Started around 6:30 am below the Bacara in near decent conditions. The water temperature was a bit chilly at 58 degrees and there was a bit of a swell. My day started off my catching a small sculpin on the 3 inch Big Hammer - first for me - whoopie! The fish weren't cooperating at all. Bryan was sticking to the cranks and I was sticking to the swimbaits for nothing. After working the shallow area for a while I started venturing a bit deeper. The entire time there were lots of dolphins and birds working all over the beach. Once I got out to about 15 feet I found out why. Thick, thick, thick sardines but it seemed like only the dolphins and birds were the ones doing the dining. Later I went back shallow. Bryan had caught a Kelpfish on a 4 inch Clear Red Big Hammer and a short halibut on the crankbait. I started dragging the 3 inch Mackerel Big Hammer around in about 7 feet of water and finally picked up a decent fish at 24 inches. Stuck around a little longer for nothing.

Nice report Pete. I think the inshore stuff is going to be done pretty soon. But the good news for you guys is that the bass bite should be perking up shortly! I'm waiting for Larry to post his first 50 fish day on the Calico Hunter III.

I think you're right but I'll keep picking at them as long as the weather allows. We got them in January a couple years ago so you never know.

I can't wait to do some of that winter time bassin'!

So Pete,

What kind of a retrieve were you using when you picked up that flattie?

BB

A boring one! ;)

No seriously... I finally was able to give slow trolling in the tube a decent shot. Usually the areas I fish are too weedy and you end up either dragging weeds around or checking your lure every two seconds so you might as well cast and retrieve.

Trolling does seem like a very good way to cover a lot of area and perhaps find fish but I don't find it as fun as casting and retrieving. You don't get to feel the strike, crank down, and set the hook. You're just puttin' along and all of the sudden a fish is on (kind of like bait fishing).

Don't get me wrong, catching the fish is a lot of fun and I'm always open to learning new effective techniques but I still prefer casting and working the lure myself. What I'd like to do with the trolling thing is use it to locate fish (if the weediness of the water allows) and then once I find them fish them by casting and retrieving in that area.

Hi Pete, I was fishing Goleta beach by the UCSB stairs at about the same time you were at Haskells. I was fishing from the beach, and had a lot of trouble avoiding the grass and seaweed.

I was even using a 1/4 oz head for the 3" plastic but kept dragging the bottom. I can see now why you recommend the smaller heads, 1/8 oz would probably catch a lot less grass, wouldn't it?

Other than grass, I didn't even get a bite. I think I need some lessons ;-)

** tight lines make all my troubles go away **

I rarely use the 1/4 oz. on the 3 inch from the surf (usually just from the tube) - especially for most of the beaches around here. That beach below the stairs at U.C.S.B. is such a shallow slope that from the surf you're probably never fishing any deeper than 5 or 6 feet. 3/16 or 1/8 oz. heads are definetely what you should be using.

If the loose weeds are scattered throughout the water your best bet is to keep moving until you find clean water because you will get caught up no matter how light of a head you're using. If they are sitting on the bottom then your best bet is to avoid letting the lure touch the bottom.

Pretty much what I was thinking. Thanks!

** tight lines make all my troubles go away **

Pete,
Since you're one of the "Swimbait Yoda's" (somebody else coined it) around here, what do you think about using slider type heads on swimbaits around grass, especillay for Hali's? I've tried it a few times with marginal success. I didn't put a ton of confidence in them and I had trouble finding a head that wouldn't "roll-out" to the side or swim sideways.
I finally found a package of 2 heads that seemed to do it right, on a trip to Oregon, but I tossed the packaging and then lost the heads. I didn't get any Hali's on them but the rockfish thought they were candy. Those heads were alot like the crappie/smallmouth sliders that Bobby Garland(I think?) used to produce, but they had more of a sharp keel to them do to having a deeper profile. They pulled through the weeds quite well with the line tie right at the front and could be rigged semi-Texposed style without getting much roll-out or rigged regular with out any roll-out. If you find any deep profiled sliderheads try them and let me know.

Tight lines,
Wade

Tight lines,
Wade

I have thought about trying different heads. With the way the loose floating "crud" collects on the bait I really don't see how a different head will make a difference - especially once you get down below 1/4 oz. For me this "crud" usually collects around the hook. Texas rigging might help but I'm not too sure about texas rigging a swimbait.

Pulling through attached, stationary weeds (weedless) is a different story - a slider head may make that easier.

Definitely let me know if you have some success with different kinds of heads. Not so much catching fish but avoiding weeds.

Pete,

Assuming that the vegetation is mainly sticking to the hook and not to the leadhead, have you tried shielding the hook with a homemade "weed guard" that can be made with a very thin wire which is wound around the attachment "eye" of the leadhead and formed into a V shape running from the eye to slightly above the hook? To keep the wire stable, thread is wrapped around the wire at the eye and epoxied to the bottom of the eye.

I have not tried this with a swimbait, but it worked well when I attached such a weedguard to bucktail jigs that I used to use drifting in very thick kelp for rockfish and lings in norcal. I bought a few different thin gauges of wire from Netcraft to find the gauge that woked best for that application.

Alternatively, one can drill a small hole at the correct angle behind the attachment eye of the leadhead and glue in a plastic "Y guard". I have not looked for them recently, but a few of the catalog companies used to sell packs of such plastic Y guards. I have never seen a leadhead that comes with a weedguard.

Someone told me that he uses a straight length of a cut rubberband (not necessarily brown)as a weedguard, tying one end to the attachment eye and very barely sticking the hook tip into but not through the other end. I have not tried this.