Mission Bay Classic in the Kraken

The 2nd annual Mission Bay Classic, a Heroes on the Water fundraising event, was a huge success! With over 70 signed entries, the saltwater bass division was full of competition. Fellow Jackson Kayak Team Members Jarrod McGehee and Richard Penny were also in attendance.

Though the fishing was great, it was extremely tough being able to weigh fish, with having regulations set at 14" minimum. No matter the case, it was a great event helping out a great cause.

I took out my Jackson Kayak Kraken, for some easy Bay fishing. Having my Kraken plumbed with the KKrate as a livewell, made for easy catch and release with no fishes harmed (besides being hooked!).

Here's a quick video showcasing the Kraken out in San Diego's Mission Bay!

sd bay - 8/18 Sabiki Surprise!

on the hunt again for my elusive legal on the yak. started a little later than i wanted too and otw by 7.

outgoing tide, minimal wind at first. caught my usual bait (lizard fish) on the sabiki and drifted with a sliding egg sinker rig.

hooked up on a sculpin first drop, and resent my sabiki down for more bait. sabiki rod was bending as i was playing with my swimbait rod and reeled in a hali!

sabiki does it again! (previously, caught 5 bass at once)

closer inspection showed he ate a lizard that was hooked on the sabiki!

drifted around for a couple bass, and another halibut. then my drift rod gets slammed! thinking this is it, finally my legal hali, i prepare myself. he's making some nice runs and then comes to color.

big angel shark!

fun fight, but not my target. sent her back on her way after having to untangle the mess. retied and sent some more lizzies on the drift. caught a couple more bass, AND bigger lizards all on smaller live lizards. got slammed one more time, but popped off. looks like a bad knot on my part...

ended the day with 2 shorts, a bunch of bass, and an angel shark. all caught on live/dead lizard fish!

SD Bay - 8/11 - Interesting Catch(es)!

Been doing some kayak fishing in SD Bay over the weekend. Saturday wasn't too bad, but today I had a very interesting catch!

Launched out of SI around 6:30 AM, incoming tide, little to no wind at first,  Temp was about mid 60s. Right off the bat, stuck a nice sandie long lining a 3" BH 1/2oz leadhead. To note, while fishing 30'-50' water, I noticed long lining the plastics or drifting with it catches more fish.

Pulled out my sabiki rig to make some bait. Got a nice lizard fish and pinned him on, and let him drift on my big pole while i threw the bh. About 15 minutes into my drift, the lizard gets slammed! Quickly reeled in my other line and started fighting the other fish. This thing was pulling hard on my sealine 20, spooled with 20lb mono, and my pole was full bendo! Next thing I know, *POP*. Gaahhh...Reeled in and found no hooks at the other end. Bad knot? Sawed through? Whatever it was, I was heartbroken.

Caught more lizards to drift while I picked away at the spotties.

Was using white or chartreuse colored swimbaits in the deeper areas, and those seemed to work really well. Then my big pole screams again! But then stops. Reeled in my line only to find a half eaten lizard fish. Blast...

Paddled to my bait spot and dropped in my sabiki. Let that drift as I picked away again at the spotties. Then my sabiki rig doubles over! The heck? Started reeling it in and found quite the resistance. Once I brought it to color, I saw an interesting sight!

Haha, couple bass on the same rig? Pulled it all the way up and found actually 5 bass!

What an crazy catch! Also to note, I caught quite a few bass on the sabiki as well before this. But 5? Too funny.

Ended the day around 12:30 PM with 20+ bass (stopped counting as that wasn't my primary target), more than I could count lizard fish, and 2 missed strikes. I'll get 'em next time!

Hanapa'a!

3/13-14 Mission bay - foggy foggy bass

3/13
5:30-8PM incoming low to high tide.

with all this warm weather, decided to wet a line. upon arrival to my first spot, weather seemed nice, but i could see the marine layer slowing creeping in. tossed out my swimmy for some takers before getting sawed off, twice. damn cudas.

off to spot #2. by this time, the fog had fully rolled in. it was very eery. yet, it was still kinda light outside. started tossing out another swimmy (brown grunion) for a steady pick of sbb.

first of the day

saw a bunch of these fellas everywhere

pickings were steady throughout, maybe 1 every 3 casts. then as the sun set, i switched over to the black widow bh. the bite was almost every cast!

chunky fella right here

greedy guy!

1 sandbass for the sesh

ended that nights sesh with a whoopping 22 sbb! they were hugging the shoreline real tight. and they were hungry! it was literally, back to back to back fish.  awesome. night.

3/14
5-7pm
foggy conditions

decided to hit my first spot again to get into some cudas. upon arrival, water was flat, no life. tossed out a brown grunion swimbait for nada. after about an 1hr of casting practice, an explosion of baitfish just erupted around me! fat cudas were jumping, trashing, and chasing the baitfish. and the schools of baitfish were everywhere! literal explosions of them.

some baitfish

i tossed everythign at them. swimbait, hardbait, poppers all for nada. some taps here and there, but it looked like too much real bait to go for the lures.

all in all, pretty good 2 days. i had some questions for you guys as well. i have a baitcaster set up, usually with 1 brake on and whatnot. my distance however seems to decrease over the course of my sometimes 4 hour sessions, wherein i just turn off all my brakes and then im fine until it starts to decrease again. does this happen to anyone else? if i start with all brakes off, i bird nest liek crazy. doesn't sound gritty or anything, my spool just seems to spin slower after fishign for a while.

PB Hali!!!

haven't gone fishing since spring, as I don't usually enjoy fishing when the crowds are out during summer.  now that its winter, less crowds, and the hot sbb bite returns!

decided to hit the minus tide (-1.6ft) yesterday in the jungle at mission bay with a friend of mine. drizzling on and off, wind was sporadic, and just downright cold. but, we already made the trek out, so decided to still give it a go.

armed with my clarus/symetre 2500/15lb braid setup and t-rigged razor clam t&c lure, we went on the hunt. tide was still going down when we arrived, and took quite a while to get any action. i got struck first with a pretty nice lunker! man i've missed fishing!

then, nothing, for quite some time. no bites, nothing. just windy, wet, and cold. we contemplated packing it in early, but we saw something that i've never thought i'd witness...a hali jumping out of the water! luckily my friend also saw the same thing, and we both were energized to continue fishing.

we continued fishing into the low tide and had only caught 1 other sbb. so much for the negative tides in this weather. headed back to the truck and kept tossing the swimbait. then...BAM!! hooked up to another fish. i wasnt quite sure what it was in the beginning as it made some headshakes like an sbb, yet it felt heavy like it was caught on some grass, or maybe even the flat kind. dare i say it was what i was hoping, but pushed that out of my mind for fear of bad luck. it took some time to reel it closer to shore, and we still couldn't make out what it was. we saw a flash of white, and my friend goes "ray, no wait, shovelnose!". then he goes, "holy sh*t! its a huge halibut!!!"

right then and there, it takes off on some long runs. im fighting this fish, hoping that all my knots are tied properly, and the hook will stay in and not break. just praying that i get to see it beached! after a good 4 attempts at landing this fish, my friend finally was able to tail grab it and throw it to shore. this was my first beast...some pics for proof.

measured out to 33", besting my pb of 22" by almost a foot! it was heavy too! so pumped, and glad i stuck it out during that wet/cold weather. happy to be back fishing!!!


hanapa'a!

mb 4/19-20 FINALLY!!!

i've gone out everyday since sunday. usually right after work. if you've seen my earlier posts, i've been catching mostly sbb's, with a few hali's in between. the weather's been on a warming trend, and i knew more hali's would be cruising into the bay.

always strapped with my 7'6" MF clarus 15lb pp slick 8, and 7'6" ML compre 8lb pline mono both on symetre 2500s, i got to work again yeserday.

4/19
went to an old place where its always looked fishy, but i haven't pulled out more than 2 sbb. worked the shoreline with my new sasuke 75 shad, casting into boils looking for the silver kind. instead was rewarded with a few halis. 6 to be exact.

first of the day.

another one bites the sasuke.

ended the day with just my 6 halis, all under or about 12". not bad, considering i've never caught that much hali's in one outing.

4/20
i was hoping yesterdays 'catching' were good signs that more hali's were gonna be cruising by. so, decided to try again at the same spot. casted out the sasuke once again, but only managed to pull out 1 sbb. things weren't lookin good, and the sun was already setting. moved to 2 other spots for nada. then hit up 1 more spot before runnin home. man, good thing i did.

got to my 3rd spot, saw some small signs of life so decided to try much luck once again with my trusty sasuke. ive read around before what it feel like when a hali bites and how it fights. its like youve snagged some kelp, and its just like pulling in some salad. but once it see's shore, it'll take off back into the open. well, this time was no different.

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FINALLY!!!

another look at her.

yes! finally, my 1st legal hali! she fought like a champ, making a few runs before i coaxed her onto the bank. took a few quick snaps, then revived her and sent her back on her way. what an awesome night of fishing! looks like tomorrows gonna be a nice day as well, and i'll be back on the prowl!

hanapa'a!

MB Night Bassin 1/2/2012

did not finish 2011 with a big bang (skunk and dinks @ the surf), so decided to try something a lil different. been seeing all these night bassin posts, so said, why the heck not?

hit up MB at around 6:30pm, to nice flat conditions. hit up my 1st spot of the night for nada. drove around to a 2nd spot and picked up 2 spotties! sweet! i'm liking night bassin'.

first catch of the night. ~12"

decided to move once the wind picked up and the fog rolled in. found another spot and the wind calmed down, but the fog was thick. saw a bunch of movement in the water and knew i'd get into some.

size 11 for reference.

bass thumb. sweet.

ended my sesh at around 9:30pm, biggest was about 16", the rest being 12-14. total tally - 10 spotties! had an extremely fun time, will definitely be back for some more night bassin. set up was 7'6" clarus, symetre 2500 spooled with 15lb braid pp. all on 3" bh black widow slathered in unibutter.