Palos Verdes 5/28
The alarm sounded at 2am. I jumped out of bed, pushed the cancel button then did the zombie shuffle out to the living room to fire up the HTPC, where the CDIP Swell Chart showed the perfect one- to two-foot swell necessary to combine with an incoming tide at Palos Verdes to allow access to all my favorite casting platform rocks south of Christmas Tree Cove. Any larger of a swell, I would not have turned on the coffee pot and simply fell back into the sack.
I didn’t arrive to the blufftop curb parking until 04:35, way later than hoped. I will set my clock for 01:30 next time. Thing is it takes 25 minutes to hike to the rock where I catch the biggest calico bass. By the time I got there, the first light of dawn was already upon us. As predicted, the swell was good but this zone was too kelp-choked to be fishable. I gave it five tosses before moving on.
The next set of rocks to the south are another fifteen-minute walk over sand and slippery rocks. Old people like me need to take our time so we don’t fall and can’t get up. Once there I saw all around the water was wide open and very fishable.
First cast with the WildEye Sardine swimbait and HOOK UP!! Felt like a nice one and sure enough a solid three-taco calico bass was slid into the gunnysack.
Second cast, I counted to ten as the lure sank and HOOK UP!! I said dang it’s a great day when they hit it before you start reeling in! This one felt as sizable as that first bass but half way in it disgorged and got away. I made 10 more casts here, felt one more hit, then moved on to the next point of this giant rock about fifty feet away.
Conditions remained perfect as I cast here and there, out at the point, then back towards the cove. I felt a few little guys hit and actually landed two more calico bass but they were just under the 14-inch legal requirement at 12 ½ and 13. I tossed them into a tide pool to watch them swim around for my own enjoyment.
Out at the farthest point of rocks from shore where the water was fairly deep, even at low tide, I let the swimbait sink the usual ten-count and HOOK UP!! This one felt bigger than all the previous, pulling left and right and trying to stick itself into kelp stringers twice. I overruled that motion and as I lifted it out with the net I had myself a barred sand bass that weighed in at two-and-a-half pounds.
All this action took place by six thirty. From then on, I felt a few smallish hits for the next two hours then I was back to the other rocks where I started the morning. Five dudes were angling there and as I passed, one was too excited he pulled out a ten-inch calico.
Note to self. Get here at four o’clock and hustle up the 30 minutes it takes to walk to the farthest rocks south, where there isn’t much kelp, then work your way north, back to the car. That will be Saturday June 18.