Okay, had a fun day surfboard fishing at Doheny. Wide open White Seabass bite for about 2 hours, all shorts, the largest measured 24 inches. I hand-landed about 7 fish, hooked about 12. The weather was beautiful and I got a good sun tan.
All fish were caught near the reef closest to the jetty in about 8 to 5 feet of water. All fish were checked and released. Best to have your dikes ready to remove hooks from their mouths as the bass would swallow the lure whole. Minimal handling is best. Try and brace the fish between your body and the arm and then grab by the gill covers so it calms down and stops thrashing. This is a good time to get the lure out, but you have to hold it like a baby. Once they calm down it is a good time to measure them. You want the fish to retain as much of it's slimy coat as possible and not expend so much energy. Release them back into the wild and wish them the best.
A 10 foot porpoise actually came about 5 yards from me while I was only about 200 yards out, awfully close in. Scared the crap out of me cause I thought I saw a jagged dorsal fin rise out of the water. That is a tell tale sign of a white shark. All the tourists were screaming. I laughed and paddled closer to the porpoise.
Great day, felt glad to be in the ocean.
