Kayak Fishing Adventure in La Jolla, San Diego, CA

Down in sunny Southern California, just off the coast of San Diego lies one of the top fisheries with great access for Kayak Fisherman. Within close proximity after launching from the beach, one can paddle half a mile direct to the kelp beds that hold many aquatic game life such as Calico Bass, California Sheepshead, Barred Sand Bass, California Halibut, California Yellowtail, and White Seabass. With also direct access to much deeper water (a deep underwater canyon flows right through the area) one can also fish for an assortment of Rockfish and Lingcod.


As a kayak fisherman, La Jolla has a lot to offer. It seems that the quietness and stealth of being on a kayak, allows for us kayak fisherman to sneak up on fish much easier than boats that begrudgingly motor around spooking everything in its way.

So with my Jackson Kayak Cuda 14 in tow, I can launch through the surf in hopes of catching the many different species of fish the ocean has to offer. The surf can be tricky at times, but having a boat that can punch through the surf is a great tool to have! With just a short paddle to some prime fishing spots, kayak fishing never looked so easy.


If you're looking for bigger game, most fisherman jig for live bait, usually picking up Pacific or Jack Mackerel. These are usually fished on a "fly-line" and towed behind your boat as you slowly troll around hoping for a bite. If live bait is not your choice, surface iron's or jigs are used to entice these big game to bite some metal!

While some say El Nino is here, or on its way, the water is warm and the fishing is hot! I've been able to pick up my first California Yellowtail, that gave up quite a fight! When the conditions are right, La Jolla may just be your next fishing adventure!

Memorial Day weekend on the Central Coast of California

Long weekends are known to bring out the "weekend warriors", so I decided to take a trek up north to my college town of San Luis Obispo. The Central Coast of California is known for its dramatic coastlines. Because of its rocky coastline vistas, fishing pressure is not much of a concern. With access to very shallow water rockfish fishing, I hit up fellow Jackson Kayak member Tom Reilly to show me the ropes.

Arriving to our destination, I realized this was a very different landscape then what we're used to down in Southern California. With steep cliffs surrounding small beaches, we carried our kayaks down steep embankments to reach the water. Tom with the Cruise12, and myself with the Cuda 14. Beforehand, I prepared all my outfits for rockfish fishing. This included many swimbait combinations, and double rigs, in hopes for double hookups!

Swell was a bit up, but we managed to get out unscathed. The Cuda 14 performed extremely well in those rocky beaches, and sliced through the swell with ease!

First drops down yielded no results, so we moved on to some patches of kelp. These new places yielded us with some nice fishes and my first Central Coast rockfishes!

During one of my drops with some big swimbaits, I get slammed hard! My pole goes full bendo, and I tug hard to set the hook when all of a sudden SNAP! Broke my pole in half!

But, it wasn't all heartache out there. I was able to catch my first lingcod and it was of legal size!

As we made our way back, the surf was up since we headed out, but the Cuda 14 and Cruise 12 handled extremely well in the rough landing. Had a blast fishing new grounds with Tom, as we pulled in a nice stringer of rockfish for dinner. Can't wait to get back up north to fish again!

La Jolla First Time - Rockfish!

Well, seems like I haven't posted since September. I haven't really had much time to fish, studying for the PE exam and all. But I have gotten out a couple times in between now, and September. Nothing really to brag about. Until earlier this week.

Weather's been really cooperative lately, and just needed to take advantage of the nice Fall weather. Decided it was time to take the yak out to La Jolla. I've read up so much on launching and landing from the surf. I've studied any any all material I could get my hands on for fishing the ocean, away from the safety of the bay. In preparation, I got myself some waders, PFD, and a VHF radio. Safety first, kids. The day before going out, I picked up some new tackle for the big blue. Our plan was to do a little rockfish fishing, and possibly dropping down some live fin bait for the bigger creatures. Also decided to purchase some irons for a little yo-yo action. Called up a friend and convinced him to accompany myself on my first ocean expedition. This was, in fact, also his first time out.

Morning of, we arrived at La Jolla shores around 6:15 a.m. to ideal first time conditions. Swell was less than 2 ft, with little to no wind. We loaded up everything, with some of the more expensive setups in my kayak hatch, and hit the launch. Launching was cake that day, my friend got some splash over, but everything went relatively smooth. We didn't have much direction, but I had an idea of where to go. Look for lobster traps, and send down the rigs!

About a 15 minute paddle, brought us out of the reserve, and near the canyon edge with lobster traps in sight. Probably in about 100'-150' of water. The night before I bought some squid, so we tied on some double dropper loops, and sent down some squid strips. First drop down, and what do you know, first rockfish for me!

We picked our way through some of the smaller guys, and kept the nicer models. Dropping down that far was definitely a pain using my bass gear, and especially harder for my friend, as he had a 2500 size spinner. Though, we made it work.

Here's a bendo shot of him!

I metered some good spots here and there, and we had pretty much constant action with the squid. I also bought some shrimp, and some larger grubs as well. Grubs definitely gave up bigger models of rockfish, and the shrimp helped us hook up to some nice sheephead! We filled up my one and only game clip with limits of rockfish with 5 nice sized sheephead, and called it a day.

Back at the launch, surf wasn't all too crazy, but has always made me weary reading about it and whatnot. My friend went first and almost tipped over, but was helped by another yakker. Myself, I waited it out until the sets were slower in between. Hauled ass to shore, and almost nearly pearled. But, made it in safely. Successful launching, fishing, and landing! 

Our haul!

For our first time out, with no experience whatsoever, I think we did pretty good! Went back to my buddies place and cleaned up the fish and cooked some up. Delicious! Can't wait to get out there again!

Central Coast Roadtrip: 7/3 - 7/7

it was a long holiday weekend back in my old college town of San Luis Obispo. for the 6 years that i was there, it seems i did absolutely nothing! each time i go back, i find something new to do, or some new place to go. my list grows of things i did, and more things are being added to my list of things to do. just off the top of my head:

things i've done:

1. surf fish pismo beach, avila beach, MDO (PB perch caught here), morro bay, cayucos
2. 4-wheel drive Oceano Dunes
3. freshwater fishing at lake lopez and santa margarita lake
4. poke pole fishing at MDO
5. shore rockfishing at MDO and Shell Beach

things to do:

1. catch a fish while poke pole fishing
2. catch a fish while shore rockfishing
3. poke pole fish at morro bay jetty
4. shore rockfish at cayucos and san simeon
5. fish cal poly ponds
6. fish lake nacimiento
7. fish morro bay

this report is of items 4 and 5 of the things i've done...

poke pole and shore rockfish fishing. yessir, picking up rockfish from shore and some MFE (monkey face eels). i heard of this type of fishing just recently, saw some videos and was super excited to try it out! with some help and tips from [b]jscrib[/b] and [b]cphwt[/b], i was certain we'd catch something! so, decided to hit up MDO for some shore rockfish fishing.

the path to hazards canyon in MDO

as you can see, there were so many pockets of kelp with deeper water nearby. we threw 4" and 3" big hammers for nothing! all morning. every place we tried looked super fishy! but alas, we were skunked. decided to move on to another place hoping to get bit. decided to hit up spooners cove just up the road.

looks way fishy!

arrived at spooners cove and saw a few kayakers fishing the kelp beds just outside the cove, with a bunch of shore fisherman along the rocks. but again, no bites! i guess today just wasn't our day...packed it up and headed home.

my buddy fishing a rocky point.

next day we decided to try something a little bit different. some cliff fishing! went over to shell beach in pismo to fish the cliffs for some rock fish again. saw a couple other people fishing some nearby spots.

shot of our spot.

i wish i had taken a shot looking down, because we were literally on a cliff with at least a 50 foot drop into the abyss! crazy scary! we soaked some squid and smelt for 1 bite, and moved around for a bit. but again, no hookups. we left the salt stinking of skunk and decided to try to wash it off by fishing the fresh. off to santa margarita lake we go!

everyplace looked fishy as well! had a muck on the top near shore, so we frogged it up a bit. got 1 blow up on the frog, but that was it. threw the whole tacklebox trying to find the pattern, then my buddy got hooked up on a crawdad. he farmed it right near shore, but at least we knew the pattern now. i too hooked but lost it as well near shore. my buddy once again farmed another one near shore, and with that we called it a day. 2 days full of skunk! man, my confidence in my fishing ability plummeted. i contemplated not fishing anymore that weekend, but my buddy was pumped to fish even more! fishing karma he said, me, i was skeptical.

santa margarita lake. most fish bit right at the edge of the weed lines.

the next day we decided to hit up the fresh again, since the salt just took too much work. maybe next time i told myself. off to lake lopez for us! rented a skiff for the remaining 3 hours of the marina store hours. last time i was here, all i had caught was 1 smallie. my buddy had picked up 3 crappie, but that was it. this time though, we got some local intel, so we hit up those spots first.

first couple places we hit up, we saw some busting shad but no big fishes. motored around a bit, trying to find the pattern of the day. it was until we found some stickups under water, that my buddy struck first!

our first catches of the trip! 

with that, i tie on a white grub as well, and i hook into my first fish of the trip!

we decided to beach the boat and work that shoreline where we were getting bit. good thing, because we got into a really good bite!

mine and my buddies smallie!

even the gf was catching!

FINALLY! it felt good to finally rinse off the skunk. couple full days of fishing and no fish; then 20+ crappie, 10+ lmb, and 2 smallies later. i guess fishing karma?! twas a good day, and we brought home a couple crappie to boot. this trip turned out to be all for not!

next couple days were spent doing some sight seeing and other activities with the gf, but i'd also done some scouting for my next trip back! heheh....things to do...

avila bay, port san luis pier.

cayucos bluffs.

lower cal poly pond.

bonus pic, firestone!

can't wait to go back to the central coast! hanapa'a!