My good friend Brett Woodward took me fishing last Friday out of Dana Point.

My first time in his Whaler Montaulk (sp?). What a beatful boat, and great ride. I cannot say enough about how nice it was on the ocean. It was like a summer day.

We did a milk run to the local structure and threw spinnerbaits at the fish. We ended up catching upwards of 15 fun, good sized calicos. I early released one about 4lbs at the boat, would have been a great picture fish. They were creaming our spinnerbaits. What a blast! I haven't caught more than one or two fish in a day in a long time!

I am dying to do that more. Talk about an untapped resource! Shoots....

Matt

(I have an image of Brett with a fish...the file is too big to upload and I can't edit it at the moment....)


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/643.gif

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

Attachment #1, (.gif file)

Nice, Matt- seriously, paddling a longboard and throwing plastics and blades can be so good, and almost nobody does it- talk about untapped resources. You can fish really tight where the big checkers hang, or fish the thickest kelp where even a Florida swamp boat would have trouble. Always a chance of a big WSB or butt, I got dragged around the inside of Strands this summer by what I'm sure was a big seabass before the bastard finally went inside the big dry rock (low tide) right off the ramp and sawed me off- pretty easy to tell a grump croaker, the big round surface cruise with no flapping of the wings (bat ray) or up and down head shakes of a big butt or shovelnose. They love that inside stuff. Here is a nice cali taken in about 6' of water on the inside of the normal line up at Old Mans, on a flat evening- BIG butts here too!

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Wow...nice calico!

Can't wait to kayak there...
And strands, for that matter...

qm

Quietman

http://www.kayakfishingpro.com

Good to see they are biting in the cold water. Were they mostly up top or down deep? Thanks.


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Fongster,

They crush my blade on the surface for a while...waking it like I was in some Florida bass lake. That's how the 4lber hit it....

However, as the day progressed, they wanted it deeper...more slow-rolled.

Brett fished a "LedgeBuster" ... a 2 oz spinnerbait out deeper and caught the most fish....

Shhhhhhh.

M

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

What kind of spinnerbait?

Are we talking the same thing I have in my freshwater bass box, or is there some unknown zone of specialty saltwater spinnerbaits that I will feel compelled to buy too much of?

-j

Good going on the Calico's! Also Chris, H's was breaking yesterday although inconsistent (but some big fun sets)...about 8 guys out in the late afternoon including myself. Caught one 8 footer that lined up great...was slotted and barreled for what seemed forever...just missed coming out...all of this on a longboard too! Best wave I had in a LONG time...felt like I was at Kirra or something for a moment! Three guys were out there today...not as good, but Creek looked pretty good...a bit walled but very glassy.

Yep, a 3/8 oz Nichols spinnerbait that I'd throw at freshwater bass was what I was chucking.

I fish mostly freshwater bass (not for long though!) and just threw the blade I had tied on...

A heavier, 1/2 to 3/4 oz blade might be nice to have along too....

Just a single or double willow leaf blade should do the trick.

Matt

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

Heroins looked pretty good yesterday...i wanted to get out there but unfortunetly i got 20 stitches in my head the other day....due to surfing....o well. But i looked yesterday evening and saw you guys or some people out there getting a few good ones. that wave can be a lot of fun...

Save a wave, Ride a surfer.

Grom, it was inconsistent, but fun when the big sets came in. Got a number of fun ones that lined up (watch out for the lobster trap if you connect all the way through to the inside). However, that one big set I got was really a blast! Creek/Gravels looked good yesterday too, but pretty walled/closing out which means a lot of work (paddling) out there!

Salty Spinnerbaits - yeah!

Do you use trailers on your spinnerbaits? Try using a 3 or 4 inch (I've had better success with the 3s) Big Hammers as trailers. It really makes a cool looking (and acting) bait. I've tried it with and without the skirt - both work - calicos and largemouths.

Last summer I used the Big Hammer trailer without a skirt on a buzzbait and slammed the smallies in a river back East. Since then a calico on a buzzbait with a swimbait trailer has been plaguing my head.