Palos Verdes 2/8
Last October when Breakwall Shane and I fished the back of Christmas Tree Cove along Palos Verdes’ west shore, a skin diver informed us he saw all the opaleye out at the points. Perhaps this could be why we didn’t have any bites in four hours that day. After we concluded our efforts, we cruised a few miles north to investigate Flat Rock Point, where I told him we should look forward to the next Saturday we have ocean swell at one-to-two feet during a morning high tide.
The last two high tide Saturdays the swell was too large and I ended up fishing the back of the aforementioned cove, where the swell was calmer, with moderate results, catching a total of eight opaleye.
This morning I awoke and immediately checked The Swell Chart and saw finally the surf is that magical one-to-two feet which will allow a shot at Flat Rock during a six-and-a-half-foot high tide at eight o’clock.
At the Colorado Lagoon slime pit, the algae bait has wilted quite a bit in the last two weeks due to lack of rain. Even though, I was still able to search and rake in a full bucket of #7 quality bait. Tomorrow we are supposed to have precipitation in the greater Los Angeles region so maybe by next trip February 22 there will be more dark green long strands available.
Down the slippery steep trail, I chummed two handfuls of bait then made my obligatory casts at first light with a five-inch WildEye Sardine a few minutes before six. There was no kelp around, making the lure launching easy. Apparently there were no calicos in the area either as no hits on the swimbait were registered.
With the water in front of a perfect platform rock substantially chummed, I tossed out the opaleye bobber rig set at a depth of seven feet. As predicted, the swell was perfect, with only the occasional wave slightly over two feet wetting my boots and the water was as clear as a high mountain lake. Problem was, there were no opaleye around.
There were other fisherdudes around, though. That’s the thing with fishing on Saturdays at a popular set of rocks like Flat Rock. One of them asked what I was using for bait, to which I responded with a gesture toward my algae pile. He informed he saw some other guys down here catching opaleye by casting way out near the far rock to the left. I said I could cast over there but it is easier to chum in front of me to attract them closer. Why should they only be hanging out fifty yards away when the habitat is the same for several miles in either directions.
Two hours later, after I first noticed the bobber wiggle, I finally hooked one that was only two tacos. Rather disappointing but I kept it anyway. For the next hour I noticed more bobber movement but could tell it was only little guys knocking. The second and last opaleye I bagged was even smaller than the first.
My buddies over to my right were using grocery store shrimp on the bottom with one-ounce weights. One of them landed a smallish scorpionfish just before I bailed at 10. The rest of the time they were snagging the bottom, breaking off and retying.
Perfect swell, water, rocks, tide and good bait all for two small opaleye. Oh well nice try.