By Paul Lebowitz

Kayak anglers who call Southern California home are blessed with ocean waters that give up their bounty year-round. Although a kayak lacks the over the water range of a powerboat, that shortcoming is compensated for by the vast number of places it’s possible to launch over the beach. If you aren’t using your car or truck to run up and down the coast, you could be missing out on some of the state’s best fishing.

Any place you can get your kayak onto the ocean and out to your personal honey hole is bound to have good action, especially if the nearest boat launch is miles distant. The following list isn’t meant to disparage your backyard paradise, but to highlight a few of the southland’s best known, most beautiful, and productive beach launch sites. If your favorite isn’t here, just consider it your personal secret, then get yourself down to La Jolla when the yellowtail go off or out at Malibu when the halibut are in tight to spawn.

Malibu
It’s hard to say with certainty where the modern revival of kayak fishing got its start. Pioneering individuals up and down the Southern California coast, in Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean, and other places have been quietly reaping the benefits of ‘modern-primitive’ fishing for decades.

There’s little debate the roots of the current movement took their first public hold along the scenic Malibu coast, amid the steep shoreline and linear kelp forests.

There’s some irony that Dennis Spike chose the ritzy Malibu Riviera to found a business advocating rugged, affordable do-it-yourself independence. Through KayakFishing.com, California’s first kayak fishing guide service, Spike inspired hundreds of new kayak anglers to join him on the water. It’s not hard to see why. According to Spike, Malibu provides “ample fishing structure and opportunities for novice and veteran kayak anglers alike, for year-round bass and seasonal halibut, white seabass, barracuda and bonito.” Lingcod and other rockfish, and the biggest of Southern California’s kayak-style big game, the thresher shark, round out the target species list.

Despite the explosive growth of the sport, even today you’ll be hard pressed to find a crowd. In spread-out Malibu it’s easy to find your own piece of ocean. Pacific Kayak Fishing’s Mark Pierpont explained why. “Malibu has multiple access points unlike La Jolla where the entire population of kayak anglers is channeled into one spot.

There are so many different options in regards to wind, water clarity, surf, or structure. You can wake up any given day and choose which location is best for whatever option you prefer,” said Pierpont.

Malibu offers dozens of great kayak fishing launch sites. Many of them lie nearly hidden behind movie star palaces, are suitable only for big-surf veterans, have enough parking for only a truck or two, or require a hike to get to the seashore. Not to worry, there are several easy to reach spots suitable for beginning to intermediate kayak anglers. Here is a trio:

Leo Carillo State Park is located just east of the LA-Ventura county line. Kayak anglers have two options here. Either park for free on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and negotiate a long stairway to reach the beach, or pay the entrance fee to launch from North Beach on the west side of the park. It’s more than a choice between kayak carry distances. According to Pierpont the beach at the foot of the stairs is semi-sheltered, but low tide reveals an expanse of rocks.

At sandy North Beach the surf zone is shorter, there are few rocks, and a good reef in 20-30 feet of water sits just offshore. The targets here are “the usual suspects, calico bass, halibut on edges of the reefs, a variety of shallow water rockfish, and lingcod,” said Pierpont.

Corral Canyon is one of Jason Morton’s preferred Malibu launches. The KayakSportfishing.com guide said the beach just opposite Malibu Seafoods a couple miles west of Pepperdine University has good parking right along PCH. The surf is typically mild, but can develop into a nasty close-out shore break in a south swell. The fishing just off the launch is solid.

“You can get mixed bag of calicos and sandbass, shallow water rockfish, halibut, and threshers. When the sharks come in they come in thick. Its funny it’s called Corral Canyon, it seems like the threshers are corralled here season after season,” said Morton.

TOAD CROAKER – Big white seabass can be found at Malibu and Dana Pt, but not in the numbers knocked out at La Jolla. The big croakers usually show in late March or early April.

MALIBU SEAFOODS – The prospects for a halibut dinner are nowhere better than at Malibu’s Corral Canyon. The launch directly across from Malibu Seafoods is easy to find. If you fail to catch your own fish you can stop in at the restaurant on your way home. PHOTO BY KAYAK SPORTFISHING  

DANA BASS – The reefs north and south of Dana Point are practically infested with bass. Most come larger than this one. The possibility of catching a trophy calico makes daring the reefs worthwhile. When the swell is cranking on a falling tide, the reefs can break far out from shore.

LA JOLLA COMBO – An easy beach launch with normally small, crumbly surf and the everyday prospect of kayak-towing yellowtail make La Jolla one of kayak fishing’s crown jewels.

All Malibu area kayak anglers should develop a good feeling for the wind patterns that affect these waters. Typically the wind blows out of the west parallel to the coast. When planning a day’s outing, it’s wise to choose a launch east of your intended fishing area. Paddle upwind; when you’re ready to call it a day you’ll have the wind at your back making for an easy return. The notorious Santa Anas are a potentially dangerous exception. These winds roar out of the Santa Monica Mountains, blowing straight out to sea. They are most common in the fall, but can bedevil other seasons as well.    

“The Santa Anas are severe here because the canyon system chokes, channels and supercharges the wind,” said Pierpont. Kayak anglers should stay in tune with the weather forecast. If a Santa Ana is likely, it’s best to stay home, but if you decide to launch, stay close to shore where you can tie off to kelp, go in a group, and always use a paddle leash warns Pierpont.

La Jolla Shores
La Jolla is arguably the crown jewel of California ocean kayak fishing. The ingredients that make La Jolla such an intoxicating brew are headed by the impressive fish that are regularly caught here. By this point we’ve all seen the evidence. Photo after photo shows anglers sharing their kayaks with yellowtail to 50 pounds, white seabass into the 60s, and halibut that tip the scales at nearly 50. Most examples of these glamour species aren’t so big of course. The average La Jolla yellow is more likely 15 to 20 pounds. That’s still big enough to drag a kayak on an exhilarating sleigh ride.

The glorious La Jolla kelp owes its fishiness to San Diego’s southern latitude. The warmer water ushers in pelagics from south of the border. Then there’s the food-rich water that wells up from the depths of the La Jolla submarine canyon that drops off just north of the extensive La Jolla kelp forest. It helps bring the fish in. The kayakers would congregate at La Jolla under any circumstances, they mass here like nowhere else on the coast due to the high grade of the fish, but the proximity of a gentle beach launch to the fishing grounds adds to the area’s attractiveness.

The beach launch at La Jolla Shores at the foot of Avenida de la Playa is like no other in Southern California. As the street name makes clear – playa is Spanish for beach – the right-of-way extends onto the sand! Drive right onto the beach to load or unload, but beware the tourist crush of mid-summer. Then it’s better to trek your ‘yak from the sand to your vehicle parked in the nearby lot or on the street.

La Jolla Shores is a gently sloping beach sheltered within the arcing curve of La Jolla Bay. The canyon offshore further diminishes the swell. The result is surf that is normally weak, small, and crumbly.

The Shores is home to many a hardcore kayak angler. One of the more public of the tribe is Jim Sammons, owner of La Jolla Kayak Fishing Adventures. Sammons and his associate Matt Moyer have been guiding at ‘LJ’ for years. 

Moyer attempted to explain why La Jolla is so special. “To me, it’s kind of like my church. It’s one of the most beautiful places in San Diego. There are so many options. You can fish halibut up north, rockfish down deep, over the shelf where at any time a yellowtail could come up. At certain times of year there are barracuda, bonito, and white seabass. You don’t have to fish big game, you can fish calico bass. There are whales to see and porpoise,” said Moyer.

La Jolla’s big game hunters have refined the art of bait making into a science. With no bait receiver in miles, most sorties begin with the catch your own ritual. Bait, in this case nearly always Pacific ‘greenback’ or jack ‘Spanish’ mackerel, is often easiest to catch at dawn. The multi-hook Sabiki rig is the means. Once bait has been caught, anglers simply slow troll or drift them along the kelp line. When bait is scarce anglers fall back on irons or plastics.

Don’t start fishing right after you launch. La Jolla Shores is located within an ecological reserve. Before wetting a line you must paddle approximately a half mile west. Large yellow buoys usually mark the boundaries, but not always. They are sometimes carried inshore by storms. To be on the safe side, kayak anglers should be roughly opposite La Jolla Point before beginning to fish.  

The easy launch and big fish sometime lure novices literally in over their heads. It’s still the capricious open ocean out there. La Jolla demands self-sufficiency. “Be prepared and take every precaution. You can’t just go out there once you buy a kayak. First you need to get the feel of the boat,” said Moyer. At a minimum, make sure you can climb back onto the kayak if you fall off, an exercise known as a self-rescue, before you head out in search of the big one.

Dana Point
Orange County’s beautiful Dana Point is third on this list but no less special. The fishing here is more akin to that up north in Malibu, yet flurries of yellowtail occasionally make it this far north. Bonito and barracuda are frequent summer visitors. White seabass and thresher sharks pay calls too, but there’s no denying halibut and bass are the kings of Dana Point.

Variety is the name of the game. And easy access. The most sheltered beach launch in Southern California is here, at Doheny State Beach at the foot of the eastern harbor jetty. Ample paid parking is available within the state park. The surf up against the jetty is negligible except during a south swell, then watch out. Launching farther down the beach is a poor idea. The bottom drops off very rapidly. Take three steps and you could be up to your neck in a plunging shorebreak. The alternative to Doheny is Baby’s Beach. Parking here at the west end of the harbor is free. The paddle to the harbor mouth is approximately one mile. Both launches are convenient to the live bait receiver, so Dana Point kayak anglers enjoy a luxury their brothers in Malibu and La Jolla lack. 

The area south of the harbor, from Doheny south to San Clemente, features good fishing for bass and halibut. Reefs dot the bottom all the way down to San Mateo Point. They’re easy to find during lobster season, when the buoys dropped by commercial lobster boats mark many of the structures. There are calicos all over the rocks, and halibut in the sandy patches in between.  

Fishing the reefs south of Dana Point Harbor is something of a dare. You’re betting that an outside breaker won’t catch you unawares. “Anywhere within a half mile of shore, pay attention to the swell and what time it will be low tide. When the swell is big and the moon full or new it’s critical,” said Mark Ezell of online accessories dealer Hook1 Kayak Fishing Gear. When the swell is cranking on a falling tide, the reefs can break far out from shore.

North of the harbor in front the Dana headlands, local parlance for the actual point itself, is the place to look for pelagics. “A deep water canyon comes within a mile of shore here. The upwelling brings in the plankton that starts the food chain, so predators cruise right up to the point,” said Ezell. The calicos are up here too, in the kelp beds off the point and farther north at Salt Creek, and in tight to the boiler rocks that slump into the ocean at the foot of the headlands.