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What a terrible day Sunday was on the south jetty. Only good thing about the day, got a limit of razor clams...the rest of the day just got worse and worse.
I think it's official...I'm pretty sure I'm done hiking that jetty. Yes, there are fish out there...but you never know where they will be, and it's a lot of time and energy to jump around from spot to spot on those rocks. I always hear people say, if you're not hitting them, move to another spot until you find them...well it can take 15-20 minutes to hike to a new spot, and then you're spent of energy. We were hoping to target black rockfish by the way.
So we hopped around to various spots, nothing. Bites here and there, and some small greenlings caught (very small), but no rockfish. My buddy did catch a keeper size greenling, and we tied it to the handle of the cooler. As the tide was creeping up, I mentioned we should move the cooler to higher ground. Well his greenling had been washed in between 2 rocks and we couldn't get it free. As we were trying, a swell rushes in and knocks our cooler over and the lid pops open and water gets in. I had my smokes and phone in a plastic bag in the cooler, and the bag obviously wasn't sealed tight because both phone and smokes got wet. Iphone is kaput. Awesome...and I have a waterproof case for it, but I had taken it out so I could access the headphone jack on the drive over...honestly I thought I left my phone in the truck until I was out on the jetty, then I reached in my pocket and realized it was in there, and that's when I put it in the plastic bag in the cooler. But at the end of the day, it's ruined.
So we are almost at the end of the day, and I'm casting and retrieving a 3/4 oz jig head with a 5" pink curly tail grub and WHAM! My pole explodes and starts going nuts. I figured it was a monster rockfish...finally!!!...ummmm, nope. I horse it in thinking it's a rockfish, and get it close to the rocks and it breaks water and starts thrashing around...it's a chrome bright King! At least 15 lbs. I let it snap off. About 2 weeks too early to keep them. That was the icing on the cake for my crappy day.
My buddy was just out there the day before, and said he must've seen 80-90 rockfish landed in total right in the same area we were fishing...and then the day we were out there, the fish were not. And then some guy comes walking past us with a stringer full of rock fish and a big cabezon...and he says they were way far out on the ocean side. Well I don't hike as far out as he was talking about...so I made the determination that it was time to tuck my tail in between my legs and admit defeat for the day. We tried a few spots on the ocean side for perch as we walked back in, but not even a bite from them either. We fished the incoming tide all day and had sand shrimp, clam necks, night crawlers, and a bunch of plastics. We tried both jig heads and dropper rigs.
Very frustrating day to say the least...I guess on the bright side, I got to spend the day on the ocean, and not in traffic somewhere, but it always chaps my hide when I drive all the way out there and come home empty handed.
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from mizm05.
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