Most of the local SoCal trout streams that I frequent have been almost wiped clean of trout due to the drought. However, one particular stream has surprised me. Prior to the drought, it held a few fish, but the reaches I hiked to were mostly empty. During the drought, it was definitely empty of fish. However, now after the intense storms and rain we were blessed with this winter, it's flowing and full of rainbow trout. I love it! Hat tip to my friend who scouted it out again and came back with a good report on it. Take a look and if you know the spot, keep it secret, keep it wild, keep it protected:
I jump back into largemouth bass fishing each spring. Typically, I get my float tube out and use it to explore one of my favorite lakes in Southern California. However, this year, I purchased the Intex Explorer K2 Kayak. It's a two-person, inflatable kayak, with many good reviews of it online. I picked it up on sale for a little less than $80, a real deal!
The Intex K2 comes with two sets of oars, a pump, and a skeg. The whole kayak worked great. It's a little bulky to haul any length of distance, but it easily fits into a little cart that a kind friend let me use. That cart looks a little like this. It took about 10 minutes to get the K2 fully inflated, and I didn't need to reinflate it during the 5-6 hour trip at all. The rubber walls feel tough and durable. Despite a few bumps on rocks and sticks, the ways remained undamaged. We didn't have any leaks either.
Seats a quite comfortable and partly adjustable. Additionally, there is some (not a lot) of room to store the small backpacks and fishing gear we brought with us.
Fishing was, despite my prediction in the included video, fairly slow. I lost several fish, including one larger one that felt like a catfish (never got it out of the water), and finally caught a small largemouth. The rest of the group managed 4-5 largemouth total, with several more missed bites. Each year, fishing at this lake seems to get harder, sadly.
All in all, the Intex K2 kayak performed very well. Even with some wind, I was able to paddle it back a considerable distance. I don't know if I would take it out in a larger lake, but I was quite comfortable using it in this medium sized SoCal body of water. Using it without an anchor means you will constantly need to reposition yourself with the oars to keep fishing. Having two anglers often means one will paddle while the other will hold your position. It's workable, but takes some practice.
I'll definitely be taking the Intex 2-person inflatable kayak out again! I'm hooked! Interestingly, Intex has a small 2 person kayak, the Challenger, a much "speedier" inflatable kayak (at least from appearances). I haven't tried that one, but I'm interested in how it compares to the Explorer.
Intex Explorer K2 Kayak: http://amzn.to/2oO3WZr
The Newport Jetty is one of my favorite spots to fish for saltwater species at. It's not the most convenient, but it's a gem of a spot, with a multitude of different species to catch. Of course, it gets its share of pressure from many other anglers, but I typically do well here.
This trip was a little slower than most. We only landed 5 fish or so, but the variety of fish made up for the slow action. That's one of my favorite aspects of saltwater fishing - you never know what you will catch!
The highlight of the trip was catching a spunky Half Moon fish. Beautiful finned fighter! All were released to be caught on another outing.
