need fishing tips for sculpin

[catfish 17]

How's it going guys, i fish about every week out of long beach on my boat, iv'e been hitting the rigs, the rocks, and palos verdes. I still cant figure out where to catch sculpin, i don't mind heading out by newport or somewhere else. I see that davey's lockers always be catching a good amount. any tips will be appreciated. thanks

[bowler]

Just follow where the head boats go and fish the same areas. They usual fish about 180 to 200 feet of water.

[catfish 17]

Just follow where the head boats go and fish the same areas. They usual fish about 180 to 200 feet of water.

thats what i was thinking

[bowler]

thats what i was thinking

The horseshoe is a good spot to try. Do you have a map of the rocks and rigs off the coast if you don’t you should pick one up. And pm I can give a place to try out of Dana harbor some guy told me about it last week but I haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet on my boat.

[etucker1959]

This is a cheesy way to find the spots, but it will work. First find a Half-day boat that been catching a lot of sculpin in their fish counts. Go on a weekend when they are doing a double Half-day. Calculate what time they need to leave to get back to port to pick up their next load of passengers. When their pulling their anchor come in behind them and get the GPS numbers for that spot. Now you will forever have the numbers for a good sculpin hole!!

[TUNAVIC]

I’m not advocating this but,I’ve seen and heard of guys who will jump on a half day or 3/4 day boat with a handheld gps and get thier numbers that way,again just an observation not a recommendation.

Cya Tuna Vic

[Brewcrafter]

Catfish 17 - I'm going to take a different approach here, everybody seems a little focused on the "where", "poaching spots", "grabbing numbers" etc. I won't deny that location IS important, but what tackle/techniques are you using on your current spots? You might be on fish and just not getting success. Regardless of the "where", my suggestions:
1. Focus on being "on or close to the bottom". If there is any kind of serious current or drift, you may drop your baits to the bottom, and even think you are still on the bottom and then once you settle in they actually are "kiting" quite a bit up in the water column out of the bite zone. Reefs, rockpiles and structure are the way to go in your sonar, but it sounds like you are already hitting those so that is a good start!
2. Terminal gear: I have had success with dropper loops and halibut type rigs, but my preferred "go to" is a lead head "bucktail" style jig bounced along the bottom.
3. Use bait along with a bucktail or "shrimp fly" dropper loop. I usually have a carton of frozen squid along most of my trips and dressing the hook with a strip of that sure does "sexy it up". Even a strip of mackerel or sardine from a stop at the bait barge.
4. Drifted off the rockpile or structure? Give it a few more minutes and keep drifting before you reposition...Mr. Halibut often likes to hang out next door to Mr. Sculpin and as long as you are on the bottom...
Good luck!