Westward report

My first report on the new board, and unfortunately no incredible tale of a 60 lb. halibut or 100 lb. WSB or a drowning supermodel in need of mouth-to-mouth resusitation.(Yet)
Just another georgous day at Zuma. Launched around 7:30 at the end of Westward parking lot. Surf was small, yet I still get butterflies thinking I'm sure to eat sh*t, get drenched, and lose all my gear. Waited a long time for the perfect window of flat water and made it out dry. Westward can be deceptive, with a steep drop off, nasty shorebreak and swirling currents that can mess you up if you dawdle in the first 50'. It was about as close to a lake as it gets and I was thankful.
Paddled out to the zone, rigged up for some rockcod fishing with a heavy diamond jig and squid. Set up my sonar and realized I had left the transducer at home. No FF today..damn! Finding that narrow deep canyon is so much easier with a graph, but you'd think I could find it blind by now. I've tried to triangulate the houses and mountains to give me a position, but I'm not an old panguero and the "Force" is weak in me.
Caught a ton of Sanddabs, meaning I wasn't on the spot, kept a few of the larger ones, and finally one deep drift caught two nice Reds. The wind came up a little and made it hard to drift deep without more lead. I was trying to get the gumption to paddle and fish the boiler rocks for some bass or halibut, but I just didn't have the jazz. Plus there were some divers already there.
Anyway,by noon the breeze got stronger and I threw in the towel.
Paddled back in to a very crowded beach, dragged my sorry ass back to the car and made my way through a jam packed sea of cars on westward road. Although the parking lot was completely full, nobody was informing everybody sitting dead stopped with their engines idling, that there was no more parking available. When I mentioned that somebody should tell the 200 or so cars waiting to get in, the attendant gave me the classic shrug, "Es no my yob".
A preview of Summer weekend congestion, so for all you that head for Zuma on a hot wekend, make it early.
TL,
That Old Guy, Scott