Our usual check for enteromorpha algae bait at the Colorado Lagoon slime pit this morning found that the recent rains have indeed nurtured the thin film of verDant mud we saw last time into the  long strands we breakwall rats have dreamt about most of the year.  Barely scratching the smelly surface, a full scoop was raked into the bucket.  Woo hoo!  Plenty remains for everyone.

    Now all we need are opaleye.  The rockhopper reports from Western Outdoor News the past two weeks weren’t so good for the blue-eyed tasties, none were mentioned.  This didn’t stop me from hitting up two spots listed last month.

    First stop was the Cabrillo breakwall in San Pedro.  During the fall and winter the parking is free during the weekdays but they don’t open until six in the morning.  Of course, I was there before five.  There wasn’t any parking near the lot gate as the neighbors hadn’t gone to work yet.  I ended up putting the truck against the curb on Pacific Ave., two blocks away from Steve White Drive and had to walk about a mile-and-a-half out to the second breach pile, where historically the Breakwall Crew has done well.

    Breach piles?  This breakwall was constructed in the late 19^th century out of quarried granite, a two-mile stretch of perfectly fitting blocks all of which stood with integrity for a hundred years.  Then in the 1980’s a freak wave storm came through and knocked four holes in the wall.  The Army Core of Engineers, as a quick fix, dumped tons of your basic boulders into the gaps in order to stop future swells from entering L. A. Harbor.  A tad unsightly, but effective.

    When I arrived where the rocks meet the beach, there was a huge concrete wall with no trespassing/keep off wall signs posted.  Ignored.  Then about even with the end of the Cabrillo pier was an old rotten chain link fence topped with barbwire.  Luckily it was all rusted and fallen, making it no problem to progress another hundred yards out.  I guess the authorities got tired of rescuing breakwall anglers who ended up in the drink.

    This breakwall sits low in the water and during a seven-foot high tide like we had this morning one has to check the swell chart  before venturing out.  Anything over two feet one should not go there as you can expect to get washed off.  Today we had one to two feet, just right.  Plus if you fish on the down-swell side of the piles, they help to break the waves even more as they sit higher than the old block sections.

    That’s where I fished, a perfect spot at the second pile where I remained dry and the handfuls of bait Chum Mihn threw out stayed in one spot.  Under dark clear sky spangled by Penus and Stupiter, I tossed out an anchovy anchored down by a three ounce weight.  That pole went into the sand spike wedged into the rocks.  The other outfit was the Fish Trap on the 20 pound rig cast all over the place for an hour with not takers.  I managed one fish on the 'chovy, a four-inch scorpion.

    As soon as dawn broke I went with an algae bomber using a 1/0 Owner flyliner hook and a BB shot using my ten-pound outfit cast into the whitewater on the sea side.  While waiting I saw what were likely bonito breaking the surface on the harbor side, chasing sardines (or grunion or topsmelt).  I reeled in, pinned on a frozen anchovy and flung out into the frenzy.  That lasted for a half hour until I realized they probably wouldn’t want dead frozen when they had a huge ball of fresh live to beat up on.

    The bomber rig is one where you just have a hook on the end of the line wrapped with a wad of algae, which is heavy enough to cast.  You have to go with the feel of a fish sucking it up to know you have one.  If the water is rough, like today, it’s kind of difficult to discern if something is munching your bait.  Hence I installed a nice cast-a-bubble painted fluorescent red.

    Didn’t take long.  Starting at six the bobber went down and I was on to my first opaleye of the season, a three-taco specimen bounced onto the rocks.  Alrighty then, the action was excellent for an hour, with lots of bobbers going down and another three-taco and a massive four-taco opaleye into the net.  The latter was a fun tussle on the light line.

    Then at seven Piscator the fish god flipped the off switch.  Thinking as the tide came in (high at eight) the huge school I envisioned had scooted over closer toward the beach, where they could graze the algae that’s normally out of the water.  Setting up with the anchovy rig at the first pile, I gave it an hour but nothing was had on either bait.

    I did see some bonitacuda – could have been either – chasing bait just outside the kelp stringers but I was too lazy to tie on a Krocodile for an attempt at them.

    Okay, so I have three, that’s nice.  The tide was too high to fish from the sunken jetty near the pier entrance, so at a quarter till nine I packed up and hiked back to the truck for a try at the second spot noted on last month’s reports, Royal Palms.

    Here, at the top of the road down the bluff, the sign said there is a necessity to pay to park.  Dang, last time I was here it was free on weekdays.  Not anymore.  Once I got down to the lot, which is right on the water, the pay machine said it’s four bucks from 6am until 9am, then it’s seven clams the rest of the day until 4pm.  Shine that cut into my post-fish beer money.

    Off to the Long Point historical hot spot I went with high hopes.  The swell was pounding in here, maxing out at over three feet.  Undeterred, Chum Mihn seeded a rip on the left side of the point while I tossed out a Fish Trap until the opaleye showed up.  Nothing on the plastic in ten minutes, out went the bobber rig, perfectly placed at the end of the rip, where the float constantly went down.  After a few misses I alas hooked up... and this one felt big.  Back and forth it went, not wanting easily come in, until the next big wave crested, then I cranked like a wildman, forcing the big opaleye to surf right into the rocks, where with some effort I dropped it into the net.  On the scale it went two pounds two ounces, or four tacos.

    I caught three more here at three tacos each until I had to get going at eleven.  As they were unusually still biting at this hour, thanks to the late high tide, I would have stayed all day if I didn’t have to work later.

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