Just Joined

[Kiter]

Always said - later in life, I'll take up golf or fishing. Moved to the Texas Coast, and fishing was the natural choice. It was right out my front door and hundreds of miles in any direction. Moved to Phoenix two years ago, and have only casted once. Now buying a place in Playa La Jolla, and looking for kayak waters around eastern beaches. If the winds blow, I'll be kiting. No winds, and I'll be kayak fishing. Any ideas or suggestions? I'm used to speckled trout, red fish and flounder. Heck, right now I'm used to nothing. Hope to hook up with lots of fish and fun folks.

 

[joester]

welcome aboard! there are some very experienced fishermen/women around - I'm sure they'll answer your questions. good luck and tight lines!!

 

[Kelney]

Sounds like you are in for a great time and something to do on the water for when the wind blows. I have seen a few kite surfers in the estuaries for when it is blowing pretty good. I always thought that would be a blast but I am afraid it would blow me to San Felipe.
I would think that whatever worked for you for speckled trout and Red Fish would work well for you on Corvina and Grouper in our inshore waters. Same as for Flounder but they tend to be rare in our warmer months. The Trigger and Rock bass bite on just about anything you throw. Although I am catching less Rock Bass and more Grouper lately. I imagine there is a correlation.

Get a fish finder on your yak and you can better gauge where the reefs are as that is where you want to concentrate around. If you review some previous posts you will see that a spinning outfit up to 20 lbs. work fine. Lures in the variety of metal spoons, Rattle Traps, Deep Diver lures and Buck Tails all seem to work pretty well. I have found that some lures work better in some areas than others for some reason even though they are the same fish I am targeting. I don't hear of many reports out of La Jolla so looking forward to hearing reports on how you do.

 

[Kiter]

Thanks for the replies. I believe there is a rock island at the mouth of the estuary that is way exposed at low tied and is fully underwater at high tide. Anyone tried fishing there? Other than a heck of a tidal current, I would think that is good. Someone also told me there is a reef one mile directly offshore. No fish finder on yak. I think most of my poles have 12 lb test. May need to beef that up a bit.

 

[mondone]

I'm in Encanto. Go straight out from the Eastern end of LaJolla/west end of Encanto about 1 mile. In the morning with calm wind and clear, glassy water, just look down as you get out there and you will see the reef. Caught 2 grouper on my yak last time out there casting a twin tail white soft jig, which was nice. Almost always guaranteed some trigger and rock bass action out there with just about any lure or bottom fishing with cut up bait like fish strips or shrimp pieces.

 

[Kiter]

Thanks for the advice. Looking forward to that reef. I'm surprised you can see it at one mile out.

 

[Stuart]

Thanks for the advice. Looking forward to that reef. I'm surprised you can see it at one mile out.

You're new here, huh? <kidding> The Northern Sea of Cortez is relatively shallow from years of catching silt from the Colorado River. You can go out miles before you hit 100 ft. depth in many, many places. Southern Sea of Cortez is different. Go a mile or so out and you're in several hundred feet of water.

At low tide, you can practically walk from San Jorge beach all the way out to the backside of Bird Island. Never gets very deep at all and you can see bottom the whole way out until you get to the island and it gets a little bit deeper.

 

[Kiter]

Sounds like a fun kayak trip. From San Jorge, not Playa La Jolla.

 

[Landshark]

Sounds like a fun kayak trip. From San Jorge, not Playa La Jolla.

Sounds like a suicide mission to me. Bird Island is a loooong way...

 

[Jungle Jim]

A few years back after a good meat run on the reef south of Isla San Jorge we did a little recon run on the east side of the island to check out the Sea Lions. There were two of those short fat sit on top yellow rental yaks paddlin around ogglin the Lions. I was surprised to see them there since I hadn't seen a tour boat in the area all morning. I pulled alongside them and asked how they got out here, they said they had put the yaks in at Playa San Jorge and paddled all the way to La Isla!

I told them they otta be boot scootin back to the mainland since the afternoons usually get pretty nasty out there with six foot swells, a rippin current and forty mph winds. We headed back to PP thru the exact conditions that I had described. A few days later I was talking to the one Lobo Del Mar Capitanes and and he asked if I was the guy the yakers had talked to that day. Seems the Lobo guys had found their rental car still on the beach a couple days later and a trawler had picked them up thirty miles out from El Desemboque.

Better yet, during a week long stay at Bahia San Francisquito south of LA Bay we meet a French guy and his teenage kid launching a home made yak about fifteen feet long with an outrigger on the side and loaded with camping gear. They were gonna do some campin on Guardian Angel Island, about thirty miles out. They wanted to know if there were any beaches that they could land on and if there was any fresh water on the island. I said no and no as far as I knew. Later I heard they were never seen of again.

JJ

 

[jmcdtucson]

Weather and currents out there are not to be taking lightly. Many times I've hooked a fish on the kayak and by the time I get it off the hook I've drifted at least a half mile.
I fish that reef all the time. It's a 2 mile paddle from where we stay on Encanto. That's easy if the wind and current are with you - which they never are. Haha.
If you can keep the rock bass off your hook, there are lots of good corvina and some flounder and pampano.

 

[Jungle Jim]

Last November.............

Most know this spot. Right off of Cholla Mtn. Pulled him off of the shore back there, maybe 100 feet out. Got two of them that day fast trolling with deep diving spoon-nosed plugs.

Dee-Licious!

JJ

 

[Wood Spinner]

Nice to have you here. Good folks and a lot of help if you ask.

 

[Kiter]

So, I caught my first couple of fish in the estuary behind our house. Not sure what they were. Believe one to be a corvine. Other than Mexifish, where can I get good photos of area fish?