A quick check with my headlight of the enteromorpha algae growth at the Colorado Lagoon slime pit this morning revealed it is just now starting to grow.  Thank you rain clouds.  Should be ready for harvest in about a month.  I ended up getting black mud all over my boots and had to deal with the thick sulfuric stench of detritus as I drove on to the next stop.

    In lieu of green bait, I patronized the 24-hour Ralphs a few miles north on Bellflower near the Pacific Coast Highway traffic circle in Long Beach.  A two-and-a-half pound bag of generic frozen peas were only $2.69 with club, a sixty-cent savings.  It was definitely a quantity enough to allow my imaginary Vietnamese buddy Chum Minh to throw a few handfuls of the veggie out there to get’em goin’.

    In the past two weeks since our last outing, WON has reported along with an invasion of bonito in our local waters from Point Dume south to the Tijuana Bullring, a promising infusion of opaleye.

    As reported last month, the rocks at the top of the Opaleye Point trail we historically used as a sort of staircase to descend have crumbled down to the shoreline.  Last night I prepared a length of nylon truck rope, splicing the ends with a propane torch.  This morning I tied one end to the bottom railing post and tossed it over the bluff.  At the drop-off point I tied the other end to the bait bucket, lowered it the ten feet to the trail, then with goat skin gardening gloves donned, rappelled myself to safety.  Scampering down the trail bucket in hand, life was good.

    Today we had an incoming tide to be high at ten o’clock with a small, slightly breezy swell, perfect conditions to try the usual spot to the right of the point.  Before light Chum Minh threw several handfuls of peas out there, then I commenced the flinging of the five-inch Channel Islands Chovy pattern Fish Trap to the left and to the right.  In no time I lost one lure each at both ends.

    There wasn’t substantial light to see the bobber painted fluorescent red but I tossed it out anyway, with a number four Owner flyliner hook camouflaged by four large peas.  I had to rely on the feeling of a fish sucking up the rig, something I haven’t detected in a while.  Hope my reflexes aren’t too rusty.

    Hard to tell if the reflexes have been oxidized or not if in ninety minutes there is no action as determined by a still bobber.  I reeled in every five minutes to find something ate the peas off the hook, more than likely a health-conscious grunion, baby topsmelt or something.

    I was considering trekking over to the Marineland Ledge but EEOWW, up the trail and out o’ there I went.

    Over at Long Point I used the same strategy as at Opaleye Point.  Chum Minh threw handfuls, Fish Trap tossed here and there, bobber rig with peas pinned to a #4 hook.  Nothing on The Trap, however in two hours I had lots of bites on the peas which were likely opaleye as indicated by the float going under several times.  Grunions can’t do that.  Nothing stuck to the hook.

    Next I trudged over to the cave, where there is now a nice El Capitan looking rock ledge high above the milky, off-colored water inside the cove.  In the last three years most of the pebbles of what used to be a beach there now have been washed away.  Fifteen years ago The Breakwall Crew caught endless three-taco opaleye right here... one time.  Never had another bite at this spot since.  I keep trying, though.

    As we fishermen always say; if the fish ain’t bitin’, I am.  Bought myself a roast pork sandwich at the Busy Bee market on the way home.

    I visitied the little pier inside King Harbor in Redondo Beach to see what size the boneheads are these days.  There were only two dudes fishing the whole thing, so I kind of knew there wasn’t much going on.  These guys had the killer bait, an ice chest with a battery-operated aeration system full of four-inch topsmelt they caught plus a few dozen ghost shrimp.  In their catch bucket they had three surfperch, a sargo and a two-taco opaleye.  I asked where they caught the opaleye.  They said it bit the shrimp at the buoy where the bubble hole used to be.  Didn’t see any signs of bonito.  When the bonies are around the pier is usually coated with their smallish scales.  They’ve probably been caught from the main breakwall near the bait dock.

    I mentioned I fished for opaleye with peas this morning.  One dude asked what was the largest opaleye I ever caught.  I said, you ain’t goin’o belive it but I caught a 4-6 on a chunk of bait twenty-seven years ago right over there, pointing to the section of this same pier where the door to the head is located.  I wish I could find that picture.  Tim from TC’s bait shop at The Triangle took that one.  I was soaking the slab of flesh of bonito I caught near the boat hoist earlier in the morning because that day the yellowtail were hangin' nearby.  Yellows love bonito belly almost as much as I do.

*****   

From JP 10/19/2004:

We were fortunate to beat the weather on Tuesday and limited out on Yellow Fin Tuna.  I plan on swinging by the office today to drop some off for all of you.  If you get this, send me an email to confirm that you are interested in taking some fish home.  Check out the attached image for the jackpot fish;-))  See you all in a short while.

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