First Outing of 2014 in Malibu of Course 01-02-2014

Being waaaaaaaay too hung over to fish on New Years Day, I had to settle for the second day of the new year for my first outing. Magicseaweed called for a 1' swell, but it was more like a 4-5' swell, which is unusual for this area (I like 1-3' swells max). Regardless it was a gorgeous day and we were set on fishing. Brian and I arrived at 6:27 AM and left around 11:15 AM. Low tide was 1.36' @ 3:58 AM and high was 6.38' at 10:05 AM (damn, that's high). Bait was squid and later fresh smelt for a bit.

I caught the first fish of the day at 6:41 AM, which was a small 7" or so grass rockfish which was quickly released to get bigger. My next catch of the day was a big ole smelt (around 19" or so) at 7:40 AM which was kept for bait. Brian got in on the action, sort of, at 8:53 AM bringing in a 4.5" or so rock crab. Crab was released since it is illegal to catch them via hook and line. My last catch of the day was a decent sized (I do not remember the measurement, happens when you wait two months to post a report, lol) shovelnose guitarfish at 11:03 AM which I kept because they are tasty but I had not kept one before to eat due to one reason or another. Got to say a nice way to bring in the New Year! I am happy any day I catch three fish, regardless of size. Videos after pictures BTW.