San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I think bfs should b fishing on advanced mode with light line tiny hooks boy is it fun to actually have to tire the fish out and not just ski the fish in 🎣💯😎


Absolutely. One of the earliest joys I learned about fishing was how to play a fish. Then as equipment changed, and tourney fishing ...

Awesome!

I have not fished Otay since Flotation nation tube tourney. Fisheroman was just starting to tube fish. I think it was kind of stormy.
It was fun hanging with Dannicus. He is a fishing machine. Final broke out my tube to get ready for Barrett. We had a few doubles, fishing was good. I also lost ...

For those of you new to BFS (bait finesse system) fishing, it started in Japan in the early 2000s. Japanese anglers were searching for ways to cast light (think 1/64 oz) lures on baitcaster rods and reels for ultra finicky and pressured fish. Why a baitcaster instead of spinning gear? Because ...

Otay has definitely been good. Congrats on a great day!

Haven’t been to Otay in ages was one of my favorite lakes back in the 80’s along with Hodges, we used to kill it in Harvey’s arm, I’m going to try and get my friend ( Ramona ) to take his now repaired boat down there. Curious if the trees way down Harveys are covered in water, what the level the ...

Thanks to Dannicus, I have ventured into the BFS world. I bought an ARK Gravity BFS reel. At the moment I have 25lb braid paired with a 10lb fluoro leader. I know I could get lighter but want the extra size to fight the bigger models and high catch rates at Barrett, etc.

Like my reel/line, I ...

That's awesome! Fun isn't it? Even clones are a fun fight and when you get into a bigger one, forget about it! It's like being a kid again. Every time I land a 5+ I feel positively giddy! I can't wait for my DD, which @Pourboy assures me is coming.

For years my all time favorite BFS bait has been a 1/16 or 1/8 oz Bitsy Bug jig, with a Z-Man TRD Bugz trailer. They have a bigger/ stouter hook than most micro jigs out there, which I think is important especially for larger fish with their bigger mouths. Coming in at around $2 it's a hard bait to ...

DarkShadow wrote: Fri Apr 18, 2025 9:08 am

Dannicus wrote: Wed Apr 16, 2025 5:55 pmMost were on a jig early...

Are you tossing light wire jigs? It seems it'd be hard to get penetration on a jig with BFS gear.

I/8 oz. Bitsy Bug with a TRD Bugz trailer. I get great hookups with it.

My BFS combos:
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From top to bottom. All rods are 7 foot single piece.

1) Rod: Dobyns sierra ultra finesse 701c Reel: Ark Gravity BFS
2) Rod: Trika 6x light/fast Reel: Bates Hundo 100 LTS
3) Rod: Cashion Icon light/fast Reel: Ark Gravity BFS
4) Rod: Cashion Element ...

I agree too. As my joints age lighter is very much desirable.

So what line do you use? What lures besides small jigs?


I throw PE braid to flouro almost exclusively. My lightest rod has 5lb., all the others have 10 lb. The leader weight changes depending on the bait, but generally 10 to 17 lb.

As far as baits, you'd be hard pressed to name a bait or ...

Thought I might see you as I got on the water for the third time. Mentioned it to my Backseater that I’ve run across you the last two times I launched as you left. Anyway, couldn’t get the jerk bait working, but the top water was just fine. It seems every other week it switches Frogs and Buzz ...

Hello all,

Decent day at Hodges today. Got in line at 515, didn't need to. They opened around 600. Met Corso Enthusiast and we headed out. Air was chilly at about 45-50 F, but the water was a balmy 64 F. Went along the usual chase to the right and banged around the shore. First fish was around ...

Managed to pull 8 fatties out of The Captain today on BFS gear. Nothing under 2 and nothing over 3, but they were feisty.

I'll post a breakdown of baits I used in the BFS section for you other finesse guys if you are interested.

IMG_20250419_152444486_HDR.jpg IMG_20250419_142738407_HDR.j ...

Caught 8 fatties at El Cap today. 2 on my trusty standby jig:
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It's a 1/8 oz. green crawfish Bitsy Bug with a green pumpkin Z-Man TRD Bugz trailer.

All the rest were caught on this, which has become a favorite and I have caught a lot of fish on it in all San Diego lakes ...

I only had about 3 hours to fish, but I'm camped so close to Otay I didn't want to miss the opportunity. Hey, it's better than couch surfing for my mental health haha.

I got on the water at 7am and decided it felt like a treble hook kind of day. I ended up with 5 jerkbait fish and 1 worm fish. All ...

6 total bass today at Otay, and five of them were courtesy of this:
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It's a Diawa 3" TD Minnow, and it has definitely become my #1 jerkbait for BFS fishing. It has great action and casts a country mile. Most fish hit a twitch twitch pause retrieve, while two hit it on ...

Had a blast at Murray today. Caught 11 topwater bass early, then went to the bottom when the wind picked up, and added a few more. All in all it was a really fun day!

As always I'll share the bait in the BFS section.

IMG_20250422_090641175_HDR.jpg IMG_20250422_124013094_HDR.jpg IMG_20250422 ...