Last Outing of 2013 Malibu of Course 12-30-2013

Determined to get one last outing in before the New Year, I headed to my favorite, Malibu, CA. It was certainly chilly on the way, hitting 28 degrees through the canyon, brrr. I arrive at around 6:30 AM and stared fishing the last fifteen minutes or so of the incoming tide (High tide was a 6.14' @ 6:47 AM and low was a -1.14 at 2:07 AM, lots of movement). At about 7:00 AM, on my second cast if I recall correctly, I was snagged, no big deal....do a couple hearty cranks on the new used reel I was using which I thought was more durable than my last reel and....snap goes the handle off the reel. Nice, got to get my line in with no handle, what a blast that was, lol.

I packed up since I did not have a spare in the car and on the way out saw about 7-8 sheriff's cars and a couple motorcycles that had pulled someone over. Lot's of men for one car, lol. Anyways, after the kind motorcycle officer moved so I could leave I headed for Wylie's Bait & Tackle on PCH, hoping they were open. As luck would have it, they are not open on Mondays. Third time I have tried to go here and it has been closed. A shame since Ken Jones on PFIC speaks very highly of the place and it's owner (Ginny I believe). So I head to the valley hoping to find a sports-goods store that is open this early. After calling around and finding out that nothing was open, I headed over to my parents house to borrow my dads reel. After picking up the reel and swapping out the line I was back in Malibu at 9:34 AM. Three and a half hours in and only a half an hour fishing...maybe I should have stayed home, lol.

I caught my first fish for the day at 10:01 AM which was a small 7" or so grass rockfish. I caught my second fish for the day, and my last fish for 2013 at 11:29 AM which was a 10" grass rockfish. My itch to fish satisfied despite the inconveniences I right after that. Both fish released, bait was squid as usual. 2013 was a great year of fishing, hope 2014 is even better!

Panorama Shot from Above

Surf Fishing Malibu 12-24-2013

Surf fished with Brian in beautiful Malibu, CA from 9:15 AM till 1:15 PM. Low tide was a 2.37' @ 8:17 AM and high was a 3.18' at 1:03 PM. Bait was squid as usual. Very slow day with no fish landed, but the weather and scenery were both great. Did not take many pics, so I put one of the fish and chips Brian and I did a couple days before with two grass rockfish, one cabezon and one johnny bass aka olive rockfish.

Surf Fishing Malibu 12-23-2013

Surf fished during sunrise in my favorite city Malibu again. I arrived at around 6:25 AM and left around 11:45 AM. Low tide was a 2.5 @ 6:44 AM and high was a 3.68 @ 11:55 AM. Bait was squid as always. The first fish caught was a nice 13.5" grass rockfish caught at 6:46 AM, nice start! No more fish until 8:15 AM when I caught a +/- 6" grass rockfish, followed up by a slightly bigger +/- 8" grassy caught at 8:21 AM and a +/- 10" grassy at 8:39 AM. No more fish after that other than something big I had on that rocked me then broke me off. Happens a lot here since it is such a rocky terrain under the water. Kinda slow fishing, but any day I catch four fish regardless of size and time put in I am happy. All but the 13.5" grassy were released. Weather was gorgeous as always.

Night Fishing Malibu 12-20-2013

Wanting to take advantage of favorable tides (low was a -0.07 @ 5:15 PM and high was a 3.53 @ 11:55 PM) and a nearly full moon Brian and I headed to Malibu for some night fishing. Sunset was at 4:51 PM but moonrise was not till 8:08 PM, so we arrived closer to moonrise at 7:27 PM, the weather was great, as it usually is in Malibu.

I got the first catch of the night....sort of, after being stuck for a while I finally reeled in a...small cabezon head, lol. Not sure if I ripped it off or another bigger fish had a hold of it, but in any case it was a strange sight to see coming in on my hook.

Fishing was pretty slow most of the night, but I hooked into a large shark at 9:19 PM that took me by surprise as I was chatting with Brian. After getting em in to about 10 feet away, it hit some rocks and popped off....grrrrr, so close, lol.

The first fish of the night was caught by Brian at 10:16 PM, which was a nice 13.5" grass rockfish.

The gears in my reel had been stripped during my fight with the shark that got away, so when I hooked into a nice heavy critter at 10:28 PM I had to reel very fast and hard to get a beautiful 19.5", 3 pounds, 2 ounces cabezon in through all the rocks, eel grass and kelp. This fish alone made for a good night for me (even with my undersized, non-saltwater reel breaking, lol).

We both hooked into sharks again right before leaving, I had no chance with my crippled reel and it rocked me and broke me off eventually. Brian unfortunately had the same fate, with his braid line getting cut most likely on a sharp rock. Having both caught nice fish, and both being tired, we headed home around 11:30 PM very happy.

Sunrise Surf Fishing Malibu 12-06-2013

Did some surf fishing in Malibu with Brian. I arrived at around 6:00 AM and Brian did around 7:30 AM and we left around 10:30 AM. Low tide was a 2.03 @ 4:51 AM and high was 5.55 at 10:52 AM. Bait was squid as usual. Fishing was very slow, but I was rewarded with a great sunrise for getting there so early (video below, get better as it goes :)). I caught the only fish of the day at 9:14 AM which was a 10.5" or so grass rockfish that was released to get bigger and make babies. Brian didn't catch the sunrise nor any fish, lol. Slow fishing, but another great day in Malibu!

Jetty Fishing Ventura 12-04-2013

After dropping off Brian's girlfriend for her hair appointment in Ventura we headed over to a jetty in Pierpont Bay. We arrived around 11:15 AM and left around 2:15 PM when the girlfriend was done gettin her hair did, lol. Bait was squid, all fish released. I caught the first fish at 11:50 AM in one of my secret holes I have found on this particular jetty, which was a small cabezon (about 7-8"). Hmm wonder if there are any more fish hanging out in this hole...back goes the bait and a couple minutes later (literately at 11:52 AM) , tap, tap fish on and this time it feels bigger! Reel in a whole 8 feet and what do ya know, I have two fish on! One was an 11" or so grass rockfish and the other was a 9" or so cabezon. Damn, lots of fish in this hole today (it was a pretty high tide of 6.37 @ around 9:30 AM). No more fish until 12:58 PM which was a small, 6" or so, cabezon. I also caught this fish in a hole, but a new one I found :). Brian didn't catch nothing but my dust and a nice tan, lol. The swell was a little rough and he fished casting out away from the jetty mostly. While fishing that way I did not catch anything either. Another fun fishing trip in the books :).

Ventura Pier in the distance

Surf Fishing Malibu with Hammer 11-27-2013

My friend Hammer finally had the stars align which allowed him to go fishing with me, so we headed to Malibu of course after meeting up at my parents house. We arrived around 10:30 AM and left around 1:30 PM. Low tide was a 1.54 @ 11:37 AM and high was a 3.29 @ 5:02 PM. Bait was squid as usual. Hammer caught the first and unfortunately last fish of the day at 10:52 AM, which was a small grass rockfish. After a quick pose for a pic, back the little guy went. It was very very slow fishing, not even many missed bites but as usual it was gorgeous in Malibu. I was very happy that the Hammer man caught a fish. Now to get him back out more often, lol.

Surf Fishing Malibu 11-22-2013

Decided to do some surf fishing alone, so I headed to Malibu. I arrived just after 6:00 AM and left at 10:15 AM. Low tide was a 2.73 @ 4:55 AM and high was a 4.53 @ 10:51 AM. Bait was squid. The only fish of the day was caught at 6:40 AM and it was a 13.5" cabezon (1.5" short of legal), which was released of course. Nothing after that, but I got lots of pretty pics and videos of the beautiful sunrise on the sea. It was very very windy, which you can see in the first video, which made me happy with catching only one fish (fishing is difficult in wind when you use 40 pound mono). Another great day in Malibu, CA.