I wasn't sure what to expect as far a fishing from a kayak goes. I'd never been in any kind of kayak. In fact, I'd never even laid eyes on my kayak until Scott pulled into the parking lot with our kayaks in the back of his dad's truck. So we strapped and clipped the seats in, stowed gear, put the wheels on them and pulled them down to the launch ramp.
These are very stable kayaks, they're called Fish n' Dives, so they're expected to remain upright while swimmer climbs into them. So kind of pushed off and climbed in, but didn't push off far enough, and was still grounded. No big, just a good push with the paddle and I was floating. Once clear of the launch ramp I tossed a little crank bait into the water to troll on the way out of the marina.
Today's tides were a pretty broad swing with an early-morning high tide around 7 feet, and a low of -1ish around 1 p.m. That means when we launched the tide was a little below its high mark, and when we returned it's be a little above its low mark. Here's why I bring this up. As we rounded the short rock breakwater my trolling rod suddenly bent over near double, but it obviously wasn't a fish. I'd snagged on one of those rocks from the jetty. The lure broke off and it was too deep to reach. So I left it, and didn't troll anymore until later.
Being an inexperienced paddler, I was glad to see Scott tossing lures when I rounded the jetty after sorting out my snag. So we threw swimbaits in the shallow water outside of the marina for a few then slowly started working our way towards a bird sanctuary in the south bay. There's a channel that runs almost all the way around it, and we've caught some decent fish there in the past.
On the way out there, I scored my first kayak fish, a little spotted bay bass.
Fishing was a little tough for a while after that, not for Scott, just for me. Scott found a couple of pockets, where he was able to land a decent count of spotties. Of course he had a depth finder and was able to stay over the channel, where I was farming eel grass in the shallows.
Kayak lunch.
Scott eventually set out for a spot a ways away where birds had been crashing on bait. After a few more spotties, I reluctantly made the paddle to join him. Pelicans were crashing into the surface with explosive splashes after baitfish. It was quite a spectacle. Scott was picking up spotties feeding under the birds, and not long after I labored up near him, he hooked up on a nice fish that pulled his kayak around a little before he got it to the surface. It turned out to be what I'm sure is his personal best short-fin corvina.
It was actually one of the nicer ones I've seen in the open bay. Not long after that he picked up a nice yellow-fin croaker, one of the harder-fighting fish in the light tackle fishery.
We eventually had to make the long paddle back to the marina. Stopping "to fish" a few times along the way. When we got back into the marina, I swung by the rocks where I lost the crank bait on the way out, and there it was a few feet above the water line, embedded in an organism somewhere between plant and animal, that squirted water on me when I applied some pressue to the lure. Once on the landing ramp, it was pretty tough lifting the yak to put the wheels under it, and haul it up the long low-tide launch ramp.
The rest of the day was spent in a state of exhausted bliss, drinking Pacificos, and making and eating carne asada tacos...
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