Check me out.  I went fishin’ two days in a row.  What with summertime weather in January, sand bass in the counts, zero ocean swell and a relatively low 1.5 foot tide at 5am, there was no possibility I could keep myself away from Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach.

    The stomach of the five pound sandie Breakwall Dan landed at Sargo Point last August was stuffed with an octopus, which coincides with what I have read about the species’ diet practices.  They prefer the tentacled mollusks over minnows; however I’m sure they’ll eat whatever is available.

    And what was available at the Temecula Sport Chalet last week was plenty of fresh frozen market squid in their freezer.  I stocked up with four flats at $3.50 each.  What you do is pull the head out of the body, pin it to a treble hook so that it resembles a baby octopus and hope there is a big fat paralabrax around to suck it up.

    This morning I was down the stairs and to the right, carefully negotiating the dreaded hump at five.  Even though the tide was at its lowest, I still had to ply water over the tops of my boots to access Sargo Point on the south end of Emerald Bay.  I had no worries of being washed out to Catalina; the water was calmer than I have ever seen it here.

    Upon staging my casting area at the point, first task was to dunk the squid head so that the three-ounce spoon sinker would suspend the bait over a sandy area in close proximity to structure.  I placed the rod in a sand spike firmly positioned in the rocks, then put the reel in free-spool clicker mode.  If a finned creature were to bite and pull line I would hear the noise.  Also this prevents bat rays from yanking the whole expensive outfit into the drink.  Actually this was the first time I used the clicker of this Ambasseduer reel.  It’s loud when you crank the handle but not so much when line is pulled from the spool.

    This will be a problem as I bounce around the rocks of the point, casting the five-inch PowerBait Jerk Shad Mullet with my 15 pound outfit all over the joint for not only sand but also calico bass.  I would have to watch the rod tip for bites, as fifteen feet away from the bait rig I’m out of ear shot.

    The only time I took my eyes off was when I cast the lure, then soon as it hit the water I would turn my head to monitor the bait pole.  It’s a tough job but I persevered.  So anyway what I noticed was that if I cast the Jerk Shad and just kind of immediately reeled in slowly and jerkily I had no hits.  When I cast and waited a minute I had bites on the sink in the form of not one but two calicos in the eleven inch range. 

    Speaking of on-the-sink, when I reeled in my squid head to find a bare hook, I without haste pinned another onto the treble and flew the rig out once more.  As soon as the weight hit the bottom I was on.  Cranking in I could tell it was a little guy and when I lifted out the fish I found a mackerel.  The squid head was undamaged, all I had to do was secure it back onto the hook and cast out again.  The above scenario repeated itself with another mackerel of the same size being hoisted up.

    I suppose I could use the two mackerel as bait but I find their salted and vinegar-soaked filets a very tasty snack when served with rice and a little shoyu.

    When the sun rose the mack-attack died out.  I had the squid head down there for an hour without anything even attempting to nibble it off the hook.  No more bites were had on the Jerk Shad either.

    At seven I had to get out before the incoming tide denied access back to Crescent.  Again the lack of swell made the wade up to my knees easy.  On a three-foot day I would have faced something messy and scary.

    Up and over the eight-foot ledge put me at Dangerous Dan Point.  As I have been yackin’, there is no danger today, you could stand on any rock as far out as you want without fear.  Without fish too, as it seemed there was nothing around to inhale the Jerk Shad for the thirty minute effort I gave.

    Usually I fish here in the summer when the marine layer persists.  Today the air was crystal clear (for L.A. anyway) and you could see the back side of Catalina and Palos Verdes 33 miles away.

    ’Twas time to head south past Two Rock Point, across Crescent bay to fish the south end of Twin Points.  What I found was the rock I usually stand on was barely poking up above the water.  That’s what happens when you fish down here on a low tide that is not minus.  Just 150 minutes past the low, half of the good spots are unfishable.

    I did find a rock closer to the bluff to stand on to cast the Jerk Shad but again nothing was biting.  I didn’t cast the squid head rig because there was a diver buoy close by.

    Making my way back to Crescent I again had no bites casting the Jerk Shad.

    At Crescent I cast out the squid head and continued on with the lure.  Twenty minutes later I heard the buzz of the reel clicker going off.  I bolted over, lifted the rod out of the holder and cranked.  This time it felt heavier than a mackerel, maybe a legal sand bass was on?  Nope, it was one of them pesky thornbacks.  Breakwall Darryl calls’em throwembacks, which is what I did.

    I spent another hour here, nothing else touched the squid head.  I found that unusual because normally there are a bunch of little guys picking at it, like grunion, surfperch, garibaldis… everything.  Even though sand bass have been in the dock totals lately, the larger catches per angler are coming from Santa Monica Bay.  I recon I’ll shine this area until the sandie counts from Dana and Newport are into the mid-hundreds at least.

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