Couple of firsts today...

[Ornery Bob]

Still surf and rocks fishing in the LBC when I can and I've been catching corbina, croaker and mostly spotties and barred sand bass, but I had two milestones today.

Started on the rocks and on about the fourth or fifth cast, something took my bait and my immediate reaction was, "this is a decent fish." It put up a good fight on my light tackle and it felt like the biggest fish I've caught so far. It turned out to be about a 10 in calico. I thought it would be bigger, given the fight, but I was very happy. I've caught 12 in sand bass that were pussycats in comparison. So the first milestone was having personal knowledge of what the calico bass fuss is all about. The "calico hunter" fires got a good stoking.

My low-cost surf rod went tango uniform on the third outing so it went back to Amazon and I'm budgeting for a better rod. I thought I might get lucky with a brand name rod even though it was cheap. No such luck and not really surprising. At least I got the full refund. In the mean time I'm still using my trout gear and I have to say that within it's limitations with regards to lure size, it's doing well.

After about an hour on the rocks, I had one other decent hook-up, but no cigar and the sun was coming up so I decided to try the surf for a little before I went home. I felt like it had already been a good day, but why miss an opportunity right in your face? I walked a pretty long way up the beach looking for a spot to catch my eye and finally saw some bird action so I waded in a little over knee deep in my board shorts and sandals and bounced the same anchovy looking 3 in big hammer that I caught the calico on along the bottom for a couple of casts and then I got what seemed like a good bite and I set the hook and applied some pressure and started to reel, but then it went dead and felt like I was pulling in some cabbage. So I let off the pressure a little and stopped reeling to see what would happen, and nothing. Damn, fooled again. So I start reeling in expecting to clean the greenery off my lure and suddenly the cabbage takes off, heading for deeper water and I'm thinking WTF? Then I start feeling what I think are the legendary head shakes and I start having high hopes. Whatever this was, I wasn't about to try and horse him in on my light tackle, so after a very decent fight, a tuckered out halibut comes into view and after a little last ditch thrashing, I'm able to bring him close. My guess is about 14 inches. I was now almost waist deep and it was a good lip hook, so I was able to reach down and grab the lead head with my pliers and with a quick twist he was off without being handled or leaving the water. Felt good about that, as it doesn't always work out that way. So, more personal knowledge of "the fuss" and the "halibut hunter" fires got a good stoking as well.

Like many do, I always de-barb my hooks for a cleaner release. I don't mind if I lose fish because of it. Naturally, I'm disappointed in the moment because it's a let-down, but in the long run I feel like I'm giving the other team more of a fighting chance and I don't want to win every battle. Keeps the game a little more even and I feel that I've done what I can do to help released fish actually survive.

Sorry for no pics, I caught the calico before sunrise and I didn't want to keep him out of the water while I screwed around getting my phone out of the waterproof case I keep it and my wallet in when I'm fishing (got a new phone out of learning that lesson the hard way) and like I said, I went for the quick release option on the halibut, so no chance for a pic there. Probably get a waterproof sport camera soon, but a little-bigger-than-trout rod is a higher priority.

Anyway, I felt like having these two milestones in the same day was exceptionally lucky. Ku'ula smiled on me today and I am stoked!

Happy fishing!

[murrieta angler]

Very nice Bro.
Been a while since I've hit the surf, due to work.
Thanks for sharing.
Robert
<><

[murphy]

Glad to hear there biting in LB. Way ta go!

[SP Dan]

Hi ya Ornery Bob,

You are paying a lot of attention to the details and it's paying off for you! WTG!!
Thank you for doing your part to CPR your catch and
allowing one more fish to re-populate it's own species!

Poseidon will reward you down the road, I'm sure of it.

Thanx for the excellent fish report,

SP Dan <"))><

[StumpFisher]

Nice job, you are on a roll. Must have been nice on your trout set up. I don't get that much time to fish so can't justify much of the more expensive gear so use my ultra lite gear for multiple situations kind of like what you've done. Great job!

[vdisney]

Congrats on your two firsts, and kudos for the clean release...........Verne

[Wingnut]

Nice accomplishments... keep up the great job out there.