ErikAllen17
01-15-2014, 10:17 PM
This fish report is for Wednesday, January 15, 2014.
Today, Nick (Anchor3n1) and I were fortunate enough to have access to NAS Mugu Naval Base. One of Nick's friends (Harold) was retired military and sponsored us to get us on the base. With it being a Wednesday, we pretty much had run of the entire shoreline. Harold had fished before, but only from the pier. Remarkably... he has never caught a fish before. Our goal was to put him on a fish before the day was through.
We were on the rocks/sand around 7:30am and the first thing we noticed was how freakin' windy it was (see the video where the wind is blowing a light layer of sand)! Even though it was blowing offshore, which would actually help our casts reach a second trough, it didn't matter... because there was no second trough. The weird things was that there were no real "waves". Just a choppy current quickly moving east to west from the wind. The structure on the beach was INSANE! Deep troughs with swirling eddies... looked like jackpot time for fish (see the video)! Even sea lions were only 15-20 feet away from the shore because the first cut was so deep. I have a great video clip of one popping up only about 10 feet from where I was fishing (the GoPro camera makes it look like he was farther away, but he was REALLY close... just watch the very beginning again)!!! We fished up and down the beach... but with nothing to show for it. We got a few short bites, but overall, the fishing blew chunks! This was probably because the bottom was a desert. The water was crystal clear, so you could easily see there were no rocks or kelp, or ANY underwater structure for that matter. Deeply discouraged, we packed our stuff up and decided to hit up another location.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9NqApmk8SI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpoc4Wlk3_s
We arrived at the next AO shortly before 10:00. We were fishing an outgoing tide, so we weren't too hopeful for much other than perch. I threw out my first cast and immediately was nailed by (what turned out to be) a 4" walleye perch. Cool... skunk is off and stripe successfully removed. On the 3rd cast, my pole goes bendo and I reel in a healthy 11.5" BSP. I tape him out, take a quick photo and into my cooler he goes.
Wait... what? :EyePop: Yeah, that's right... I said INTO my cooler.
My wife has been giving me hell lately because I fish so much, but never bring anything home to actually eat. So, today I was begged to please bring something home to eat. I told her I could make some surf perch fish tacos, and she was happy. So, I put the first pig into my cooler. Shortly after that guy, I hit a 12" BSP... all ready to put it in the cooler, I notice the anal fin and see it's a female. CRAP!!! Morality sets in a I release her back into the foam. The wife will be pissed, but I gotta throw the big girls back so we can catch her babies in the future. I cast out again, another fat girl... and another. Three really good sized BSP escaped my cooler... but I figured with the bite the way it was, I would get a few good sized males. I only needed like 3-4 pigs and the wife would be happy. Just as I convince myself of that logic, the bite started to die down. With only 2 fish in the cooler. I really gotta get at least 1-2 more so I can make dinner tonight. I fish for another hour or so, beach a few shorts and then get just one more semi decent sized BSP... only 8". Well, I guess that'll have to do.
http://www.allenpix.com/erik/boards/fishing/Sycamore_01-15-2014_01.jpg
http://www.allenpix.com/erik/boards/fishing/Sycamore_01-15-2014_02.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVKjF2tSzBg
Nick is already packed up, unfortunately having only caught 1 small BSP for the day and Harold comes over and shows us his first fish... a nice 10"-12" male BSP. He's stoked and takes his trophy home to the wife as well. Final counts for me were 8 BSP and 1 walleye perch. Not quite the day we hoped for, but it's always good to wet a line, especially when surrounded by good friends.
Today, Nick (Anchor3n1) and I were fortunate enough to have access to NAS Mugu Naval Base. One of Nick's friends (Harold) was retired military and sponsored us to get us on the base. With it being a Wednesday, we pretty much had run of the entire shoreline. Harold had fished before, but only from the pier. Remarkably... he has never caught a fish before. Our goal was to put him on a fish before the day was through.
We were on the rocks/sand around 7:30am and the first thing we noticed was how freakin' windy it was (see the video where the wind is blowing a light layer of sand)! Even though it was blowing offshore, which would actually help our casts reach a second trough, it didn't matter... because there was no second trough. The weird things was that there were no real "waves". Just a choppy current quickly moving east to west from the wind. The structure on the beach was INSANE! Deep troughs with swirling eddies... looked like jackpot time for fish (see the video)! Even sea lions were only 15-20 feet away from the shore because the first cut was so deep. I have a great video clip of one popping up only about 10 feet from where I was fishing (the GoPro camera makes it look like he was farther away, but he was REALLY close... just watch the very beginning again)!!! We fished up and down the beach... but with nothing to show for it. We got a few short bites, but overall, the fishing blew chunks! This was probably because the bottom was a desert. The water was crystal clear, so you could easily see there were no rocks or kelp, or ANY underwater structure for that matter. Deeply discouraged, we packed our stuff up and decided to hit up another location.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9NqApmk8SI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpoc4Wlk3_s
We arrived at the next AO shortly before 10:00. We were fishing an outgoing tide, so we weren't too hopeful for much other than perch. I threw out my first cast and immediately was nailed by (what turned out to be) a 4" walleye perch. Cool... skunk is off and stripe successfully removed. On the 3rd cast, my pole goes bendo and I reel in a healthy 11.5" BSP. I tape him out, take a quick photo and into my cooler he goes.
Wait... what? :EyePop: Yeah, that's right... I said INTO my cooler.
My wife has been giving me hell lately because I fish so much, but never bring anything home to actually eat. So, today I was begged to please bring something home to eat. I told her I could make some surf perch fish tacos, and she was happy. So, I put the first pig into my cooler. Shortly after that guy, I hit a 12" BSP... all ready to put it in the cooler, I notice the anal fin and see it's a female. CRAP!!! Morality sets in a I release her back into the foam. The wife will be pissed, but I gotta throw the big girls back so we can catch her babies in the future. I cast out again, another fat girl... and another. Three really good sized BSP escaped my cooler... but I figured with the bite the way it was, I would get a few good sized males. I only needed like 3-4 pigs and the wife would be happy. Just as I convince myself of that logic, the bite started to die down. With only 2 fish in the cooler. I really gotta get at least 1-2 more so I can make dinner tonight. I fish for another hour or so, beach a few shorts and then get just one more semi decent sized BSP... only 8". Well, I guess that'll have to do.
http://www.allenpix.com/erik/boards/fishing/Sycamore_01-15-2014_01.jpg
http://www.allenpix.com/erik/boards/fishing/Sycamore_01-15-2014_02.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVKjF2tSzBg
Nick is already packed up, unfortunately having only caught 1 small BSP for the day and Harold comes over and shows us his first fish... a nice 10"-12" male BSP. He's stoked and takes his trophy home to the wife as well. Final counts for me were 8 BSP and 1 walleye perch. Not quite the day we hoped for, but it's always good to wet a line, especially when surrounded by good friends.