Headed down on Friday with the wind blowing hard. As I rounded the curve by the Picante Preserve for that last straight stretch of road into Rocky Point, it was interesting to watch the flowing rivers of sand across the highway. Destroying a sand dune on one side of the road and rebuilding it on the other. An eternal process, back and forth, depending on which way the wind blows.
Went down to Granada Del Mar to have a look at the water. Crashing waves, whitecaps as far I could see in the near dark. Didn't look too promising for fishing the next day and my only hope was that it would blow itself out during the night.
The wife and I decided cocktails were in order. Then, dinner at La Curva. I didn't need that "dessert" shot of Hornitos to finish off the evening and I sure felt it the next morning. Tequila just doesn't set well with me these days. I still like it, but it doesn't like me the way that it did in my youth when I could down several shots with no ill-effects in the morning.
We resigned ourselves not to set an alarm and just wake up when the spirit moved us, which was about 7:30 for me. I stepped outside and it was cooler than Friday, but the wind was gone. I took a quick trip to the beach to confirm our good fortune. To my surprise, the water looked pretty good.
Went and got the boat and launched. Made some bait close in (sand bass, bonefish, and one horse mackerel), then opted to head out to the 16. The seas were okay heading out, but once we got out about 10 miles, there was a good breeze coming out of the northwest and it seemed to be building, instead of laying down as Buoyweather had predicted.
We made some more bait, mostly sardines, then decided to stay put and fish closer in, rather than run out to the deep reefs. The wind was just too iffy and neither of us wanted a long wet ride back in. We visited several of the close reefs, but caught nothing. Well, nothing to speak of. Connie caught two trophy-sized lizard fish. One had to be close to two feet long. If I ever have a salt water fish tank, I want to keep a lizardfish in it. They're just so damned ugly and would make a great conversation piece. Feed 'em live goldfish and watch the lizardfish devour them. More fun than a piranha!
I decided if I couldn't catch any decent fish, at least I could make bait. I kept a watch on the sonar as we fished and every now and then it would light up when a bait school passed under the boat. Sabikis at the ready, we'd quickly catch full strings of beautiful candy mackerel. These are the candy size -- 3 to 6 inches -- that the red snapper (and nearly everything else) at the 51 love to eat. The schools would come and go and we'd catch maybe 10 or 20 each time they passed by. Put them in the bait well and before long had a pretty full tank.
We moved around to some other locations nearby, but still no luck. Didn't matter. The sun was bright, we had plenty of Pacifico, and it was nice to be on the water, even though we couldn't go to our favorite spots. Headed back in about 4:00 and pulled the boat. Bagged up all the nice candy macks and iced them down so that I can use them on a future trip.
Had heard Ric on the radio, so I know he was out. Audi said Ric got a 70 lb. grouper. Art Pina was also out, but I was told he caught nothing, too. Water temp is holding about 68 degrees inshore, was at 66 degrees out about 12 miles. Audi was going to go out Sunday, but didn't put the boat in the water because again, it was windy.
Looks like the rest of this week will bring more wind. And Easter crowds. May try to go again on the 18th with some of my buddies if it looks like the wind is going to lay down. Otherwise, it's just not worth it right now.
Went down to Granada Del Mar to have a look at the water. Crashing waves, whitecaps as far I could see in the near dark. Didn't look too promising for fishing the next day and my only hope was that it would blow itself out during the night.
The wife and I decided cocktails were in order. Then, dinner at La Curva. I didn't need that "dessert" shot of Hornitos to finish off the evening and I sure felt it the next morning. Tequila just doesn't set well with me these days. I still like it, but it doesn't like me the way that it did in my youth when I could down several shots with no ill-effects in the morning.
We resigned ourselves not to set an alarm and just wake up when the spirit moved us, which was about 7:30 for me. I stepped outside and it was cooler than Friday, but the wind was gone. I took a quick trip to the beach to confirm our good fortune. To my surprise, the water looked pretty good.
Went and got the boat and launched. Made some bait close in (sand bass, bonefish, and one horse mackerel), then opted to head out to the 16. The seas were okay heading out, but once we got out about 10 miles, there was a good breeze coming out of the northwest and it seemed to be building, instead of laying down as Buoyweather had predicted.
We made some more bait, mostly sardines, then decided to stay put and fish closer in, rather than run out to the deep reefs. The wind was just too iffy and neither of us wanted a long wet ride back in. We visited several of the close reefs, but caught nothing. Well, nothing to speak of. Connie caught two trophy-sized lizard fish. One had to be close to two feet long. If I ever have a salt water fish tank, I want to keep a lizardfish in it. They're just so damned ugly and would make a great conversation piece. Feed 'em live goldfish and watch the lizardfish devour them. More fun than a piranha!
I decided if I couldn't catch any decent fish, at least I could make bait. I kept a watch on the sonar as we fished and every now and then it would light up when a bait school passed under the boat. Sabikis at the ready, we'd quickly catch full strings of beautiful candy mackerel. These are the candy size -- 3 to 6 inches -- that the red snapper (and nearly everything else) at the 51 love to eat. The schools would come and go and we'd catch maybe 10 or 20 each time they passed by. Put them in the bait well and before long had a pretty full tank.
We moved around to some other locations nearby, but still no luck. Didn't matter. The sun was bright, we had plenty of Pacifico, and it was nice to be on the water, even though we couldn't go to our favorite spots. Headed back in about 4:00 and pulled the boat. Bagged up all the nice candy macks and iced them down so that I can use them on a future trip.
Had heard Ric on the radio, so I know he was out. Audi said Ric got a 70 lb. grouper. Art Pina was also out, but I was told he caught nothing, too. Water temp is holding about 68 degrees inshore, was at 66 degrees out about 12 miles. Audi was going to go out Sunday, but didn't put the boat in the water because again, it was windy.
Looks like the rest of this week will bring more wind. And Easter crowds. May try to go again on the 18th with some of my buddies if it looks like the wind is going to lay down. Otherwise, it's just not worth it right now.
