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16

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Beach Day with the Mrs 03/17/2017

« on: March 17, 2017, 11:01:58 PM »

So a pretty atypical report for me, a daylight non sharking report lol! My girlfriend wanted to just go have a beach day, was considering leaving my gear at home and just soaking some rays, but I know every time I do that I end up regretting it. So I brought the small, long, whole shabang. We went to a good daylight fishing spot, since our 7 spot is really dead during daylight hours. Get to the beach and my old gulps are getting hammered by short perch bites. Finally I get one in, sweet got bait for the long now! As I'm prepping my long rod and my girlfriend was searching the rocks for shells she screeches and I look over, looked like a snake in the dirt, but then she's like it's a fish! Poor baby leopard must've been up on shore for hours, I picked him up and took him out deep, but he was so weak and had red sunburn on his belly and skin. I doubt he made it but I tried, there was also a dead thornback right next to him who I also kept as potential bait. Anyhow after I rigged the perch up and casted out, I couldn't buy another bite.

Just enjoyed the day with my lady and caught some rays while the perch soaked, about 3 hours go by without any action on the long and go to start perching again. I see huge salad monsters start rolling in and was keeping my eye on my rod to see if it snagged. All of a sudden a freight train hit on it! Ran up the beach grabbed my rod layed the hook. Huh, doesn't seem anything is on, then a monster run! Get it to the skinny and was super surprised it was not a leo, but my PB Surf Tractor. 56" Sucker ate a whole perch!

After that I was satisfied and we had to go to Santa Clarita so called it a day. A nice day where fishing was secondary but yielded some nice results!

17

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Thursday night shark fight, but not for me! 03/09/17

« on: March 10, 2017, 10:22:09 PM »

Hit the good ol spot up and were greeted by perfect conditions. Warm air, low surf, no weeds a very nice night indeed.


Started the soak at 4PM, figured it was too early but what the hell we had our buddy Tom in tow, hoping to get a shark on his own setup he just purchased, and I'm sure to impress his lady friend ! Anyhow about an hour and a half goes by and Tom's rod gets yanked off to the left in it's holder, his girlfriend and I said it looks like you got hit hard. He was skeptical for some reason and started reeling in. He said "there's nothing on here dude!" I was like damn, but as he cranked in a big bendo and he said "Yeah there is actually something on here!" Lol! This seven was a glutton for aerobatic displays breaching clear out the water and slapping its face multiple times, it was a really cool fight. Went over to some other guy fishing, sounded like he was a Kiwi, told him my buddy had a 7 on and was coming towards him. He was just casting an LC and said "I see it! Enjoy!" Very cool guy. Go for the tail and Tom got a nice 88" male to play at 5:30PM broad daylight!!

Anyhow satisfied with that he left at about 7PM to get back to the valley. After that I had several very tentative bites that would shred the bait off the hook but not give me enough time to set it. At around 7:45 I was talking to Pat and heard a huge splash in the water and turned around to see Pats rod sliding down the beach. He got to it in time but he tried to set the hook and snapped himself off. Well at least it wasn't me this time lol. I get a few more very obvious bites but again was like it was carrying it in its mouth and not eating it. Around 8:30 Pat gets his redemption and lands a 70" male.

The last hour and a half we soaked our baits for no hits, but when we reeled in at the end of the night, bare hooks. A great night with the girlfriend and friends, I sand handed both the sharks so at least I got the real fight lol! The kiwi even made me feel good by saying, " I really liked the way you handled that shark." Well at least I'm doing something right! Good luck to all of you tomorrow! Go Team VC!

P.S. They are definitely breeding right now, both males had engorged claspers and fully visible hemipenises exposed! Mackerel, Incoming, 1-2ft Surf, What's a moon phase?

18

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Night of Farming 02/24/17

« on: February 25, 2017, 01:40:32 PM »

So I was finally able to get out yesterday after a long time of being landlocked. Pulled and all day long excursion making bait at the harbor, got about 5 decent sized white croakers which I was up in the air on as far as effectiveness goes. I ended up picking up a single mac just in case the ronkies didn't produce. Made plans to meet up with Chad at our 7 spot. We got there about an hour before Chad. It was amazing how much the beach topography had changed and you could see a lot of new obstacles that were uncovered or created by the recent storms. Anyhow conditions were perfect, albeit a bit chilly and with quite a powerful rip. The first hour and a half was pretty quiet rod tips dancing as the bait swirled in the rip. Nothing touching the croaker so switched to the mac. At about 7:30 I got the tell tale bang bang tug, fish on! Could tell immediately it was a 7 but he was headed right towards the new rock trap that was created and our gear was getting danger close to getting swamped off the beach. I managed to turn the fish from the rocks but my headlamp was acting funky and it was really hard to get a good bearing on where the fish was going. I was running way to stiff of drag but still managed to get him in the skinny and see his tail and thrashed and then pop, tail waving at me as if to mock me. I'm too rusty lol.

Talk to Chad for a bit about the heartbreak and my lack of enthusiasm making another rig with my headlamp being so dim. He said he was having issues with weeds and offered me a rig he had premade, super cool move Chad! Made sure I got it back to him by the end of the night and told him to move down closer to our area since weeds had been almost non existent for us. Upon getting back to our camp Pat hooked up and was on something a little more feisty than a 7, which manages to catch my line too lol. Turned out to be a nice lively male leo!

Recast out and as we were all talking Chad gets a bite, I see his rod load up, but the fish doesn't stick. Well damn but at least they were biting.  By now all I had left was the croaker, decided to check my bait and start reeling in, damn this is way heavy what the hell, get it up to shore, damn -1 stupid thornback tried to eat almost a whole croaker and got a circle through his wing. Contemplated hacking him up for some bait, but decided we had too little time to fish to kill him and he'd be too much bait. As me and Pat constantly had to relocate our gear running from the tide I was placing my rod down and got another bang bang on it, cranked in fast but I had missed him.

With the primary exit of the beach now under 4 ft of water we had to decide how we were going to exfil off the beach, we'd have to climb up the 12' rock wall and walk on top of them 200yds to our vehicles. I got the jump on it early about an hour before we had to leave, did about 4 trips in total for Pat and I's gear and I guess during all of those Chad got another hook up, but another missed connection. As I was coming down from the last gear run Chad gets another very solid looking bend, after only 10 mins of last getting a bite. This one seems to be solidly on yet sadly for us he did not stay to say hi on the beach. Made sure everyone and their gear made it through the dicey exit then talked about the could have beens and some general jibber jabber and headed home. None the less a good night with good company and at least we know the fish are there and willing!

19

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / So We're All Doing It? 08-21 to 08-27

« on: September 01, 2016, 10:35:03 AM »

Hi guys,

Haven't posted much as I have been super busy and have not gotten out as much as usual. Hit the surf about 3 times in the last two months for nothing but kelp monsters. With the surf being blown out, but still having to itch that itch, I started targeting carp at the local pond, and it seems so have many of us. So without summing up the hours of waiting and the countless lost fish here are some pics of the last weeks fish.




Fisherman Pat's bruiser


Hopefully these damn weeds git out soon and we can all go back to toothy fish. But big lips make for a nice change of pace!

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Chop Chop 7/15/16

« on: July 16, 2016, 01:44:27 PM »

Well made it out to the honey hole last night since surf seemed way too good, even with tides not being entirely the best. Just like last time the beach had a ton of chop right at the suds. Well as the tide was coming in it kept the kelp in a nice condensed string along the skinny. Soaked baits for about 3 hours for a few Leppy type hits, but nothing committed. They seemed on the smaller side since our baits were coming back with inch wide crescent bites out of them. As the tide began going out at 8PM the chop got spread out and real thick, like enough to stand on and a good 30 ft out. I had made one last decent cast that was out of the salad and let it soak for the remainder of the time. End of the day we all wore the stripe, too bad we don't have a way to check salad like tides !

21

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / The Usual 05/11

« on: May 13, 2016, 08:23:56 AM »

Pat, our friend Tom, and I hit the surf yesterday because the forecast just looked too sweet. Got out around 5PM and even though there was calm surf there was a lot of chopped salad. Fishable but definitely an annoyance. I got the first hit around 6:30, but the silly shark took my sputnik and not the bait. My leader to the sputnik was cut clean, but it  was definitely a takedown on my rod lol. About 30 mins later Tom got hit, his cast was literally in probably 3ft of water or less. A feisty 81" female.

We had a fire going on this night as well, which was real nice, but probably made us miss some hits while tending to it. But Pat managed to catch his rod bouncing and brought in a 83" male.

We called it a night at 10PM. I was glad Tom got one, and was OK with Pat getting one  . I'll be back for my special needs sputnik eater lol.

22

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Sharksauge Fest 04/12

« on: April 13, 2016, 12:13:28 PM »

With the leftover bait from Sunday and my farming antics Pat and I decided to hit the surf again tonight. The tides weren't the best for a quick session so we decided we were going to stay late tonight. Arrived at the spot around 7:20PM and conditions were looking nice, minimal salad and nice calm 1-2ft rollers at big intervals. Pat gets bit after about 45 minutes and brings in a nice 56" Leo.

Sorry for the crappy censorship. Anyone in the know up here knows where this spot is, but just in case thar be lurkers LOL.
I end up getting my bait stolen constantly through the night and after another hour Pat is on again with another cookie cutter male at 58", and he looks insane lol.

We decide to move down a little to where we have been having our 7 gilled friends play. I continue to get my bait stolen and after another 30 mins Pat is once again on a fish. This time a 49" bat. I was getting discouraged at this point.

Finally shortly after releasing the bat I see my rod bounce and lay the hook in it. Another male leo 57", a nice skunkbuster.

By this point it was getting late and Pat's phone was on the fritz not taking good pictures at all. We decide that the next fish would be the last for the night. We watch as Pat's rod gets played with a little and all of a sudden stops, then my rod doubles over, the surf was washing machine status right at the shore now and this fish hated that. Big long runs, tailslaps, headshakes, I thought it might be a soupie for a few minutes but it was just a big 98" male Seven.(and of course the camera refused to cooperate!)

The blurry maw.

He was bulky as all hell too, could barely drag his butt up the beach. Another nice night to get out and do some sharkin. And it was nice to redeem some of my lost fish to boot! And the strange thing to me was, all the Leos and the 7 were males, it must've been a really lame party for them because all their claspers were pretty engorged lol. Good luck out there everyone the sharks seem to be hungry!

23

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / The Story of Farmer John and his lucky buddy 04/10 *Now With Pics!*

« on: April 11, 2016, 12:16:42 AM »

So today was my 28th birthday and I wanted to spend it sharkin. My girlfriend and buddy were down for it even if it meant we had to brave a few drizzles. We got to the beach with perfect conditions around 5:20 and I have my first hook up around 25 minutes later, a respectable bat that I totally farmed with a giant crowd around me. I was very embarrassed  . After about 2 more hours and several missed seven bites my buddy finally hooks up on a respectable 52" male leo.


 Again we miss several more sevengilly type bites. Then we recast and the second my friends bait hits the water he's on, and brings in a 72" Gill.

 I see my rod bounce and put my girlfriend on drag duty while we get his fish in. After we snap a few pics I go to check my setup and...nothing at all, hook line and sinker gone. Re-rig and by this point it was getting about the time for us to leave, as we were packing up I get another screamer, set the hook, Sevengill rolls and shakes. I tried to baby the drag and one tailslap and!!! POP!!! Dammit my last chance for the night  . Oh well, time I change out my line I suppose. At least I got to see some grinners for my birthday!  Pics tomorrow!

24

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / More Sevens and a Week Late 03/20/16

« on: March 21, 2016, 08:11:58 AM »

After getting the text and seeing Ron's report me and my buddy decided to hit the grounds again since they have been so good lately. Another short session from 5PM to 10PM, Surf was up but definitely fishable. We had a nice overcast going too which seemed to switch the sharks on much sooner than sunset. About 45 minutes in I get a tell tale bite and it goes slack I try to feverishly get up the slack but he got away with my bait. Another 20 minutes later my buddy has a real screamer, I see it in the waves and saw a huuuuge bat ray. He taped out to 56" I don't know why he didn't show up for the bat fight lol.

Oh well, next year  . About another 40 minutes later I get a  gill to stick but he managed to roll himself off the hook. I worried I'd be having another night of lost fish. Rebait and recast and 15 minutes later I'm on, with glorious aerial displays. The shark would burn through one wave to come smashing out of the other end just going ballistic. He had a pinkish hue so I thought at first I had a nice soupfin, but seeing the tail I knew what he really was. A respectable 84" male.

Definitely the hardest fighting 7 I have encountered. My buddy then gets a good hit but like my first was unable to get to the rod to make it count. About an hour goes by before my next stick but again this 7 was able to roll the hook, on for about a minute then nothing. My buddy then gets his shot at redemption about 30 minutes later and managed this 64" male.

High surf again this week but it was a good few sessions while it lasted, and I'm sure they'll be there when the surf dies again. And hopefully this spot will produce some Soupies in the Summer!!!

25

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Another Successful Last Minute Trip 03/17/16

« on: March 18, 2016, 02:51:56 PM »

With the small surf all this week me and my buddy decided to hit up the 7 spot last minute. Got out at around 5PM with the peak high slated for 8PM. It was slow while the sun was up but once it went down I had a blistering run. Set the hook and felt massive headshakes and tail slaps and it was taking me up the beach. I could tell this was a huge 7 but after one good tail slap *POP*... dammit. Then my friend gets hit about 20 minutes later and again farms the hookset. About 40 minutes later he gets his shot again and hauls up a nice 97" female which actually fought too.


Number two for him. Then I got a solid hookup at about 8:45PM handed it to my girlfriend and it was able to shake the hook. Oh well! Another nice short last minute session and the 7s are really on the chew up here!

26

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / SNBF-IX The VC Edition

« on: March 14, 2016, 07:45:52 PM »

Well with most of the troops at the beach we had a slow night. My buddy, Mrrodda, and I hit up the harbor after the surf pushed us off our small beach. My buddy managed one 41, Mrrodda managed a 42, and I thought I had it with a massive 31"er. I don't have Mrrodda's pics but here are the other two! Fun none the less, we also missed two more!



Great meeting you all who operate in the AO. Next trip is a VC Gill Get Together!!!!

27

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / No bats :'( 03/10/16

« on: March 11, 2016, 12:44:03 PM »

So with the surf down quite a bit from the past weeks decided to scope out a spot for the bat fight. Packed light, with only the long rods and two macs to just give it a shot. Relatively short trip, only fished from about 5:30PM to 8PM before we were flooded out by the tide. Within the first twenty minutes my friends rod began doing the dip and then doubled over. He set the hook and was stoked but he said it didn't feel like anything was pulling. I told him it looks like he finally got his first Sevengill and sure enough it was, a 72" male with engorged claspers. He was super duper happy to finally scratch it off, but was a bit disappointed with the half hearted fight. He was a handful on shore though, probably the greenest seven we've landed, absolutely furious.(Pics when he sends them to me.) After another 15 mins he gets a scorching run but ended up dropping before we could get the rod, dammit, it was the right kind. I rebait and recast and once again my friend is getting bumped again, this time to farm the hook set  . Then my rod starts bending over and I slam it home, could tell it was a small gill but I was happy we were having such a productive night. A little 51" girl.
.
Things slowed down after that and the tide was coming up quick and the surf was beginning to build, but the current remained relatively calm so it was fishable. We started packing up since it seemed the bite had died when I notice my rod doing a dance. Waited for it to load up annnnnnnd farmed the hook set lol  . It was a really nice short session and very productive, lots of sharks in the water. Hopefully we can manage the bats from it too, but alas Saturday is big surf again. Also I have my phone back for all who have tried to contact me, I'll be in touch!!! Good luck to everyone tomorrow!!!

28

Fishing Talk / Some small surf, for once

« on: March 10, 2016, 10:00:51 PM »

Went to scout an area tonight for Saturday. My friend had one batty run that dropped. Other than that two sevengills were caught and another two lost. I'll post a report as soon as I have the pictures.

29

Fishing Talk / I would like to head Team VC for SNBF

« on: February 11, 2016, 11:29:40 PM »

Title pretty much states it all. All of you who have asked if I am going to participate, I am this year(finally). Anyone in our area who wants to be on the team, just PM me and I'll send you my number, even defectors from LA  . I'm going to recon a few beaches Friday night, see how they produce, then if it's good at multiple spots and we have enough bodies, then we can split into "fireteams." Tom let me know if there is anything I can do to try to help put this together. VC has got it this year!!!

30

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Finally Another Outing 02/07/16

« on: February 08, 2016, 09:07:19 PM »

Hi Everyone,

Looks like it's been tough all up and down our SoCal coast. Been hard to nail a bat let alone a grinner. Anyhow went out yesterday after finding a lull in my busy schedule as of late. Salad was too much to bear in NVC so we hit up the harbor with some fresh macks. The usual white croaker did not want to play and it seemed the session would end in those every once in a while skunks. I saw my surf rod getting played with. A tug, tug and a long pull, slack, then a tug, tug a long pull then slack, finally on the last tug, tug, I waited on the long pull and swung the rod home. Upon initial hookup it felt shaky and judging by the hit's I thought it was very sharky. After it wrapped me around a buoy on a long run and several long runs fully buttoned down on 80lbs I knew she was a good model batty. Taped her at 54", sorry no pic of the tape but local dictated a quick release and we snapped pics and then taped, next time I'll do the other way around. But those who have met me know how tall I am  . Fish PORN!

Action Shot.

Money Shot.
Nice to wet a line again! Hope everyone is having a great new year, even if the fish aren't being quite as obliging to bite!