Jetty Fishing Pierpont Bay (Ventura, CA) 01/28/2012

Fished the first Jetty North of Ventura Harbor from about 8:00 A.M. till 12:30 P.M. with my fishing buddy Brian. We were using squid, cut mackerel and peppermint shrimp for bait at first. I caught a 10" rockfish on cut mack fairly quickly (returned to get bigger) and Brian wasn't getting anything until he harvested some muscles from the rocks for bait. After he started using the muscles he landed three perch in pretty short order. I also at some point between losing setups caught a nice 13" rockfish on cut mack which I kept for dinner. First time fishing this jetty, so I was pretty happy that we both caught fish. Weather was perfect (even a little hot) and the swell was kind of big.

Here are a few pics of our fishing area:

Surf Fishing South of Santa Monica 01/22/2012

Met up with thresher_one at Santa Monica Pier at around 7:00 A.M. and he already had our bait for the day, sand crabs, collected. So he hopped in my car and we proceeded South to the target area. It started out pretty good with us both hooking up on small BSP almost immediately, but after that it was pretty slow. I ended up catching four BSP and a 5" cabbie (I didn't know they would go for sand crabs) and thresher_one ended up catching four or five BSP. We fished from around 7:30AM till 12:30PM.

One thing of note was I got checked for license and catch for the first time EVER here in Southern California! The warden was very nice and cordial and I was happy to see him. I forgot to get his contact info so I can report poaching when I see it (I have tried Cal-Tip to no avail a few times), so hopefully I will see him out there again soon.

Overall, a slow day of fishing, but it is always nice to get out on the water.

Ventura Pier 01/15/2012

Seems like Skunks were the norm up and down the coast yesterday, lol. Fished / crabbed Ventura pier from about 10:30 AM till 3:00 PM. Not one single fish of any sort landed by me or my fishing buddy. We were using squid, shrimp, cut mackerel and perch pieces. I did catch three keeper rock crabs, but even that was super slow. Only fish I saw caught were a small croaker, a sand dab and a shiner perch caught using a sabiki in the middle hole at the end by a lovely fisherwoman who was great company (If they all looked like her I would be out there every day, lol). We did try the surf line first for some perch, but nothin there either. Stopped by Andria's Seafood Restaurant in Oxnard on the way home for a heaping helping of Halibut and Chips (best fish and chips in the area).

Redondo Short Pier and Surrounding Jetties 01/07/2012 - 01/08/2012

Met up with John / Redkorn at around 10:30 P.M. on Saturday night for a night of fishing and hoop netting for lobster. We started out on the rocks just South of the short pier in the harbor. John was fishing and hoop netting, I was just fishing. We both took nice spills due to the rocks being very slick because of the high swell. I held off on hooping because I really did not feel like falling again. I caught about a dozen large mackerels on squid and John also caught quite a few. About 3:00 A.M. we decided to move to a small dock just North of the short pier. We both hoop netted and fished there. I caught a few small rockfish and neither of us got anything in our nets. We did see squid in the water, which was strange for winter, but they would not take my squid jig. At around 5:00 A.M. we moved to the foot of the short pier and waited for it to open. Once opened we went to the end and just fished till around 8:45 with one large Mackeral being the only catch using squid, cut macks and live peppermint shrimp for bait. Also got a great breakfast at Polly's on the Pier once they opened. Another great trip, even though I didn't bring home anything to eat.

Hobson Beach & Ventura Pier 01/02/2012

So finally decided to get out around 11:00 A.M. and had a trip to a local area near Hobson Beach to harvest some muscles while I still can and just as I pulled up to my location, got a text from my parents that they were camping at Hobson. I quickly proceeded to their campsite to hang out for a while. I then went back to my location and harvested my allotment of muscles and then went back to Hobson for a short 15 minute perch session. No takers on sand crabs. I then took the parents to Andria’s Seafood Restaurant in Oxnard for a heaping helping of the best fish and chips around. After dropping them back at their campsite I proceeded to Ventura Pier for a short crabbing session. Crabbed at the end for about 2 1/2 hours and ended up with 11 keeper red and rock crabs. Lots of shorts and lots of poachers out at the pier unfortunately. One group even clawed the poor things and tossed em back defenseless right before leaving. I hope they get shellfish poisoning! Shameful! Only saw three queenfish caught all night by the people fishing. Been very slow fishing wise out at the end, so I did not even bring a pole on this trip. So muscles and crab for dinner tonight! Cooked the crab when I got home last night and will steam the muscles when I get home tonight (I am purging them of sand right now). All and all a great day and beautiful weather. I'll put up some pics later.