Gill Turner (aka Eric Bent) and I decided to brave the swell last night for a shot at some wall bass. Being the fair weather boater that I am I was a bit concerned about how the conditions would be with the impending storm ahead. After checking several weather sites, and getting an on the water report earlier in the day from Baja Chris, we decided to go.

The wind was blowing quite a bit by the time we were ready to launch at Davies. We were both suited up on our rain gear in anticipation of a nasty ride out. As we cleared the jetty, conditions didn’t seem so bad, but the wind was much stronger now. Motoring out to the wall, the swell continued to increase, and Eric suggested that we should have worn our kidney belts as they were taking a beating.

Inside the Long Beach wall, conditions were moderate, with some serious foam all along the edge of the wall from the swell. As we cleared the Long Beach opening I thought to myself, this could get ugly, but Eric continued to reassure me that it wasn’t that bad.

Chris had told me of his and Chuck’s earlier success on the outside of the V fishing in the foamy water. So we set up just past just north of it and started to fish. Being in a small boat I felt the swells were major, but luckily the melcazine was working and I didn’t get sick! We fished outside for a while, in awe of the swells crashing over the wall.

Eric decided to call it quits on the outside when a major swell moved in and exposed a good 10’ of the wall before crashing over the top. It was just before this that I got slammed and then broken off.

We headed inside the Long Beach section for a sloooow pick on the bass. The foam was unbelievable, very thick and it extended out at least 100’ off the wall in some sections. The areas with the biggest surge threw the wall produced best.

About 10 PM we headed over to pier J to see if the action was any better there. While there we were visited and checked by both the LBPD and Coast Guard. Fishing was fair here with a couple of quality fish including a nice Cabazon. By midnight we were headed for the barn in glass calm conditions.

Back at the ramp we were visited by the DFG. Who after a routine check, informed us that a Cigarette boat was racing along the outside the Cabrio wall and hit something in the water, both the driver and passenger were ejected from the boat before it crashed into the wall. Crazy People! I haven’t heard anything more about this and was wondering if anyone had any additional information?

I would say that fishing was fair. I didn’t keep track of how many fish we caught, but the variety of species was great. Eric, thanks for a great time on the water, I look forward to doing it again soon.

JP