On Saturday, 4/28, Chris Backstrand joined me on my 15 Gregor, Bassomatic, for some calico bass fishing. We launched at Dana Point and ran north to some inside stones. The shallow stones and boiler fishing was surprisingly good considering that the water was only 57.1-57.8 degrees. We fished the darker colored 4 and 5 inch Big Hammers early and then switched to tennessee shad and brownback grunion later. The larger 6 inch size was productive in the whitewash, too. The key seemed to be using the Fishco leadheads in lighter weights combined with a very slow retrieve. The surf was a perfect size--just enough to create some surge but small enough to allow us to put the boat on the beach side of the boilers. The overcast really helped the shallow bite as it stuck around the whole time. I hooked and dumped a huge halibut at boatside when it surged and took advantage of a nick in my 20#. We both saw it only two feet under the surface and agreed it was close to 36 x 16 inches in size. We ended up catching and releasing 23 legal bass (21 calicos and 2 sandies). There were several 3 pounders with the largest calico 4.0 pounds. We wrapped up at 12:40pm.

Sounds better than a sharp stick in the eye. A couple of freinds and I almost went last week, but the wind was nasty, so we hit SD bay. Fished the Wistler Bouy first though. In about 45 min. I had 5 legal calicos one was around 4#, the others were the regular models. Got 'em all on the brownbait Wham.Unfortuanately, my partners weren't so lucky, and we were getting beat up a bit in the 5'+ swell and strong winds.

While not expecting specific rocks, what general areas did you hit? We were going to hit Pinnacles, Treasure Island, and a couple boilers I really like that I can't hit in my tube w/ out a long long walk.

Amish Ed

Hey Ed, we got as far north as Victoria. Most all the boilers and stones we fished held at least a couple bass. Most of our fishing was from there down to the hospital. I'm sure you'll get fish at any of the public access spots. I tried some patch reefs that were further out than the ones I normally fish--they were holding too. The tides were so low, the exposed boilers blocked the surf like a wall, that's what allowed us to get on the beach side. Good luck.

Fongster, nice report and good fishing. To bad the Halibut got away.

JP