The Breakwall Angler Lake Poway Report 12/15/2010

The ocean fishing scene this year has been meager. Below this story are short quips from each trip I took the past few months. I gave it my best shot but now it is time to switch over to trout and forget about bass and opaleye. Many lakes in So. Cal. are moving away from state hatchery fish and are now planting what are called tailwaker rainbows from a private hatchery in Nebraska. They are raised in earthen raceways and fed real food so that their fins don’t rub off and they develop strong, orange colored muscle.

Chuck P. said let’s hit up Lake Poway soon, as they just stocked thousands of pounds of tailwalkers. For this purpose I kept a box of jumbo red worms in my refrigerator that I bought in Bishop last June, feeding them cornmeal once per week after adding extra potting soil for their enjoyment. When all my guests left after Thanksgiving I cleaned out my fridge and checked the worms’ status; all were fat and happy.

Until when you need them. Before I left for the lake this morning I popped open the box and found the whole wad of soil and worms frozen solid. I guess throwing out a bunch of junk caused more cold in the refrigerator space. Nothing else in there contained even an ice cube.

Once at the lake I purchased the $6 permit good for four fish, no state fishing license required. Just then Jerry R. showed up, I said hey dude, Chuck here yet? He looked and said hey Mike, didn’t recognize you. Actually we hadn’t hung out since being laid off from Hughes back in ’95. I told him Chuck said we should amble to the right towards the back of the lake, see ya down there. As I walked in the early light I saw there were several worms on the trail that crawled out of the grass after a weak rainstorm passed through last night. How handy was that? I collected ten and put them in my bait baffler.

While waiting for Jerry and Chuck I made a few casts with my six-pound outfit using a chartreuse Lip Ripperz mini jig coated with Pautzke’s Liquid Krill. As I stepped up to shore I saw a trout swim off, a good sign indeed. First cast I had a hit and a follow-up but couldn’t coerce the trout to bite.

Jerry, Chuck and his bud Norm walked by, I joined them at another spot around the corner. I started with a wad of Pautzke’s rainbow sparkle Fire Bait with my four pound outfit and the mini jig on the other. My bros were using Power Bait and lures such as the Panther Martin.

The action was rather slow for us. Some other dude about fifty yards away was catching a bunch. After an hour the bell on my bait pole rang, I set the hook and had a fight for a few seconds before the rig got stuck on something on the bottom and broke off. Crap.

I went sneaking through the bushes to see what the successful anglers were using and discovered they were enticing all their bites by dangling a nightcrawler under a bobber. I was at Sport Chalet yesterday for new line and Fire Bait but didn’t snatch up a box of worms because, like I said before, I had some in the fridge. Oh well. On the way back to camp I found a nice rod holder sitting there all by itself as if someone forgot it yesterday.

I returned with my findings, Jerry volunteered to journey back to the lake’s bait shop for one unit of ’crawlers that we would all pitch in for. While I waited I tried one of the three-inch earthworms I found on the trail with no results. After Jerry returned I tied a #10 baitholder hook onto my four-pound leader attached to the six-pound main line. I adjusted a small fluorescent red Cast-A-Bubble so that the worm would sink and suspend at five feet. I sat down, looked out and didn’t see the bubble anymore. Sure enough, the rod tip was twitching, I yanked it out of my new rod holder and set the hook; I was on. The fish pulled drag straight out then turned left. To the right it went, peeling more line off the spool. I played it gingerly until it came close to shore. As soon as the fish spotted land it made a few more runs straight out. Fun times and good fighting practice on the light line. After ten minutes I had it close enough to scoop up with a long-handled net, a beautiful three pound class rainbow to be inserted into my cooler creel.

Soon thereafter Norm hooked up. The fight lasted only a moment as he yanked too hard and farmed it (broke off). He walked back to the main camp bait table for a re-tie and worm. He heard me saying I found a rod holder over there. He said from where he was fishing he could see a dude walking back and forth looking for something, likely the gadget I now realize I stole from him. Ah darn it, there wasn’t another body or equipment within a hundred feet of the thing when I found it. Now I feel bad.

Around nine o’clock the bite shut down. We saw no more fish jumping or cruising the shoreline. We figured out the hot tip with the worms too late, for this lake is definitely an early morning affair. Chuck and Norm took off, Jerry and I walked out to the end of the fishing dock for investigative purposes. I twitched in the mini jig while Jerry tossed a lure. A few casts later his hand hit the dock railing and he dropped his rig into the drink. I bolted over and dipped my rod tip trying to wrap my line around the reel handle as the whole thing sank but all for naught. Jerry tied on a big ol’ Fish Trap to drag along the bottom but only hauled out a bushel of weeds.

Pretty sure I’m going there next week with a fresh box of nightcrawlers. Six bucks for four trout is a dam good deal considering all the fish we saw caught were way over 2 ½ pounds.

*****

Palos Verdes 12/8

The algae at Colorado Lagoon is in great shape. Unfortunately there are no opaleye at Palos Verdes to catch. With an incoming tide at Opaleye Point and the other point to the right past the cove I spent 5 hours standing there with no hits.

When I put water in the bucket to rinse off the bait, my fingers about went numb the water was so cold. Generally this isn't good for bass but historically it never repelled the opaleye, so I don't know what's going on with them. About the only thing the cold water is good for is kelp growth, of which there is plenty all over So. Cal.

Palos Verdes 11/17

Everywhere I've tried fishing at Palos Verdes the past year has been unfishable due to thick kelp growth. Today I descended the Opaleye Point trail and fished the ledge over to the right, where historically The Breakwall Crew always caught opaleye.

The water was glassy with only the occasional set of one-foot waves rolling in, and the best part was there wasn't the thick kclp choking the honey hole.

Armed with a bucket of perfect green long strong algae from the Colorado Lagoon slime pit I spent three-and-a-half hours chumming and casting here and there but only noticed the bobber going down five times. likely being pulled under by little guys.

I did catch something, an eleven-inch calico bass on the Jerk Shad.

Palos Verdes 11/3

After October rains, the slime pit at Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach is producing quality algae opaleye bait.

At the rocks near Long Point the swell was down but the kelp grow is still too thick to fish. From every rock I stood fishing was pretty much impossible due to becoming snagged withing a minute after casting.

We'll try again for opaleye in a couple weeks near the Opaleye Point trail.

Palos Verdes 9/8

This summer we have had colder water than what is normal, throwing off much of the sand and calico bass bite along with repelling seasonal exotics such as yellowtail, tuna and dorado. One bright spot is opaleye being caught by sport fishers operating out of Long Beach and San Pedro. Also an online buddy who fishes PV was telling me one morning he saw several opaleye landed by another angler using peas.

This morning I wanted to fish the second to last good morning high tide of the year at the rocks near the end of Hawthorne Blvd. Last month when we tried to park at the bluff top lot there, a rent-a-cop type kicked us out, saying we cannot park here before 6am. That is just too darn late for the Breakwall crew. I have parked here at 4:30 am several times in the last five years, whenever the sheriff drove by at that hour and saw me with fish poles, they just drove right on by.

So now in order to get to the hot rock early, we have to park a little further north, curbside along Paseo Del Mar. The only drawback is that the hike is now another five minutes, no biggie. Once I twisted my way to Paseo from PV Drive I parked at a trailhead and descended down a wide maintained pathway to the beach. I turned left and from the point saw my targeted rocks another mile away. Dam.

It would have taken another half hour to get back to the truck, drive over to the next cove and hike back down. Remembering back, this is the first time I have been to this exact spot in the dark, which would be my current excuse for getting lost. There are nice rocks here but there won’t be much lure flinging for bass, as the whole place is choked with kelp as far as the eye can see. After casting to a perceived clear spot I kept snagging on kelp that isn’t tall enough to bend over and float on the surface.

Next trick was to open a can of Green Giant peas and chum the area. Canned peas are good for chum because they have lots of flavor and scent. They are soft and don’t stay on the hook very well, so I use frozen peas for that purpose. I used a small #10 circle hook with two peas pinned on. Three hours of that produced a few bites and one hook-up in the form of a dinky pile perch.

I will guess the catches of opaleye from sport boats is a good sign for this coming opaleye season, starting next month. The past few years have been pretty dead for the nibblers. I caught only three last season but they were all over three pounds. I’d rather have a limit of two pounders. The kelp shouldn’t be much of a factor either as you don’t have to cast very far.

*****

MLPA closures in Orange County

MLPA closures off Palos Verdes

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Redondo desal plant now online

Diver dies off Palos Verdes

Diver dies at Redondo Beach Ruby St.

EPA denies lead fishing gear ban

Boater dies at Santa Monica breakwall

Alpers doesn't like new DFG proposal

Warning on crabs and lobsters