The tale begins at 5:00PM when Brian #2 decided to come down to Harbor Tackle, and then we'd fish afterwards, but he backed out and decided to study. That's right, study. So, I stayed at the tackle store till about 6 then headed over to the bait barge. I was in the water at about 6:15, 6:30. Pete was kicking toward the bait barge from the wharf where he'd been halibut fishing, and Mark was at the bait barge. No sooner do I reach the bait barge than Mark hooks up a 20" seabass. My first cast I get a clone. Mark gets another one as I'm unhooking it, and my next cast I get another one, same size. About this time Pete comes over and reports that he got only one 16" halibut over there, but got slammed by something and almost lost his rod, and missed the fish. Pete started throwing the big rainbow trout swimbait with a rattle and hit a legal pretty quick. From there it was pretty much stupid. We'd knock a fish here, knock a fish there, get bit every cast for awhile, then every other cast, then every 5 minutes... Most of the fish were short until I set the hook on one, and I literally was pulled forward in the seat of my float tube on the hookset/initial run. If the cross strap hadn't been there, I would've fallen through the hole. Once I gathered myself, I discovered I was being pulled forward, and my reel was singing the sweet song of burning drags. After about 10 or 15 feet of being pulled, Pete hooked up a nice fish behind me, and he started getting pulled around too. For a while I had visions of bat rays in my head because the fish just made really regular, thump thump thumps and wasn't shaking it's head the way seabass do. But then toward the end it started changing directions a lot, and I was relieved. I was even more relieved to see that silver color. I kicked over to Pete and netted a 32"er. Pete's fish was EXACTLY the same size (and same weight, which we determined later, 8-7). So, that was cool. It wasn't even dark yet. We probably caught a couple more shorts in there, and then the sun went down and I caught another legal and the we might've caught some more shorts in there somewhere. Final count was I had 5 short seabass, 2 legals (damn 1 fish limit...), and 3 queenfish (they look exactly like tiny little seabass). Pete probably had a similar count, I know he had 2 legals. Mark got a few shorts and lost two nice drag burnin fish. Most of our fish came before it got dark so it was really weird. Really early bite. I caught all of my fish on a fastrac minnow, the first 3 or 4 were on the 5 inch and the rest (including the two legals) were on the 4 inch. Pete got a few on fastracs/fastrac like baits, but I think most of em came on the swimbait. Nobody had a digital camera this evening, so we're waitin on the regular film. I'll post pics as soon as they come in.
-Brian

HOOKUP!

Studing may make you smarter...but it sure dont catch you no white sea bass! Ill be out there tonight no doubt! Im smart enough already!


I Cant Believe i missed that bite because i was studying!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Brian #2



I am such a dumb $hit!

Holy #$@%!!!!! I'm there tonight for sure. Call me asap Brian(both of you:-)) I will meet both of you at harbor tackle right after practice? Later(class is starting)

Man oh man. I watched you guys post about catching legal seabass in the harbor all last summer. And here we go again. You guys have motivated me to get off my lazy party boat butt and buy a yak.

Thanks for the amazing story! But, I'm wondering if it would be better if you kept this information under wraps, if you know what I mean? News like this gets out and all of a sudden you're competing with tons of boats, kayaks, and float tubes in a VERY limited area. Then the traffic from all these fishermen might hinder boats going into and out of the harbor and next thing you know, the Harbor Patrol will ban all fishing from the harbor. Hey, don't get me wrong, I appreciate you sharing your experience and knowledge with the cyberworld but sometimes a fisherman's secret should stay that way.

Shakabra,
Actually this issue has come up lately. For some reason a couple people have said that I give out too much info, or I shouldn't be saying so much about the wsb, yada yada. My opinion is this-

Without going too far into it, I'll only address the problem of overcrowding. Maybe you weren't around last year, but we had the same bite at the same place all summer last year, and posted a report everytime we fished. Most of the time we were the only guys out there. Occasionally we'd see one or two other tubers, but I can only really remember a couple times where there were more than 3 or 4 other craft fishing the bait barge. So, it seems that the over crowding issue is not much of a concern. However, we did remind people a lot last year that the harbor IS for boats, and we should get out of their way if they need to come and go, or use the harbor... We're not supposed to be there adn should be courteous to the people who actually need to use the facility. Most of the time we're off to the side of the main channel and not in the way of any boats anyway, unless we're chasing a fish. So, until the day that I see 5 to 10 guys in float tubes/kayaks fishing the harbor, I really don't think it's much of a concern. Most of the guys on this site believe that keeping secrets from other anglers doesn't benefit anyone. I'd much rather have lots of guys having fun than myself becoming a worse angler catching fish that have no pressure, have never seen a lure, and are as easy to catch as shooting ducks in a barrel. I could go on and on about this exact issue, but I think you get the point.
-Brian

Brian,

Very well said. I for one, really appreciate the info that you share with us. I do not live in your area and am not about to make a run south just because I read your report. However, it still gives me insight on baits, techniques, and presentations that I can use on my favorite water. So my friend, keep those post coming and NEVER hold back on us. Thanks for all of the help you provided, I will continue to look forward to your posts.

Tight Lines and Loose Lips

Clay

P.S. Brian #2 Dude get your priorities staight!!!!! jk :)

Here fishy, fishy, fishy......

Clay

I SHOULD HAVE GONE!!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK...OH, WELL.
I didnt feel too good and I figured 4 or 5 tubes would be too much, I was wrong. Who's going tonight? i might go but you know how croaker are...anyways, it might be worth a shot. gimme a ring brian

shakabra
Why would you, or anyone for that matter, be on this site if there weren't any reports? Posting a report about your trip means that you have the enough confidence to share, without without worrying about it if a few people come and try to get in on your action. I've done it for years and it's never come back to bite me. All it's done is made me new friends and in the long run hooked me up with more info myself.
If you want to lurk, lurk but don't complain about other people sharing.

If a problem does ever arise from fishing the receiver it will not be because of too many tubers. It will be idiots who don't have a clue getting in the way of what the harbor is for - the launching and landing of boats. If everyone uses common sense there should never be a problem.

This is an area where float tubes shine mainly because you can move and fish at the same time (i.e., get out of the way).

***********************

You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

Swimbait, I visit or "lurk" on this site to obtain valuable information from other fishermen. I have no problem with the sharing of fishing knowledge. I just hate to see someone's fishing hotspot get overrun by others. Posting a fishing report for a small area within a small harbor is a lot different than posting a report about a fishing trip to a local island or reef. You don't have to give details on exactly where you're catching fish to be able to share valuable information and experience with others. Kudos to Brian for wanting to share his experience with us but I think most fishermen would be quite reluctant to do so. I've never fished inside SB Harbor before in my life but I merely wanted to express my observation about Brian's post.

Amen,Shakabra- Take it easy Swimbait. We're all here to help each other.

I agree that most fishermen would not share as much as I do. That's why I do it. I'm not concerned in the least with it getting fished out in any way. There simply are not enough tubers/kayakers that read this message board that would happen to be there consistantly on the right nights to do damage. I fish the harbor at least 4 or 5 nights a week when it's on, and that's really how often you have to fish it to get the good bites. If you show up one night and get a good bite, that's luck. Usually you have to put in your dues. I know of 3, maybe 4 guys that fish it as much as I do, and that's after a whole summer of posting every single trip and every single fish and every single lure that I caught em on. I think your intentions are good if you're concerned about the fishery being over-fished, but if you're only concerned about a fisherman giving away his hotspot because he should keep it to himself I whole heartedly disagree. I'm not trying to stir the pot here or anything, and I think you bring up some good points, so I hope it can stay civil, but I'm not the type of person to hold out on people. I want to expand the sport and see guys having fun, and it WILL pay off for me. I've seen the tight lipped guys that don't say anything about any of the fish they catch and if they needed a favor on something I'd think twice about it, but the guys that share every detail of every fish they caught no matter what are the guys that often times become my best friends, and I'm more than happy to help out when they need it. There are a lot of reasons why I post like I do. I've stated most of them. Basically I post this much information for the following reasons: 1) I don't believe in holding out on people who have the same interest as me, 2) a personal record for myself to refer to next year, 3) what goes around comes around and if I were to do the opposite and say, "I caught 7 seabass, but I can't tell you where..." it would only give people the impression that I'm a little prick instead of a helpful fellow angler, 4) that's how I've always done it, and that's how I'll always do it, 5) this site is pretty low-pro. Sure there's some stuff I post on here that I wouldn't necessarily submit to WON or post on Allcoast, and I'd like to reward the local guys that read this site often because Rob's a good friend of mine and I'd like to help out the website, 6) that's just the way it is, take it or leave it. If you find a secret seabass spot, feel free to keep it to yourself if you think you're not good enough to keep up with a little competition, but that's not the way I feel. 7) A secret spot that doesn't receive any pressure will only have dumb fish that have never seen a lure and are extremely easy to catch, which may be good for some beginner anglers for confidence building, but for me it would only make things worse because it would be like catching planter trouts. No skill involved and when I actually had to CATCH wsb at the islands or something I'd be totally clueless even though everybody thought I was the "seabass master". So, that's why. If you don't like the way I do it, what can I say? You can not read my reports and deprive yourself of information, you can find your own spot and tell people however you want about it, but this is "my" spot and my rules, take it or leave it.
-Brian

You make good points, young grasshoppa. Keep in mind it wasn't my intention to criticize you.

But, me thinks it is "your" spot no more...

Hey, fine by me if it's not "my" spot (that's why "me" was in quotations in the first place...). Glad nobody had any hard feelings, it's good to hear different sides of the fence once in a while.
-Brian

To categorize exellent professionals that make a living (& may I add more than me) at what we all love (fishing) as your so-called barnys, & reading your last post-----------Hmm--Was-up grasshopper-or would you prefer Barn,(for short)

Randy,
Yeah, I really am glad nobody had any hard feelings... First of all, barni is spelled with an i, second of all, I didn't write the barni section, this isn't even my website, so if you have a problem with the content of this site please contact the webmaster. I fail to see how I can be categorized as a barni. I think I've actually been the opposite in this situation, so perhaps you could expand on that... We have a very low tolerance for pot stirrers and flamers around these parts, so if you can't keep it civil, then please discontinue this conversation.
-Brian

thats all right young grasshoppa, I know your not a barni