On the way to Opaleye Point this morning, I stopped by the slime pit at Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach at 4am to check the availability of enteromorpha algae for bait.  Oh yes, there’s lots of the stingy stuff floating in the stagnant waters right next to the gutter inlet which drains most of the local neighborhood.  A bucket‑load of the greenness stashed in the back of Li’l Miracle, I was good to go, with visions of a bag load of opaleye to feed me for the next few weeks.

    When I started fishing the platform rock, absolute low tide was turning high.  I had to watch the passageway behind me periodically to ensure a safe return to the mainland before the whole area became flooded.  Countless tosses of the five‑inch Fish Trap into and around the kelp strands before light resulted in zero hits.  As soon as there was enough illumination coming in from the east I chummed some of the green bait and started in with the opaleye enteromorpha bobber rig.  A biteless hour of that and with the incoming tide starting to cut off my escape route, I was off to fish the Marineland Ledge.

    There, I again flipped the Fish Trap in and out of the seaweed with no takers.  Next I chummed the green bait here and there to attract the huge school of opaleye I so desired.  Another hour of bobber-rigging resulted in no noticeable bites, big or small.  Identical results were had after I dared scaling the Dreaded Hump to fish the Cave Rock.

    Crap, now what.  Up the trail I went to drive over to check out Long Point.  The swell was up a little today, but still the whole place was very fishable.  I climbed upon the pillar rock for more Trap tossing but again Dana.  I chummed the area with the usual and cast out the bobber rig.  Another hour went by with nothing doing before I was the hell out.

    Since it was still early, I went north on P. V. Drive South to enjoy the views over the L. A. Basin before heading the hour‑and‑a‑half home.  What I found is that the 30 acres at the end of Hawthorne Blvd., which historically has always been fenced off with barb wire, are now open with a new paved access road and a cutesy walking trail along the bluff top.  That is because this particular terrace is being graded for the installation of a bunch of mansions.  It was nice of whoever the powers may be to construct parking lots and such us breakwall anglers will use in the future to access the rocks below.

    I walked up and down the path and discovered a trail similar in steepness and length as the same‑ol’ same‑ol’ we have been using to access Opaleye Point all these years.  At the bottom is one gigantic flat rock of about two acres that looks to me like one of the most killer‑est casting platforms I have ever seen.  Viewing from above at mid-tide, there was plenty of standing room and not a single kelp plant growing within casting distance.  It was a little late this morning to exert the effort to fish the place but next low tide I’ll be there first thing.  Barring adverse swell conditions, this will be Saturday Sept. 21 at 5am, but there will only be about a four hour window before high tide washes us out.  See ya there.

Top