Topics

16

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.

17

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.

18

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.

19

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.

20

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.

21

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.

22

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.

23

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.

24

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.

25

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.

26

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??

27

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Rockfish Closer 12/27

« on: December 27, 2023, 06:17:02 PM »

Gotta say that idk if I've ever been this sore from a boating trip. I can't believe how wiped I am right now and I just woke up from a 2 hour nap.

I've been trying to hit the 14 for one last deep drop trip, but it keeps falling through. Looked like the better window might have been yesterday (26th) and by last night I had the boat packed and ready but it looked like it was gonna be white caps offshore and I would be stuck to the coast once again.

Could barely sleep last night and had visions of poking around the coast for halibut then got to the ramp and it was pretty mellow. Got to the mouth of the harbor at 0700 and it was nicer than expected. Then something caught my eye...2nd humpback I've seen right at the harbor mouth! Really weird spot for a whale to be (and definitely a hazard), but always awesome seeing a whale!



Started heading for the 14, but keeping in mind I would bail and cut back to the coast if I ran into the chop I was expecting, but it stayed glassy. The orcas have been going crazy off San Pedro so I was wondering if they were gonna make their way through the channel and eat me alive today.



The 25 mile ride was less than 2 hours. Feels like that trip gets longer every time I go.

First drop at 0900. Hit the bottom in 1050' and was bit within seconds. God that's a long way up with 24oz + fish. Decent blackgill!



Already felt a blister forming and cramp in my hand from reeling, so put on my work gloves and moved along the same ledge into 950'. Bite stayed instant with the flukes. Chameleon and a fat bank rockfish!



The chameleon's signature forward facing lachrymal spines:



Hanging out with the blackgills and the speckles...





Couple mexicans.



It seriously never took more than 10 seconds to hook up. Got my numbers to 7, then I switched over to the 16oz Mogambo grub with a fluke above it. Took a lot longer to get bit, then when I wrenched in this toad Pink, I found it still went for the fluke. Definitely could have inhaled the grub, too.



The grub took longer to get down so I started moving shallower to 750', 650', 550', and 350'. Never hooked up at any of those depths. Frustrating. Finally got sick of dropping without hookups, and went back to my original spot in 950', and switched back to lead and flukes. Immediately broke off on the bottom Lost my only 24oz weight so took a Hawaiin snap and 2 12oz weights and sent it back down. Instant bit. 2 more drops, got to 9 with 2 more chameleons, was sick of the deep drops and headed in. I think I reeled about 6000….7000’ by hand today.

Best of each species. The chameleons turn red after they die.



Hopefully my body recovers and my mind forgets the pain in time for the 2024 opener...

28

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Striper Delusions Continued 12/20

« on: December 20, 2023, 05:08:04 PM »

Went to a local river mouth for a very quick 30 minute session looking for the fabled fish. Light rain and wind at my back, worked about 150 yards with the jerkbait. A little micro bait around which seemed like a good sign. Was fishing it in a sweeping motion, felt an inhale bite on the pause, and exhale just as quickly. Oi! Close. Definitely a striper.

10 minutes later I hooked up, and dragged this 16” specimen up onto the sand. First halibut of the year.



Seems like I left right before it really started coming down.

29

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Rain's Got Me Excited 12/19

« on: December 19, 2023, 12:30:12 PM »

Whenever I see a cold front come through I always get to thinking about striped bass making a showing. Somebody got one in the OC yesterday to validate that intuition once again. I went out this morning throwing jerkbaits thinking any cast, any bite could be a striper.



So an hour in when I missed a good bite a lot of angry noises came out of my throat, then I said to myself "it was just a perch, don't think about it." Well I don't know for sure. Then I missed another couple bumps and started to think maybe I did find a perch hole. I was a few steps away from that hole when I finally connected with a skunk busting 11" perch.



Nothing else for the morning. Thinking I might add to this report with an afternoon session in a few hours at a different beach but we will see.

30

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Came Back With Some Juice 12/16

« on: December 16, 2023, 04:00:28 PM »

Tough couple months of financial difficulties and stupid mistakes kept me off the water. Changed the oil on the outboard last night and decided to hop around and just recalibrate all my local hard bottom spots, pull a few whitefish for dinner, see if any larger game might be around, and pick off some variety.

Out the harbor 0730. Looked nice for the first few minutes and then the morning onshore breeze blew up some white caps for a couple hours. Pretty flat swell but wind chop coming from 3 directions made the ride out a bit wet.

First drop in 120' resulted in a bass. This spot always seems to put out a bass first, then for the rest of the time spent I'm swimming in whitefish.



That's basically what happened. First one in the bag.



Picked off 2 more dink skrillas. Longfin dab in the mix.



I was more than halfway through my squid rations so I upped and moved. Was gonna stay around HB with the wind but since it died down to grease calm I decided to go forward with my plan of burning as much of my old gas as possible today and headed to Newport.



Pulled up on a spot I'd been working a couple months ago and nothing super fishy, but I was getting pecked by dinks. I was curious and hoping for some weird reef critter, but ended up with a baby rattler.



A few minutes later I nabbed another keeper whitefish and then a decent sized mackerel. Decided on the spot to rig up my 50# rod with a 3 way and 24oz weight and start bounce balling with the mackerel.

I got maybe a mile before the mackerel was undergoing rigor mortis so I switched rods and put out an LCFM on the 3 way in continuing a search for halibut. Spent about 90 minutes in 40-70' in okay looking water before it was almost noon and I decided to beat the wind back to Huntington.

Stopped on some hard bottom on the way in and wasn't seeing much on the FF, when I get a hit and run, taking off behind the boat. I knew immediately what it was, but it wouldn't jump, so I was crossing my fingers to finally see a BSB for myself. Well, 15 minutes of playing it on 30# and I finally got it up to the boat and, yes, it was a thresher, probably in the 6-7' range. Pretty cool considering I only ever catch bass with this rig and in this area. The fish was hooked midway up the tail so it was a real trick trying to secure the tail enough to remove the trebles. I grabbed the tail and leader 3 separate times, each time it exploding away, before on the 3rd time the line finally snapped and I lost the LC. Bummed for the fish and the $20. Definitely could have gaffed it but I really didn't want the mess today, and still have some big game in the freezer.

Retied another crank and scouted the area a bit more for one more bass.



Got back to the dock by 1330 and I had barely burned a gallon of gas in about 30 miles. Somehow the best fuel economy I've ever gotten when I was going out of my way to get rid of old gas. Go figure! Anyway, no halibut, but 6 species and a surprise thresher on a gorgeous day is a solid trip in my book.