May 5, 2009 – Day 17: Finding silver
After arriving in LAX at 5am, I took a public bus to the LA Greyhound station. That bus ride was one to remember. I have never, ever in my life been surrounded by so many Hispanics, and this Chinese boy stuck out of the crowd like a sore thumb. In fact, I think I was the ONLY non-Hispanic on the bus, aside from the bus driver. I just felt a little out of place
. We drove through some pretty shady neighbourhood. When we neared my destination, the bus turned onto another street and I was getting a bit worried. Apparently, there was road construction and my bus detoured…around the location of the Greyhound station. A lady across from me ask “Are you going to the Greyhound station?” And I replied yes. “Oh my, that’s not good.” The bus driver overheard and told me I should get off at the next stop and walk back. Before I left the bus, she said “Be careful.” So here I was, two blocks away from the Greyhound station carrying luggage…a perfect target for getting mugged, shot and killed in the shadiest neighbourhood I’ve ever seen in downtown LA. I looked around and easily counted 20 homeless people on the streets. Oh boy…and I started saying the Our Father.
Just as I was wondering how I could get to the station alive, I saw a bus (the same number bus) that was headed in the opposite direction. I ran to the bus stop and got a confirmation from the driver that he’ll pass by the Greyhound station. Sometimes, God really looks after me…and I can feel it when He does.
So I finally made it safely in one piece with all my possessions to the station. The bus to San Diego took 2.5 hours. Then I took the public bus to San Diego to SAN and got a car rental from the airport. On the way to the hotel, I stopped at Angler’s Choice to obtain my license and a few plastic baits. By the time I arrived at my hotel, it was 1:30pm. It was a long day of travelling for sure.
I took a quick shower and took a few moments to rest. At about 3:30pm, I gathered by fishing gear and made my way to Mission Bay.
Mission Bay is a man-made saltwater lagoon. I’ve fished at this location before and caught spotted bay bass. A hot topwater bite from the shortfin corvina had developed in recent days. One of my targets in San Diego was to put effort into finding the corvina.
Within Mission Bay, there is an “island” called Fiesta Island where you could see many anglers fishing from shore for croakers. Occasionally, there are also anglers fishing swimbaits and crankbaits for spotted bay bass or other predatory fish. I started exploring Fiesta Island with a 3” swimbait, working the areas quickly by fan casting an area then moving on to the next area. By 6pm, I did not even get a bite. I know I was working the lure properly because I had caught fish before using the same lure with different retrieves. I also know that you could catch halibut and corvina using a swimbait.
Luckily, I have made some friends on a Southern California fishing board. I left them a message when I arrived in San Diego. They left me messages with information where I should look for corvina. Tom especially said to look for swirling bait…simple enough…look for bait, the predators won’t be far behind. So, I started to drive around Fiesta Island looking for bait.
Then, I saw a few birds circling and diving in the middle of the bay. It appeared that the bait school was moving toward the other shore. So I quickly hopped into my car and drove to the other side. I fished one bay without much success. There were swimmers in the area. So at about 7pm, I headed to another area where I found a secluded cove.
Upon inspection, this cove looked very ideal. There was a deep sloping shore inside the cove with good growth of eel grass and some submerged boulders. I put on a Zara Spook Jr. and started walking-the-dog. On the second cast, I had a fish swirl on the Spook. Hm…that looked promising. A few casts later, the Spook hooked rather jumpy fish. Surprisingly, it was a needlefish. I’m not too sure, but I think it was a California needlefish (Strongylura exilis)? In any case, it’s my first needlefish species…so it’s another new fish species!
Whether or not a corvina corvina was caught tonight, it was a successful outing since I added an unexpected new species.
Just as I was thinking how great it was, I was interrupted by a swirl and a tug on the end of my line. Something at the other end was putting up a good fight. It swam quickly from left to right, but finally I brought it to shore kicking with protest. There was a flash of silver in the dying light. And…it was a corvina! I couldn’t believe I caught one on the first day since it was a fish that followed bait and a small school could move in and move out of an area very quickly. Locating them was probably the hardest part of catching one. My first one was thick and 14”.
After the first one, I kept casting the Spook and three casts later, I caught another one that was 12”. This one squirmed out of my hands before I could snap a picture. Wow…2 corvina…Am I dreaming? A few more casts later another fish swirled on my Spook. This one was considerably larger and started taking drag. I saw silver and it was a larger corvina. However, the fish shook the hook out after 5 seconds. Darn!
I fished for another 10 minutes without any additional hits. It was now 8:30pm. I had a long day of travelling and fishing, so I decided to grab a quick bite at Subway and called it a day. I wanted to wake up at 5am the next day to try fishing for corvina again in the morning. Topwater bite was just too much fun!
May 6, 2009: Day 18 – Slime sticks, bait and almost jackpot
Well, I missed the 5am alarm
I woke up at 8am and I was still tired. I laid in bed until 9am before taking a shower. With the gear packed, I headed out the door at 10am looking for a decent breakfast. Driving around, I only found fast food joints…so I settled for McDonald’s Next item on agenda was to find some fresh shrimp for bait. I wanted fresh market shrimp in shells for bait since I was to fish the whole shrimp for croaker. I only found larger tiger shrimp too big for bait or small shelled and cooked shrimp at a couple of supermarkets. When I went back to Angler’s Choice, they wanted $5 for a few pieces of fresh shrimp to which I said “No thanks.” They did suggest that I try the fish market at Point Loma.
I got to Point Loma marina by 12pm. This marina also contained a few sportfishing charter companies. These companies offered ½ day fishing in the local area for rockfish, barracuda, bass, bonito and yellowtail to multi-day fishing in Mexico for various tuna, marlin, wahoo, yellowtail and dorado. I had taken a couple of ½ day trips last time in San Diego. Part of the reason for this San Diego visit was to take one of the boats for a ¾ day trip down to Mexico for bonito. However, this year’s cold water conditions kept the bonito further south, out of range for the ¾ day boats. I was curious what they were catching in the past two days. Barracuda were the main catch on the ¾ day boats, and calico bass and smaller barracuda were the main catch on the ½ day boats, especially in the PM hour ½ day boats. One company, the H&M Sportfishing, had a boat leaving at 1pm to fish the local kelp beds for calico bass and barracuda. I’ve never caught a calico bass before. For the price of $40, I jumped on the PM trip.
I had my 7’ UglyStik Tiger with me in case something larger was around, or if we were fishing 4oz lead on bottom. My main weapon was the 7’ medium/light spinning rod with 15lb mainline. This rig proved to be all that I needed. About 20 persons boarded the boat. After a short stop at the bait barge for anchovies, we were underway to the kelp beds.
There were two common ways to fish in the kelp for calico bass. On one hand, you could cast 5” swimbaits on 1oz jig head into the kelp edge and work the lures with a fast retrieve, or you can drop the swimbaits into kelp pockets. On the other hand, you could free line a lively anchovy around the kelp. I started fishing the swimbaits but I only had jigs up to 1/2oz. My jigs were not swimming deep enough to get any hits. So I switched over to free lining anchovies. Almost instantly, I hooked a small barracuda. These California barracuda were very slimy and toothy. Since it was too small to keep (legal length was 28”), I just let it shake the hook off.
A few more missed fish later, I hooked into a screamer! I thought I hooked into a big barracuda, big calico bass or perhaps a bonito. When I saw colour, it was a 12” Pacific mackerel! What a strong little fighter 8O I’ve not caught one before…so the $40 was worthed it afterall.
I caught one more barracuda and another small mackerel. Hm…everyone around me was catching a few calico bass except me. What am I doing wrong? Apparently, I didn’t do anything wrong. It was just a matter of time before I hooked into my first calico bass! My first fish was a legal size one at 12”. Two new species really brightened a day!
The afternoon went on with more calico bass and barracuda. At then end of the trip, my personal best calico bass stood at 14”. On these sportfishing boats, you could pitch $2 into a pot where the biggest fish takes the jackpot. My 14” bass was just an inch shy of the jackpot. Oh so close!
When we were back on shore, it was 6:30pm. I had a quick dinner at a local seaside restaurant where I ordered a beer battered rock cod taco and a spicy calamari taco. Two tacos for under $6…Mmm!
After dinner, I went around looking for shrimp bait again. I found a supermarket where they sold packaged shrimp in shell but heads off. That was all that I could find so I had to settle. I drove to Mission Bay with my bait to try for croakers.
There are three species that I was interested in. The yellowfin and spotfin croaker were legitimate croakers. Another fish called the sargo were often called a croaker but it belongs to the grunt family. I wanted to soak a few baits for croakers and sargo. I rigged up with a 1oz sliding egg sinker and 6 feet of 8lb fluorocarbon and a #6 baitholder hook. I had a 9’ rod and a 7’ rod. My spinning reel that I had dunked into saltwater back in Hawaii was starting to act up, especially after an afternoon of barracuda and calico fishing. I set the drag very light on both rods so the fish could take the bait lightly. In addition, it would allow me a bit of time to play around with my sticky reel if needed be.
Between 8:30pm to 9:45pm, I had two quick hits on my rods. Nothing stayed on long enough for a hookset though. Since the park at Fiesta Island closed at 10pm, I had to pack up and leave before the park closed. Thus, ended another day of fishing in San Diego with 2 new species.
May 7, 2009: Day 19 – searching for critters
I missed my 5am alarm again. I had wanted to wake up early to fish for croaker. However, I got out the door at 10am yet again
I made my way quickly to Fiesta Island and there was already a guy fishing 5 rods near the spot I fished the night before. I set up my two rods about 100 feet away from him. I guess the guy had been fishing there since early morning. He packed up about 1 hour after. I fished for another hour without any hits. The tide had now fallen and it was during a slack low. Perhaps the lack of action was due to the lack of water movement.
It was time to switch targets. Tom informed me that it was possible to fish for critters such as rock wrasse, senoritas, opaleyes and other kelp/rock associated fish in the jetties and rock walls of San Diego bay. Thus I tried the Mission Bay jetty and the rock walls of Harbour Island at San Diego bay for 0 fish. I guess the tide was still out and the water movement was absent. Since I was on Harbour Island, I tried to fish a trusty location for spotted bay bass and barred sand bass. I had caught those two species at this location with good consistency before, but this time around, I didn’t even get a hit. Again, I blamed it on the lack of water movement.
By about 2pm, I was beat. The hot temperature, strong sun and tough fishing told my body to take a rest. I had a 3pm fishing arrangement later, so I grabbed a quick bite, then found a nice shaded spot at a parking lot for a nap. Just as I was settling down, I received a call from Tom. He was across the bay ready with bait and rods already fishing. I quickly started the car and drove to his location.
Tom and I had spoken on the internet a few times about fishing together during my visit. Tom said he’ll try his best to put me into a few new species. Today, he had pumped up some ghost shrimps and we were about to soak some bait for a variety of species. Using live ghost shrimps, it was possible to catch croakers, sargo, perch, bass, rays, shovelnose guitarfish and sharks. Tom with fishing with his friend Steve whom I’ve followed his reports on internet as well. It was a great pleasure to meet them both in person.
It took a while rigging up my rods. I was listening in on the stories that Steve and Tom were telling. But I finally tossed out two rods baited with ghost shrimps. Tom and Steve both had a few quick hits but missed them. As the tide filled in, the action got better. Finally, my rod went bendo and I got to it in time. A good hook set later, I was pulling a fish up over a ledge, keeping it fighting above the eel grass bed, and finally dragging it to shore. I saw a black vertical stripe on a silver body. It was a 12” sargo! It was nice to find a new species after a tough morning of fishing!
A while later, Steve was hit and brought in a spotted bay bass. Next, I caught another 11” sargo. Steve brought in a few more bass while Tom went full bendo on two small bat rays.
A few times, but rod twitched lightly but didn’t go off fully. When I checked my bait, there was a small bass on the line. This happened 4 times. Two were spotted bay bass and two were sand bass. Just before 8pm, Tom got another good fight and brought in a shovelnose guitarfish. Before we packed up, Tom got the right kind and brought in another nice sargo.
The action in the 5 hours of fishing was consistent but wasn’t really wide open. It was great making two new fishing friends. Catching fish was just a bonus. Tom offered me the leftover ghost shrimp and razor clam so I could use them the next morning.
After bait soaking, I were to continue to fish with Tom in search for more corvine. Our mutual friend Phong was already out there working away. I had to grab a quick dinner before I could concentrate on fishing
I met up with Tom later and two of Tom’s friends were already working a stretch of shorelines. The tide was really high and they were not confident fishing this spot under the condition. They gave it a try while I ate.
After a while, they decided to fish a new area. Tom’s friends decided to try by a set of docks while Tom and I searched a beach area. Tom had one blow up but he thought it was a needlefish. While Tom’s friends stayed to work the docks, Tom and I decided to check a third spot. At the third spot, Tom and I split up working two areas. I lost sight of Tom but I knew he was around. While casting my Spook blindly, I had two consecutive blow-up which were both missed. After that, it was quiet. When I found Tom, I let him know where I had the hits and he gave it a few casts before he left for the night. Tom hadn’t had dinner yet so it was time to go. I had a long day of fishing, so I decided to call it a day as well. I had one more morning in San Diego before I leave for Los Angeles.
May 8, 2009 – Day 20: A few more fish for the road
I woke up at 6am and got out the door as quickly as I could. I was rigged up by 8am and I had 2 hours to fish before I had to check out. The ghost shrimp were dead but kept on ice the whole night. The razor clam smelled a bit funky though. I started fishing the ghost shrimp and it was just 10 min when I caught a sargo. Again, I had a few small spotted bay bass and sand bass that were just on the hook without setting off the rods. I was hoping to find a bay ray or a croaker…just something I haven’t caught before. However, the bass exhausted all my bait before 10am. Without any bait, I decided to call it a trip.
Sargo (12”)
Spotted bay bass (8”)
Barred Sand Bass (9”)
My 2 half days and 2 full days in San Diego yield 5 new species. In addition, I met two new fishing friends in person and had sometime on my own to think about life and future career directions. Now it was time to take a bus to Los Angeles and spend the weekend with my aunt and my cousin.