Couldn't sleep for the life of me last night, so I slept in til 0930, hoping the forecast for very little wind all day would pull through. On the water by 1100 out of CI. As soon as I could see past the breakwater of the jetty, I caught a glimpse of a ton of bird action a mile or so outside the harbor. It began to rain as I was getting out of the harbor which only added to the excitement. Already a huge relief after going 15 miles up the coast last week without catching a whiff of life.
Gave it 20 minutes, trolling a magnum on one rod and a sabiki on another. A surprising lack of anything under the school of micro bait. Just tons of sea lions, dolphins, and 4 species of birds. Nabbed a smelt and that was it. A couple fishing boats rode by and seemed indifferent to the commotion, which I suppose they were right to do. Absolutely drenched from the rain, I decided to head south.
Didn't have to go far before the rain stopped and I found terns working a relatively large zone. Sabiki got bit quick and I was able to put a live mack out on the troll. Trolled a total of 3 rods until I got into a tangle, then decided to keep it simple.
Alongside the trolling rod holders, I was trying to move the weight distribution toward the front today to see how I liked it, and with that came using a tiller extension. I did NOT like the tiller extension. I thought because I was further out from the central axis of the motor, that the movements of the tiller would be finer and I'd have more control, but it certainly didn't feel that way. Plus if I let my hand off the tiller while idling, it would veer off to the side and the lines would start to wrap around the boat while I unhooked mackerel, while the tiller would end up way out of reach. So I won't be using that again.
I was having a slow/steady pick on macks here but no thresher action. I took a quick peek going further down the coast a couple miles and didn't see squat, so I figured I'd just work the hell out of the zone I was already on and hope for the best. The macks got a little more aggressive and I was able to put away 16 along with 1 solid smelt..
I would have tried looking around the canyon area, but there were some jet skiers out there all day practicing formations and holding hands and stuff. Finally gave up around 1630.
I think I'll hit the beach some time this week.
