The Day The Sea Kicked My Ass North Of Cayucos - 01-09-2014

Up bright and early Brian and I were on the road and at our destination by around 8:30 AM. We had fished here before and caught some small guys, so we were hopeful even though we were fishing the outgoing tide (High was a 4.49' @ 6:23 AM and Low was a 0.73 @ 1:45 PM). Brian was quick to catch the first fish, a small grass rockfish (although it kinda looks like something else the more I look at the pic) at 8:40 AM and a nice 13" or so cabazon around 9:00 AM. I however was busy getting snagged left and right and broke my first pole ever at 9:33 AM. Not only was it the first pole I have broken (other than a tip here and there), it was a new 12' Beefstick and it broke in two places at almost the thickest parts....Now that was a bummer, lol.

After trekking back to the car to fetch his back up rod we moved locations to see if fishing was any better there. Long story short, wasn't for me, but Brian caught another small grassy before almost falling into a large pool from a high perch, lol. I was busy getting soaked on the rocks I had waded to that were taking a beating from the waves. After one particularly big set of waves rolled through and made me reel in quickly and brace for the ride I quickly retreated to a safer set of rocks a little bit back...then broke Brian's back up rod at 12:04 PM....well guess I am done fishing. We packed up and left shortly afterwards, and were at the car by 12:30 PM. Frustrating day of fishing for me, good day for Brian and all worth it because I was doing what I love!

 

Ventura Harbor Memorial Day 05-28-2012

Not having any plans set in stone other than spending time with the wife I was delighted when my buddy Brian called and asked if we wanted to go to Ventura Harbor to do some jetty / surf fishing in the Ventura area. After discussing it with the wife we decided that we would love to go. Picked up Brian & Nicole in Simi at around 1:15 PM and headed for Ventura. I knew Mahigeer was going to be in the area since I had spoken to him and he was at Sterns Wharf and planning to stop by Ventura pier. He could not come over to the jetty and we did not want to go to the pier because of the inevitable Memorial Day traffic. I did take a shot of the pier in the distance below so I could say I took a picture of him, lol. Started fishing at end of the jetty around 2:30 PM after dropping stuff off, finding parking and walking a couple blocks back. There was a ton of dead kelp and eel grass in the water which made the chances of catching any fish slim. I tried all sides of the jetty with Octopus, Mackerel, Muscle and Shrimp but almost every time I brought in my line it was covered with eel grass. Hard to catch a fish when your bait is buried beneath a huge clump of crud, lol. Left around 5:30 about 45 minutes past the high tide. We were both skunked, but it was a nice day out there, the swells were pretty big. Both of us and our gear got soaked a couple times. Couple shots of the area and a video I found on my phone of a Sarcastic Fringehead I caught in my net at Ventura Pier on 05-15-2012.

Cat Harbor Fishing 03/24/2012

We all slept from around 2:00 A.M. till 6:00 A.M. at which time we all got up and got ready for the day of fishing. After a quick breakfast at the local restaurant we proceeded to the other side of the island, Cat Harbor. We first stopped not too far in to the harbor and fished that for an hour or so with me landing a few shovelnose, my dad landing a few as well and John landing a 4 1/2 foot leopard shark (all released except one small shovelnose which was kept for an artist to use). We then proceeded further up the harbor to a jetty near where a yacht club was at previously (currently abandoned). My dad hooked into something big that broke his line and I caught my very first eel which was also returned after being freed from my line by Hasheem. After moving because there was too much kelp we went to the top of a hill near the mouth of the harbor and took a short snack break of carrots and dip provided by Hasheem. There was too much kelp at the harbor entrance for us to fish it productively so we went back to the jetty near the yacht club and fished the harbor and a small inlet. There were lots of jumping fish in Cat Harbor by the way! After fishing the jetty and inlet for a while we moved up to a small pier on the other side of the harbor. Hasheem caught a short 18" halibut and John caught a sole about the same size. We then moved a little up the coast after receiving a tip from a local. John landed a pretty big shovelnose and my dad landed a small bat ray. At about 6:00 P.M. we went back to the restaurant on the other side of the island for dinner then back to camp. After relaxing a bit and having a Raki party we went back to the pier in Isthmus Cove but the water was dead so we did not stay too long.

Pictures of the day below: