Bolsa Chica 4/21/08

[FisherManDingo]

Hey all, Hope everyone is well. Well, I got home from work today and thought to myself...hmmmmm....I'm gonna go fishing! I wanted to try to make up for the bad day I had at NPH. So I decided to go down to Bolsa Chica. I got there around 2:30pm and left at around 5:45pm. Well, I didn't get skunked this time, but I didn't catch anything except for a baby BSP. Little guy was no more than 4-5 inches long. I was using a motor oil/red flake grub for the first half, then switched over to a saltwater gulp sandworm cut in half. I'm beginning to think that my technique is all wrong. Or it might have had something to do with the tides or time of the day. Any suggestions? I'm going out to Seal Beach or even Bolsa Chica again tomorrow. I've been told that 2 hours before and 2 hours after low tide is best. Anyone hear anything deferent? Thanks for reading! Talk to you soon. :D

[Fisherman57]

FMD.....

Thanks for the report, sorry about the tough day.

While there are many factors that will make or break a good day, Tide is IMPORTANT...

I think high tide was somewhere around 11.30am today in the Bolsa area?...... and it looks like there was not a great deal of variance between high and low tide today?...




Learn how to read and use tide charts.. in fact, there are even websites with LIVE beach cams that show up to the minute conditions, and THAT can be very helpful. Ive left home on a sunny day and found miserable overcast conditions upon arrival at the beach.

Take a few moments before you head out the door and look at the live conditions if you can, as it can make or break a good day.

Here's a tide chart example.... looking at January 3rd, the high tide for this area was at 5:25AM..... and low tide was at 1:05PM..... remember tides are specific for the area, so be sure to choose a tide chart that relates to the area you intend to fish.

http://fishinghotpage.com/users/tmp3/1-3-2008-1455-437.png

I like fishing BOTH the incoming tide as well as the outgoing tide.... usually I like starting a hour before high tide and then fish right thru until an hour after... others prefer a slightly different schedule, but thats usually mine.

I also like to fish the days with the highest amount of variance between the low and high tides and if that variance is in close proximety in terms of the time of day.... even better. But try to fish the days where there's a lot of water movement in terms of high and low tide.

Using the same tide chart as shown above... MONDAY has the biggest swing in terms of variance between high and low tides.... a high of 6.1 at 7:49am all the way down to a -0.9 at 3:15PM..... so while theres a nice variance in high and low tides, the times are not ideal (close together) ... but still a good day to fish IMO.

In addition, I look for days when high tide occurs near sunrise..... when that's the case, Ill start fishing about an hour before high tide in the "grey light".... and fish right on thru the sunrise.... or Ill do the same with a sunset high tide and fish until very little light remains.

I've had some great days of fishing when I've fished "grey light"..... just use a weather chart for sunrise & sunset times along with your tide chart to gather all the info... the closer a peak high tide occurs in relation to sunrise or sunset... the better IMO!

I like using this website for my tide information: http://www.tidelines.com (http://www.tidelines.com/)

For info on weather, sunrise, sunset, winds, etc... http://www.weather.com


Hope to see you out there someday!


57

[FisherManDingo]

Thanks for the reply. What would be an ideal variance in tide? Is fishing in the morning better than fishing in the afternoon? I'm going out tomorrow and I need some help before I go out. Thanks once again for replying! :p
FMD.....

Thanks for the report, sorry about the tough day.

While there are many factors that will make or break a good day, Tide is IMPORTANT...

I think high tide was somewhere around 11.30am today in the Bolsa area?...... and it looks like there was not a great deal of variance between high and low tide today?...




Learn how to read and use tide charts.. in fact, there are even websites with LIVE beach cams that show up to the minute conditions, and THAT can be very helpful. Ive left home on a sunny day and found miserable overcast conditions upon arrival at the beach.

Take a few moments before you head out the door and look at the live conditions if you can, as it can make or break a good day.

Here's a tide chart example.... looking at January 3rd, the high tide for this area was at 5:25AM..... and low tide was at 1:05PM..... remember tides are specific for the area, so be sure to choose a tide chart that relates to the area you intend to fish.

http://fishinghotpage.com/users/tmp3/1-3-2008-1455-437.png

I like fishing BOTH the incoming tide as well as the outgoing tide.... usually I like starting a hour before high tide and then fish right thru until an hour after... others prefer a slightly different schedule, but thats usually mine.

I also like to fish the days with the highest amount of variance between the low and high tides and if that variance is in close proximety in terms of the time of day.... even better. But try to fish the days where there's a lot of water movement in terms of high and low tide.

Using the same tide chart as shown above... MONDAY has the biggest swing in terms of variance between high and low tides.... a high of 6.1 at 7:49am all the way down to a -0.9 at 3:15PM..... so while theres a nice variance in high and low tides, the times are not ideal (close together) ... but still a good day to fish IMO.

In addition, I look for days when high tide occurs near sunrise..... when that's the case, Ill start fishing about an hour before high tide in the "grey light".... and fish right on thru the sunrise.... or Ill do the same with a sunset high tide and fish until very little light remains.

I've had some great days of fishing when I've fished "grey light"..... just use a weather chart for sunrise & sunset times along with your tide chart to gather all the info... the closer a peak high tide occurs in relation to sunrise or sunset... the better IMO!

I like using this website for my tide information: http://www.tidelines.com (http://www.tidelines.com/)

For info on weather, sunrise, sunset, winds, etc... http://www.weather.com


Hope to see you out there someday!


57

[Fisherman57]

FMD.... check your PM!




57

[megafisher94]

the tide is EVERYTHING here... i fished there last thursday and on sunday... thursday the tide was high and i got bit like crazy i caught 6 perch and got broke off by a halibut all on the sandworm fliped to the base of the jetty.
sunday all i got was a broken bucket, 7 stitches, and a coroded reel USEING THE SAME TECHNIQES!!!!

i went back over the trip to see what was wrong and the tide was the only variable...as for your methods your pretty much spot on but you could try krocs and lcs

[Frenchie174]

Is there an ideal condition for waves? Because I was surf fishing Huntington beach this past Saturday and the waves were huge. Almost everytime I throw out the krocodile the waves would take it half way in. So is big waves a good thing or a bad thing?

[Wingnut]

Is there an ideal condition for waves? Because I was surf fishing Huntington beach this past Saturday and the waves were huge. Almost everytime I throw out the krocodile the waves would take it half way in. So is big waves a good thing or a bad thing?

Moderate surf conditions are ideal but sometimes you have to make the best of it. Time your cast behind the crashing sets of waves and work your lure behind it. The fish usually wait until the wave crash and rush in to grab the stirred up food or disorriented baitfish.

FisherManDingo: 57 gave you some great advice, tide conditions is crucial. ;) I prefer fishing the incoming tide in the early morning when possible. Keep at it, you'll find success before long. Good luck out there. :mrgreen: