Three of us tubed the Belmont Shores in Long Beach for some halibut. We only hooked 2 fish today, one Tom Cod and one short 18" Halibut that was quick released at the tube. We had great bait, clear blue skies, and a very slight breeze... But the fish were not cooperating. We covered about a 3/4 mile strech of beach. I had two bites all morning and my friends had about the same. They must still be in shock after all the bad weather and merky water.

Tight Lines,
Terry G.

it's better than sitting at home right?

thanks for the report. this board has been dead for the last month.

Did you get bait at Mothers Beach??? If you were my wife and I was the one getting bait too. We saw you guys out there. Sorry you guys didn't do to good. We fished the jetty with nothing to shore for. I did however went out tubing today.

Report:

I finally got my first legal hali for 05 for about 2 mins. Decided to go tubing since fishing on shore wasn't to successful. Got to the beach and started a parallel kick with the shore. About 100 yard from where I launched one of my pole gets picked up. I put the one in my hands on the rod holder and picked up the other rod. Then the other one gets picked-up. I got two pick ups... now what to do??? I allowed ample time for the both of them. I swung on the one that got picked up first and fish-on. Felt like a nice one with violent head shakes. Play tug of war for about a min until the hook pops. No problem reeled that one in and picked up the other rod. Good the fish is still holding on. Put the reel in gear and set it hard. Wow , another good fish. Didn't want to loose this one so I took my time. Got it right underneath me and eventually got it to color. I accidentally touched it with my fins and it went balistic cutting my line. Damn, I managed to loose two fish. The day didn't start to good. I kept on kicking and about 30 mins later I got picked up again. Since there was too much line out, I kicked back to where the fish was so I could get a better hook set. I got close enough to where I didn't spook the fish. Set the hook hard and this one took off. Eventually it slow down and I was able to sloooooooowly work it back to me. Finally got it up and saw that if was very legal. It was also hooked very good on the boney mouth. Now comes the hard part, landing it. I first try to grab the tail only to scare it back down. I got it up again and did what I always do, HAND GILLING. Not after several attempt and getting all wet I got my hand in. I couldn't find my long stringer so I attached it to a short rope I had. Since it was to short I didn't want to tie it next to me and have the hali coming back, taking a snap at me so I tied it to my bait bucket. I droped the hali down into the water and it took off, taking my bait bucket with it. I looked at my snapping swivel that hold the bucket to find it really rusted and the snap on the outside. DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMN. I put on a treb and try the surrounding area for about 15 mins to no avail. So I gave up and started to work my way back with no more bait except for the one on the other rod. Half way back I got picked up and brought in a 15" hali. I felt so bad after losing that fish. I didn't want to fish anymore today. It's not the bucket but the fish. The bucket is only $1. The hali's going to be pulling on that bucket until it dies or someone snag it. I'm heading back out tomorrow so hopefully the current brings it ashore.

Hey Wang. That was a funny story of unfortunate events. It's too bad you lost that legal on your bait bucket. I was the one making bait in the morning working the umbrella net. I don't know what the deal was Sunday, but the fish were not biting at all. Good to hear you had better luck on Monday. I'm not sure what kind of "bait bucket" you use on your tube. I use one of those yellow bait sleds and tie a small diameter braided rope to it. I tie a loop on the loose end of rope and attach a small carabiner. That way the bait sled can clip on to many different points on your tube without the risk of breaking off. Anyway, better luck next time!

Terry G.