San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

...and I certainly am. Seaweed was heavy but I was able to find a spot that is more or less clean, at least for a while, long enough to land this beauty.
Also got decent sized (> 12 in) cabezon and kelpfish.

Wet the line after work. It was dark when I finally got to the beach but water was very clear and I felt safe to wade in.
Bite was good. Not "hot" good but every 10-15 minutes there will be tug.
Landed all 3 species of bass - 2 spotties, 1 sand and 1 calico. That was a first!
PXL_20240201_021542465 ...

Nice!

I rarely catch these two species from the same beach. Very interesting.

...and I gave it shot. Water was murky, especially close to city water runoffs. I walked about half a mile away. The water still had a brown-ish hue but at least no weird smells. Still not great condition but it could start raining any minute so what's the heck, just cast.

Got some bites. Some ...

Sunday was slow. Not sure why. Friday and Saturday were hot bites. My buddy limited out in basses with 1.5 hours.

Same here. I had a minor surgery on thumb last week and had to take a few days off the water. A few buddies of mine went on Friday and Saturday. They sent me pictures to make me feel better... Not!

Last week I got the first bean of the year, using SC. Most SCs are very small at this time of the year, but I was lucky enough to find a bed of large SCs. Was going for perch that day but got a beanie. Kinda small but a first is a first.

The next few days I got some luck with basses, including a double. Some pics on larger ones. Also caught some smaller basses (mostly sand basses).

No sheep this week. Wonder where they are... did get some other fish like kelp fish and black perch. Then I got this double. Was always a huge hassle to unhook the eel as it would just twist and twist, tangling everything - anyone got some tips here?

maraxus wrote: Mon Mar 18, 2024 10:45 am Very nice sessions, thanks for sharing. Did you keep the eel or let him go?

Thanks! It was indeed fun. This eel is chunky and I gave it to a friend.

If you really care about avoiding gut hooking, I suggest that you use inline (non-offset) circle hooks. 95% of time your catch will be lip-hooked, like in the picture below.
PXL_20240224_003525743.jpg

Hook set would be different with circles and will take some time to get use to. I use them ...

Pretty good condition this afternoon. Low wind, low swell, low tide.
Used hi-lo rig, one hook on squid and one hook on shrimp to figure out what fish want to bite today.
Waded in, casted out, walked back, felt the hit before getting to shore. Was quite a pull to land.
PXL_20240407_215707424.jpg ...

I did not catch these often, and never caught this size. Not a giant but plenty decent.
A kid came by and wanted to watch it while I went for another cast. Sure. I came back 15 minute later and he was still watching it. Ok buddy, you can have it.
He was so happy.
I went to Costco and bought some ...

Good condition. Low swell. Low wind. Clear water. Some seaweed but not too bad.

Caught 3 leopard sharks. They put up good fight but not my target. Not sure if anyone would target them?

Then I landed this cabbie. I have never caught legal ones and this one is darn close. I felt that if I ...

Seaweed was forbidden for the last few weeks, at least for the spots I usually fish. I hauled many giant piles up, even broke my Uglystik Bigwater rod... The only upshot was that those sessions were fine workouts.

This weekend the seaweed was more accommodating. They were still there, but I can ...

Neuroshima wrote: Mon May 13, 2024 8:56 am What a haul and nice legals! What's the last fish?

Thanks man! Haven't seen your post here much. Have you been fishing somewhere else?

It was a sargo. I took the picture a while after catching it and its color has changed by that time. Otherwise you would see that dark stripe.

Conditions were pretty nice so went for an afternoon session on Sunday. Salad was minimal so I tried soft plastics and luckycraft but there were no takers. Switched bait fishing with shrimp and got a short sand bass, a perch and bunch of leopard sharks.

perch.jpeg

sandBass.jpeg

leopard1.jpeg ...

Conditions were pretty nice so went for an afternoon session on Sunday. Salad was minimal so I tried soft plastics and luckycraft but there were no takers. Switched bait fishing with shrimp and got a short sand bass, a perch and bunch of leopard sharks.

perch.jpeg

sandBass.jpeg

leopard1 ...

Cardiff "should be" good spot given all the reefs, and last time I went I did get cabezon, calico and rock fish, etc. but the size was just lacking... Even the spotfin croaker I caught there was kinda small. Not sure what's the deal with that spot.

Cardiff "should be" good spot given all the reefs, and last time I went I did get cabezon, calico and rock fish, etc. but the size was just lacking... Even the spotfin croaker I caught there was kinda small. Not sure what's the deal with that spot.


I think it's simply getting too much fishing ...