Opaleye Point 4/28
A few people wrote, wondering why there’s been no Breakwall report lately. Part of the equation is our winter in April. We’ve had rain on most of my days off with good tides. The couple of times it didn’t rain I went to the Colorado Lagoon slime pit in Long Beach to find no green bait to use for opaleye. I cut my losses by turning around and going home.
I tried a springtime largemouth run to Diamond Valley Lake earlier this month. At the shoreline spots where normally you would see bass jumping everywhere, like the last two times I was there, activity was nonexistent. All I reeled in with my fake trout and power bait rigs were large globs of brown algae.
The lack of intestinalis algae bait has been most upsetting. Under a normal winter cycle it starts growing strong two weeks after a good rain as long as there is no more rain to dilute the salt water it grows in. The problem is that it rained just about every two weeks, messing up everything.
This morning I gave it another shot. Again there was no green where normally there would be multiple acres. The only saving grace was at minus tide I found a small clump cleverly disguised as brown mud right at the water line. I moved it around with the rake, the mud came off, I said hallelujah, three handfuls of the long stringy stuff.
I was considering fishing the rocks of Crescent Bay in Laguna but the swell chart showed three to four foot waves hitting that area, making any attempt there useless.
So at 4:45 I was rappelling down the Opaleye Point trail of Palos Verdes to fish some exposed rocks at low tide. At the shore I turned left to fish a spot 75 yards over where before I caught seabass, halibut and calico bass. I gave it forty-five minutes of WildEye Sardine flinging before heading over to the rocks at Opaleye Point by dawn.
Now that we need a rope to get down here I can tell a lot of folks are staying away by the lack of footprints on the trail and no trash on the rocks like there usually is.
At first light I could see in the crystal clear water calicos spraying bait fish all around the kelp stringers. At first I used the Sardine but with no bites and a loss to a rock, I switched over to the five-inch WildEye Mackerel. That perked things up a bit as immediately I hooked and landed a nice two-pound calico. FINALLY after a four-month drought I had three tacos in the bag.
In the next half hour I had three more hits that didn’t stick before landing another calico of fifteen inches. I kept at it with the plastic for 30 more minutes but I detected no other interest.
I chummed some green bait by rinsing out the mud in a bucket of clean water, then tossing the filth out there. I stood there looking stupid for two hours which is when the tide came in enough to make it a dangerous spot. In that time I had only two hits. In opaleye parlance, that would equate to no landings since in this business you need at least five nibbles for every hook-up.
We’ll give Laguna a go in two weeks.
*****
From Jerseybro in response to our 1/13 report:
I fished LA Harbor that same day. The water was dirty, filthy, nasty, red tide, floating mucus, made want to quite fishing that area for a long time. Didn't want to think about putting a fish on my families plate from that area. Maybe I'm over reacting, but it left a lasting impression!
Thanks for the report!
From the editor:
Yes, generally eating fish caught from LA Harbor is not a good idea. I kept all the sand bass (20 lbs of filets) because they are migratory and just sort of showed up a few weeks ago, so my theory is they are not polluted as of yet. Maybe in a few months one might not want to eat too many of them if caught there.
The white croaker on the other hand are born and raised in the harbor. Never consume those guys.
At the gate the water was clear for us.
*****
EDSG Harlan wins $300 Corona Lake Derby
Mike: Yeah, Harlan seems to have figured out how to catch trout. He caught this on a 7 ft G Loomis rod with 4pd test, using a Power Bait worm while drop-shotting. Don't ask me what any of that means, I've just heard him say it enough times now, that I've got it memerized. They had a fishing derby at Corona lake this weekend and he won first prize...$300 - he'll probably buy another fishing pole with it, knowing him. The fish bug has bitten him pretty hard - good thing I like trout! We're looking at boats now, and I'm actually going to go on his next fishing expedition. Not sure I'll like it, but I told him I'd give it a try.
From the Editor:
$300 will buy you a nice outfit. You will love using it with him!
EDSG Harlan lands an eleven pound trout from Corona Lake 1/2006
It was caught with 2lb test on a 4'6" Kencore (eglass) rod. The fish went under the bow of the boat and I had to lay down on the nose to untangle the line from the anchor rope while continuing the fight. He almost crossed under the bow but I stopped that. It was one hell of a ride. Bait was chartreuse powerbait dipped in Garlic powerbait trout dip.
*****
Joke from Ellen P.
A True Fisherman
A man and his friend were bass fishing on a river in Texas near a highway bridge. A huge bass swam by picking up the minnow on one of the fisherman's lines. The fisherman carefully picked up his rod in order to "set the hook" on the 30" plus bass .
Before he could set the hook, his friend alerted him to a funeral procession passing on the bridge above their boat.
The fisherman slowly laid down his fishing pole, releasing the bail allowing line to run off the reel, took off his hat, bowed his head and closed his eyes in prayer.
His friend was amazed. "Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You are the kindest man I have ever known."
The fisherman shrugged. "Yeah, well, ......... we were married for 35 years."
*****
*****