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.

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....

Surf Fishing North of Santa Monica 03/04/2012

Hit up the surf for a couple hours with Brian from about Noon till 2:30 P.M. We used sand crabs, live shore crabs, shrimp, muscle and limpets for bait for a big ole skunk. Beach was packed with people since the weather was nice. The only thing we caught all day were nice views such as the one below (my camera sucks from far away, but it was phenomenal).

Ventura Pier 01/15/2012

Seems like Skunks were the norm up and down the coast yesterday, lol. Fished / crabbed Ventura pier from about 10:30 AM till 3:00 PM. Not one single fish of any sort landed by me or my fishing buddy. We were using squid, shrimp, cut mackerel and perch pieces. I did catch three keeper rock crabs, but even that was super slow. Only fish I saw caught were a small croaker, a sand dab and a shiner perch caught using a sabiki in the middle hole at the end by a lovely fisherwoman who was great company (If they all looked like her I would be out there every day, lol). We did try the surf line first for some perch, but nothin there either. Stopped by Andria's Seafood Restaurant in Oxnard on the way home for a heaping helping of Halibut and Chips (best fish and chips in the area).

Redondo Jetty 12/26/2011

Hit up the big Redondo jetty with Brian from about 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. for a big ole skunk. Used Squid & Market Shrimp for bait. Fished about half way up the jetty on the ocean side. Brian was also skunked. Only think I saw caught all day was a medium sized Thornback Ray by an Asian fellow just North of us.

Ventura Pier 12/11/2011

Fished & Crabbed (mostly crabbed) from 4:00 P.M. till 10:30 P.M. after the wife dropped me off and then went to work. No takers on the fishing using squid and leftover shrimp from the previous day. Ended up with 17 keeper rock crabs. Pretty good outing on the crab front. Boiled them all in my new crab pot when I got home.