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Forum nameSaltwater Fishing in California
Topic subjectSantabarbara Calico Carnage!
Topic URLhttp://www.calfishing.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=3960
3960, Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by CalicoHunter, Sat Nov-10-01 05:42 PM
I tell you it was nice to sleep in till 4:30am for a change!That getting up at 2:00 stuff for albicore was getting tiresome! Anyways it seemed everybody had something to do today so I fished solo out of S.B., and true to form the bass went nuts preceeding the incoming storm, I started off at ledbetter, caught 12legals to 2lbs (mostly sandies) in there, then moved over to the one mile to try and get some quality, first drift only gave up two fish, but I said Ill give one more before moving on, and then all heck broke loose! those bass went wide!! and decent quality plus almost all calicos lots of 2-4lb fish, went the dust or should I say spray settled I caught and released 56 legal bass to 4lbs 70/30 cali/sandie mix all caught on 4-5in bighammers with the new silver sardine and good ole clear/red flake being the top two producers. water temp was 61.4 color was a nice off green/blue and the drift was smoking up hill due to current with wind, I was covering .25miles in about 10-15min!....Larry

3961, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by Outrage19, Sat Nov-10-01 07:01 PM
Way to whack'em Larry!! 56 legals caught and released is some mighty fine #'s and solo makes it just incredible! Gotta love that sleeping in to 4:30. LOL
You planning on making your presence known at the "Wall" tourney? I need some competition in the drag race and based on last years performance you seem to be the one to shoot for. ;-)

Dave(Outrage19)




3962, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by CalicoHunter, Sun Nov-11-01 02:50 PM
Hey Dave! I would't miss the wallbangers drag boat finals,I mean wallbanger tourney! Im not going to be able to prefish at all so Im gonna have to reley on my ringers!It my my job to drive the boat anyways LOL! See you there Dec 1rst...Larry
3963, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by Outrage19, Sun Nov-11-01 06:35 PM
No worries Larry. I will be in Costa Rica the entire week prior to the tourney so no pre-fishing for me either!!

What does pre-fishing have to do with drag racing anyway?? :-)

Gentlemen.... Start your engines!!!!

Dave(Outrage)





3964, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by brian, Sat Nov-10-01 08:12 PM
Damn harbor tournament... Nice work brah.
-Brian
3965, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by swimbait, Sun Nov-11-01 02:53 PM
Larry you are the man, one for always kicking bass on the calico, and two for inventing such clutch colors like Calico Hunter and Silver Sardine. Silver Sardine is the stuff!
3966, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by , Mon Nov-12-01 09:21 AM
Great report. At what depths were the fish hanging, and what weight leadheads did you need in that drift? I fished the same areas the day before and seemed to be there at the start of the pre-rain action with about a dozen fish c&r, many missed strikes, and many fish lost about half way up. The action was furious at times. Because most of the metered fish were within two feet of the bottom and all of the bite happened there I believe that I could have done even better with heavier leadheads.

Thanks.

3967, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by CalicoHunter, Mon Nov-12-01 01:46 PM
Mr Salmonoid,all the fish were within 10-15cranks of the bottom, (fishing 56-70ft of water depending on the drift)and I was using two basic types of rigs on one with 12lb line 4in swimbait 3/4oz head, and 15lb line 5in swimbait 1oz head,you needed to let out at least a half a spool before you got the right angle on it, the more angle the better it stays in the zone! I letting it get down to the knot sometime on my curado reels. You might wanna take a look at Plastic Fishing 5-5-5 on this website, it covers alot of the basics of the way I fish swimbaits...Larry

p.s. in these cold water months don't be afraid to put a little scent on those swimbaits!
3968, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by swimbait, Mon Nov-12-01 01:55 PM
When Larry speaks it is best to listen. I have never seen someone slay like he does on plastic. And the day we went was a "slow" day. We only had like 27 legal bass between three of us :-) Read the 5-5-5 article carefully, it is no bull.
3969, 5-5-5 Where?
Posted by , Tue Nov-13-01 01:04 PM
Where is this article?

Tight lines,
Wade
3970, Right Here
Posted by swimbait, Tue Nov-13-01 01:28 PM
http://www.calfishing.com/saltwater/calico_hunter/index.html
3971, Thanks
Posted by , Wed Nov-14-01 07:12 AM
That was a good article that covered plenty quickly. I haven't found a lot of Calicos this far north but I can see that this can be applied to other similar species, most notably blues and olives with some downsizing of baits. Would these tactics be good for the WSB that are showing up in better and better #'s in this area? If so, with what changes?

Tight lines,
Wade
3972, RE: Thanks
Posted by , Wed Nov-14-01 01:22 PM
Regarding blues and olives (and blacks) I used to do very well with these between San Francisco and Santa Cruz using light tackle and a dropper with a homemade white bucktail shrimpfly (+ mylar)tied onto a hook on which I pinned a motoroil grub. In the right areas these are almost "can't miss" species. Most were small blues, but I caught a 3.25 and and a 4.0 black on this rig.

I caught other rockfish and lings on the swimbaits there, but not blues or olives. You are right; you should probably go to smaller swimbaits for these species.

Good luck.
3973, RE: Santabarbara Calico Carnage!
Posted by , Tue Nov-13-01 02:07 PM
I know that he's the man; a true "king" who does not boast about it. I knew about him even when I lived in the SF Bay area. I read his article, but have learned even more from his posts.

Thanks to all.