Fished Topanga again today. All I can say is slowwwww. I caught 3 sandies off of the Charthouse before heading up to the point where I caught the biggest sculpin I have seen in a while, about 2.5-3#. Wasn't expecting that in the shallow water. I had a couple fish on momentarily that threw the hook. On the next cast some short to just legal 'cuda follow my swimbait in, I was getting excited as I haven't gotten into a WFO slimer bite this year. Next cast I hook one momentarily before it came unbuttoned. That fish must have frayed my line because while I made my next cast the line broke. I retie and throw another swimbait out, hook up, I'm thinking yes, finally a barracuda, nope, its another sandbass. I kept trying but as much as I varied the retrieves all on got where short bites and follow ups, too bad. Finally I got focused on halibut again and hooked a 21.5" right away. I was thinking they were in but I worked the area hard and got only one calico. All fish caught and released on Keylime and Rainbow Trout swimbaits.
Tommy

very cool report! I am going to be starting to fish the ocean from shore this winter, I usally hit the lakes ,but the saltwater fishing is so hard to get away from .I am looking for some cool spots to start out at, I am driving from pasadena so its not to far. any tips would sure help Thanks Connolly

Hmmm. Lets see, I'm not much of a shore fisherman, I can't even remember catching a fish from shore but I can tell you during the summer months Topanga can be very good for halibut. Just throw small 3-5" swimbaits as far as you can and bounce them along the bottom or retrieve them in strait, thats what I do from my kayak anyway. Topanga is located in Malibu a couple of miles North of Venice Beach During the winter months it can be pretty tough for halibut here. For perch and corbina you might try Venice with sand crabs or lug worms. From what I understand the surf fishing slows down in the winter but perch will still bite. Anyway, thats all I can tell you, keep an eye out for reports on this board, there are some pretty knowledgable surf fishermen that frequent this board.
Tommy

Thanks I will be checkin it out.