First 5 species day 8-4-08

[tacklejunkie]

I had a surf day planned for a while now and seeing Wingnut's crazy reports always get me going. Decided last night to head out early this morning and see what I could stir up at the beach!

Got to the Reserve at about 5:45 and tied up my rods and gear for a minute. Watched the water at the reserve for a good indication of how the surf would be later while tossing the LC hoping for a fish before 6am. No such luck so off to the the bag girl beach accross the street.

First few casts and I pick up a short "flat boy" on the french LC.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf001.jpg

Started working around some more. Got brave and took a few casts under some pilings hoping I could pull a bass out of thin air bouncing the lc off the rocky bottom. I dunno what happened but I guess this octopus got on there somehow so I'll count him in as a new species :LOL: Sucker was extremely smart. He unhooked himself AND released himself while changing colors to blend in to the rocks and he knew exactly which way to go to get to the water! The pics do him no justice, that was a crazy cool lookin' creature.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf002.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf003.jpg

Then I did something I've been wanting to do for a long time..
My first Croaker on the LC! When I hooked it I saw him jump 3 feet out of the water. I thought is was a 'bean at first so I was surprised when I reeled it in and saw what it was.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf004.jpg

Then some dudes come up next to me and threw in their anchovies and pulled out 2 three foot long leopard sharks back to back! I was like what! I just so happened to have a bag of old once used chovies in my cooler in good condition. Rigged up a C-rig with a 2oz pyramid weight and a No1 mosquito with a chovie on it Hoping to get my first leo. Casted out and I get a lil nibble! Wasn't a Leo but I was stoked none the less, never caught one of these.

I was trippin' cause he was swingin' his tail around acting like he wanted to stab me with it. It was hard to pry him off the rock to release him too, but back he went after a few pics. :Surprised: Can these things sting me?
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf006.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf008.jpg

Then I decided to change up spots for a few. Threw the LC for another while but no love there unlike a few fish from last time at that spot. :Confused:
So I threw out the chovies again and picked up another bigger one of the weird things that are very uncooperative :Razz:
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf009.jpg

Out went the chovie line again.
And back in came one of these pesky lil boogers.. (actually released OK for once) I saw lots of needlefish following my LC too, but could not get them to bite it.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf010.jpg

One more spot change for the day cause I couldn't resist on the way home and the moldy twice used bag of chovies yielded it's last fish for me.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/surf%208-4-08/surf011.jpg

that's all she wrote! No great lure bite today like I had planned but I got some variety that made up for it and had fun trippin out on my new specieses. :Shocked: Hope you enjoyed the pics.. Thanks for reading!
-TJ

[Wingnut]

That Octopus was way cool! :Shocked: I would love to add that thing to my species list! :Envious: Nice variety there Casey, well done.
I'm not sure that every Ray can stab ya, but why take the chance. :Wink:

[olfishergal]

Very nice variety...........well done........OFG

[calico killer kevin]

Nice fish. Don't worry about those little rays stinging you. For some reason the halis in the reserve don't want swimbaits or lc's. The only thing I've had success on are various dropshotted plastics.

[CrabMan]

Casey,

I love the ray on the rock. It looks like a space craft landing just in time to eat your rod and reel.:EyePop:

What were the conditions like today? The surf has been small for the past week and this morning we had sun and no overcast for the first time in a while.

[tacklejunkie]

Conditions were actually fairly tough..
Looow tide when I showed up and quick currents at the inlets and the reserve. Cloudy waters for sure. No love on the krocks or the 4" 3/8oz big hammer chovy color near the bottom and nothing touched the drop shot all day besides the pesky needlefish bouncing off it left and right :Razz: The tide switch was very quick today and not much time for the sediment to settle. Saw some schools of either croaker or corbina at one spot and at another spot walked up to a very large YFC in the surf looking right back at me.

[ikeman]

gotta love ocean fishing. Teeming with species and opportunities for new catches. Great job!
You can see in the first shot of the ray, the raised area showing where the "fun" end of the ray is! A word of advice, many people get hit by that barb when unhooking. That tail whips around, and then, a whole lotta' fun for sure!!!! The water is warm and they can get thick in the surf right now. (Remember, if you get barbed, p#ss on it! Then hot water, as hot as you can stand. They hurt bad. My buddy got hit in the surf last year.
Looks like a round ray, the most common off our beaches. Remember to do the foot shuffle thing when surf fishing w/out waders.

[GOTFISHUES]

thats sick,

nice mix for sure, octopie on the l.c. i thought my drop-shotted one was a trip, you take the cake. nice report, and they do "sting"

GOTFISHUES

[flyngby]

TJ,

Nice work on the 5 species out there. Moving around pays off.

As for the bussiness end of that pesky little Round Ray it will only get you once!!!!!

I got hit in the thumb last year and it was like somebody whacked the thumb with a hammer!!!!!!!!!

Keep up the nice reports.

Steve

[steve092]

Nice job out there bro!

[vertical]

hi everyone... this "reserve" thats being talked about... is it the one across BCSB along PCH1?
I was there sometime ago and did some fishing off the "jetty" at the end of the parking lot of BCSB and got some nice multi species fun... my original intention was to try out the "reserve" first but since I had no idea if I was in the right place... I went to the BCSB gate and asked the person at the gate ( the person ya pay $10 to be able to get in the beach and park) and he told me that fishing is not allowed in the "reserve" ... so am i in the right place ...

I have a link of the map that i think is the reserve 8)... pls correct me if im wrong...
Since I was told that the "reserve" was off limits to fishing, I decided to fish the jetty on the parking lot side of the beach.... there are "no fishing" signs posted along the pillars of the bridge on PCH1.
Another Question: If you look at the map on the link... if one was to go under the bridge (actuall crossing PCH1 from the shore of the jetty) is fishing allowed there? and has anyone actually tried to fish that area?

thanks...

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=33.684782,-118.034749&spn=0.012141,0.027895&t=h&z=16

[tacklejunkie]

Yes that small area you have pictured is PART of the reserve.
Go down the street northward more to Jack in the box at the north end of the beach, and make a right on warner. then make your first right into the reserve.

The area shown on your map is illegal to fish. It is also illegal to walk under the bridge and fish. (although a lot of people fish under the bridge for corbina and hali's be careful the DFG doesn't nail you because I've seen it happen to a guy with a big corbina) The legal part of the reserve is near the jack in the box and the area you are allowed to fish is very small. (by the reserve building in the parking lot)

[Robert trout hunter]

Wow thanks for this report :)

[vertical]

wow... thanks for the info... finally made it to the reserve but it was low tide... decided to hit the beach jetty and got a couple of sharks, 3 YTC and 2 of what i think are corvinas.. sori nothing worth gettin pictures of today. Got off the rocks around 11am and had lunch with the family... then off to the reserve again... The water was better right around 1pm (high tide) and 3mins into my first cast (w/squid) a ray shows up... tried the lc110 sardine metalic but had no takers. Spent an hour and a half with just some hits but no fish. Guy fishing (bait and wait) a few feet to my right got a small halibut. He says that on really good days, you can see a school of corvinas and other fish passing along the shore not to mention some legal size butts as well... too bad this wasn't such a day.... one other note... as I was fishing on the parking lot side of the "jetty", I noticed a couple of people on the opposite side and one person in particular who was fishing near the pillars of the bridge seems to be hauling in was appears to be butts... Will try out that spot next time... maybe then I can get something worth taking a picture of....


tight lines

[fishmounter]

Casey..pat that ray on his back and watch what happens! No don't really do that. Those little guys can do some serious damage to a person's foot/ankle. Happens all the time on busy crowded beaches. Keeps the life guards busy. Be very careful when taking the hook out too.

[jeff4321]

sweet. i gotta get to the surf..

[FISHINGBEE]

Not only was it 5 species but some odd ones at that. Last time i caught an octopus it was a small one in a pepsi can i snagged by mistake. Cool pics dude



FISHINGBEE!

[Troutman65]

T.J, nice day fishing the surf !!!

Congrats. Thanks for the report