As the vernal equinox passed I planned on surrendering high tide opaleye fishing at Palos Verdes until October for low tide spring bass and sargo at Laguna Beach.  Problem was, during last week’s 05:00 to 07:00 ebbs, I awoke at 01:00 on Sunday and Monday to check the swell chart and found the surf way up, anywhere from five to ten feet.  Laguna low tide is only viable when the waves are three feet or less.  Since my bout with the disease California EDD (employment deficit disorder) still persists and with nothing better to do, I caved in to another go in the high water in remembrance of the solid action of two weeks ago.

    This morning at the Colorado Lagoon slime pit I found not a lot of enteromorpha algae bait but what was there was a full-scoop quality eight.

    First stop was the trail head near the end of Hawthorne Blvd.  Peering down from the bluff top I saw vicious nasty whitewater coupled with blustery northwest winds.  No thanks.

    Since the swell was coming from the same direction as the wind, the south side of Point Vicente was predictably much calmer.  I parked at the fishing access lot and marched down the trail affectionately named Cardiac Hill.  The trail that leads directly to the large pillow lava rock to the right is impassible.  You have to switch back to the left then walk along the bottom of the bluff to access the spot to the right of the rock where historically the Breakwall crew has done well for opaleye.

   The water here was murky, presumably caused by all the mud that washed down from about a 100-yard stretch of cliff face.  The wind was nil and the waves were down and so was the bite.  I gave the Fish Trap and the opaleye rig an hour until 06:45 with no bites before skedaddling.  On the way back to the bottom of the trail I was fascinated by all the neat-o rocks lying around that washed out of the mud.  Lots of colorful specimens, I snatched a few large chunks of P.V. crystal.

    Next stop was my opaleye honey hole to the left of the pillar rock at Long Point.  The occasional three-foot set was causing a small rip current, which handily chummed the whole area with algae sans effort.  I tossed the Fish Trap for a few minutes before making my first casts with the opaleye enteromorpha bobber rig on the 6’6” ten-pound-test outfit.  The conditions were right, the wind dying down as evidenced by fewer whitecaps and the water was clear and calm between sets.  Problem was the bass and opaleye weren’t biting if they were around at all.

    That was until 20 minutes before the 08:11 high tide.  Bobber goes down, fish comes up!  On the relatively light gear the fish fought hard.  Back and forth along the rocks, pulling small amounts of drag, I waited until the next large wave rolled in to help me wash it up to the rock upon which I stood.  Man, this opaleye put up quite the battle for being only a pound-and-a-half.

    The bite was on.  Another heavy chum, I let the bobber flow out with the rip until it stopped 25 yards out at the end of the current.  Not much going on way out there, so I tried fishing to the right of the current in six feet of still water less than ten feet away from shore.  That’s were they were!  I had hit after hit finally hooking and landing another hard fighter after five re-baits, the same size as the one before.

    In the next hour the bobber was going down within two minutes of casting on a regular basis.  Most of the hits were short, I could feel the fish on for a split second before seeing the bobber float back up.  Still I landed two more of the same size, or three tacos each.

    Then at 9:00 the big’ns stopped by.  The first one I hooked pulled drag before holding it’s own in one spot for 30 seconds.  Playing it gingerly for the next minute or so, I gradually worked it up to the net only to see my bobber come flying out of the water.  Gol Dang hook broke off.  I was thinking of re-tying after four fish but the fervent action overrode any of my abilities to properly reason.

    In the next 30 minutes I had lots of huge bites in the shallows with no hook-sets until finally I nailed one that again fought like nuts, just like the one that broke off.  This time I was able to scoop it up with the net, and it looked big, in fact the largest opaleye of the day weighing in at two pounds six ounces.

    That was about it.  I fished until ten o’clock, having only two more bites, the last thirty minutes I had none.

    On the way back to the truck I flipped the Fish Trap here and there along the rocks where on previous outings sand and calico bass were had.  Not so lucky today.  We'll attempt a low tide Laguna Beach again this coming Tuesday morning.

I went up to the Estelle Mountain reserve on 3/10 and took a few more pics of the phenomenal wildflower bloom.  The first pic you will see of white flowers is a wild onion patch.  I took some home and ate them in a salad and on a sandwich.  Very tasty.

*****

Email out of the deep blue from Stranger Hugo:

You are one heck of a fisherman. Compliment.

I fished opaleyes about a decade ago with an Asian surf club in the San Gabriel Valley. I was the only Caucasian in the group. We fished everywhere. Relocated and now am back in O.C. I may get out there again for them after reading your articles. (It takes a different type of fisherman to fish opaleye conditions. Pure, rustic environment.  Great exercise. One has to fully research the swell, etc. for safety.)

Feedback would be appreciated: 1. What rod do you use? How long? 2. Asian or Thill small slip float? 3. Brand of footwear. I've slipped a few times on jetties. Could never  find the right footwear. I've even thought of ordering the cleats from East Coast websites, where die hard surf fisherman hangout.  4. What coves in Laguna Beach area have you tried? This would be where I might start out.

Thanks.

Hugo C, Mission Viejo, CA.

Editor notes:

    The locale:  I never caught an opaleye at Laguna.  I read a story about opaleye hanging around the rocks there but I have only seen one caught in the 5 years I have been fishing the place.  Most of the opaleye I catch are from Palos Verdes, Redondo Breakwall, Cabrillo Breakwall and most recently, Balboa Jetty.  At Laguna we mostly catch barred sand bass, kelp bass, on Fish Traps and mussel and sargo on mussel.  Also I caught a 30lb bat ray there a couple years ago while using an anchovy on the bottom.  Quite the fight.  I’ve caught short white seabass and my pal once caught a short halibut on FTs.  I brought algae before but never had a bite.  Inquiring with other fisherpersons I saw, they say there aren’t too many opaleye around but when they are it’s wide open.  Last time this particular gent saw them en masse was over 10 years ago.  Anyway, if you start out at Santa Ana Cove and work your way around from there, in a few trips you will get the hang of the place.

    The gear:  For the bobber rig, on rough days I use a Fenwick Inshore graphite 7’ single piece spinning rod, a 1965 Mitchell 302 spinning reel with 15lb Big Game line.  On calm days I use a 6 ½’ rod, same brand, with a Daiwa BG15 spooled 10lb.  I toss the fish traps on a 7’ baitcasing rod, same brand, with an Ambasseduer reel spooled 20lb.  Gotta have the big line if you plan on landing a monster or freeing your lure from the kelp.  Caught a 6 ½ calico last year and a 15 lb white seabass while casting this outfit from P.V. rocks in 1998.

    The rig:  I use the standard large size Cast-A-Bubble painted fluorescent red.  Use a quality enamel spray paint, not fluorescent construction marker paint, which will dust off all over the inside of your backpack.  You rig it by first threading a regular glass bead up your line, then the bubble through the small end first, then pinch on two #4 split shots a foot above the end of the line.  Two #4s are better than one #2 because crimped in tandem they won’t slip down to the hook when you cast.  When using algae for bait you can get away with an Owner 1/0 Flyliner hook for more hooking power.  If you use peas, drop it down to a #4 or less.  Here’s the trick.  Loop a thin rubber band and pull it tight up the line above the bead and bobber until it is the number of feet above the hook into what depth you would prefer to fish.  The standard is 6ft.  Cut off the excess rubber band so there is only a small chunk left.  Now, when you cast, the two split shots will sink the hook until the rubber band hits the bead at 6 feet.  You can slide the rubber band up and down the line for your desired depth.  You can go deep too because the rig will be cast-able with the small chunk of rubber band wound onto the reel spool.

    Footwear:  I go with the thick Vibram-style sole but it has to be soft.  If you pick a boot with hard Vibram soles, you will slip.  Currently I am using a pair of Dr. Martens boots I bought on sale at Big-5.  They have the softest, thickest Vibram I have seen in a while. They’re cheap and not water proof, but you wouldn’t want to spend $200 on a pair of Irish Setters and have them not last long due to the salt.  I have had great results with my Dr. Martens for 2 ½ years now and still on the original laces even though they get soaked every trip.

*****

Email from Breakwall Robert:

Hey Mike, I took the wife and kids for a 3 day snow trip to Mammoth on President's Day Weekend. While there I got a chance to sneak out to fish the Owens River with just a Kastmaster.....Got some pretty brown's and about a 2.5 to 3 pound Rainbow. All the fish hit the lure with some power......FUN!  

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