Topics

226

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Trout Fishing 11/28

« on: November 28, 2014, 01:48:57 PM »

 Got up this morning, still full from yesterday's feasting, and maybe a little slow from tipping back a few last night.
 Best way I know to take care of those feelings is some fresh beach air.

 Headed down to an old haunt and found beautiful conditions, rising tide, small surf and some visible holes to try to fish.

 I often work north here and did again this morning. Throwing the clear red flake grub. Lots of cobble stone grabs, but no real bites.

 Looking south, I saw several cormorants in the surf line as well as a couple pelicans that seemed to be feeding. I quick fished my way down figuring there was some bait in the water and hopefully some larger fish to catch.

 I tried with the grub, got nothing, and broke off. I tied on a mini hammer and made some casts up and down the area. I got nothing for awhile and then was rewarded by a soft bite close in, followed by my line moving up current. Whatever it was came off, but on the next cast, a much harder hit resulted in a small yfc.


I lost a few more lures in the reef and got down to just one more swimbait. I saw many schools of baitfish in the waves, maybe 3 beach balls in size. I saw a small halibut jump and another baitfish explosion. Still no takers. Then I lost my last swimbait in the rocks.

As I was armed with my perch rod filled with 4# braid, I was not going to tie on any of the hardbaits I had, and due to the rocks, I was hesitant to try the new kastmasters. All that was left was a trout spinner I had put in my box one day.

So, what the heck, I tied it on and made some casts.

Shortly after making one cast, I saw a dark shape rise in the wave. I couldn't identify it, but my spinner was going to pass nearby. I couldn't believe it when I felt a thump and went bendo.

After a short fight, I landed this little halibut.


Made a few more casts and got a perch.



I worked the area for another half hour for nothing and headed for home. Pretty sure I will be checking it out tomorrow.

227

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Back to Tradition 11/27

« on: November 28, 2014, 05:59:56 AM »

 It has been a few years since I have been able to participate in the traditional Thanksgiving morning fishing session with some good friends. This year, my schedule let me participate.

 As usual, I was the first to arrive to a beautiful morning on the bay.


I even caught a few bass. I wasn't sure I would be able to remember how, it has been so long.


Soon, I saw some familiar vehicles arrive and went up to the parking lot to greet everybody.


Then the fun began. Getting re connected while working the shoreline, leapfrogging to fish the new water first, and even an occasional fish.






The fish count for one person along the shoreline would have made a great morning. With five guys working the shoreline, the counts were smaller, but everyone got some fish.

Even more important than the fish count was the chance to spend some time with some great people. The real Thanksgiving tradition.

228

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Central Coast 11/23/14

« on: November 24, 2014, 03:07:47 PM »

 Took a couple days off to visit my folks in Pismo this week. I have a few spots that have been pretty good fishing that I have stumbled across in my visits over the years.

 This morning I visited one of them. Probably the most scenic and I did well the last time I was here.
 Beautiful sunrise.


Despite the heavy surf that was forecast, conditions were totally fishable. After a few casts I pulled an nice calico surf perch.


Once I tuned in to the pattern, I was able to get 4-5 more. Nice sized, in the 12" range.




At some point I saw a couple walking the beach stop and pick up something from just the other side of a large rock where I had randomly turned around. Turned out to be a scapula bone. The lady was sure it was a human bone, but I suggested a seal/sealion was more likely. She thought that was great and kept the bone.
I lost a few rigs in the rocks, and missed out on a great beach find, but I was stoked on the morning session.
On the way to the steps I saw a cool crab shell.


That should get the boss off my back.

229

Lure & Rig Crafting Board / My current casting shark rig.

« on: November 19, 2014, 09:00:51 AM »

 I was making up some rigs to replace the 4 I lost a couple weeks ago and thought I would snap a few pics of my current set up. It is not the only rig I use, and the methods are not all my own invention, but more of a gleaning from the successes and failures from my experience and those of others.

 Anyway, here we go.

 First, tools and materials.




135# Nylon Coated Stainless Cable (24")
1mm Double Sleeve Copper Crimps (4)
3-Way Swivels (tossed the bag, not sure what size) (1)
Hook of Choice (I like 10/0 octopus)
Heat Shrink Tubing (1 1/2" of 3/8" diameter) (2)
80# mono (2 1/2')
Sinker of Choice (1)

Hand Crimper (cup to cup)
Lighter
High Power Reading Glasses

Assembly

First, I tie an offshore loop around the eye of the hook and double crimp it.



Then I slide a section of heat shrink over the knot and the crimps and shrink it down while keeping the hook in my desired position.



Then, this is important, slide the remaining two crimps and heat shrink tubing onto the cable before making another offshore loop around the swivel. Double crimp here as well.



And shrink tube.



To another eye of the swivel, I tie the 80# mono, and attach a sinker. I like the sputnik type.



Ready to fish.

Post up how you make yours, I'd like to see what is working for other folks.

230

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / One Shark Short 10/14/2014

« on: October 14, 2014, 09:46:35 PM »

 A little change up on the usual Tuesday fishing. Tom had some things to take care of that some way some how had to be done today. He had plans to join me a little late, leaving location scouting up to my judgement. Well, life got in the way, and Tom ended up not being able to make it.

 Solo mission.

 Things have been pretty good lately at a certain surf spot we like so I went to check it out.

 Waves were bigger than I like to see, and there was just enough salad in the water to make me apprehensive, but not enough to make me call it a no go.

 I sat and stared at the water, willing it to be different. I went to get a taco, and checked again. I drove to another nearby spot. It was worse.

 Finally, I rigged up and made a couple test casts before I brought the whole set up down. Test cast results were negative. Damn.

 Off to the bay I went.

 Set up, tossed out a squid and sat down to wait. Moments later I was rewarded with a nice small bay exotic. Our friend the horn shark.



Just in case you ever wondered how they got their name...



Set him free, baited up and cast out. Within 2 minutes, the rod bounced, bounced again, then stopped. Bait check revealed I had been bait ganked.

Repeat this scenario several times, without the release, and finally, I get a nice little clicker run.

I set the hook, felt a fish, but there wasn't much to it. In short order I got a junior model leopard.



Sorry, but my 3GS doesn't do so well after dark. Whatever, its not that impressive a fish anyway you slice it.

I lost a few more baits as time to head out approached. True to form, my one good shot at a nice fish came as I was loading some extraneous gear into the truck. Zzzzzzz, zzzzzzz,  then nothing. That was it for the night.

I was one sh!t shark short of a shore shark slam.

Beautiful evening on the water though. No complaints.

231

Tackle Talk / Mono to mono leader knot?

« on: September 29, 2014, 05:56:22 PM »

Ok, you guys who fish the bigger casting gear, how do you make your connection from,say, 40# mono to 80# mono? 

I have been using hollow spectra and making loop to loop connections. There are things I like about it, such as, it travels nicely through the guides, picks up less weeds than some knots I have used, and the lack of knots gives less reduction in strength.

Things I don't like are, it is somewhat time consuming to construct, it is difficult to reconstruct on the beach in case of a break off, and, using nail knots to anchor it, it slips a little while on a fish, and so must be redone occasionally.

Knots I have tried are the allbright and the combination of a short spider hitch and no-name knot. They also have pluses and minuses.

What do you use? Mono to mono, not braid to mono, and how is your system working for you?

232

Tackle Talk / Plano boxes

« on: September 01, 2014, 06:59:49 PM »

Anybody have a recommendation on storage trays? I broke a bunch of my old ones. Hit them with my truck. Dumbass move. Whatever.

I bought a couple boxes a month or so ago. Yesterday I went to open them and the snaps broke so they won't stay closed. When I picked up one of them my thumb broke through the top. They earn the rating of "Piece of sh!t"

Suggestions for a durable box?

233

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Central Coast 8/10/14

« on: August 11, 2014, 01:58:29 PM »

 Packed up the family and headed up north on a little road trip. Combination of my birthday and Mom's 75th birthday. Made for some fine dinners cooked by my sister.

 We drove up Saturday so I didn't have a chance to fish, just dinner beer and pool in the evening. Not bad.

 Sunday morning I decided to try some perching at Oceano. Surf was small and the tide was pretty low. Lots of sand crabs of all sizes available. No obvious structure so I just started tossing crabs. Long bomb to short lob, nothing produced. Not even switching to the crack did the trick. Maybe the parade of baby sea lions passing by, one every few minutes, had something to do with it.

 I decided to try another beach where I had some success in the past and had also seen locals pull out some nice fish.

 I nearly stayed in my car. The beach was covered in seaweed and the tide was so low that there was almost no sand under water. Only weed covered rocks. I saw a possible area from the car and decided to at least try.

 Glad I did.

 There was a shallow trough below a gravel bed right at the shore break line. I remembered this kind of structure being pointed out to me in the past as a good one.

 I grabbed a couple crabs ad tossed them about 6 feet into the trough.

 Tap tap tap. Not the way I was used to though.



Nice Calico Surf Perch.

Then the more familiar stronger pull of the Barred Surf Perch.


 I got a couple of each of these in between the floating kelp, then got slammed by a harder fighting fish than the others.

Black Perch.

The whole time I was fishing, birds were crashing outside the break and farther. As I left, the moved in close.


Headed back to Mom's after that for lunch, beer, pool, fix the electric fence, steak n lobster dinner for Mom's birthday. Mmmm.

This morning, I hoped to get a quick session in before driving home so I went back to my spot from yesterday. Tide was even lower and there was more weeds. Outta there to the sandy beach at Pismo.

Nothing but weeds brought in by the super moon high tides.

I did get to see the beach equivalent of a crop circle.


Pretty cool.

Might get in a local evening session tonight, otherwise tomorrow.

234

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Solo Saturday 7/26/2014

« on: July 26, 2014, 11:17:12 AM »

 Set out this morning for a local spot that has been productive on the low tide. Today's minus tide at 4 AM seemed to be the call for this particular beach. I tried to get Tom to come along, but he was too busy. At 530 AM? Whatever.

 Halfway to the beach I realized I forgot my phone. Kinda smiled to myself, expecting something nice, since I would not be able to get a pic to remember it by.

 So, I get the big gear set up, baited with a frozen perch head, grab some crabs and start to try to get some perch for bait. No sooner did I hook a perch than I get bit on the long rod. First cast for both rods and they both get bit. Talk about first cast curse. Double.

 Turns out to be a nice leo, maybe 4 1/2 feet. Cool. bait up with the whole perch I just got, not my usual procedure but I didn't want to walk over to get my knife. This proved to be a mistake as I got a big hit and it dropped off before I got to the rod. I blamed it on the hook not getting into the fish.

 Rebait, cast out and I am bit again in minutes. This one sticks. Cool, 2/3. I'm happy. Then another missed bite. Dang 2/4. Average is dropping. But, its not even 630 yet so I'm still happy.

 Time passes and I'm bit and get another in, 3/5, then another successful catch, 4/6. Dang, it is a good day today.

 I kept getting bit every half hour or so, some stick, some don't. The biggest problem is getting to the rod in time when I get bit catching bait. Going to have to go back to my old system.

 Eventually, I am 6/9, then miss the next two bites, making me 6/11. I packed up and left before I dropped below 50%. Then I went home and grabbed my phone to take a few selfies;)

235

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / What a weekend 7/19-7/20

« on: July 21, 2014, 09:46:57 AM »

Kind of a rough weekend for me. First I get bumped from a saturday trip tuna fishing and can't get another ride on short notice. Bummer.

Silver lining is that I now get to watch my daughter's riding lesson. Saturdays are usually jumping lessons so they are fun to watch. Well, this time not so much. She falls off her horse and needs a trip to the urgent care. X rays show a broken ankle. Damn. 4-6 weeks in a cast. Thankfully nothing more serious.

Sunday morning rolls around and I head down for my scheduled sunday fishing trip with my friend Jon, two of his kids and his friend David. Things were a little crowded on the 21 foot center console.

We launched about 530 and got in line at the bait barge. Lots of boats, but with both side open it wasn't bad.




Headed west after we rounded the point in beautiful slick water.


Found some dolphins. Lots of dolphins. Trolled with them for a while but no luck. The mom and baby pairs were cool. Smallest dolphin I have seen.

We gave up on the dolphins and headed west. It got more overcast and the wind chop added to that made spotting kelps difficult. I finally spotted one, but after several drifts past it for nothing, we moved on.

Later, I spotted a group of terns hovering tightly together and diving. We motored over and saw breaking fish, just a couple, so we threw in some baits. Three hook ups and one fish landed. The terns regrouped so we joined them, saw breaking fish again, but no love this time. We boxed the area trolling, but the terns moved on and so did we.

More trolling and I spot a small paddy. This one held some 6-8 pound yellow tail and we caught about 6 which were released. If we had no fish in the box, it might have been a different story. The yellowtail bite shut down, but we started to get bit by the tuna. I got bit and lost one, David got one and Cal, Jon's oldest got a nice one with a little coaching from David.





Since it was getting late, and 2 passes went unbitten, we decided to head in. I was lamenting the two tuna I lost.

Conditions were pretty nice for the ride in and we were making good time. Then we hit a wave with a little more thump and the engine made a strange sound and died. Ugh. It wouldn't start after several tries, ugh, so Jon called vessel assist. After a few tense minutes with no response, the coast guard began to relay messages between us and VA. Phew. ETA 2 hours.

With time to kill, and bait in the well, I decided to put a bait out. Put the rod in the holder with the clicker on and lay down on the beanbag for a snooze.

It took 15 minutes and the rod went off. I jumped up, grabbed it and the fight was on. I got the fish to deep color and he chewed me off. Ugh. Baited up again, and this time Jon and David put baits out too.

Not long after that, Jon's clicker goes then stops. Missed it. Then David's rod goes off. I damn near grabbed it, but he was quick on his feet. After a nice fight, he lands a bluefin. Sweet.

He rebaits, and is bit again nearly instantly. He shoves the rod into my hands "Here", possibly to shut me up, more likely he is just a good dude. After declaring I have no shame, I enjoy a fight with a nice fish. A little good natured ribbing "You didn't lose this one too, did you?" made me feel good so I asked him to hold my purse so I could fight this fish like I meant it.

This time I got it to gaff and it was another bluefin. Nice.

By this time, we have a bite going and were almost disappointed to see the VA boat rolling up. Almost.

We get hooked up and begin to be towed in. Right past a paddy the size of a garage door. At the ramp, I mentioned it, and he says he spotted on the way out and towed us past it on purpose. Love it. A guy with a sense of humor as low as mine.





We made good time. 9 knots on a tow rope is pretty good, I was expecting 5. We made it to the ramp in about 3 hours or so, where the VA Capt. did a great job putting us on the trailer. After telling us it was a $1275 tow, Jon felt good about paying for the membership for many years. It definitely penciled out in his favor.

All in all, it was a good time. Jon's wife made sushi for the grown ups, and burgers for me and the rest of the kids. She rocks.



Hope there is nothing serious or expensive wrong, because we need to go next sunday.

I could use a ride for saturday though. Just in case.

236

Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports / Sunday searching 7/13/14

« on: July 14, 2014, 04:42:13 PM »

 After getting beat up on the Boma yesterday, I was looking forward to getting beat up again on my friends 23 foot Parker center console. It has a nice pointy bow for going through the swells. Whoo hoo.

 Jon's boat was in a slip at the yacht club so I met him at the launch ramp where we parked the truck and trailer to pull the boat in the afternoon. We went and picked up the boat, then picked up his three kids from the sailboat where they spent the night before. At least the dog didn't come. Have to hand it to his oldest. He wouldn't take seasick meds cause they make him sick. Then he got seasick. Hurled a couple times then rallied. Not another peep about it.

 I was happy to hear the bait barge was back at its old location, but by the time we got there we were 7th in line. When we got our bait I looked back and saw 12 boats behind us. Good fishing does that.

 We got a half scoop of nice sardines and headed for the 302.

 Put the trollers in about 5 miles shy of the bank and trolled while we looked for paddys. And looked, and trolled, and trolled and looked. Saw a couple boats stopped, which was encouraging, but no paddy for us.

 We saw a few nice sized mako fins that dropped out on us before we decided to try for them, so when we spotted the third, I took the boat out of gear right away. The fin disappeared again, and one of the trolling rigs went off. Got the mako, right? Nope, yellowfin. Damn. We should have thrown some baits, but we thought it was the mako.

 Trolled another hour or so for nothing, until I spotted a paddy. The paddy. The only one all day.

 Set up on it for a drift, tossed a few dines and saw boils. Got baits in the water and it was on. We drifted that paddy for an hour and a half, maybe two. The kids fought yellowtail til they were tired and quit fishing. Several got wrapped in the kelp, and pulled out by brute force still trailing kelp when they got to the boat. The cluster that occured when Jon and I were hooked up and the kids wanted to stop fighting there fish was comical. Well after the first few aggravating times when I had to remember they were kids and just doing there best.

 Not huge fish, but willing. 8-10 pounds I guess.


 Both Jon and I got bit by fish that we knew immediately were not yellowtail. Hit harder and ran deep, not straight back to the kelp. Nice yellowfin tuna. Mine went about 20 pounds and Jon got the jackpot with about 25 pounds.


 We kept the tuna and 5 yellowtail, but released the rest. We could have had limits twice over for the 5 people on the boat.

 Props to the boat that hung outside watching for 30 minutes without barging in. We tried to wave them over a couple times but they must not have seen. Three kids and lots of fish didn't leave time to grab the mic. I did manage to make a call out when we went back up for a reset, "Hey you guys watching us on this paddy, cruise over." but no movement on their part.

 Finally after one last drift, we had enough and started to motor away, they came straight towards us and we said have fun we are tired. The thanked us and we went on our way.

 Weather was great we ran home at a dry 20 knots down swell all the way home. We expected much more wind than we got. It was a nice day. I have to say there was ten times more life on the water saturday with Tom.

 Pulled the boat from the Shelter Island zoo, and headed back to Jon's to clean the boat and fish.

 Afterwards, his wife made sushi for all the neighbors, and grilled some sausages for me.

 Slept good and was ready to rest up at work today.

237

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / User Error 6/24/14

« on: June 25, 2014, 08:10:50 AM »

 Hosted a couple friends and my dad at the beach today. One from out of town here for work, another who will be moving in a couple weeks and dad who is just along for the scenery.

 I arrived first to the beach and set up my gear, pinned a frozen perch on and cast out. Just then, Steve comes down the beach, so I set up my other rod I was loaning him for the evening. He cast out some mackeral he brought along.

 Couldn't have been 10 minutes later and my rod is screaming. I grab it set the hook and start to fight what feels like a decent bat ray. Just as the line passes over the head of a couple swimmers, the leader breaks at the knot. User error 1.

 Re tie, re bait re cast, and set to waiting. Thankfully the weeds I expected to be a problem with the rising tide were no big deal. Soak time was excellent.

 I get bit again, this time by a nice shark. It made a clicker ripping first run, turned and came towards me, then zig zagged in the waves. Classic leopard shark. I got the shark into the skinny water, got a glimpse of the tail in the glare of the sun and POP, it came off. Crimp pulled. User error 2. Ugh.

 About this time Dan showed up and started catching perch. Nice fresh bait is always nice to have, and it paid off in a third bite on my gear. Steve's rod sat untouched still.

 Once again, my rod bends. Steve saw it go down, but couldn't get the words out, just clapped his hands, pointed and then I heard the clicker. Pretty quick reaction on his part.

 This time, the third time, was the charm. I beached a nice leopard shark with a pretty good sized crowd of spectators. Came in tangled with Steve's line despite our best efforts to avoid it.



 Not that great a pic, but my photo staff had other plans tonight.

 Got bit once more but it took my bait and ran before I was able to set the hook. Too far away on the other side of the reef. User error 3.

 Still it was a beautiful evening with some friends and family on the beach. Even got a nice fish to boot.

 I was hot stick tonight, Steve's rod never did get picked up. Even when he threw way left into my spot. Can't blame him. I would have done and have done the same.

 Congrats to Willis on his first surf leopard down the beach a ways.