Palos Verdes 2/4
Since our last opaleye trip to Palos Verdes back in December, the next opportunity with morning high tide was January 7. Just so happened that weekend we had a gigantic swell event come through causing chaos all up and down the So Cal coastline.
Two weeks later on the 21st, we had another king tide at eight with two-foot swell but the green bait at Colorado Lagoon was of low quality. It looked good but when I lifted it out of the water with a rake, it was weak and broke into short chunks instead of being long strong stringy. I turned around and went home to check off a couple household chores.
Today we had your basic size high tide at eight, that of 5.8 feet, and what a difference two weeks makes, as all the algae at the aforementioned slime pit was of quality #9 and available in massive quantities as far as you could see.
At the back of Christmas Tree Cove in Palos Verdes all the boulders had been rearranged by the huge swells of last month. The rocky obstructions and thick kelp were gone, which made fishing much easier in todays two- to three- foot surf. Basically, conditions were perfect this morning.
And so was the bite! Soon as there was enough light to see the yellow bobber at 6:20, I detected hits. First opaleye I landed was right at three tacos and slid into the bag. A few minutes later a pair of anglers descended the trail and right when they were at the shore, I hooked up again, this time to one that was worth slightly more than three tacos.
Those guys headed towards the right and set up using shiny stick baits. One of them landed what looked to be a legal calico bass. Only reason I did not include my bass outfit today was because of all the kelp in the area made it impossible to cast but now that it is gone, I will get here a half hour earlier and have it with me next time.
Meanwhile, the opaleye bite continued. It looked like it was going to be a limit-style (10 fish) day. By eight thirty with five in the bag, the largest at two-and-a-half-pounds, the action slowed and none more were landed by ten.