Jetty Fishing Ventura 12-04-2013

After dropping off Brian's girlfriend for her hair appointment in Ventura we headed over to a jetty in Pierpont Bay. We arrived around 11:15 AM and left around 2:15 PM when the girlfriend was done gettin her hair did, lol. Bait was squid, all fish released. I caught the first fish at 11:50 AM in one of my secret holes I have found on this particular jetty, which was a small cabezon (about 7-8"). Hmm wonder if there are any more fish hanging out in this hole...back goes the bait and a couple minutes later (literately at 11:52 AM) , tap, tap fish on and this time it feels bigger! Reel in a whole 8 feet and what do ya know, I have two fish on! One was an 11" or so grass rockfish and the other was a 9" or so cabezon. Damn, lots of fish in this hole today (it was a pretty high tide of 6.37 @ around 9:30 AM). No more fish until 12:58 PM which was a small, 6" or so, cabezon. I also caught this fish in a hole, but a new one I found :). Brian didn't catch nothing but my dust and a nice tan, lol. The swell was a little rough and he fished casting out away from the jetty mostly. While fishing that way I did not catch anything either. Another fun fishing trip in the books :).

Ventura Pier in the distance

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

Greenock Lane Jetty Fishing - Ventura - 07-10-2013

Fished the Greenock Lane Jetty in Ventura with Brian from about 11:00 AM till about 4:30 PM. Fishing was pretty slow most of the day, lots of little bites (probably walleye perch which our hooks were too big for). Brian hooked up on a nice 3.5'-4' Shovelnose Guitarfish, reeled it in and brought it up on a lower rock of the jetty. Well it then decided to flip out and broke his line on some muscles on the rock he landed it on and swam back to the ocean. So we will call it a quick C & R :). I did manage to scratch up one small grass rockfish from my secret hole somewhere on the jetty, it was about 9" long and I let em go to get bigger. Nice to beat the skunk at least :). Weather was nice, waves were big (we both got splashed a few times). No salad in the water. Both fish caught on squid.

Jetty Fishing Ventura 06-12-2013

Brian and I fished the Greenock Jetty in Ventura from about 12:30 PM till 4:00 PM. We both fished with squid with me catching a small Cabazon and Brian catching a small bat ray (which he promptly dropped down a hole after tripping, but was able to fish it out for the safe release). I hooked another bat ray, but it snapped the hook off my 40 lb test line. Pretty slow fishing, but it was a beautiful day to be out on the water anyways.

Jetty Fishing Ventura Harbor 08-09-2012

Flannery and I decided to hit up a jetty we have had decent luck at in the past for a short fishing outing. We arrived at the jetty around 9:30 AM and proceeded to the end. Along the way a nice fellow fisherman gave us a bunch of fresh dead anchovies. We both started out with this for bait and did not get anything. We kept getting bites, but it is hard to keep those things on your hook if you do not have thread with you. I had dropped mine down a deep hole upon arrival, so that kinda sucked, lol. We also tried squid and I tried perch, mackerel, queen fish, bull head and shrimp. I caught one small thorn-back ray on squid and lost something that felt fairly large when I was reeling in my last cast and thought I was just snagged...a few head shakes later and I realized a tad too late I had a fish and it went into a rock or something. After pulling from different angles for about 5-10 minutes my 40 pound test finally broke. Oh well, next time! No pics this time, waves were too big and we were getting splashed a lot.

Crabbing and Fishing Ventura Pier 05-25-2012

Met up with Brian at about 7:15 AM and headed for the pier. Started fishing and crabbing at around 8:00 A.M. There were a few other anglers around most catching queenfish / herring on sabikis. We set up shop at the end and I placed the crab net in my usual spot. Fishing was fairly constant on the sabiki lines we used catching what they call tiny 7-11 perch, decent sized walleye perch and queenfish / herring. Buddy and I both tried shark rigs (him the whole time, me only when I got tired of using the sabiki rod) with live bait but no takers on those either. Gave some of our perch to the locals to try for sharks, no love for them either. Crabbing was spectacular as usual. I ended up getting 23 keeper red, yellow and rock crabs. I gave five away to these two younger fellows (I think they were around 17) who were camping with their family somewhere close and wanted some to boil up. They were pretty nice kids and I had plenty so I spread the wealth a little. We left at around 2:00 PM as the wind and swell was getting progressively worse (the crabbing also slowed as the swell got bigger). Good day on the pier hanging with my buddy and checking out the local scenery (love them hot days!).

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 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....

Jetty Fishing Pierpont Bay (Ventura, CA) 02/25/2012

Met up with my fishing buddy Brian at 8:00 AM in Woodland Hills. After a quick pit stop at 7-11 for muchies and drinks we proceeded to the jetty. We started fishing around 10:00 A.M.. Brian hooked up on a wall eye perch pretty quickly using muscle. I went quite a while without anything. At some point, I noticed an about two foot wide hole between three rocks that had water down below, so I dropped my bait (frozen squid) in there and just a few minutes later...tap, tap bam fish on. Pulled up a 10" rock fish, sweet! After that I moved around casting to rocks and holes I could see and caught four more rockfish from 10 to a little over 12". They were all the same species of rockfish (not sure what kind, anyone know? We were thinking grass or brown rockfish). Brian also joined in the rockfish party and landed 3 or 4 of them as well. He also hooked into a nice 5" or so rock crab which we promptly returned since it was caught on hook and line. We packed it in at around 3 PM. Another great day of fishing in Ventura, CA. All fish except the biggest rockfish were promptly released to get bigger.

Fishing area and fish pics below (in no particular order):

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).

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.