gavin310
02-15-2009, 12:17 AM
I was planning on heading out to the Malibu surf on Sunday, but the condition reports looked pretty bad. Saturday looked perfect though. I was going to get an early start, but I needed some rest so I got a late start. Was planning on getting there around 6, ended up getting there about 11:30. I was fashionably late, although no one seemed to notice.
I just gotta say right now... I hate P-Line. It holds its shape waaaay too much. It was nothing but a hassle all day. Maybe I spooled it against the twist, but I've never had this much trouble with my line.
This was a perfect day for surf fishing. 1-3 ft. waves, very little salad, good visibility, and very little wind.
I started off throwing one of my LC Flash Minnows... I think it was shad or something? Can't remember. Slooow and steady retrieve for nothing. Tossed it out for about half an hour with no hits. Somewhere in there my line tangled up in the MIDDLE of casting out. Like the line looped around itself in the air and tangled into a huge mess. P-Line sucks. Fixed the tangle and threw the lure a little bit more. Switched it up to a blue and grey one and worked my way down the beach a bit. I slowed up my retrieve even more, almost to a crawl. 2nd or 3rd cast with the crawling retrieve and the lure stopped. Second or two later I feel SOMETHING alive on the end, but it was very light and I thought I got a small perch. So then I feel bump-bump-bump-bump-bump real quick and I'm like OK I got a small halibut cool! The more I reel it in the more fight it puts up, but it still feels like a small one. So then I get it up to me and see it's not tiny... it's definitely a legal! I got it close to shore in about a foot of water, and as soon as the water starts to recede he takes off and my drag starts peeling. Fights on!!! I fight him back close to shore again, and again he takes off. There were workers on the beach in front of some of the houses and they all stopped and were waiting to see what I had. Got him in close and again he takes off. Next time I get him in and run him up onto shore. It's definitely a nice looking butt. The workers all come over to check it out and one of them had a measuring tape. 25 inches! My first surf fish of the year is a legal halibut! I'm a little ways from my bag with my camera phone so I get the butt under my arm and jog down to my bag to snap a quick pic...
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/valentines1.jpg
Got him back into the water. It took him a bit to come around... had to do the "back and forth" for about 20 seconds before I felt some muscle movement. Took my hands away and he was off.
Worked my way down the beach again for about 20 minutes. Lots of little nibbles on the lure, and I'll tell you what was doing that in a little bit. The P-Line tangles up again in the air and I spend a good 8 minutes getting the tangle out. Again, on a slow/crawling retrieve the lure stops but this time instantly it's bump-bump-bump-bump-etc. Since the last one didn't put up much of a fight I was thinking OK maybe this one is even bigger! He was fighting pretty good. Got him up to me and saw he was shorter than the other one but still a nice size. He had about 2 drag peeling runs before I got him up to shore. I was next to the workers again and some of them came over to check it out, but no measuring tape. I'd guess 19 inches. One of the workers asked if he could have it, so I said it's a short, gotta throw him back.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/valentines2.jpg
A family was walking on the beach and came over to check it out. Showed it to them, got him back into the water, did the back and forth a bit, let go and he was gone.
Threw the same LC out a bit more and hooked something but he got off about 5 seconds later. It felt like a nice sized perch. Tossed it out for a little while longer and got bit again. It was bumping right off the bat so I thought it could be a baby halibut, but soon I recognized the feeling and brought in the small perch. The lure was the same length as the perch. By this time that same family was walking back right past me, so I showed them the little perch and then let it go.
For the next hour or so the halibut bite died, but I could still feel the little perch nibbling at the lure. These were the little buggers picking at my LC all day. Got 2 more mid-air tangles on the P-Line again. I figured I'd end the day picking off some perch, so I tied on a 3/4 oz. weight, bead, swivel, small hook, and a peice of camo sand worm. The perch out there were tiny. I mean like 2 inches. The biggest one I got was maybe 4 inches. (Does anyone know how fast perch grow? When will these babies be 8 inches?) I picked off maybe 10 tiny perch and called it a day.
GREAT outing for my first surf trip of 2009. Couldn't have asked for better conditions.
I just gotta say right now... I hate P-Line. It holds its shape waaaay too much. It was nothing but a hassle all day. Maybe I spooled it against the twist, but I've never had this much trouble with my line.
This was a perfect day for surf fishing. 1-3 ft. waves, very little salad, good visibility, and very little wind.
I started off throwing one of my LC Flash Minnows... I think it was shad or something? Can't remember. Slooow and steady retrieve for nothing. Tossed it out for about half an hour with no hits. Somewhere in there my line tangled up in the MIDDLE of casting out. Like the line looped around itself in the air and tangled into a huge mess. P-Line sucks. Fixed the tangle and threw the lure a little bit more. Switched it up to a blue and grey one and worked my way down the beach a bit. I slowed up my retrieve even more, almost to a crawl. 2nd or 3rd cast with the crawling retrieve and the lure stopped. Second or two later I feel SOMETHING alive on the end, but it was very light and I thought I got a small perch. So then I feel bump-bump-bump-bump-bump real quick and I'm like OK I got a small halibut cool! The more I reel it in the more fight it puts up, but it still feels like a small one. So then I get it up to me and see it's not tiny... it's definitely a legal! I got it close to shore in about a foot of water, and as soon as the water starts to recede he takes off and my drag starts peeling. Fights on!!! I fight him back close to shore again, and again he takes off. There were workers on the beach in front of some of the houses and they all stopped and were waiting to see what I had. Got him in close and again he takes off. Next time I get him in and run him up onto shore. It's definitely a nice looking butt. The workers all come over to check it out and one of them had a measuring tape. 25 inches! My first surf fish of the year is a legal halibut! I'm a little ways from my bag with my camera phone so I get the butt under my arm and jog down to my bag to snap a quick pic...
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/valentines1.jpg
Got him back into the water. It took him a bit to come around... had to do the "back and forth" for about 20 seconds before I felt some muscle movement. Took my hands away and he was off.
Worked my way down the beach again for about 20 minutes. Lots of little nibbles on the lure, and I'll tell you what was doing that in a little bit. The P-Line tangles up again in the air and I spend a good 8 minutes getting the tangle out. Again, on a slow/crawling retrieve the lure stops but this time instantly it's bump-bump-bump-bump-etc. Since the last one didn't put up much of a fight I was thinking OK maybe this one is even bigger! He was fighting pretty good. Got him up to me and saw he was shorter than the other one but still a nice size. He had about 2 drag peeling runs before I got him up to shore. I was next to the workers again and some of them came over to check it out, but no measuring tape. I'd guess 19 inches. One of the workers asked if he could have it, so I said it's a short, gotta throw him back.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/valentines2.jpg
A family was walking on the beach and came over to check it out. Showed it to them, got him back into the water, did the back and forth a bit, let go and he was gone.
Threw the same LC out a bit more and hooked something but he got off about 5 seconds later. It felt like a nice sized perch. Tossed it out for a little while longer and got bit again. It was bumping right off the bat so I thought it could be a baby halibut, but soon I recognized the feeling and brought in the small perch. The lure was the same length as the perch. By this time that same family was walking back right past me, so I showed them the little perch and then let it go.
For the next hour or so the halibut bite died, but I could still feel the little perch nibbling at the lure. These were the little buggers picking at my LC all day. Got 2 more mid-air tangles on the P-Line again. I figured I'd end the day picking off some perch, so I tied on a 3/4 oz. weight, bead, swivel, small hook, and a peice of camo sand worm. The perch out there were tiny. I mean like 2 inches. The biggest one I got was maybe 4 inches. (Does anyone know how fast perch grow? When will these babies be 8 inches?) I picked off maybe 10 tiny perch and called it a day.
GREAT outing for my first surf trip of 2009. Couldn't have asked for better conditions.