first time kayaking the ocean, fish gods gave me treefish

[BenCantrell]

The surf was incredibly low yesterday, so my kayaking buddy Tim and I jumped on the opportunity to paddle out to La Jolla to fish for yellowtail and rockfish.  He has a spare sit-on-top that he won in a raffle last year that he loaned me for the day.



The launch was bustling with activity at 6am.  It was cool to see all the dedicated kayakers heading out to hunt for yellowtail.  Everyone's plan is pretty much the same - launch at grey light, make bait on the way out, and then freeline or dropper loop live bait near the kelp for big yellowtail, or WSB if they're around and feeding.



I trolled crankbaits on the way out, which has caught me plenty of mackerel in the bays.  However, it didn't work out in the open.  I had to stop and cast a small megabait when I saw splashes at the surface.  We were able to catch plenty of small mackerel (plus one massive smelt) without wasting much time.



I wanted to try for treefish, so I tied on the same quick drop style red & gold megabait that I caught all the fish on when Josh and Eli and I fished La Jolla.  It worked well again, with this small sculpin hitting first.



One of my other rods was set up with dropper loops, but it didn't get much love.  I caught a small calico rockfish with it, but after that it didn't get touched.  The red & gold jig continued to get hit though.  My next fish was my lifer treefish! (species #503).



What a cool fish. 





Next up was a gopher rockfish.  Are these what people call chuckleheads?



We spotted the New Seaforth on both it's AM and PM runs.  Of course we weren't quite as deep as it, but it was cool knowing we had paddled out to the same area where the sport boats go.  Sometime I'd like to paddle out to ~300 ft deep to try for squarespot and starry rockfish.



My 2nd treefish was a stunner, though not as big as the first.



Almost all the rockfish we caught were spitting up tuna crabs and/or squid.



We came across another kayaker with his rod bent over and debated whether or not he was stuck on the bottom.  Eventually we realized he was being pulled in a direction opposite to the current, so something was towing him!



We hung around to watch the show.  He kept insisting it was a shark, but when he brought it to color he shouted "it's a huge yellow!".  Congrats to this guy for landing this monster!



We worked our way back in the early afternoon, stopping to fish every so often.  I caught a 3rd treefish, a super dark on that looked like he'd seen some stuff in his lifetime.



He was whatever the opposite is of a stunner.



That was the last fish of the day, and we paddled the rest of the way in.  The beach was packed with tourists when we landed, which was a big contrast to the morning, when it was anglers only.



This is something I want to do more of.

Sorry for not making it to the bat fight Tom.  I was tuckered out!

[Kam_Walsh98]

Awesome report! I kayak fish a lot at home and next year I'm intent on bringing down my Hobie outback to chase those Yellowtail. Great job on the Treefish too; that's a species of rockfish I haven't caught yet.

[Latimeria]

Well done Ben.  You finally got your treefish!

Bummer you didn't make it last night, but a cool opportunity.  That report even just gives me some good intel!

[skrilla]

Did the treefish smell like pine? 

[Latimeria]

Did the treefish smell like pine? 

Hahahahahaha

[vdisney]

That Tree Fish is very cool looking indeed, that YT is beyond belief.  Thanks for sharing, V

[Arydigital]

That Tree Fish is very cool looking indeed, that YT is beyond belief.  arydigital.tv/category/ary-digital-dramas Thanks for sharing