Fishing Ventura Harbor & Hobson Beach 10-22-2013

Brain and I decided to fish a little North so we headed to Ventura. Fished the South jetty of Ventura Harbor first. We arrived at around 10:00 AM and started out about 3/4 of the way down the jetty and fished the ocean side. After a while of not getting anything, not even nibbles I wandered down to the end of the jetty and cast straight out out into the middle of the harbor entrance. As soon as my bait (squid of course) hit bottom it started getting tapped like crazy. Must be little fish, but at least it is some action, lol. I called Brian down to the end and I brought in the first fish of the day, a small croaker at 11:14 AM. We fished for about another hour catching more small to medium sized croakers with the final tally being six for me and two for Brian before we left around noon.

After a trip to Carpinteria for lunch we decided to try one more spot before heading home, which was the rocks North of Hobson Beach. Fished the rocks from about 2:15 PM till 5:00 PM catching nothing but some sun, a couple sneaker waves and a nice fall into a five foot hole for me, lol. I tried two casts at Hobson Beach while Brian was using their facilities, but didn't catch anything there either. Fun day of fishing but not a lot of fish this time....oh yeah almost forgot the dolphins came into Ventura harbor into very shallow water, short video of that below.

View from Hobson Beach looking North

Hobson Beach 08-19-2012

So my parents were leaving today to go camping at Hobson Beach so Brian and I decided it would be a great time to go fish there since it had been a while. We arrived around 10:15 AM or so and scoped out the campsites for my parents. No one had yet left so we parked in day parking and started fishing on the rocks near the staircase with squid for bait (me on a a high low, Brian on a single dropper loop). After about an hour I caught my first fish for the day, a 30" Leopard Shark that had a perfect hook set in the corner of the mouth, but had wrapped the low hook and weight around it several times. After a few quick pictures and unraveling it from the mess it made with the line back it went to grow some.

Right after the catch, one of the spots my parents like opened up so I ran to the car and snagged it. After filling out the paperwork and paying for the site it was back to fishing until they arrived. Neither of us caught anything else before they got there and got the site situated and lunch from the snack shop for all of us (tasty burgers and fries).

After lunch, which was also after high tide, we fished the rocks with my dad for a while and then Brian and I started walking towards Seacliff along the beach as the tide receded .  A short time later I hooked up with another Leopard Shark which was bigger. After horsing him in I was excited thinking it may be over 36"...a quick measure and...33", doh! It vomited up what looked like crab eggs and a few sand crabs. After unhooking it back it went into the deep blue. Neither one of us caught anything else after that. We mostly used squid or live sand crabs, but I also tried perch, shrimp and anchovy for no takers.

We fished a little after sunset and dinner (a great tri-tip salad and garlic bread spread prepared by my mom and dad) but did not catch anything either. We left the site around 9:00 PM with full bellies and our fishing itch for the moment satisfied!

Thanks for everything Mom & Dad!

A few pictures courtesy of Brian:

Hobson Beach & Ventura Pier 01/02/2012

So finally decided to get out around 11:00 A.M. and had a trip to a local area near Hobson Beach to harvest some muscles while I still can and just as I pulled up to my location, got a text from my parents that they were camping at Hobson. I quickly proceeded to their campsite to hang out for a while. I then went back to my location and harvested my allotment of muscles and then went back to Hobson for a short 15 minute perch session. No takers on sand crabs. I then took the parents to Andria’s Seafood Restaurant in Oxnard for a heaping helping of the best fish and chips around. After dropping them back at their campsite I proceeded to Ventura Pier for a short crabbing session. Crabbed at the end for about 2 1/2 hours and ended up with 11 keeper red and rock crabs. Lots of shorts and lots of poachers out at the pier unfortunately. One group even clawed the poor things and tossed em back defenseless right before leaving. I hope they get shellfish poisoning! Shameful! Only saw three queenfish caught all night by the people fishing. Been very slow fishing wise out at the end, so I did not even bring a pole on this trip. So muscles and crab for dinner tonight! Cooked the crab when I got home last night and will steam the muscles when I get home tonight (I am purging them of sand right now). All and all a great day and beautiful weather. I'll put up some pics later.