I took advantage of a nice morning for a change of pace and an easier trip by seeking out bay bass in San Diego bay.
Summary
I decided to take advantage of a small tide window in the morning. My last trips had been offshore and a calm bay run where I could run the engine seemed like a nice call. My motor (Yamaha F115) really likes to be run hard, but that can be hard offshore when conditions are up.
I put the boat in a little past sunrise around 7am and headed for the back bay. The tide was just starting to turn out. I stopped at what I call admiral row for a few lizard fish and conditions that just seemed off. Then I headed south to the flats past the bridge. In 9-12′ of water I found plenty of spotties. Most were in the 8-11″ range with a few dinks. After two drifts here for maybe 15 fish, I headed a little further south to the shallows just off where the car carrier comes in. Here I found some larger fish in the 13-18′ depth range, but the water was getting stagnant and was dirty. I also noticed some oil coming off the engine. I couldn’t tell if it was the water or the engine. I decided to move toward the Coast Guard station to see how things were there. The water was much cleaner, but the tide was clearly down. I caught one tiny sandbass that was worth a picture. I also noticed that the oil was from my engine, so I called it a day around 10:30.
Catch
A pretty standard bay session. I didn’t count, but about 15-20 spotties, one tiny sandbass and two lizard fish that just wouldn’t let go. All on small plastics; 3/8 oz darter leadhead to either a AAA curry tail or 3-4″ paddle tail. 6# flour leader to normal bay rigs.
Conditions
Water
The bay was super calm and ideal to run the motor hard after a lot of offshore trips in rougher water. The water at Shelter Island launch ramp was about 67 and as I headed under the Coronado bridge, I saw 70.
Tide
A weak tide, but enough with the water still being warm.
Weather
The morning was overcast, but not cold. A very pleasant morning on the water.
Notes
Personally, this is the best my back has felt since the surgery. That made me happy.
I’ve found a bit of an oil leak in the motor. My theory is that it is from the lugging it does offshore and how it makes oil then. This trip I got the chance to run it hard, so some of that would have been pushed out. Time to check on that.
Engine hours at end of day: 646.4