Hitting Some New Spots and a New Species!

[dlmoo312]

Ever since the HG4 event, al I could think about was going fishing. I had some free time this weekend and decided it was tine to hit the surf! :Big Grin:

10/27/12:

Met up with Thien(bloox8) at 5am. Due to the high winds, we decided to cancel our original plans of hitting a familiar AO and try out a couple of new spots we had been thinking about checking out. We got to our destination around 6am were set up and on the sand by 6:30am. The conditions looked great with barely and wind and flat, glassy water, but right away we noticed there was a lot of salad in the water. On just about every retrieve with the lc, we were bringing back eel grass and kelp so we decided to switch it up with the drop shot. We moved over to an area that seemed promising and started working that area. Just then I see that Thien has hooked up and by the looks of the bend in his rod I can tell its a nice fish. I went over to him to give him a hand and he was successful in beaching his prize! He should be posting his report soon so i'll let him tell his story:Cool:

After Thien landed the first fish of the day we were both pretty pumped. This was the first time either of us fished this area and it was awesome to know that there were some fish to be caught :Big Grin: We worked the long stretch of beach HARD. I think this was personally the most thorough surf fishing I have ever done. We inched down the beach fan casting every nook and cranny but we were only able to manage a few perch.

We decided to drive down to another spot we wanted to check out as we had already decided beforehand that today would be more of a recon day. Got to the spot and it too looked very promising with a lot of structure. We fished it hard for a couple of hours but came up empty handed. We were both feeling pretty hungry then and took a lunch break.

After lunch, we decided to go back to our first spot. We arrived at low tide and it was cool to see all the revealed structure we were unaware of earlier in the day. We spent most of the time just wading around and walking down the beach while making mental notes. I decided to switch back to the lc since the salad seemed to have died down. We were able to walk out pretty far and after a bit of exploring I made the first cast to an area that caught my eye. Right away I get hit and this fish is fighting pretty hard and taking some drag. I knew for sure it wasn't a perch and made sure to work the fish carefully so I wouldn't lose it. I ended up landing my first surf corbina!:Big Grin: After that we fished a little while longer before calling it a day.

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/66D8E0CE-DAAB-41D4-A19B-ECACBF01D961-43308-00001A5B8C822CC6.jpg
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/46E5C83A-D760-4E32-8ADB-18A9E0DCF1AC-43308-00001A5BB515D4DA.jpg
taped out to 21"
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/A1551AA2-7BB7-45DA-8C54-692882B4549A-43308-00001A5BE3FA626A.jpg
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/EDD5221F-DC55-4AB0-91FD-4EBF67043E6F-43308-00001A5BF35E3BB1.jpg
Release. I had to cradle the fish for a few minutes but was relieved when it swam off strongly:Smile:
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/7CEFE85D-06CC-4582-BBE2-9563E2D38DA5-43308-00001A5C45DEEDDF.jpg
also caught my first surf smelt today :LOL:
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/CBEEF91D-1250-47DB-9ED9-AB5053A670C3-43308-00001A5C5A718B8C.jpg
and last but not least.. my PB smallest fish caught on an lc :LOL:
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/30B55DD4-84A7-464D-8190-25DB652DE6DE-43308-00001A5C62103747.jpg

Earlier in the day I was talking with Thien while fixing my hook. I guess we both weren't paying attention and as he swung to make a cast our rods collided and the tip of my rod broke clean off :Sad: Oh well, I guess I learned my lesson! Never stand behind someone who is focused and actively fishing :LOL:
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/dlmoo312/Fishing/2BF0EFE9-16CF-4B79-830C-FDEF93A3D511-43308-00001A5C7DB6F179.jpg


10/28/12:


Decided to try out the same spot again and fish all the hidden structure we discovered. We got to the location at 6am and fished hard, again working every inch of beach while imagining the hidden structure through the water. It ended up being a perch-fest! We didn't land any of the fish we were targeting but it was still a great time nonetheless.

While working the beach, I noticed a few bait fish popping up out of the water in the distance. I got too excited and overexerted my cast. Ended up with some backlash and my lc going flying through the air :mad: I spent a long time looking for it as it was what I caught my corbina on, but I couldn't find it. That was my first lost lc.. Hopefully it'll bring luck to the fortunate fisherman who finds it :LOL:

The water was much clearer today and as I searched for my lc I was able to observe the vast amount of marinelife in the surfzone. I saw numerous leopard sharks, shovelnose, baitfish, and loads and loads of corbina cruising the shallows :Shocked:

Although there were some casualties in lost gear, I was able to land my first species, and overall, am very happy at how this weekend went. We caught fish! What more can you ask for! :Big Grin: Also, I learned so much from taking some time to just walk the beach and look around. I never realized how important recon truly is and plan on doing it regularly in the future. Anyways, thanks for reading!



-Daniel

[peanutbutter]

nice fishing and getting some new species on the list. what baitcaster are you using ?

[Newfishsmell]

Sorry about the casualties , but sounds like you guys had a great time.
Nice Corbina .

Thanks for the report.

[skunked4life]

Did you use an LC to catch that bean? Simply amazing. Great job out there!

[murrieta angler]

Very nice job Daniel!
Recon, recon, recon..you can't do enough of it.
The conditions are constantly changing and if you don't study, you do as well...:Rolls Eyes:
Congrats on your first bean with an LC, very hard to do...:Envious:
Sorry about the LC and the broken rod, they can be replaced, the memory of your bean will be with you forever...:Big Grin:
Thanks for the report,
Robert
<><

[Wingnut]

Hey Daniel, you and Thien need my permission before fishing that A.O. :LOL:
Bummer about the rod... :Neutral:
Why aren't you using that new reel you won at HG4? :Wink:
Congrats on the nice Bean! :Envious:

[bachiboy]

Nice bean Daniel! So much sweeter that you got it on an LC! I guess losing that LC was the trade off for the bean. It's all good...like Robert said, it can be replaced. Not sure what rod that is, but if it's a Clarus, there are lifetime warranties on it. If not...time to go shoppin. Congrats man! Now go win those LCs that Arthur has up for grabs between you and Thien...unless he already scored that magic fish. :Secret::LOL:

Thanks for the report and eye candy!
Don

[dlmoo312]

nice fishing and getting some new species on the list. what baitcaster are you using ?

Thanks! I'm using an abu garcia revo sx. It was my first baitcaster and still one of my favorites out of the ones I have tried.


Sorry about the casualties , but sounds like you guys had a great time.
Nice Corbina .

Thanks for the report.

Thanks! I think the fact that we caught some fish made up for the lost gear :LOL: I still have another working rod and a few lc's so it's all good :Smile:


Did you use an LC to catch that bean? Simply amazing. Great job out there!

Haha, yup! I tried running the lc past a few schools of corbina the next day but they were having none of it. Congrats on your legal! I know what you're talking about when you mentioned having halitosis. I need to land one soon! :LOL:


Very nice job Daniel!
Recon, recon, recon..you can't do enough of it.
The conditions are constantly changing and if you don't study, you do as well...:Rolls Eyes:
Congrats on your first bean with an LC, very hard to do...:Envious:
Sorry about the LC and the broken rod, they can be replaced, the memory of your bean will be with you forever...:Big Grin:
Thanks for the report,
Robert
<><

Thanks, Robert! I had a great time just looking around at all the structure I hadn't been able to see in the morning and thinking about where halibut would want to be hiding once the water level came back up. It got me thinking like a fish :LOL:


Hey Daniel, you and Thien need my permission before fishing that A.O. :LOL:
Bummer about the rod... :Neutral:
Why aren't you using that new reel you won at HG4? :Wink:
Congrats on the nice Bean! :Envious:

Thanks, Arthur! I'm thinking about hitting that area solo tomorrow if its okay with you :LOL: I didn't have a chance to spool up the luna for this weekend but I plan on putting it to use tomorrow!


Nice bean Daniel! So much sweeter that you got it on an LC! I guess losing that LC was the trade off for the bean. It's all good...like Robert said, it can be replaced. Not sure what rod that is, but if it's a Clarus, there are lifetime warranties on it. If not...time to go shoppin. Congrats man! Now go win those LCs that Arthur has up for grabs between you and Thien...unless he already scored that magic fish. :Secret::LOL:

Thanks for the report and eye candy!
Don

Thanks, Don! I think I would've been more upset about losing the fish than losing the lc :LOL: The rod was an okuma rod. I think there's a warranty on it and I plan on calling in tomorrow. I really hope I can join the 30" club someday and after SP Dan's report, I can't stop thinking about it!:Envious: I'm hopeful, though. A lot of large fish are caught in the colder months, right?

[SP Dan]

Hi ya Daniel,

First of all...."Congratulations" on landing your PB's: smallest BSP, a Jack Smelt and a huge Corbina on an LC. Not an easy task! :Thumbs Up:
Corbina don't normally strike at an LC unless it's on a very fast retrieval and that's usually a knee jerk reaction by the fish!

I can't say enough about recon.......it pays off in the long run. People are always wondering why others are catching more fish than they are. Recon is one reason! You are learning quickly! Good job soldier!

Thanx for the excellent fish report with pics! :Cool:

SP Dan <"))><

[bloox8]

Nice report man.
We gotta definitely do more reconning. It really does pay off :Big Grin:

BTW, sorry again about the rod.

[blackwater]

Nice looking Bean you got, great job out there. :Thumbs Up:

[jplee3]

NICE. Getting a Bean would be so nice to check-off on anybody's list, mine included! I think I'm starting to get the bug again... :O

[PTN]

Nice bean on the LC, Daniel. I can see you and Thien putting in work to catch fish.