#15 White Hot

Sunday 5/31/26

When the bite is hot you have to get it while it’s good. We were hoping to find some more chrome, so we launched the boat out of Dana Landing and gave it another shot. For most of the day fishing was slow. Water temperature started around 64.5 degrees. We had decided to skip the bait line and make our own. When we got to La Jolla there was live bait everywhere. We saw tons of spots of bait popping on the surface. These were pretty giant mackerel. We spent most of the day casting our irons and hookup baits at the bait boils, hoping to find a trophy fish pushing the bait up. Instead we found quite a few calico bass, which made for a fun day of catch and release. All day we fished hard. It was a hot day and water temps climbed up to 66. This was one of those days where it was cast, retrieve and repeat. We kept moving to new spots, looking for marks or signs on the surface, casting and repeating. We were hopeful that any cast would be the one. We pulled up to the zone to do a new drift and I had a good feeling about the spot. Maybe it was the bite I had just missed, but something felt right about the conditions. Sure enough, after a few casts Ed Dog said “I’m on” and he was hooked up to something good. The fish fought hard and ran into the kelp. Once he got the fish out of there the rest of the fight was easy. Fish was to the boat and over the rail quick. Vibes were high. We were hopeful the bite was turning on. After a few more casts and some patience we were on again! These were fun fish to fight. Something about your line getting slammed on the jig stick just makes you smile. We ended the day with 2 white seabass and a lot of smiles.