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 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.

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

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.

Pete,

Hmmmm, you just enlightened me.

I like your style there!

Good suggestion.

I did not have any trailer on my bait...no trailer hook, etc.

M

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

I was sitting on my kayak last season one day fishing a hole deep in the weeds and I was thinking how much it sucked when there was no conditions. I knew the fish where on the spots but at times I just couldn't hold my swimbait the strike zone long enough to get bit even with the lightest heads. I was thinking there has to be a better way to do this then so I thought I would bring some slow falling fresh water bass baits and to try next time I found my self in slack conditions. I was able to keep my lure in the strike zone for much longer as well as having the benifit of fishing in the thick weeds with less worries.

I started trying with fishign weedless baits. Like senko's and soft jerk baits bassassins, and the weedless rigged Wham/blam the can be really good too. I eventually started throwing spinnerbaits at the calicos too and found the swimbait tails or wham/blams worked very well or even just a grub tail. I remember one winter day I made a skirt out squid and that worked well. I havn't tried it but I'm willing to bet removing the skirt and slow trolling a nose hooked dean on a spinnerbait would work when things heat up. When you add all these other lure options in the picture it's a nice suprise to find that they catch fish in the saltwater too. I encourage eveyone to release these fish. Good luck guys

JerryG

Guarenteed you can catch the Calicos on the buzzbaits. I've done it with Brett before. We havent landed anything to brag about, but even a 1lb Calico will crush a buzzbait when there up top.

I know one could catch them on a frog too with braided line, deep in the kelp matts.

Couldnt imagine pulling a 10lb Calico out of that mess. Largemouth are hard enough to get out sometimes.

Cam