Surf Fishing Malibu - 07-30-2013

Decided I needed to fish for a little while, so I headed to Malibu to hit up one of the spots. Arrived a little before 12:30 PM and left around 3:00 PM. Fishing was DEAD, hardly any bites and zero fish caught. Squid was used for bait. It was a beautiful day out, so it was nice to be at the beach for a few hours anyways.

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-26-2013

Brian and I decided to hit up one of the Malibu spots early. I got there around 6:15AM, Brian around 7:00 AM. We fished the incoming tide from low to high tide (leaving around 1:30 PM) using squid for bait. Fishing was pretty slow for the first few hours, just getting a nibble here and there. I was treated to a nice double rainbow at least :) (See pic below). We moved spots slightly and started the fish catching with a nice 13" cabazon caught by me at 9:05 AM. I caught a small grass rockfish a short time later, but didn't take a picture since I was standing on a rock in the middle of the ocean, lol. Brian got in on the catching at 10:33 AM with a small grass rockfish. I caught my third and final fish for the day at 11:35 AM, which was a small leopard shark. Brian caught the final fish for the day at 12:02 PM, which was another small leopard shark. All fish released this day. Great to be catching again instead of just fishing :).

Surf Fishing (and Some Catching) Malibu 07-22-2013

Wanting to take advantage of the grunion run and the full moon to do some night fishing, Brian and I headed to one of the regular Malibu spots to do some early evening / night fishing. We fished from 6:45 PM to 11:00 PM. Bait was squid all night. High tide was at around 10:20 PM and was a huge +7' combined with a fairly large 3-5' swell, made for some surprise soakings for both of us, despite moving up the rocks 15' or so. I was amazed how high those things were splashing. Anyways, fishing started out pretty good with us both getting bites fairly early on. I landed the first fish of the night at around 7:04 PM and it was a nice one! A big ole 19"+ Calico Bass that weighed 3 pounds 5.7 ounces. After being skunked five times in a row, it was nice to catch something finally. Into the bucket of water to keep em alive until I leave and back to fishing we go. It was pretty slow after that, with a bite here and there and the occasional crab tug until I caught the next fish at 8:47 PM, a small leopard shark. Took a few quick pics before I tossed em back and went back to fishing. I caught the next fish at 9:02 PM, a small grass rockfish that I took a quick picture of and tossed back. Brian got lots of bites all night, but just could not hook up for some reason. He did pull in a nice sized rock crab at some point, that was thrown back since it is illegal to catch them via hook and line. Anyways, finally my skunk streak has ended! Hope it stays that way :).

Fishing off the Rocks and Surf in Northern LA County - 07-21-2013

Tired of getting skunked in Malibu (four times in a row) Brian and I decided to try much further North. Bait all day was squid. We started off at Mugu Rock and fished there from about 11:45 AM to 1:45 PM. Nothing but lots of snags for the most part. Lost a few weights and hooks here. No fish.

Off to spot #2, a beach just south of Mugu Rock. Fished here from about 2:00 PM till 3:00 PM. I could not hold bottom here using my four ounce flat weights, so I was not anticipating catching anything here, and I didn't. You gotta hold bottom to catch fish most of the time. Brian tied on an eight ounce torpedo sinker and was able to hold bottom, but also did not catch any fish here. We were entertained by a seal that kept coming up on the sand next to us. Got a few videos of it and a pic :).

Spot #3 was on some rocks just South of Sycamore Canyon Beach starting at around 3:15 PM. I have fished here before, but only caught a perch here once. It looks super fishy, but to date hasn't produced much. Fishing was rough, with the waves being pretty big and crashing on the rock I started off on. I eventually had to move off of it when I almost lost one of my buckets to the waves, lol. Brian set up on higher and safer ground and fished away. I moved over to another rock for a while and we packed it in at around 5:30 PM accepting our fate of our fifth skunk in a row. At least we tried some new places and had fun in the process :).

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-19-2013

Being the gluttons for punishment that we are, despite the recent spat of skunks Brian and I headed to Malibu again in search of the recently elusive fish, lol. We fished from about 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM using squid for bait. Weather was nice, waves were big so there were lots of surfers (one of which was just wearing a two piece and was smoking hot!), not too much salad so I was hopeful for some fish......well, we didn't catch any, lol. Forth skunk in a row.

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-18-2013

Decided I didn't want to sit around the house all day, so I headed to Malibu alone for a quick fishing trip. I fished from around 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Since my normal spots have not been producing lately I decided to try another new spot. Tried the new spot for about an hour and a half. The salad was a bit thick, but not as bad as the last new spot so I gave it some time to see if I could catch anything. There was much more beach traffic on this beach, so there were at least some nice sites to be seen walking around :). Nothing at spot one, so I went to one of my normal spots to see if I could find some fish finally. Fished there for about two and a half hours for no fish. Bait was squid, as usual. Three skunks in a row :(.....still beats sitting at home :).

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-15-2013

Brian and I decided to give the night fishing another shot. We fished from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM. This time we started off at another spot I thought might be more productive for what we were targeting, which was sharks. Started out at the new spot and only lasted about an hour there. There was just too much salad (seaweed and eel grass) in the water and our hooks were getting covered with it instantly making actually catching anything there impossible. So we moved on to spot #2, which had much less salad but also did not produce any fish, or even many bites at all. We tried squid, smelt, shad, sardine and perch for bait. Two skunks in a row :(.

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-12-2013

Decided to do some evening / night fishing with Brian in Malibu. We fished from 6:00 PM till 10:00 PM. Weather was nice, water was clean (no salad) and fishy looking....but we both got skunked :). Only bait we tried all night was squid. We each hooked up once, but both times we lost the fish when they pulled us into the rocks and would not budge.

Greenock Lane Jetty Fishing - Ventura - 07-10-2013

Fished the Greenock Lane Jetty in Ventura with Brian from about 11:00 AM till about 4:30 PM. Fishing was pretty slow most of the day, lots of little bites (probably walleye perch which our hooks were too big for). Brian hooked up on a nice 3.5'-4' Shovelnose Guitarfish, reeled it in and brought it up on a lower rock of the jetty. Well it then decided to flip out and broke his line on some muscles on the rock he landed it on and swam back to the ocean. So we will call it a quick C & R :). I did manage to scratch up one small grass rockfish from my secret hole somewhere on the jetty, it was about 9" long and I let em go to get bigger. Nice to beat the skunk at least :). Weather was nice, waves were big (we both got splashed a few times). No salad in the water. Both fish caught on squid.

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-08-2013

Surf fished in Malibu with Brian from about 6:00 AM till 10:00 AM. Fishing was very very slow all day. Just a bite here and there for both of us. We were using squid for bait. We were both skunked :(. Oh well, that is why it is called fishing and not catching, lol. We will get em next time.

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-03-2013

Surf fished in Malibu with Brian from about 10:45 AM till 3:00 PM. Fishing was terribly slow all day for me. Just a few bites here and there on my squid, but not much action at all. Brian did catch two small grass rockfish on squid. Slow day at the beach in the nice weather is still better than a day in the red hot valley! I'll get em the next time.

Surf Fishing Malibu 07-01-2013

Surf fished Malibu with Brian from about 10:00 AM till 3:00 PM. Fishing was decent most of the day for me, I caught two 9" grass rockfish (released), a 12" grass rockfish (released) and a nice 14" Cabazon (of course released) all on squid. Brian caught one small grass rockfish on squid to beat the skunk :). Weather was great and a nice break from the scorching heat of the valley. Another great day in Da Bu!