This story is about my first La Jolla kayak fishing experience.

I have been fishing damn near my entire life, however I have only been kayak fishing for a less than a decade. So in my first couple of years as a kayak angler, I had a lot of new experiences.

• Getting stuck in the kelp
• Octopus on your kayak (another Fish Tails story coming soon)
• Surf launches (several Fish Tails stories coming your way)
• Pooping (too many to tell, but I will tell some anyways)

For those that have launched their kayak out of La Jolla knows that there is a large surf zone that you have to punch through to get to the fishing grounds. Usually it doesn\’t take much effort to get past the surf zone, but the odds are high that you will get wet or soaked in the process.

Fortunately this funny story has nothing to do with me eating shit in the surf zone at La Jolla… instead this story is about a quick conversation I had with an old lady at 5:30 in the morning pulling my yak towards the shoreline.

Wayne Johnson… a Dana Point local kayak angler out of Pure Watersports – Dana Point asked me if I wanted to fish La Jolla with him. This guy has been yanking on big yellows, white sea bass and halibut from a kayak for quite some time… I figured I could learn a few things so I said yes. So we met in Dana Point, loaded up the kayaks and headed south to La Jolla.

We circled the neighborhood to find a decent parking spot and began to unload the yaks. Wayne was quick to be ready and started to head down to the water. As I slowly worked my way to the shoreline, an old lady stopped me and asked me…

• Old Lady: \”What are you doing with that canoe?\”
• Me: \”I am going fishing mam\’m.\”
• Old Lady: \”Here?\”
• Me: \”Yes, right down the street.\”
• Old Lady: \”What about the surf?\”
• Me: \”We hope for the best.\”
• Old Lady: \”DO YOU GET WET?\”
• Me: \”Most of the time.\”

The look she gave me was worth the drive. She was confused and annoyed with me all the same. To be fair… she called my kayak a canoe. This story makes me laugh.