Balboa Pier 10/05

[Odium]

Slow Day at Balboa.


Arrived at 1PM and had our lines in the water at 1:30.

I setup a triple carolina, size 6's, baited with shrimp, casted, and went to help the GF. Less than two minutes later the rod was bent way over the rail. I set the hook and reeled in 1 fat mack and e decent sized ones. I quickly rebaited and recasted. Then. . . . NOTHING. . . Macks were not hitting at all on the right side of Ruby's. The shrimp was constantly being stripped off by smelts. The bite never picked back up.

The GF had a pair of size 12 hooks on her line and she was picking up smelt or baby macks every other minute. I followed suit and pulled out a size 10 sabiki and caught a few as well.

I picked up an umbrella net two weeks ago. I didnt get to use it last week because I didn't have any rope. . . . I figured the net would be simple enough to use. Drop the net, chum the water, and pull up the net. So I tried to use it yesterday to no avail. Net moved all over the damn place because of the big waves. Anyone have any tips on using umbrella nets?


Started to get cold and windy when the sun was setting. We watched the sunset then we started packing up. Hit up Kura Sushi and went home.

[fish4keep]

With the umbrella net, most likely all you'll get are smelts.

First look for which way the current is going. You don't want to be on the side where the net would go under the pier. Drop the net ~5' underwater. Bring a loaf of bread, wet a slice of bread and slowly start chumming the water. Continue chumming there's a feeding frenzy going on. Then slowly bring up the net. When bringing up the net too fast, the fish will feel the net coming and all shoot out of the way.

But personally, I would rather use the sabiki to catch bait.......

[Odium]

Will I pretty much be SoL if the waves are too big or the current is too strong?

[fightfan]

i usually use my umbrella net off the side of the docks, it's easier that way. just chum the water with a lot of bread until you see smelt everywhere. slowly pull up until you think you're close enough to the surface and then quickly yank that net out as fast as you can. put them in a bucket with an aerator, change out the water every 20 mins and enjoy

[megafisher94]

sorry about the day dude.
ive used umbrela nets before on the pier and their a pain, sabikis are more fun. i use them in a size 14 because i usualy want a smaller bait.

im headin down there tomorrow and see if the phishes will co-operate.