Short report.
In late morning, I paddled out on my 9 ft longboard to a kelp zone that looked promising on Google Earth. Easy access, warm clear water and small baitfish around structure.
Just got past the breakers and sat with jig floating in water while adjusting my reel – BAM – a nice calico grabs it and comes up. That was the case for the rest of the session – steady on 12-18” calico + 1 sandy (a total of 11).
In one kelp hole I pull one after another a couple WSB 20 and 24 “ , one incredibly fat (pregnant?).
Then I saw big splashes between the kelp patches and fishes being chased by somebody, it happened on many occasions with up to 15-20 good size fish of all kind fountaining up in the air; at some point I thought I saw a fin, but I try to convince myself those were just seals (tough I have not seen them surface until about the end of the trip). I casted my plastics at the big boils around for nothing: surface , jigging mid-water , running fast – not a bite. Finally I let it sink to the bottom and slowly work through the kelp gap and suddenly the rod loads up nicely - I couldn’t wait to see what the creature was and horsed it up (thinking big bass?) getting the biggest fight of the day with rod tip slapping the water and reel zzzz-ing. Turned out to be a legal hali ~25” , promptly released too.
I did see one barracuda following my lure but he was to small compared to the splashing monsters that remained elusive.
Great morning and nice spot on the record (the only one off PCH that did not have boats/kayaks!)
At the end I run out of jigs and my reel started to get funky from being marinating in salt water.
I got a new real now and need to reload and get out there again.
Hope all had productive weekend.