Santa Barbara Coasline Butt Festival - Flatties Galore! Sunday 4/27

[Wingnut]

With the Flatties on the chew in the Southern regions, I decide to go against the grain and head North today to fish the Santa Barbara coastline. I love it up there... would like to fish up here more often but it's a little bit of a haul from the Valley. I usually try to make it up here once a month to surf fish & enjoy the tranquility.

The starting point is Goleta, just North of Santa Barbara. I figured that I would start here and work my way down the coast. A little bit of reseach reveals that the Grunions were here just a couple of days ago and I was hoping for some positive residual effect.

The stops:
Goleta
Santa Claus Lane
Carpinteria
Seacliff

Goleta State Beach.




This young lady was reading her Bible in peaceful solitude. A perfect way to be in touch with The Man himself.


The first thing that I noticed is the amount of vegetation in the surf. On just about every cast, you will bring in any one of about a half dozen type of sea growth. This made it very difficult and frustrating to throw the LC's. I can see why the arsenal of choice for the Flatties in this particular area are swimbaits. But I just had a gut feeling that the hardbait was the right choice today. With so much seaweed in the water, I had to go to the retrieve, pause... twitch, retrieve, suspend method to induce a strike in between cleaning the salad off the LC after every cast.
I picked three patterns of the LC's to use today and would stick to throwing only those three. The ol' reliable Metallic Sardine, the Candy Sardine for those finicky bites, and the MJ herring to mimic the Grunions. It's always nice to go with your instinct and be rewarded for making the right decisions.

The total fish count (all released):
(9) Halibut - three legals & six shorts
(2) Shovel Nose Guitar Fish
(1) 3-foot Smoothhound Shark
(1) Barred Surf Perch

Enjoy the pics, I will narate my way through the report.

Always nice when the first fish of the day is of a "Legal" variety. Look at all that debris on the shoreline. There was a lot more of it in the water.


If you noticed, there is very little or no surf at all here during low tide conditions. You can venture pretty far out there.


As I worked my way along the shoreline, I came across a large floating kelp bed. This really peaked my interest, because most kelp beds are too far out to cast to. But this one is very close to shore and with the low tide, I can aggressively wade my way into casting distance.

Kelp bed = Baitfish
Baitfish = Predators
Predators = Fishermen
Fishing = Happiness!

Within casting distance.


I met a young man by the name of Roy. He is a UC Santa Barbara College student living on campus. Must be nice to be able to fish here whenever you feel like it. He was wading in right next to me with just shorts & a T-shirt. Lucky for him, the water was relatively warm and the weather was HOT today. I told him about FNN and he says that he was going to register as a member, hope that he does! Roy, you're one cool dude! It was great fishing with you today.

Working the edges of the kelp bed yielded immediate results!
Once the LC hit the water, a short retrieve... pause, twitch... twitch, retrieve, pause... let the LC suspend for a couple of seconds... retrieve again... repeat the process.





This is a legal, right around 22 inches. Released it right on the spot, wanted to get my line back out there quickly. Crap, I dipped my Calcutta DC in the saltwater again. :evil: Not the first time... won't be the last.


I nailed three Butts in about half an hour switching between the Metallic Sardine and the MJ Herring LC pattern. I'm not sure that the pattern has as much to do with the effectiveness as compared to the actual presentation... probably a combination of both.



Note: I stepped on a few fish while wading in this area. I can feel them squirm underneath my feet on a few occassions. I finally found out what one of them is... find out at the end of my report.

A little Shorty. Damn, dunked my reel again!


Another Short.


Then Roy's pole goes major bendo! Drag stripping off his coffee grinder.
What could it be? No head shakes.




A Smoothhound Shark. A little while later, I got one too. Snagged it by the dorsal fin, it was about three feet long and shook it off the hook so I didn't have to beach it.
In hindsight, I should have beached it to take a pic because it's a new species for me, oh well... next time.


Then this guy wanted some accupuncture treatment too. The flat fish of the "wrong" kind. These things are thick here. Stepped on a few of them.




Then something happened that I have NEVER seen before! :shock: Honest to God, no more than 20 feet in front of us. Some baitfish started popping out of the water as they were being chased and all of a sudden... a Flattie broke the surface and launched two feet into the air after the baitfish and crashed back in again. Roy & I was totally stunned and immediately short cast our lines right on the spot. Can you believe it?!? After my second cast... the thing slammed my LC hard no more than two rod tip lengths away from me. I could tell immediately that this was another legal and indeed it was.
I tried to grab it by the tail, but it wouldn't have anything to do with it. Just got wet trying. Had to back out of the water and beached it.




I caught a couple more Shorties in the next hour or so and decided that it was time to head down the coast and hit the next spot. Three legals and four shorts in three hours, not bad at all! And the reel goes glub... glub again.


This other one was almost legal... 21 inches.



Then I went a couple of rounds with another "pest" fish! Excitement scale from one to ten, ten being best... these things rank about three and a half. They're good for some rod bending action, that's about it.


The next stop... the North Pole (he he).




Dana & I was here a few weeks ago and didn't have much success. I HAD to give it another go. Spent an hour and finally got one to commit to the Candy on the slow & steady retrieve.


Drove a short distance down the coast to Carpinteria State Beach and spent an hour slinging the lure for a lonely Perch.


The last stop of the day.


Hey Dana, remember these rocks?!? One of them says "Dana was here" Hahahahaha!


The last Flat Boy of the day from Seacliff.


Started heading back down the 101 around 2:00pm and ran into this crap.


Round trip total mileage = 190 miles, glad I drove the Hybrid today.


The LC's that I threw today. FM110 MJ Herring / Candy Sardine / Metallic Sardine (Natural Iwashi).


I was trying out a new line today on one of my reels. Awesome! Strong, manageable and very castable.


Now, remember when I mentioned earlier in my report how I stepped on a few fish while wading in the surf? Most of them were SNGF, but look at what I found when I got home and was washing off my gear. This nasty little weapon was stuck in my neoprene wader boot! A Sting Ray's barb... please be careful out there, always wear the right equipment. One of these barbs imbedded in your foot will certainly ruin your day! :neutral:




What a fun day chasing the “Flat Boys” up & down the coast. Nine Butts today, my old record is four in one day. Totally blew it away and with three legals too. Nothing really big, still looking for that 30+, but today was a total success by any standards.

Met some really cool people today fishing. I will try to make it back up here real soon.

The perfect weekends just keeps coming... love it when that happens! :cool:

Until next time, may all your nibbles become hookups… and all your Flatties be legals.

Arthur (Wingnut) :mrgreen:

If you find a road in life that has no obstacles, don’t take it. It probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

Tribute to the "Flat Boys..."

As I release you back into the Sea,
A part of you will still be with me.

Someday we may even meet again,
Until then, swim free my Legal friend.

Before today, you have never heard of me,
Wingnut's the name, and you've already met LC.

I thank you very much for coming out to play,
That pain in your jaw will be gone in a few days.

Remember the lessons that you learned from me,
If the bait looks funny, best to just leave it be.

Deny your hunger and swim away,
And you will live to fight another day.

Go and tell Poseidon that I treated you well,
On how Wingnut let you live to tell the tale.

Tell him that indeed it was your lucky day,
How you fought a Slayer and then swam away.

Maybe he'll keep me in back of his mind,
For so far now he's been quite kind.

One day he'll send a messenger from the deep,
To reward me well for those I didn't keep.

Be on your way my Flat friend a job well done,
You fought me well but today I won.

So go fatten up and grow real strong,
Come back to me when you're 30 inches long.

Maybe then you'll have the upper hand,
When the time comes that we dance again.

The surf is full of poachers and crooks,
I hope I made you smarter to avoid their hooks.

So take good care and thanks for your support,
Because without you I can't write my report.

[Liteliner]

Another nice day for you. Wow 190 miles round trip. Nice batray barb. Great job and great post. Congrats.

[troutdog]

Awesome report and pics as always...whata sweet day in the surf. Congrats on all the flatties Wingnut, amazing!

That barb left in your boot looks nasty, glad that did not wind up in your foot!

Good seeing you this weekend, thanks for the info and tips.


TD

[crivera175]

very nice report and pictures:thumb::thumb:you make the reader feel like there their.keep on nailing them.
crivera

[CoffeaRobusta]

Awesome as always Wingnut. I had a few rays brush against my leg the other day while fishing, only I wasn't wearing any waders. Luckily, I haven't been stung yet.

You make me want to go and throw the hard baits more. But man it takes patience, and skill to make the right presentation. I guess therein lies the challenge, no?

[Leapin Bass]

That's an awesome report and what great pictures!

What was the water clarity like where you were fishing? I was on the other side of Goleta Beach and the water was extremely clear. Caught lots of flatties but nothing legal.

Several years ago I had a ray nail me in the foot right through my diving booties. One of the worst pains I've ever felt. Be careful!

[Brian_GSC]

Man, KILLER report! I haven't been up to Goleta in a couple years. I LOVE that area!

Bitchen pic of the stingray barb! I've seen those suckers right next to my feet before, but luckily I have never been stung.

Next time you are heading up that way PM me buddy! I do what I can to join ya!

[Santa Fe Eric]

Outstanding! :appl::appl::appl:

Wingnut hit the surf,
With Skills so real,
Taking over turf,
Like "Let Them Feel the Steel",
Setting the hook,
On Hali's, Sharks, and eels,
Pockets so fat from poker,
He can dunk his reels,
The Team 57 Super Hero,
The Fishing Man of Steel,
The new Saltwater King,
Wingnut does what he feels!

Don't get me started Dawg! The thing I like the most about you Arthur is that you give people like me who catch 3 fish as much positive feedback as you deserve for catching 30 fish!

Stay Cool Dawg8-)

Santa Fe

[camrydad]

Great post as always Wingnut. Keep em coming, I think your reports are the reason why some of us have turned to surf fishing. I'm heading back out tomorrow cant wait to try out the hardbait. Good job out there.

[vagabond]

nice report thakx for the helpfull tips..got lucky with the stingray barb...:mrgreen: