Tubbytuba
04-17-2013, 10:50 AM
I apologize but I have been so busy that my two trips to the sand this year never made on the boards, I got pretty sad, hit Huntington twice, nailed a bunch of perch in march and on my second trip I got skunked, then watched a guy pull a 26 inch legal out of the hole I had been fishing all day when he had been on the beach for about ten minutes. same LC, same tactics, just didn’t get him. It happens but man I got a little discouraged. I decided it was time to get serious about finding a legal halibut, and I started doing some reconnaissance with google maps, looking for good AOs with more consistency than Huntington beach. So I started plotting points on a map and decided my first spot would be a test run of my new maps, a recon of the LBC based off of my searches on Google maps. I know its not an original spot but I wanted to find specific holes on the maps to search.
I found a few, printed out the maps and headed up there. Got to the first spot on the Belmont shore at around 7, paramount pictures was shooting a car chase near second street and it was crazy getting there but I did. I hit my spots with an LC for about an hour, I had just spooled my quantum lefty casting real with 20lb braid and I loved its casting ability and sensitivity. Then I get a nasty back lash, the LC hit the water hard and something hit my offering. I didn’t really panic, this braid stuff is really tough and I figured this fish would just spit the bait since I wasn’t planning on setting the hook. Well it freaks, pulls the line tight, maybe hooks him self??? And now the line is tight, easy, ill real him, and not lose my 15 dollar LC, first crank and pop! :Shocked: The line broke at the spool, I couldn’t believe it I was so mad and I had no idea why it had happened. I assume it was a calico, they pull like freight trains in the first few moments of a fight, or maybe I accidently snagged that midget sub that japan lost at pearl harbor. I just laughed, ive had such hard luck while fishing recently that it was just hilarious to me.
So I start throwing a gulp 5 inch fluke as a drop shot and was rewarded within 3 casts with a short butt, my first of the year! I knew he was short, didn’t measure him , probably 16 inches and my first fish on a surf drop shot. I hit that spot a little more, than went mobile to my next hole, and got hit again shortly after that, this one went on a short run and was a ton of fun on my crappie pole. I knew he was short too but he was snarled in my lines, so I set my rod down, it had measurement markings on it, and he measured 20ish, a pb from the sand (it’s a sad pb for sure but still…) :Big Grin: 40203
I stayed a little while and witnessed a guy pull in 3 super dink pancakes at round 1200 hours from the jetty, and his CnR was really bad (fingers in the gill slits, a non CnR net which is a death sentence for most fish let alone for halis and their sensitive tail) guarantee those fish died. Oh well, it was good to put a butt on the sand for the first time this year, and this trip was very informative. These fish were just outside the small breakers, on a drop off, and stopped biting when the waves get rougher. I knew this stuff before but there is nothing like hands on experience to put this puzzle together.
still looking for that first legal from the sand...
Good Hunting
I found a few, printed out the maps and headed up there. Got to the first spot on the Belmont shore at around 7, paramount pictures was shooting a car chase near second street and it was crazy getting there but I did. I hit my spots with an LC for about an hour, I had just spooled my quantum lefty casting real with 20lb braid and I loved its casting ability and sensitivity. Then I get a nasty back lash, the LC hit the water hard and something hit my offering. I didn’t really panic, this braid stuff is really tough and I figured this fish would just spit the bait since I wasn’t planning on setting the hook. Well it freaks, pulls the line tight, maybe hooks him self??? And now the line is tight, easy, ill real him, and not lose my 15 dollar LC, first crank and pop! :Shocked: The line broke at the spool, I couldn’t believe it I was so mad and I had no idea why it had happened. I assume it was a calico, they pull like freight trains in the first few moments of a fight, or maybe I accidently snagged that midget sub that japan lost at pearl harbor. I just laughed, ive had such hard luck while fishing recently that it was just hilarious to me.
So I start throwing a gulp 5 inch fluke as a drop shot and was rewarded within 3 casts with a short butt, my first of the year! I knew he was short, didn’t measure him , probably 16 inches and my first fish on a surf drop shot. I hit that spot a little more, than went mobile to my next hole, and got hit again shortly after that, this one went on a short run and was a ton of fun on my crappie pole. I knew he was short too but he was snarled in my lines, so I set my rod down, it had measurement markings on it, and he measured 20ish, a pb from the sand (it’s a sad pb for sure but still…) :Big Grin: 40203
I stayed a little while and witnessed a guy pull in 3 super dink pancakes at round 1200 hours from the jetty, and his CnR was really bad (fingers in the gill slits, a non CnR net which is a death sentence for most fish let alone for halis and their sensitive tail) guarantee those fish died. Oh well, it was good to put a butt on the sand for the first time this year, and this trip was very informative. These fish were just outside the small breakers, on a drop off, and stopped biting when the waves get rougher. I knew this stuff before but there is nothing like hands on experience to put this puzzle together.
still looking for that first legal from the sand...
Good Hunting