First trip of 2009: 7 Minute Wrecksh

I finally got the new  kayak set up after working out  few kinks with the sonar and battery mount.  There’s enough room for a ton of gear on the 2008 Outback hull,  including a backup mirage drive, which is like your car having a spare engine in the trunk.  Yesterday was my first fishing trip after a short pedal around Alamitos Bay last weekend.  I’d have loved to get out there  sooner but the weather’s just been too cold.   I happen to have Raynaud’s Disease and so don’t do too well with the combination of very cold and wet.

So I worked out a cheap-but-bulletproof mount for the sonar head unit, which keeps it  up where I can see it and still be looking forward. It also keeps it out of a lot of the spray off the bow.

Lowrance X50DS mounted to pvc, pvc goes in mast hole

Sunday January 11, 2009 was an absolutely gorgeous warm sunny day. My original plan was to stalk some halibut on the flats off Cabrillo Beach Park in San Pedro. This is one of my favorite places to kayak fish and I know it pretty well.  It’s the first place I  ever kayak fished, actually. So that made it a good place to try out the new fishfinder and see how its imagery compares with my old Humminbird POS’s, and my impressions of what the bottom’s like at Cabrillo. There’s also a bait barge in the harbor, from which you can get a bucket of live bait for 5-10 bucks. The combination of live bait and the broad sandy/muddy flats are perfect for halibut fishing and this bay kicks out legals, sometimes really big ones, all year long.

But no matter how well prepared you are for any fishing trip, you’re always thrown a curve.  I arrived there about 7:15 a.m. and as son as I got out of the truck I could see that the bait barge was gone.  Or at least wasnt where it usually was but, no it was gone. Made a mental note to look into that and reassesed the situation. Curve number two was that I was really set up for live bait fishing and only had a few jigs and plastic swimbaits to work with.  Had some Bite Grease and a sabiki rig, so I set that up and tried to catch some queenfish for bait. I put some Grease on the sabiki feathers and soon caught my first fish on the new kayak, a white surfperch. Not a good bait fish by any stretch (tried them before). So he went back, and I caught a few jack mackerel, a little too big for live bait but better than nothing.  I dragged those around the bay for awhile and got no love at all.

So I went out of the harbor and found calm conditions.  Incredibly calm.  Heard over the VHF that a 15 foot dead whale had been spotted drifting off of Angel’s Gate, just west of it.  Exactly where I was headed, out around the Gate.

Angel's Gate lighthouse (and hooooooorrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnn)

I never saw it and I’m glad, because they attract sharks, especially whites which are out there in the Catalina channel not far away at all. And more or less where I’d be fishing. And I’m in a boat more-or-less the color of whale flesh and the shape of a small whale.

Rounding the light, I headed at a 235 degree course towards 7-Minute Wreck. I’m watching for structure or fish schools on the meter.  Seeing a little bit of both,  I Greased up a megabait jig and  starting at about 45′, I stopped and dropped the jig. Couldn’t get any strikes so headed out farther. Got nothing at 55′, 65′, and at around 75” I found some kind of structure and picked up a small kelp bass, then a small sand bass. Then not much else. Headed out farther and found the wreck in about 87-88 feet.  There was just enough wind for a nice drift over the spot. Switched to a smelt pattern plastic Fish Trap swimbait and greased it up.  Then it was wide open for an hour or so, nothing huge but lot’s of fun and variety.  Calico bass, sculpin and vermillion rockfish.

The live macks went untouched all day.

The weather, up to this point, was just perfect. Warm but not hot and flat calm.

Halfway to Catalina and still dead calm at 1 pm. Unheard of.

After awhile I headed out farther to try the last remaining macks in some deeper 100′-plus water, hoping for a big halibut.  I got out there, and played around for a while but all the action was back there around 90′ near the wreck and the lobster pots.  As soon as I turned around, those afternoon winds came out of nowhere, and with a vengeance.

The wind and chop can come out of nowhere. In a kayak, that means it's time to head in.

Within minutes, it was sloppy 2-3 foot chop that did not let up, the whole 4 mile pedal back to the ramp.  With all the weight in the back of the yak, it ‘planes’ much better than the older hull, and I  stayed pretty dry all things considered.  The trip back into the harbor and through the Gate was a little hairy because all the sailboats were heading out and all the powerboats were heading in.  Dozens of each. All at the same time.  Through it all, there’s  a fleet of tugs towing a barge the size of a skyscraper, with 4  freighter ship offloading cranes on it.   The Catalina ferry.  Party boats from 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro.  Coast Guard.  Bay Watch.  Harbor Police.   And a crazy Polack in a little red plastic boat;)