Palos Verdes 12/8
Last month I reported one opaleye caught at Palos Verdes and that I slammed my right thigh on a rock after tripping over my bootlace. The first thing I did when I got home that day was to order shorter laces from my main man Owaho on eBay. They sell the heavy duty Kevlar variety of all colors and lengths and are highly recommended.
Two weeks after that 'trip' -- November 17 -- I fished the same spot, Christmas Tree Cove at Palos Verdes but caught nothing. The outgoing tide from 4.7 at 05:49 with small waves doesn’t seem to work at the back of the cove. I walked over to the left and fished platform rocks only available at ebb tide where conditions were very good with the one-foot swell but had nary a nibble as evidenced by bait on the hook every time I reeled in to check.
Today I returned to the pile of rocks at the back of same cove only this time conditions were absolutely perfect, with a six-foot tide at nine, four-foot swell sets tubing on the point to the right and as I filled my bucket with water it felt colder than last month. Something The Breakwall Crew has noticed throughout the years is, the opaleye bite is better as the water cools in wintertime, coinciding with the post-rain intestinalis algae blooms.
Speaking of which, at Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach there was plenty of the green bait available but the quality wasn’t very good. I easily filled my bucket but it wasn’t as stringy long as one would prefer.
Nonetheless, we had a pretty good bite today for once. At six o’clock I chummed several handfuls into the third swell of the first big set that rolled in but had to wait for fifteen minutes before I cast to allow for enough light to be able to see my bobber.
Field Test
The problem with bubble bobbers is, you cannot find good ones in stores anymore. Generally Wal-Mart or Big 5 sell the South Bend brand, which do not crack when they barely touch a rock as you reel in, they shatter. Totally worthless. Better brands are Bett’s and Cast-A-Bubble. They only crack but are easily repaired with Goop or E6000 adhesives. Also you have to color them with fluorescent spray paint to be able to see them floating out there.
Well… I found some killer bobbers, dudes! On eBay this seller tightlinesinc offers ones they call Tough Bubble and they are already colored bright yellow! I bought six as a try-out and am very pleased. As soon as I picked up the first one to thread onto my line I could feel they are softer than all other bubble brands. I used one all day, it hit several rocks and never cracked! I will definitely buy more of these.
Field Test II
Last trip I reported using Seaguar Red Label 15-lb fluorocarbon for the first time and that it was too stiff for a spinning reel. It broke easily after barely brushing up against a rock and also there were too many twists and loops on the spool as I reeled in. Today was the third time I used it and will be the last. This type of line is for conventional reels used in open water.
Within five minutes I had my first hit and it felt like a pretty good one but it came off after ten seconds. A good start anyway.
It was about twenty minutes later when I had my next hook-up, which I landed, but it was only a one-taco opaleye. I kept it anyway just in case it would the only one of the day.
Not to worry. A few minutes later I hooked a better size and netted a solid two-taco blue-eyed beauty slid into a wet gunnysack for cool storage.
Usually the way it goes is, you catch the big boys early, then around 9 o’clock you see more smaller ones. Today it was mixed. I netted the one- and two-taco, then another one-taco, two more two tacos, two three-tacos then two more one tacos all by ten. I also had at least five more that came off the hook along with countless bait stealers due to the short-stranded algae not staying on the hook very well.
I fished a while longer but even though the tide was still up and washing opaleye food out of the rocks at 10:30, the bite rather died and I have a million things to do at home anyway.
In two weeks on Saturday we will experience an even better king tide of seven feet at eight o’clock. If the swell is four feet or less you can count me in!
Today I bought next year’s fishing license:
2019 - Sport Fishing License - $49.94
2019 - Sport Ocean Enhancement Validation - $5.66
2019 - Second-Rod Sport Fishing Validation - $15.69
Total - $71.29