Here I am again. Visiting my folks in Arroyo Grande. This time for my birthday, the big five oh.
Already suffering from the old timers, I forgot my rod at home. Had my reel and tackle, so I hit Big 5 for a cheap rod. Actually kinda liked it. Maybe for bass or something later.
After shopping, I went to the bait stop to prepare for the morning session. Brought my daughter to help.
In no time we had a cup full of primo sand crabs. Every handful was a mixture of sand, crabs, and quarter sized Pismo clams. Never even dug a single one up here before.
Got up in the morning for a birthday session and hit my reliable spot. It has been productive for me for many sessions. When I arrived I didn't recognize the place. The rocky shoreline was covered in sand and my reference points were gone.
Oh well, I set about fishing the low rising tide with just enough weeds to be fishable but not easy. No bites for an hour until I moved way down the beach and got slammed.
I took it as a good sign and kept fishing since there was so much life in the area.
Got a few more hits but nothing stuck. Then I found the point of my hook had broken off. Ooops. Re tied and set to it. Got another nice one soon after.
That was it for the hot spot, so I made a move to another spot I have had mixed results at.
Lots of life here too.
So many sand crabs it was ridiculous, but no baby clams here. Lots of chopped salad. Decided to try the grub and started getting bit right off.
Smaller models, but plenty of them.
Turns out I brought the wrong gear.
The highlight of the day was the sea otter. It was in the surf in 2-3 feet of water. I watched it diving down, could see its feet kicking at the surface, then it would come up with a clam or crab or whatever and start to whack it on a rock on its chest to open it. So close I could hear the shells crunch. It was cool.
Decided to call it a day, went home, and mom put breakfast on.Couple chores to do around the ranch and we hit the brew pub for birthday dinner later.
