Tuesday, 07/31 Cabrillo (plus a late report for 07/02)

Launched by the pier both times, there's a little set of wooden steps there that's perfect for getting down the riprap.  Close to the car, close to the lavatory etc.  
07/02-launched and we could see grass beds underneath us, bait was def in the water, birds diving etc. At one point a calico even came out of the water chasing.  My son tossed his first bait in before I did (I wanted to avoid the grass, preferring to work the edge) he was immediately blasted and broken off by something in a bad mood.  Incoming tide and a slight breeze pushed us around a bit making it hard to stay on target, plus, it being our first time there, we explored a bit.  In the end, the key spot was a line of open water just outside of the grass beds.  As we had been advised, we never really had to get more than 50 yards from the car.  Had we been rigged to deal with the grass I feel we would have done better.  Ended up with around 10 fish total, mix of sandies, calis and two short hali. I also learned I need to work on taking pics. Sorry for the turrible angles.

07/31-same spot, different results.  Even though it wasn't obvious from the surface, there was loose grass EVERYWHERE.  Conditions were essentially the same, but we couldn't put a bait in the water without loading up on salad, deep, shallow, weedless rigs, exposed hooks, out by the buoys, in front of the pier, nowhere was safe.  As my father used to say "fish don't eat salad".  We skunked.  This would be the standard skunk.  (the Turbo skunk means you fed the fish free bait, the Uber skunk means you went to the pet store, purchased a fish and released him into the wild). Maybe a half our in we learned about "Windy Gulch".  At this point, we learned to really appreciate those fins.  Twice my son fought off panic as he felt "stuck" unable to make headway back towards shore.  I wasn't too concerned, worst case scenario he lands on the other side and walks around or waits for me to come pick him up.
I'm not done with that spot but I want to scout other put ins.  We did so after we gave up but I couldn't find that magical combo of legal parking and water access.  Will look more next time.
One nice thing I forgot to mention, it was easily warm enough to forego waders even got a bit toasty in shorts.
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It is always an adventure as mother nature does what she wants. Still fun getting on the water and learning.

Thanks for sharing

We'll be hitting junipero tomorrow (Sunday) if anyone wants to roll by. Hot colors there are gold and reds, sometimes green. Grubs and swimbaits to about 3".

nice report.

Sounds like two days well spent on the water! I should try over near the pier sometime with some flukes twitched over the grass.

In regards to a potential launch spot:
I know there's parking at the foot of the jetty of 22nd street marina. However, there is a little issue of a pipe safety rail between the rocks and the parking area.  I drove by last time I was in cabrillo but never had the sense to stop and see if there was any "no trespassing" signage on the rail. If there isn't, might be worth a shot? Its a lot better than kicking over from the boat launch area, especially if the wind picks up. Plus, to echo what Dan said...its a very fishy area.

Nice that you got out fishing with your son!

Great report Fishbones805...........My maiden voyage with SPDan started at the boat launch area, $9.00 all day parking. For an ole guy like me its a no brainer. We also saw the steps down to the water and talked of maybe checking them out in the future. For me I had a thrill fishing the kelp beds for cali's...........GT

Everyone keeps mentioning these kelp beds. Where are they?! The only kelp I've seen is up against the wall.

There are some closer to the main channel. There is one right near the swim beach outside of the eel grass, another one right off the jetty of the boat launch. There's one that you can see around the jetty off 22nd street marina. Easier to see during low tides.

Nice thanks very much for the fish porn.

Ok thanks. We've only encountered isolated strands, nothing that looked like an actual kelp bed. We're going out Sunday, just gotta figure out where.