Sunrise Surf Fishing Malibu 01-21-2014

Since it had been a whopping three days since I had fished, I headed down to a spot in Malibu, CA to do a little fishing. I was greeted by darkness when I arrived, but a spectacularly beautiful sunrise as it slowly made its way up. Lots of pictures of the sunrise, sea and sky in this post. I arrived around 6:05 AM. Low tide was a 1.87' @ 6:06 AM and high tide was a 3.63' @ 11:33 AM, bait was squid. Aside from the calm seas and gorgeous sunrise, sky and sea the fishing was very very slow. My only fish of the day was a very small (6-7") grass rockfish which I caught at 9:01 AM. A nibble here and there was all I got after that until I packed it in at 10:19 AM. Slow day of fishing, but worth getting up early just for the views.

Surf Fishing Malibu 01-17-2014

Wanting to take advantage of the near full moon conditions and the incoming tide (low was a -0.36' @ 5:15 PM and high was a 3.73' @ 11:36 PM and sunset was around 6:15 PM), Brian and I headed to Malibu to do some fishing. We arrived around 4:00 PM and started fishing. Bait was squid, as always.

Brian started out the catching with a beautiful and fat 19"+ calico bass at 4:54 PM. I got in on the action with a nice fat 15-16" grass rockfish at 5:11 PM. We then had our first double hook up (we both hooked up and reeled in at the same time) at 5:22 PM, which was a 9" or so grass rockfish for me and a nice 12" or so grass rockfish for Brian. I then caught a 9"+ grass rockfish at 5:30 PM and Brian caught a nice 13" grassy at 5:38 PM. Double hook up #2 came at 5:45 PM in the form of a small grassy for Brian and a little baby lobster for me (which was of course released). I then caught a 12" or so cabazon at 6:00 PM and a 7" grass rockfish at 6:21 PM and a 12"+ grass rockfish at 6:34 PM and Brian closed out the catching with an 11" or so grass rockfish at 6:36 PM. We came intending to fish the full moon more, but we were tired by 7:00 and packed up and left.

What a great day of fishing! Final tally was: one calico bass and five grass rockfish for Brian and five grass rockfish, one sub-legal cabazon and one baby lobster for me. We kept the calico bass, and the three largest grass rockfish (12"+ is our own personal size restriction on rockfish unless it is gut hooked or otherwise injured) which you can see processed and packaged in the last picture. We enjoyed doing it, hopefully you enjoyed reading about it and the pics the go along with it.

Sunset Surf Fishing Malibu 01-10-2014

Wanting to redeem myself from my miserable showing the day before in Central California, I headed to familiar stomping grounds, one of my spots in Malibu, CA. Ahhh, nice to be home :). I arrived around 12:30 PM and left around 6:00 PM. I caught the last hour of the outgoing tide and fished the majority of the incoming tide, low tide was a 0.27' @ 1:31 PM and high tide was a 3.07' @ 7:44 PM. Bait was squid as usual. Not long after my arrival redemption was reeled in in the form of a small 6" or so grass rockfish, small but it's a fish, lol. Fishing was pretty slow all afternoon / early evening with me catching my second and last fish for the day which was another small, 8" or so, grass rockfish at 5:42 PM. Happy with catching two fish and breaking no rods, I left shortly thereafter a happy man. Both fish obviously released.

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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!