Topics

16

Fishing Talk / Another HB Oil Spill

« on: March 08, 2024, 06:13:46 PM »

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/oil-spill-off-huntington-beach-coast-being-investigated/3359029/

Last one was in 2021 and was 25,000 gallons. This one doesn't seem as extreme but I'm not giving the platforms a gold star either. Hope it doesn't f@ck up the local bite, it was just starting to heat up. Might head out with the boat Sunday morning so hopefully it doesn't interfere with that plan, short term or long term.

17

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Upped the PB Turd 2/26

« on: February 26, 2024, 12:56:39 PM »

Went out this morning for a relatively quick bass trip. It looked like rain and wind would come through around 11 so I had 3-4 hours to fish. I just wanted to play around with my GoPro that I've had for years but setting up a camera seemed to involved, from mounting to the standard of audio I wanted. I picked away at those problems and had a quick easy setup today with wireless lavs for good audio. Haven't checked the tape yet but I really hope it turned out...I'll post it when I get around to editing it.

Launched at 0700. Mr. Marina worker who told me I shouldn't be in the lot without a trailer popped up again and gave me the same exact spiel as a few months ago. I allowed myself to be visibly annoyed. I told him I talked to the manager. They couldn't give less of a f@ck. My plate number is on a sticky in the office so they know I'm cool, okay? He says THAT manager got fired and I should talk to the head head honcho who's been out for 6 months. I said, she was here 7 months ago? Yes. Okay, I was here 7 months ago, twice a week. For 2 years. She should know of my presence by now. I'm not worried about it. Then he introduced himself to me, at which point I knew he's the kind of guy with a short memory, and said he's just trying to relay the signs and he won't do anything about it (except he's the ONLY person doing anything about it). I'm thinking I should feed him some beef jerky some time soon so he remembers me, thinks kindly, and doesn't f@ck with me again...

OUT the gate, quick drive to the grounds. Glassy conditions. Turned on the GoPro and got bit quick with a barely short bass. Glad to get the skunk off in front of a camera, I was a little worried about that. Then caught a legal. Then hooked a big big fish. Drag set right, just steady reeling, through runs and everything. Really didn't wanna lose it. Thought might even be a small BSB. Then it comes up.

Oh yeah, that's a new PB. 23.5" sandie. No scale. Fair to say 6+. I got it on video too, so hopefully that came out good, and I'll have a better portrait with it.







Didn't just give me bass thumb, gave me bass hand. Rolled a couple times in the boat and ripped up both my hands. Almost kept it for the weight but took mercy.

My little setup with audio dongle thing. I put a dry bag over it while underway because the ports are exposed with the audio receiver thing.



Only got about 45 minutes of video, talking nonsense to the camera catching fish, then it died.

Kept hitting new stones. Some decent fish.



3 fish puked. Anchovy, some kind of mollusk, and whatever this is. Looks like a small eel?







Wanted to catch more bigguns with the sledgehammer, maybe attract a halibut. Stinger just got dinks.



Headed in a little shallower. I do really well when I see this kind of stuff.





10 sand bass and the brown. Called it at 10:30 as it started raining.

Got back to the ramp and gave my numbers to the surveyor.

Then I mentioned the marina worker, and he was like ohhhh yeah, he bugs me too.

18

Fishing Talk / PCS Show 2024

« on: February 13, 2024, 09:12:05 AM »

I seem to have a hard time remembering these kinds of events or having the time to get to them, but hopefully I will make this one. Seems like a great lineup. Anyone else planning on going? It’s March 7-10.

19

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Odd February Day 2/11

« on: February 11, 2024, 02:09:07 PM »

Met up with Jared at the ramp at 0700. Wanted to try scouting for sheephead with shrimp, and bounce balling in a new area with bigger lures hoping to capitalize on halibut or at least bigger bass.

Overall good weather out the gate. First new stone looked like it just had junk on it, and they weren't hungry.

Started bounce balling on the way to the next stone. Just before the stone, Jared hooks up. Then I look at the FF and fish start showing. I got bit and farmed it. He pulls up a nice 3# class fish.



We went over it again and got a double, two more 3# class fish.



Stopped on it with the shrimp and I pulled off a small female sheephead but it slipped out of my hands before a pic. Swam off strong which is what counts.

That stone cooled, kept moving. Jared was picking off 3#ers in the middle of nowhere between stones, my swimbait wasn't getting sniffed.

We pulled up on the next stone and he goes bendo then loses it. Then I drop shrimp down and I get hammered. Hoped for a bigger sheephead but another 3# turd.



Farmed another. FF was showing wild marks, fish were lit up and all up and down the water column. Then they disappeared. Couldn't locate them again, they just kinda left the structure. Picked off a couple blacksmith between us with the shrimp but no sheeps home.

Doing a big circle around Jared picked off another similar sized turd in the middle of nowhere. I finally switched from a baitfish color to the calico hunter he was using.

Headed in shallower and he pulled one short while we bounced from structure over to the beach and it went dead. Last drop I somehow impaled a mantis shrimp though. Kept it far away from the boat.



Got back to the ramp at 1200. If we had fished in the local bass tournament yesterday we could have won money with our bag today, probably a 15-17# best 5 for us. New zone had surprisingly great bass results. At least saw a sheep today which was good but I think I have better spots for them. And halibut aren't real.

20

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / C-Rigging and Data Gathering 2/10

« on: February 10, 2024, 10:33:07 AM »

Fished 0700-0930 with Jared and his dad this morning. Started with a c-rig, Jared and dad started with jerkbaits/swimbaits for halibut. Took a couple hundred yards to find any life at all, but eventually started getting aggressively short bit. Stuck with the hole til I got my skunk buster.



Might have been the only fish in that hole. Moved a bit and got more bites. 2 YFC, 11-12".



Saw a guy fishing from a rod holder, spinning reel with no baitfeeder, and he was sitting in his chair back like 40 feet from the rod. Looked like he was napping as well.

As the tide peaked I cut the c-rig and put on a fluke. Saw some conditions that I was looking for but no stripers. Won't be long. Jared and his dad ended up landing 1 and 2 YFC respectively.

Heading out with Jared tomorrow on the Mosquito. Bringing some fresh ideas so hopefully an interesting report to follow.

21

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / After the Rain 2/1

« on: February 01, 2024, 09:16:39 PM »

Hyped up this morning all week to try a thing for stripers. Slept absolutely horribly, decided to not derail the rest of my day with a morning trip and slept in. Went about my day grub hubbing, about 1400 I was driving over PCH around Huntington Harbor and saw the swell smacking the jetty. Looked rugged and thought I would go off the clock and stare at it for a few minutes. Got on the sand and realized the 7' @ 7 sec swell really falls apart on the outside. Inside trough actually looked super fishable. So I set up a 1oz dropshot with crack at the car and hopped back on the sand for a few casts hoping for maybe some bigger models to be swimming in the washing machine.

Second cast and I was hammered by a 10" breeder BSP. Couple other aggressive bites, moved over a bit and found the croaker. Back to back 12" YFC. Became a mix of quality fish. 6 YFC to 14", 4 BSP most around 10", 2 WSP around 9". Fished a little more than an hour. Tide wasn't moving too much, but just enough water receded for the inside trough to become less obvious, and the bites slowed. Not bad for a spontaneous trip.

22

Tackle Talk / Leader Material

« on: January 30, 2024, 02:42:18 PM »

So I've been on these for a while and been happy with all of them.

8, 10, 15# - Seaguar Red Label. 200 yard spools of "spool filler" fluorocarbon but I refuse to buy tiny premium spools of fluoro. This stuff works fine. And I've taken to using it in the surf for stiffness to avoid c-rig tangles. 10-15# section from braid through sinker to swivel, 8# leader to hook. Or put that 10-15# directly to an LC/lure. I wish they made heavier than 20# for this stuff cuz it would easily become my only leader material. I also love that it's the only budget fluoro spool I've found that has a line keeper. InvisX is nice though not stiff at all, but doesn't have a line keeper so it inevitably unravels and makes a mess.
Another note on this stuff, when I was a deckhand during the mahi bite, I was quietly tying 6' 20# leaders of this stuff from my own collection onto the rental rods and they did get bit more during tough days. I'm skeptical about fluoro, especially cheap fluoro, but it definitely paid for itself via fillet cash on those days.

30# - P-Line Fluoroclear. This is the heaviest they make. I use it for 95% of my inshore boating leaders. Fluoro coated mono, and as far as I can see it's the only one like it anymore on the market. Used to be a competitor or two....Super cheap filler spools around $10-15. Works. Gets bit. Strong enough to horse a tail hooked T to the boat, never break off unless there's heavy structure. I was using it in 6# for surf leaders but I eventually went with the Red Label for stiffness as it tangled way too often, compromising strength. Also have used it in 15, 20, and 25 with success, but 30 does it all here so I keep it simple now and pared down. It's a really great supple line for if you wanna fill a spool, too.

50, 80, 100, 120, 150 - Ande Pink Mono. Old news that off color mono disappears in water better than clear mono. 50#+ fluoro leader is all insanely expensive so I don't touch it. All my bigger presentations are either for sharks or reaction bite type stuff for pelagics, so it's not super important anyways. Also this stuff is soft enough to tie SD Jam knots no problem all the way up to 150#. 2 turns and you're good.


Reason I wrote this out was a reminder from this morning. Koga recommended to me a while ago to try the Seaguar AbrazX 12# for spotties. Definitely some hardy material for structure. I went ahead and ordered it, kept it around. He mentioned actually filling the spool with it. I don't like doing that so I tried tying short leaders with it. Literally snaps every single time I ever cinched down a uni-uni knot, totally bizarre. Switched to a modified Albright and it's done fine, then this morning I made my 100th cast of the day and it popped during a lob cast. Thankfully the LC just kinda fell to my feet so I was able to fish it out but, for whatever inexplicable reason it has incredibly mediocre braid connection strength. Sticking to the red label. I'll fill a baitcaster spool with it and try it as originally suggested eventually but it's retired from leader duties.

Anyway, take what you will from all that. For the most part it's a system that's budget friendly and works for me, but mostly because I don't need heavy fluoro for live baiting pelagics, nor do I tournament fish for bass or anything else. Otherwise premium fluoro might end up making sense.

Curious what you guys do.

23

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Sunset Perching 1/29

« on: January 29, 2024, 12:30:24 PM »

Got some car servicing done at 0800. While I was in my car as fluids came and went from my car (not the koga kind) I got a text from Tommy that he was surf fishing HB and headed to Sunset. I said fancy that, I wanted to head over there right after this.

Arrived about 1015. Had an LCFM tied on but as soon as I walked up to the shoreline, the water looked a bit big. Headed back to the car and set up a 3/4oz c-rig. Perfect weight for the morning, got a little downhill drift but not out of control.

Got bit right in front of where I parked, which was a nice convenient change of pace. 2nd cast pulled a micro.



Picked off another then I saw strolling up none other than Tommy and his pal RJ, who was surf fishing for the second time ever and had already picked off a couple on grubs. Tommy seemed done with the morning having broken the skunk earlier, and just wanted to chat with me while RJ and I made casts into the honey hole I'd found. Ended up picking off a 3 more in front of them, mostly 5-6" and one 9".



They got on their way around 1045, peak tide, and the bite pretty much shut off. I moved on from the hole and worked another couple hundred yards and found one more fish, a survivor of a WSP.



Good looking water in this stretch.



6 total perch this morning.

I'm weighing the possibility of taking the boat out tomorrow to bounce ball, but it sounds more relaxing to just hit this zone again in the AM. Surf fishing has legitimately been a miracle drug for me the past few months. Swell will be mellower and LC friendly.

24

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Varietal Milk Run 1/19

« on: January 19, 2024, 02:07:47 PM »

Wanted to try catching whitefish on my super parabolic crankbait rod and Tatula 100 just to switch it up.

Launched this morning at 0700. Said hi to the old coots launching who were regulars last winter then seemed to disappear until now.

Couldn't get out of the harbor because of naval activity until 0800. Was able to kill most of the time by talking fishing with another boater in a Robalo, basically rafted with him and talked shop until the ship docked and CG let us through.

Headed out to the critter grounds, arrived about 0845. Only had about half a dozen squid heads, supplemented by some fish bite strips which are hardier and I hoped would protect the squid a bit. 3oz dropper loop rig on the bass rod.

First four bites were all different species. First a whitefish which went straight in the bag. They were all smaller than I would usually keep, but I got the idea to maybe just weed 'em out a bit and maybe the bass and rockfish will fill in more to the spot. Who knows.

Decent blacksmith.



Only one legal sandie today, kept it.



Out of season, but back to back sheephead including this nicer one which was almost impossible to land on the noodle rod and 100 baitcaster.



It was super calm this morning, but with only a few miles of visibility I was constantly disoriented as to which way I was drifting. The inshore and offshore breeze switched off without skipping a beat, and all the oil rigs and freighters in view seemed to look the same in every direction.



Popped two decent reds as well, as soon as the second one came up I got far away from that stone. Both swam down fine.



Once I ran out of squid I headed inside and caught a couple more short bass. The wind came up to white caps at 1000 which killed my enthusiasm to stay out as I started getting beat up. I did deadstick a Sledgehammer swimbait on a 4oz leadhead and got one good bite that came off midway up, felt like a 3lb class bass. Never gotten a fish on that swimbait but now I wanna try and up my bass PBs.

Enough food for a dinner.



Something like 5 bass, 4 whitefish, 2 sheeps, 2 reds, 1 blacksmith. Nice quick trip.

25

Reel Repair & Maintenance / Cleaning the Avets

« on: January 15, 2024, 11:13:46 PM »

My 2 Avet SXJs have gotten more use than anything in the past year plus, the cleaning was a little overdue. I'd have to slap the side of the reel to get the free spool going but overall still reliable relatively smooth function.

Popped em open and there was some buildup but not bad overall.



I'd like to note that the #1 reason I use Avets is for their anti-reverse. You will see in the pics that the anti reverse dog/pawl has a thin metal wire connected to it that runs to and connects to a wire and a rubber gasket thing on the drive shaft. When the drive shaft moves backwards, it pulls the wire and thus the dog into place on the anti-reverse gear. Fool proof AND silent anti-reverse! Other reels on the market use clutch bearings which have a tighter tolerance for how far the handle can swing back but eventually corrode and fail, and then backed up with dogs that have foil ears which can bend out.



After:



I've barely used any of my other reels in the last year so I don't think I need to service anything else right now.

26

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Koga’s Trophy 1/13

« on: January 13, 2024, 11:24:23 AM »

Met up with Jared and his friend Race to fish the beach this morning. Race was just an observer today. 0700 start time. 42º. I didn't like the trench foot from using my neoprene socks last time so I tolerated the first 30 minutes of freezing sand and 58º water before things warmed up with the sun.

Water was pretty mellow. Could have launched a kayak about half the time. 2.5' @ 5 was more or less accurate when there were sets. Cold morning breeze was brutal on the skin but overall non-issue.

Started with a c-rig, seemed like a bit of a ghost town. Couple micro bites. Switched over to the little yozuri 90. Then Jared picked off his first fish of the year, redemption after last week's farm clinic.



He got on a quick heater and went 4/4 with 3 bsp and 1 dink yfc. Motivated me to try the c-rig again. Popped a queenfish! Haven't gotten one from the surf before.



Was getting bites here and there until it was dead on the c-rig, so we threw jerkbaits and KMs on the way back. Called last few casts and then I got whacked by a 10" BSP on a new LCFM color. Happy with that being the last cast. Jared stuck a WSP on the KM a minute later from the same hole and called it. Pretty tough for 3 hours but squeaked out a 4 species morning.



Also saw Koga was making room for his trophies in, mmm, unconventional places.



I should have swooped it up and etched “biggest pick em @sshole 2023” on it and mailed it to Koga but it disappeared. We think these old asian ladies walking by picked it up thinking it was a nice big crystal for their mantel.

27

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Palos Verdes 1/9

« on: January 09, 2024, 02:45:03 PM »

The plan was a toss up between fishing in 1400' in Newport Canyon for potential sablefish and ratfish, or get going on my plan to bounce ball Palos Verdes to see if I could find some exotics amongst all of its structure. Well, last night I could hardly sleep as I fixated on barn door halibut and tankers coming on board, so my mind had become pretty well made up.

Gave up on sleep before my alarm went off, headed for the ramp. Was on the water about 0645, a bit before sunrise.

North wind kinda f@cked up the ride out, got quite a bit of spray on the second half of the run, the first half being behind the LB break wall.

It smoothed out within a mile of the east side of the MPA, where I would be starting my troll.



The FF wouldn't turn on at the ramp, presumably because of how I have to unclip the battery and that wire may become subject to corrosion...anyway, that definitely put a damper on learning the area like how I wanted to, but regardless I was just gonna follow the relief maps. I just wouldn't be able to pattern it much today.

First bite came after about 20 minutes, big smelt.



The kelp forests had died off quite a bit since I was last in the area about 2 years ago, although there was some growing just out of visibility that I was hooking on occasion.

Ran up onto a pretty wide area of hard bottom and found a few calicos, only one being barely legal.



Hung up on the bottom a number of times but ended up only losing one sinker. But, I later noticed that the front hook eyelet of my Pointer had busted out at some point. Brand new one...still swam fine so maybe I'll seal it somehow and use the back two eyelets.

A mile or two later, a turd.



1030 I decided to head back and bounce along the wall for a bit. Picked up the fish of the day in this 2.5# class sandy.



Tried a few different stretches for no more fish and headed in.

I've got some tweaks I've gotta make to the boat before the next trip. Forgot to put my 2024 stickers on but thankfully wasn't noticed.

28

Tackle Talk / Sharing a Contagion, Beware

« on: January 07, 2024, 10:07:05 PM »

You've been warned.

I may have mentioned this ebay store before, but it has hella good deals on lots of things. I bought a few Lews Inshore baitcasters for great prices in their auctions a few years ago and since then I've bought a number of lures. They sell a LOT of LCs, mostly Pointers and other freshwater oriented cranks. Lots of other stuff. You'll see something you like if you check them out I'm sure. Simmons Sporting Goods. I always end up bidding on more things than I should obsessively for a couple hours because they start every auction at $1, then just hope a couple auctions are forgotten about in your favor and boom! You pull out of your blackout with a cart full of tackle.

https://www.ebay.com/str/simmonssportinggoodsofalabama

Well this time I saw 6 Super Spooks for a good auction price so I threw my name in the hat. Forgot about it, won it. Whoops. $19 for 6! But $10 for shipping. So what do I do to justify the shipping? Go find a 2 pack of LC Pointers, win them for $10, then check out for $45 or so. Regular price for everything was probably $110. Shouldn't have spent any money, but can't argue it's not a good deal. Bought another 2 pack of Pointers a few weeks ago from them so add it to the pile. Then a couple LCFMs from a different buyer just to restock. Pointers will be trolled, might be thrown in the surf at high tide/deeper water. But the FMs will definitely stay in the surf box.



Just waiting for some upgraded split rings to arrive to set everything up right. I love Spooks but don't have much FW to throw them in around here so they will be saved for stripers and corvina I suppose.

29

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / First Fish of the New Year 1/6

« on: January 06, 2024, 01:58:37 PM »

Hit the beach this morning with Jared. 44º at sunrise! I don't like walking too much in my waders so I wore neoprene socks and crocs. 0700-0945. 4' @ 8 was a fairly accurate forecast. Kinda big water and not the most dramatic holes/troughs but we made the most with 3/4-1oz c-rigs.

I got about half a dozen bites, including a couple "wtf how did I not hook that" bites. Pulled this 10"er on a crunchy old piece of GSW to save the first trip of the year.



Jared was struggling with the MORF grub, switched to a 1.5" paddletail and missed a few, then switched to gulp to lose one on the hard pack and missed several "wtf how did I not hook that" bites. This sullied up his morning a good bit, understandably, and he came away with a skunk.

Stopped by charkbait on the way home and refreshed my license. Got home and napped.

30

Fishing Talk / Stat Recap 2023, Goals for 2024

« on: December 30, 2023, 03:44:56 PM »

Things got spottier in the last few months for me as far as fishing opportunities go, but overall it was a surprisingly good year where I met a lot of goals that I've been trying to hit for a while. Thresher, bluefin, and finally a corbina were the highlights for me. 35 species for the year and 12 of them were new.

The 12 new species:

1. raucous grunt
2. slender croaker (not confirmed)
3. speckled sanddab
4. fantail sole
5. swordspine rockfish
6. pink rockfish
7. chameleon rockfish
8. mexican rockfish
9. blackgill rockfish
10. thresher shark
11. bluefin tuna
12. california corbina

Some numbers from my logs:

42 boat trips. 297 total fish, 342 including baitfish. Only 6 skunks! Sand bass were caught most at 133.

26 surf trips. 28 total fish. 13 skunks. More croaker than perch which I found odd at 13 YFC to 9 BSP, though the perch were mostly great quality.








Looking to 2024...

As I was typing this I started rambling a lot. I wanna catch everything but I'll probably be the most motivated for these:

- legal halibut from the surf and the boat
- start using snails for sheeps
- full send for sablefish this winter
- CNR kite bluefin
- hit the surf at least once a week, it's just plain good for the soul


Aight, ya'll chime in. 2023 recap/highlights and 2024 goals??