My attention has shifted from offshore to the big bay. While the water is still nice and warm, bay bass fishing can be super fun. Today was exactly that.
Summary
I launched a bit after sunrise and headed back into the bay. The tide was shifting at an odd time, so I headed to the flats south of the Coronado Bridge. I made a few drifts for a slow steady pick at the spotties. I was progressively moving further south. After my third drift, I had about 10 releases that varied from tiny to legal size. It was fun. Then I moved to a spot off the car loading dock I like. Fish a cast for a few hours; the tide had turned. The most exciting fish was a small spottie that had about a 15lb halibut follow it up. I made the little spotty do a few figure 8s in the water. The halibut looked for a while a swam a way. 15′ of water and a big old flattie. It was cool to see. I finished the morning off with a deep drift in the main channel off Harbour Island. I got a nice sandy and then a lizard fish. I called it quits after the lizard. Boat was back on the trailer by 11:30 and my thumbs were chewed up by all the bass. It was fun.
Catch
Lots and lots of spotties. Some very small and a few very nice ones. All on the plastics. The AA curly tails in clear/red flake or ghost shrimp and the 3″ big hammers were doing the trick.
Conditions
Water
Water ski calm. It was about 61 at Si launch ramp and up to 65 as I went back in the bay.
Tide
Timing of the tide was not perfect, but the water movement made them work.
Weather
Sunny and nice. It wasn’t hot, but the strong sun and lack of wind made it warm enough.
Notes
Finished the trip with 656.1 hours on the engine. It was the first trip since changing the thermostat and I think it was happier. It revved longer to warm up and everything inside the cover looked very nice and normal. Filled up for fist time in 3 trips with 9.6 gallons @ 35.4 miles for 3.67 kMPG average. Running around in the bay is nice on economy.