At four this morning I was banging on Breakwall Dan’s door for him to join me in splitting a bucket of number nine quality enteromorpha for high tide down the Opaleye Point trail.  Yes sir, the shoreline of Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach is once again abloom with green bait, unlike the bare mud banks encountered when I checked there three months ago.

    Dan was so excited to get to the fish hole early, he exacted the $2.25 expense to travel three minutes on the toll road.  For that, we found ourselves curbside at the trailhead for about fifteen minutes, waiting for enough light to transude from the sky to illuminate our paces down.

    Once we positioned ourselves upon the casting rock of our choice to the right of the point, we found zero breeze – unlike the windy conditions at home – and the swell to be such that it should have kept the fish active without causing a major ass‑soaking.  Everything was perfect.  Great bait, lots of chum in the water... but someone forgot to tell the fish.  As usual, we gave this spot no more than a biteless hour before we moved on over to the Marineland Ledge.

    Our situation improved somewhat at our new locale.  Right away we saw nibbles from a staging area about a third the way out.  However it seemed it took another hour for one of us to actually hook something.  Naturally it was me.  If there were only one opaleye swimming around all day I would have caught it.  That is, unless Breakwall Darryl was present.  Under those circumstances Darryldog would have taken the glory.  Anywho, it was worth your basic three tacos. 

    I hooked the Dang thing in the opaleyeball.  Did this signify the fish were around, being extra cautious, checking the bait thoroughly before sucking it in? 

    From that fish on, for over an hour, we cast to every hot spot in the immediate area known to breakwall man but failed to notice any more nibbles.  We thought about trying Long Point, but when the waves are up a little at Opaleye Point and the Marineland Ledge, the area’s main points are usually a wash‑out.

    Dreamer Dan said ah heck it was a beautiful day, which indeed it was, with clear blue skies, Catalina views and eighty-degree heat by nine o’clock.  I said great.  I’ve had too many lovely days in my life.  I need fish.  But not that bad.  Instead of trying every two weeks we’ll attempt it every four.  This makes our next trip to Opaleye Point for high tide, with enteromorpha for bait, set for Monday January 22, 2001.  Low tide fans will be pleased to hear our next trip to the same spot to fish from the Platform Rock will be Monday, March 12.

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