San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

All caught on ikas, flukes, or senkos. The weather this winter has made the spring bite funky. Not getting as many bites as I usually get on reaction baits this time of year.

The weather this year hasn't made the fishing very easy. This was from a while back. My dad and I got smelt and hit HI. We only caught a few small spotties, all on lures if i recall correctly. Very slow bite.

Been a while since I checked the new site. Here's a couple small ones from this past weekend.

Difficult to get bait, but my dad and I did manage to catch some in the morning and afternoon. The bite was really good yesterday with plenty of bites throughout the day. I broke off on a few fish, one of which felt like a decent ray or guitarfish. I also missed a few bites and pulled the hook on a ...

Not sure why all of my pictures post sideways on here.

bassman wrote: Mon May 29, 2023 7:22 pm

Nick Arevalo wrote: Mon May 29, 2023 3:20 pm Not sure why all of my pictures post sideways on here.

Nice catch @Nick Arevalo! What type of bait were you guys using?

Sometimes pictures post sideways, especially when uploaded from an iPhone.
Here is how to quickly rotate them:
viewtopic.php?t=188

Live smelt

My dad and I fished HI on Sunday. Ended with:
6 halibut (largest two were 19.5 & 18.5)
1 BGF
1 sandbass (13")
A dozen or so spotties, some close to legal.

Live bait + lures

philipbunch wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2023 11:27 am What kind of bait?

Live smelt & dropshot gulp minnow.

galen wrote: Thu Jun 29, 2023 5:24 pm That second spotty looks like a good one.

I'd say it was around 16 inches. I caught another one that was just a hair under 14, and this one was much bigger.

My dad and I fished around SD Bay on Saturday and Sunday. The bite was good early on Saturday, but kind of died once the big tide swing started in the evening. I hooked into 2 batrays, one was about 20lbs, the other was somewhere near 100. I only hooked them on 12lb leader, so the ~100lber broke off ...

More pictures

Same as always, live smelt & lures at Harbor Island.

Saturday:
6 short halibut
20+ spotties (I lost count)
1 queenfish
1 shovelnose guitarfish
2 butterfly rays
1 thornback ray
1 sculpin

Sunday:
3 short halibut
~10-15 spotties
New pb guitarfish at 50 inches
A few butterfly rays
1 corvina ...

My facial expression was so bad so I had to hide it, lmao! Here's pics from Sunday's session.

Zach wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2023 11:19 am I remember years back someone pulled out a spotty from Santee Lakes wonder if karma ever caught up to the planter.

Haha, that was my post! I found it dead, floating near the mats along the shoreline. Here's an image for anyone who didn't see it on the original SDFish.

Just a few trout from this season since I haven't posted in a while.

Here's some fish from the past few months since it's been a while. All from Santee Lakes.

It's been a while since I last posted. Lol. I kind of forgot that this forum existed. Here are a few fish from the Santee Lakes recently The bass are beginning to move up shallow. There's lots of small males feeding up near the shoreline. I think I've caught 17 or 18 in the past couple of trips ...

Nick,
Speaking of a while....Have not fished there much...but do you like lake 2 or 5 best?
I just remember catching more bass years ago in those lakes.

Generally, I prefer lake 5 over lake 2. For whatever reason, I have never really done too well on lake 2. It really depends on the season ...

Here's a few fish from the Santee Lakes in March. They were chewing the trick worm all spring. I'm taking a little break while all the bed fisherman take over the lakes.

Here's a couple more plus a kitty