Surf Fishing Malibu 09-15-2012

Finally made it back to the salt after a long break due to a busy schedule. Arrived at the spot around 4:40 PM and left around 11:00 PM. Fishing was good at first with my catching a small leopard shark after about 20 minutes then a couple more over the next hour. After that, dead as a doorknob once the sun went down. Guess the new moon is not the ideal time to night fish, lol. There seemed to be a ton of crabs in the area since I caught two rock crabs (released of course) and my squid kept getting shredded. Nice to be back on the salt and of course there was some nice distractions walking by as well ;).

Ventura Pier 05-15-2012

Hit up Ventura Pier from about 1:30 PM till 10:30 PM. Set up shop with the crab net in my usual spot baited with the usual menagerie of junk this time consisting of mackerel, sardines, whitefish head and rock fish head. Crabbing was off the charts all day. Ended up keeping twenty something rock crabs (red, yellow and rock) and two spider crabs, one if which was the biggest caught to date for me. Fishing wise you could have all the queenfish you could ever possibly want if that is your thing (I caught and released all fish caught on the day). Didn't see much else, except for a large smelt and a few sand sharks caught by others shortly before leaving. Birds were diving and dolphins were around the pier, but I never saw any baitfish anywhere on the pier. Guess the bait is hanging out just outside the pier. I forgot to bring a sabiki so I made one from crappie jigs I had in my tackle box which worked just fine.

Ventura Pier 04-19-2012

Fished and crabbed from about 8:00 P.M. till 2:00 A.M.. with my fishing buddy Brian. I did not catch any fish at all, Brian caught one 10" or so croaker and one small smelt. Croaker released, smelt became live bait. Crabbing was great as usual. Ended up keeping 18 rock, red, brown and yellow crabs and tossed back a ton of close ones or just legal and some of the females. One interesting thing happened right about when we arrived. There was a UFO! It looked like a flying campfire kept climbing for a while until it just disappeared. It was pretty trippy and everyone else on the pier was staring at it. Pier and Crab Pics below:

UFO Video (poor quality):

Ventura Pier 03/09/2012 - 03/10/2012

Hit up Ventura Pier since my buddy was late and we missed the grunion run time. Arrived at the pier around 11:45 and proceeded to the end of the pier after checking the surf line for any signs of life. Dropped in my crab net and started getting the rods ready. set up one pole with a whole small BSP from a previous trip on a circle with a stinger and let it sit while I set up the other pole. No hits that I noticed on the whole BSP. Set up the other pole with a high low and put shrimp on the high and squid on the low. Pulled the other pole up while I went to check the crab net. 1st pull and there is a keeper! Nice way to start. Dropped the net back down and went back and tossed out the high-low pole. After a while I see some movement so I pick up the pole and feel it...seems kinda like crabs, but why not set the hook anyways...hmm, that is not a crab! Brought the little guy to the pier and left him just below the water line while I went to grab the crab net to get it up. My buddy held it in place while I got my net making sure it didn't wrap around a piling. Brought it up and it was my first every bat ray. A small little bugger (maybe 18" across or so) that just found the squid too tempting. After a quick unhook I lowered em back to the water in the crab net. Forgot to take a pic. After that I only really had one other solid hit, which I missed. Brought in the bait and it had a huge mouth mark taken out of its belly....grrr, that's what I get for not using a stinger. On the crab front I ended up with five keeper rock crabs and one decent sized spider crab. Caught a ton of shorts. Left a little after 3:00 A.M.. All and all a great trip even though it was a bit slow.

I got crabs at the pier....

Ventura Pier 11/05/2011

Fished / crabbed at Ventura Pier from around 7:00 A.M. till around 4:00 P.M.. Started out at the very end for a couple hours with one medium sized white croaker and zero crabs. No bait in the water, so I moved to around mid pier for a while with no luck, then moved in closer to shore for the last few hours. Ended up with four (4) keeper rock crabs, and 3 or 4 that were close, but no cigar. Crabbing has been unusually slow there for the last couple months for some reason. Didn't catch anything else fish wise. I did see a gentleman with a couple younger fellows at the surf line killing it on the perch with Gulp Sandworms. Most were pretty small, but there were a few good sized ones.

Long day at the pier for four (4) crabs, but it was a beautiful day and it was nice to be at the ocean. Also had two fish tacos and one calamari taco from the taco shack at the base of the pier. Very good tacos! Well worth the cost, especially since they cover your parking for a minimum order of $10 (parking is $8 otherwise).