SWBA tourney partner John Strenk and I opted to stay close to the harbor while most folks ran north and south. I and others have had excellent catches around the area in the past so we decided to concentrate our efforts there. We found tons of bait and bass marks on many spots but very few biters and even fewer hook-ups. We had a very slow start with only one legal sand bass and a short calico but decided to stay for the tide swing which didn't help at all. With little time left, we opted for a mad dash up around the point for some new water. The reward for that was our one and only legal calico at 11:37 AM, about twenty minutes before we had to split to make weigh-in. There are certainly disadvantages to small boat, lack of speed being one of them. It is unfortunate that we spent a lot of time in our first area but as I mentioned, we had a lot of confidence in it. I heard from other folks that both down south and up north had decent to good bites in both the kelp and on shallow rocks. I guess only our area sucked. We even were awarded "team first place outside of the money" with the prize being a Phenix rod. That only lasted a few seconds until they realized that the results were read wrong, lol. We still had a great time with no mishaps and the tourney was well run as ever.

Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

Thanks for the report Fongster. When will Big Hammer come out with their new color patterns. I noticed the new baits say "coming soon, " on their site. Thanks.

Gophish

Hi Tony, many are already out--they debuted at the Fred Hall show. They just haven't posted photos yet. Send them an email asking for photos of the new baits. (sorry, Pete :-)

Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

hey david, its me ivan (fishn chips) you werent the only one that struggled. we thought that down south was the place to be. so we headed to mateo kelp. the kelp was up high and we couldnt find current if our lives depended on it. the current was so slack that i was throwing 1/4oz and i hitting bottom, i was straight up and down like in 30 seconds. there were fish to be caught and we found the pattern to late. we had to drift onto the kelp and pitch grubs down. peter had an estimated 3lb calico hooked on, it jumped through the kelp and unhooked. our hearts stopped as he layed on his side on top of the mat. we reached for our net, and he swam away. he also hooked up to a 12 3/4", as he was brining it up it was followed by another 4 lber. i was snagged on kelp and by the time i broke my line and picked up another rod he turned away. just our luck!!! saturday was just a nightmare for us. after the raffle we hitched the boat up an launched out of newport and drove to the "pipe" we slammed the sandies. about 40 fish up to 4 lbs. and after the pipe we went to the bay and fished for some mud marlins. we ended up catching two 150+lb rays. both of the spooled us to the knot, we finally got them tired and after about 20 minutes we brought them up. after it was all said and done i got home at 5 am. sunday morning for a 26hour fishing day. once again we were unable to meet, ill show you pictures next tourney. good luck, i got to get on the ball!!!!

Most if not all of the new color patterns are up on the Big Hammer Site, check um out at www.swimbait.com

Brian #2

Bad days happen. It's just part of fishing. I know you and John can fish, it just wasn't your day. Now get over it and go wet a line. :)

JP