the twister of lines
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124217076_65c6694795_c.jpg)
I wanted one more good fish to cap off the day, so I dropped the megabait again. I thought I had drifted off the structure, so I reeled up a couple cranks and stuck the rod in one of the rear rod holders. I pulled out my phone to check when the kayak lurched sideways! Fish on! It was a big vermilion, worthy of using the net on. It measured about 4.5 lbs on my fish gripper.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124216831_21bfbdc123_c.jpg)
That was a good high point to end the day on, so I paddled back to the beach with a good haul of taco meat.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49123806178_4a04291f15_c.jpg)
I'm not concerned with spot burn as it's pretty easy to see where I was dropping on this screenshot.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49124411857_0bb45d3a56_c.jpg)
miles: 11.10
hours: 7:27
The depth limit for rockfish recently increased from 360 ft to 450 ft, so I think on my next trip I'd like to try the bottom 400+ ft down in La Jolla Canyon. It'll actually be a much shorter paddle from the launch compared to what I've been doing. Who knows, maybe there's some weird stuff down there.
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Love the mileage stats. That spot always seems to be a 2 mile paddle out and a 20 mile paddle in.
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Species #648??? Chu da man Ben
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I know that rockpile very well.
Nice critters Ben! That's a long paddle!
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Out of the billion times I've rockfished, I've never caught a flag. My dad has pulled them right next to me a dozen times. Idk what it is. Nice variety and congrats on 648.
And please stop posting your mileage, my arms are sore for 3 days after I read your reports.
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You're gonna have some manly a$$ shoulders in no time!