gavin310
08-10-2008, 05:26 PM
After my last fishing debacle, I needed to feel something on my line. Set the alarm for 4:30am, left by 5, and arrived at Zuma Beach around 5:45. Met some dude named Mike and talked to him for a while, and got down to the surf maybe 6:15 or so. Surf looked heavy, but not too bad. Clear water and no salad. Started casting my new LC100 Pointer with a custom paint job and 3rd cast or so I got a nice drag pulling hit. Got it in and saw it was a YFC. My first! Got that guy released. Few minutes later I got what felt like a perch at first, but was (i think) a nice sized jack smelt. My first, believe it or not :) This guy got all 3 barbs in his mouth and I was worried I wouldn't be able to release him in time, especially with the way those buggers flip around so violently. Finally got him unhooked and put him in the water. He was floating on his side but then I couldn't see him anymore, so I'm guessing he swam off OK. Walked down a bit further south because the surf was getting pretty heavy. Cast out a few times and then felt a solid strike that stopped my line, but didn't run with it. It pulled some line, but very smoothly. I thought I got a shark of some type, but since I was using the LC I didn't think that would happen. (Unless it was that demon angel Wingnut caught, and thank god it wasn't.) I pulled it in with no fight and saw it was a halibut! A short, but it was my first. Probably about 16 inches. I got him up to my feet but he unhooked himself. I tried grabbing his tail with no luck. Those short halis don't have very grabable tails. He flopped back into the surf with no portrait taken. By now the surf was very heavy and it wasn't fishable. So I packed up and headed north to Leo Carillo. The clarity and surf was great when I arrived, but casting out I discovered lots of salad. Not even fresh salad, or even the stringy stuff, but stuff that looked like mud almost. I could reel in for a couple seconds before I felt the salad bunch up on the lure so figured I'd stick with it. Worked my way down the beach with no luck. The surf steadily got larger and eventually I called it quits there. Headed back south to some beach near Chart House in Malibu. Some guy was there with a bucket full of YFC he caught on bait. Visibility wasn't great and the surf was medium sized. I threw the lure out for a bit with some salad, but nothing was happening. I wanted to catching something, so I put a camo sand worm piece on. There was some girl with a great body sunbathing right by, so I didn't mind bait fishing at all. I got a small surf perch a few minutes later. As I was snapping a picture, I forgot the tide was coming in quickly and my spinning reel got completely submerged in very sandy water. Ugh! Rinsed it off with a bottle of water, but still crackling when reeling. Next I dug up a sand crab and stuck it on. Got a bite but it got off in the reel in. Figured I'd wrap it up, so I put my stuff in the car, took my towel, and layed out in the sun for a bit before heading home. Oh there was this really old lady who was very friendly and smiling at everyone, but didn't realize her **** were hanging out of her bathing suit top. Probably didn't need to share that, but oh well.
Things I Learned
- When a wave is about to hit you and you know it's going to drench you and your reel as it slaps your legs/hips, turn to the side. The resulting splash is much less, if any.
Questions I Have
- Is the surf at Zuma Beach always pretty big? Does it always break so close to the water line? 4-5 foot waves like 6 feet from the water line. And then 15 feet out there were larger waves.
- If there is heavy salad, meaning the kind where the instant you start to reel in you feel seaweed being caught, will fish still strike your lure? Or do you just have to keep casting and wait for those few seconds you occasionally get before the seaweed comes?
http://www.mandafoto.com/images/7/8/00000002.jpg
http://www.mandafoto.com/images/7/8/00000003.jpg
(This is where my real halibut photo would be if he didn't get away.)
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Departments/Halloffame/Images/01edhalibutLOGO.jpg
http://www.mandafoto.com/images/7/8/00000004.jpg
Things I Learned
- When a wave is about to hit you and you know it's going to drench you and your reel as it slaps your legs/hips, turn to the side. The resulting splash is much less, if any.
Questions I Have
- Is the surf at Zuma Beach always pretty big? Does it always break so close to the water line? 4-5 foot waves like 6 feet from the water line. And then 15 feet out there were larger waves.
- If there is heavy salad, meaning the kind where the instant you start to reel in you feel seaweed being caught, will fish still strike your lure? Or do you just have to keep casting and wait for those few seconds you occasionally get before the seaweed comes?
http://www.mandafoto.com/images/7/8/00000002.jpg
http://www.mandafoto.com/images/7/8/00000003.jpg
(This is where my real halibut photo would be if he didn't get away.)
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Departments/Halloffame/Images/01edhalibutLOGO.jpg
http://www.mandafoto.com/images/7/8/00000004.jpg