Palos Verdes 3/2
Two weeks ago a
stop at the Colorado Lagoon slime pit revealed all of the excellent quality
opaleye ulva bait from January had already dried up died due to the
mid-February heat wave. The
online swell chart indicated a small swell that morning.
Instead of fishing I turned around to take care of several errands
and chores around the house.
Since Long Beach had rain
last week there might be a chance the algae will begin to re-grow but no.
A quick check this morning we see nothing; all gone.
This is why I included in my last grocery shopping order one can of
and one frozen bag of peas to try at my new hotspot –
Opaleye Cove – along the shore of
Palos Verdes.
Other baits work
well for opaleye too like live red shrimp and mussels.
Problem with those are nobody sells red shrimp anymore and mussels
are only available at low tide.
Peas are easy. Every store has
them and they are second only to ulva algae as opaleye’s favorite snack.
Today I started out
by squishing two handfuls of the canned variety and tossing the mash out for
chum. Next I used a #6 circle
hook to which I pinned one frozen pea and flipped it out a short distance with the usual
bobber rig. The action was
immediate. The float went down
but the fish came off the hook.
After five of those in a row I switched to a #6 treble hook with one frozen
pea per barb. That worked
better, I landed two opaleye in five minutes only they were less than one
taco each and released.
I tried another
hook: a #4 Owner Flyliner disguised under three peas.
That seemed to work the best.
I caught five more small opaleye, a buttermouth perch, a señorita and
a rock wrasse, none of which were kept due to size… or lack thereof.
Of course I knew opaleye like peas but I was unaware all those other
guys do too.
This morning the
swell chart displayed a three foot swell hitting straight-on into the cove
but when I arrived the water was disappointingly flat calm everywhere within
sight. We need some good
whitewater to get the big guys going.
Funny thing is on this side of PV I always fished the points when the
swell was calm, which had been rare the past ten years.
Now that I desire a larger swell on my day off, it hasn’t happened so
far in 2015.
Also before
departing home I checked the radar map and saw no storm cells drifting in,
meaning I would have prime time 6 until 10am free of rain and thunder.
Five hours later at 8:30 I heard the Coast Guard broadcast over
marine radio channel 16 that a band of thunderstorms ranging from Oxnard to
San Mateo point was rolling in with the center of intensity heading straight
for Palos Verdes. I watched for
an hour the black wall of lightning charged waterfall inch closer and as the
first raindrops fell at 10 I was up the trail and clearing out.
On the Harbor Freeway the rain was so thick I could hardly see ten
feet in front of me. Also as you
heard the whole of
Huntington Beach was covered white with hail this morning.
Only 1 small patch of poppies at the Mt. Estelle Preserve
New sticker for truck fits me perfectly
Tree trimmed after snow bent and broke it