Night Fishing Malibu 08-22-2013

Brian and I decided to do some more night fishing since the grunion run was still going on and the moon was still almost full. No grunion spotted tonight either, but fishing was pretty good even thought there was a ton of crab around chomping on our bait (Brian caught and released two nice sized rock crabs). We arrived at a little after 7:00 PM and fished the incoming tide until a little after high tide (5.32') when we left around 11:15 PM. Bait was squid all night. Brian caught two small grass rockfish and a small calico bass and I caught two small grass rockfish all before 8:00 PM (only one picture taken of the bunch since I was again in the middle of the ocean standing on a rock). I caught the rest of the fish starting with a nice sized sargo at 9:47 PM, then a small leopard shark at 10:28 PM and finishing out with a thornback ray at 10:42 PM. Another nice night of fishing in Malibu, all fish caught were released.

Night Fishing Malibu 08-20-2013

So Brian and I decided to do some night fishing. We picked this particular night because it was a full moon and the first day of the last scheduled grunion run for 2013. Didn't see any grunion, but fishing was red hot most of the night! We started fishing around 6:20 PM and the first fish was caught by me at 6:27 PM, a small leopard shark. The next fish landed was a small grass rockfish by me at 7:53 PM. Brian joined the action by catching a bat ray with a 32" wingspan at 8:00 PM (damn thing was heavy). He also caught a small grass rockfish after that, but I didn't note the time. I caught the next four fish which were a nice 16" calico bass at 8:33 PM, a small grassy at 8:48 PM, a small grassy at 8:56 PM and another small grassy at 9:19 PM. All the grassies landed were between 8 and 11". Brian lost a nice grassy at his feet at 9:05 PM, it looked to be about 13-14" or so. I also lost a nice one about 15' out around this time that looked like a large calico or rockfish. Brian closed out the catching with a decent sized (but not big enough to keep for us) shovelnose guitarfish at 11:00 PM and we left shortly after that. Bait was squid all night, everything but the calico bass released. Nine total fish caught, I will take that any day of the week :).

Surf Fishing Malibu 08-04-2012

Surf fished in Malibu with Flannery while our women went to 3rd street. They dropped us off around 5:00 PM and were on their way. We set up shop on the shore. We both tried squid, sand crabs and anchovy and I think I tried perch, shrimp, mackerel and croaker as well. Fished hard till about 11:00 PM which was about 30 minutes past the scheduled grunion run. Didn't see any before we left and neither of us caught anything. Kinda sucks to get skunked, but you can't get skunked if you ain't fishing!

Only pic of the night:

Malibu Grunion Day 2 07-21-2012

After losing the big one the night before Brian and I were raring to go to try again. I arrived at around 4:30 PM and Brian around 5:00 PM. Fishing was very slow all night with each of us catching one small leopard shark (Brian caught the bigger one). Did not see any grunion this time. Left around 12:15 AM.

Malibu Grunion 07-20-2012

My buddy Brian and I wanted to fish the grunion run which was slated to start at around 10:30 PM so we headed to my special spot in Malibu. We arrived at about 7:45 PM and set up shop on the rocks. I came pretty light on the bait front, only taking squid and a couple perch. Things started out pretty slow, but started to pick up closer to sunset. I caught the first fish of the night, which was a small leopard shark on squid around 8:45 PM or so. After that I caught a small rockfish on a chunk of BSP around 9:30 PM or so. Brian hooked into something very big that broke him off after a short run. He re-baited and went right back out. A short time later he was hooked up again. Whatever it was peeled off line so fast I thought I was going to see smoke from his reel, lol. After about a 5 minute battle he got it up on shore...but it was about 100' North of where we were and there was no beach in between, only slick rocks. After falling once trying to get over to the fish it broke the line when I was about 50' from it. I could not see what it was unfortunately. Brian caught a nice 13+" sargo on squid around 11:30. At around 11:45 I headed down to the area with beach still exposed to see if any grunion were around. I saw two right away but nothing after that. Tried one of them as live bait which got a couple tugs before losing the bait, but didn't catch anything. We packed it in around 12:30 AM. Great night of fishing, too bad the big one got away (probably a bat ray, but possibly a white sea bass).

Malibu Grunion June 2012

Well, it was the last night of the grunion run in June so I wanted to see if I could see any locally. Headed to just North of the chart house straight from work and was setting up 15 minutes later at around 5:15. Pretty early for an 11:30 PM - 1:30 AM projected run, but I knew if I went home I would get lazy and not go. Anyways, fished from about 5:15 to 7:15 in one spot trying squid, octopus, perch, mackerel, smelt frozen and live sandcrabs for nothing but salad. I moved down South a bit and there was a lot less kelp, but still no fish. A few bites on perch, but nothing I could set. About 8:15 or so my buddy Steve from work arrived and set up about 100 yards North of my original spot and came down to say what up. He was there with his kids, nephew and a buddy. I set up just South of them and cast out. Tons of kelp there. Had one fish and had em at my feet, but I did not see it at first in what I thought was just a big clump of kelp. By the time I realized there was a fish in there a wave had come up and grabbed it and it swam hard out and broke my line. I think it was a thornback, but I am not certain. 11:30 came and no sign of Grunion so I packed it up around 12:30 AM and headed home resigned to defeat. Steve and his buddies caught several Thornback Rays on mackerel and a small rockfish on muscle. His buddy Jesse brought in a way over legal sized lobster on squid on a dropper loop. After showing us real quick back it went (it was also a female full of eggs). Those suckers are in close right now. I have seen a lot of carcases on the shore while surf fishing. Hope the poachers don't get em.

Seal Beach Grunion Run 03-10-2012

Met up with Redkorn North of Seal Beach Pier around 11:45 P.M.. He and his girl had been South of the pier for the last hour and a half and didn't see anything. When I arrived I saw quite a few teams leaving with buckets and bags about half full and there were probably 25-30 teams roaming up and down the shore. We would see one or two every so often and a few times a female buried herself which brought up three or four males. I managed to grab three of the little buggers (actually it was two and Redkorn caught one which he gave to me). After 12:30 it shut off completely. Wasn't the great mass of fish I was hoping to see on the beach, but it was fun none the less. These things look just like top smelt, if I caught one while fishing I would say it was top smelt. Till the next time.

My huge bounty ;)

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....

Grunion Scout Trip 03/08/2012

Hit up the beaches North and South of the Chart House on PCH with my buddy Doug last night to see if any grunion were in. Only stayed about an hour walking up and down the beach. Did not see a single grunion. Heading back out tonight to hunt them and hopefully a nice fat Halibut or Leo. Couple beach shots below.