Hobson Beach Surf Fishing 06-27-2012

My parents were camping at Hobson County Park so my buddy Brian and I decided to head on up after work to do some surf fishing. After picking me up at 4:00 PM and stopping by 7-11 for some Gatorade we arrived at the site right about 5:00 PM. High tide was at 4:45 and low was at 11:45. Started out fishing rocks just North of the stairs for about an hour for nothing but a couple bites. After breaking for a great dinner prepared by my parents we were back fishing a little further North just after 8:00. I caught one 9" grass rockfish on smelt spine and a nice 12"+ grassy on octopus. I kept the bigger one and sent the other one back to get bigger. Brian caught one small soup fin shark (I think) and had something big on once that bit through his line. We packed up and left right around 11:30 PM both content that we caught something.

Malibu Surf Fishing 06-25-2012

Had a few hours to kill on a Sunday afternoon so after marinating on the option of working around the house or going fishing, fishing prevailed. After stopping by Bob Sand's in Van Nuys to pick up some hooks and Ranch 99 for some squid and clams I arrived at my spot at around 12:30 PM. High tide was at 2:20 PM at a +4' or so. Started out pretty slow with no action till about 2:00 when I caught a 24" leopard shark on squid. After that at around 2:30 I landed a 30" leopard shark and shortly after a 10" grass rockfish on squid and shrimp respectively. Had to pack up at 3:30 PM to get the car home to the wife to use. All and all a great time catching three fish in such a limited amount of time. Great weather and one thing this spot seems to be great at producing is nice lookin ladies in thongs or g-strings. Good stuff! I will add some pictures later (of the fish).

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.

Fathers Day 2012 - Surf Fishing Malibu

So the pops was able to go fishing with me to the location he told me about in Malibu, but he had never fished yet. After meeting him at 7:00 AM at his house we headed to Malibu. We started fishing around 8:00 AM fishing the incoming tide until around 9:45 high of 3.24'. Low was not until 2:17 and was only a 2.07 so not a whole lot of water movement. Fishing was pretty slow, I caught one decent sized black / butter mouth perch fairly early on market shrimp. Dad caught a rock crab that got hooked while snacking on his bait. We promptly released the little guy since hook and line is not a legal method of take. After that neither of us got anything but snags and salad. The salad was actually not as bad as previous trips, but it was still covering the bait occasionally. Left around noon to get home, cleaned up and back at the parents house for a 4:00 PM Fathers Day BBQ. Not too many fish, but it was still nice to hit the water with him and show him the secret location he told me about but had never fished.

Malibu Pier Fishing 06-10-2012

Went to Malibu pier with my buddy Brian. We got there around 11 AM or so and didn't see much going on up the pier. We set up shop near the end on the right and waited. To start I had one line in with two circle hooks and the other I had set up trolly rig style. Brian had one single dropper loop and one with a sabiki. I tried sabiki as well later on. Got some taps on it, but nothing that stuck. VERY slow all day. Brian caught one bullhead and I caught some sun and a few nice ladies in short shorts, lol. Only action I saw all day on pier was two spider crabs poached via sabiki, three pacific mackerel and one medium to small bat ray without a tail which I helped them land with the crab net I brought as a landing net. I know this pier is usually slow, but this was just dead. Left around 6 PM. Next time I plan to hit this pier I hope I go back to this post so I see - DON'T DO IT!

Surf Fishing Malibu 06-09-2012

Since I started a new job last Monday I can really only get out on the weekends now, so I wanted to make sure not to miss a day so I had the wife drop me off in Malibu on her way to work at around 7:15 AM or so. This spot seems to produce better at high tide, but it was just about low upon my arrival. It was a -0.12 and the high would not be until around 3 at +4. Fishing was pretty slow with a nibble here and there, but not much. Tried smelt, squid, octopus, shrimp and sand crabs. I even tried trowing a bucktail jig for a bit before leaving. I think I had a few hits, but nothing that stuck, not sure though since I do not do much lure fishing yet. The only fish caught was a small leopard shark on shrimp (first time catching a shark on shrimp). After a quick photo it was quickly returned to get bigger.   A couple fellows walking the coast line said they caught a short white sea bass up the way a little bit on a swimbait. They said it was a 26"er, so a couple short.  Nice day out, and I avoided the skunk so I am happy with that. Lots of dead baby lobsters on the shore. The wife met up after work and we had a brief picnic before leaving around 2PM. Hitting Malibu Pier tomorrow.

Malibu to Ventura 06/02 - 06/03/2012

So got a call from Mahigeer (Mahi) and I missed it, but he left a message thankfully. He was going to fish the Chart House area after dark for sharks. Wanting to catch a legal Leo to try on the ole palate and starting a new job on Monday I was more than eager to give it a try. Not much of a shark fisherman, but I knew Mahigeer would be a wealth of knowledge (and the others that ended up joining were as well). Set on going, Mahi asked if I would mind picking Redkorn (John) up from Whittier and I said no problem, tell him to call me. Having to attend a buddies boys' 1st birthday party first I knew I would be there later than Mahigeer who was planning to get there around 4 or 5 PM. After enjoying the party, friends and a few adult beverages I was raring to go! Left the party around 5:30 or so and went home (in Reseda) real quick to pack up gear and bait and be on my way. Still to tipsy to drive the wife drove to Whittier (thanks honey!) to pick up John. While I was at the party I also got a text from tresher_one (Robert) asking if I wanted to join him to do some shark fishing, lol. I let him know I was already going to meet Mahi and picking up John and he was more than welcome to join. My buddy Brian was also going to meet us there later in the evening. After getting over half way to Whittier, I noticed I forgot my tackle box and would need to go back home before heading to Malibu...uhg, lol. After the long drive back home, we were on our way to Malibu. After the wife dropped John and I off we found Mahi and Robert already fishing (or battling eel grass and kelp would be more appropriate). After a little chatting we all started fishing despite a thick layer of salad in the water. After a while it cleared, but unfortunately this fishing did not improve. We all tried Mackerel, Squid, Octopus, Sand Crabs (there were a ton in the water) and Perch. Robert had one take his bait, but the hook would not set and it dropped it. He also had a few other hits, but nothing that would stick. John missed several bites utilizing his lazy fishing technique. Mahi and I were constantly telling him to pick up the damn rod, but he always says - "They are circle hooks, they set themselves". We both tried to explain that more force than just the weight is needed sometimes to get the hook to set (not setting the hook, just keeping pressure on the line), but he was having none of it and consequentially missed a ton of hits and possible fish and / or sharks. His loss I suppose, lol. I had a few hits, and missing baits, but nothing substantial at all. Mahigeer caught one small thrornback ray. The sheriffs kicked us off the beach a little after midnight stating that the beach closed at midnight. I did not know that, nor try to verify it yet, but we were all disappointed to say the least.  John and I were not ready to call it a night, but Brian, Mahi and Robert did. After Brian (who was also skunked, but did have a few bites) dropped us off at my car in Agoura (were wife works) John and I went to Ventura Pier for some crabbing and fishing! Both were very slow all morning. I caught five keeper rock and yellow rock crabs and quite a few shorts. Fish wise, neither one of us ever had any big hookups and I caught a few small queenfish on the sabiki rig. Not much else seen caught despite their being a decent number of people there fishing till after sunrise and us hearing fish breach the surface. Tired and ready to get the heck out of dodge we were on the road to Whittier by around 7:00 A.M.. Dropped John off, stopped at Starbucks so I would not fall asleep on the last leg home. Cooked the crab and finally went to bed around 11:00 AM on Sunday. Long day / morning, no sharks, no fish of note a few crabs, but a hell of a good time. Can hardly wait till the next time. Perhaps the fish will cooperate then. I will add pictures and edit for grammar later. I will also embed a short video John made (pretty cool).