Tough Fishing On San Diego Bay

[Robert]

I met Perry down at Shelter Island around 7:00 A.M. It was overcast with little wind. Our plan was to paddle out with the tide and fish the Zuniga Jetty and the mouth of the bay.



The paddle out went pretty well. We dropshotted the channel for a while for no takers except for a lizard fish. We fished the cable crossing as well for a couple of hits, but nothing landed.



The clouds were burning off and it was turning out to be a nice day.





We moved to the other side of the Zuniga jetty. It was glassy with about 20ft visibility!
We threw crankbaits and spinnerbaits for nada. We made a move across the mouth of the bay
to Point Loma. The wind was picking up.



We made a stop on a beach below the Cabrillo Monument.
We headed back into the bay towards the bait receiver. Everybody and their brother that had a sailboat was out in force on the water by now!The water was worse than a washing machine. Throw in a few 40 ft powerboats kicking up monster wakes as they screamed by at 40 mph and a stiff breeze blowing straight in our faces and you have quite an adventure on your hands. It was a pretty brutal paddle back to Shelter Island.



I picked up my only bass of the day next to the pier on a spinnerbait. We fished until 2:00
and then called it a day. The water seemed colder today. Maybe that was the reason for the slow bite. After we loaded up we went to the Mardi Gras Cafe for lunch. The best sandwiches in town! It was great fishing with you today Perry! Sorry the fish didn't want to cooperate.
Next time we'll fish up your way and see what happens.

Robert

[jonee523]

Robert,

Sorry to hear about the tough condictions. Tomarrow is another day and I bet you and Perry are more than gonna make up for a so-so trip. I look forward to meeting/fishing with ya soon.

Tight lines and paddle well,

Jon

jonee523

[PerryC]

Robert,
It was a pleasure fishing with you today also. I didn't have any of my trusty Hot Sauce for my plastics much to my dismay, and my Mojo was a gogo for the day

The morning started out good with smooth water and very little boat traffic. We moved out to the channel drop and started tossing plastics and vertically jigging spinnerbaits for no love. We drifted out by the start of Zuniga Jetty and worked along it for nearly a thing, then hopped across it in the bay to work the flats with cranks for no love either. The wind was coming in at about 11oclock while we were paddling in which made for an interesting trip back in. There was ALOT of boat traffic with some sailboat running down the face of the bait barge to admire the fur bags and coming alot closer to the seal aqua tour vehicle than I liked to see. By that time, the water was a washing machine and it was time to turn towards the piers and get some protection from the boat traffic and wind. On the final leg, Robert found the bass and their bait of choice. The irony is the fish were close to where we launched in the first place. Which reminds me of a kayak fishing saying, "Don't paddle over fish to find fish"...DOH!

Afterwards, we headed over to get some eats. After an awesome alligator sandwich with some lip burning hot sauce, all was good in the universe once again. Until next time

Perry

[gone_fishing]

Sorry to hear the conditions and fishing didn't cooperate. You'll get 'em next time. The bays can get congested at times and we're the smallest craft out there. That can make for a tough outing. Looking forward to heading out to San Diego this summer and fishing La Jolla and the bays. This year we're taking a boat along with the yaks. I'll keep you posted with exact dates so we can meet up during our stay. Figure we'll do a 3-day stint.
Can't wait! Tight lines and see you on the water!

Hank

[seatech]

Bummer guys!!!

That looks like a nice spottie though!

Did you try paddling out into the kelp off Pt Loma or was it just to windy at that point?

Ed

[PerryC]

Ed,
It was just too windy with the paddle being into a headwind for the entire distance. It was too bad also because I've heard the kelp is producing some nice bass now.

Perry