San Pedro 9/28/11

Snuck away from the job today and fished a few hours at Cabrillo.

launched around 8am and had a plan to throw the plastics ,

As soon as I cleared the jetty I started throwing,
2nd cast I got me a legal butt
dis chit works?
a few more cast for nada and I made my way to the bait barge
(the plan was to throw plastics... not live and die by the plastic  )

I worked 50'-60' then to the channel then to the wall then to the shallows then to the...you get the picture
Bait was on the large size and not very cured, wind was almost non existent and the red tide water has cleared up a lot !

I kept up the plastic throwing routine all day, and kept a bait down on 3 different style rigs, 1 or 2 at a time... I was just experimenting and having some fun

Todays totals:
2 - sand bastards, both on the plastic
1 - one baby rock fish, on bait
3 - short halibut, 1 on plastic
5 - legal halibut, 3 on plastic
and only 2 lizards (thank god)

Here be some pics:

New bait tank is working like a charm:


I swear I think the small ones fight the hardest:


Mr. Grumpy, (I could get used to fishing these guys on the plastics)


Another victim on the plastic:


Chitty pic but cool fish, The sardine he attacked was twice his size:


This guys lost an eye in the fight...sorry hope you heal fast:


This was the plastic I threw all day: (a 5" "Robo")


All fish were released unharmed today except that eye ball incident, and my new personal best Halibut on the plastic:


Now I just need to see if I can sneak down to La Jolla for a couple hours before the weekend :>

Nice report.  Thanks

Don, thanks for the report from the south Looks like ya had a helluva day, wtg! I'm still am amazed when fishermen catch halibuts on plastics, something I gotta work on

Thanks for sharing, and I hope ya get a chance to hit La Jolla!

Great report and pics. 

-FF

Congrats and thx for the detailed report.  For the halibut caught on plastic, when you cast it, how far do you think it went down before the hali took the bait?  Or were you bouncing them off the bottom?  thx!
I need to gain more hali knowledge if I'm gonna break my skunk for 2011...

Jonathan

Jonathan,
First Hali was caught in about 12', long cast, let it hit bottom, slow retrieve and it was hit hard and fast.

Others were caught 30'-50'
I'm no expert, but I was casting for distance, letting it hit bottom then slow retrieve / stop let it flutter to the bottom again... repeat
when there was kelp I would cast to the edge and basically do the same retrieve
also I would set up at the edge of the kelp line and try to do the same cast and retrieve along the entire length of stringers

At the break wall I would basically cast into the wall, sometimes hitting it, let the swim bait fall straight down and retrieve, this got me one of the shorts and the bass hits

I don't use plastics that often for halibut, but I have been wanting to improve this part of my game so I will continue.
You can definitely cover a lot of area.
I would cast in a 360 degree pattern move then repeat.
I have friends who basically only fish plastics, I can see how it can be very addicting

Hope that helps?
Good luck out there!

Thanks for the fish porns Don.

Boy this sure puts my little Cabrillo reports in their place..         Hmmm I'm a slow learner with this live bait, eh?  I mostly fish plastics ... impressive ... I've seen you OTW ... hope to see you again soon!   Hope to learn a thing or two in the process!  See you OTW @ Cabrillo!

Dave   

great report there don and nice catches...I have yet to fish cabrillo but want to badly..maybe you could so me around some day, thanks ricci

Great report and pics., congrats on the great day OTW

Awesome fishing and great pics.

Not to be a downer, but you were probably better off keeping the one-eyed 'but and the big one with the bleeding gills. It's highly unlikely that either will survive.

Thanks guys,

Dave you will get yours, if you see me out there come on over, I will do what I can to help you out.

Ricci, if you ever come down to the San Pedro area, give me a heads up and I will gladly do what I can to help
if the schedules work I will join you out there.

Rock Hopper, no problemo, the poor fish that had his eye snagged was under 22" so he goes back automatically...
It wasn't as bad as it looks and them butts are pretty hardy
The bleeding gills one? do you mean the one in the last pic? he is already on the stringer and latter became dinner

Man that bait looks healthy!!!  Congrats on a great hali day.

Thanks guys,

Dave you will get yours, if you see me out there come on over, I will do what I can to help you out.

Ricci, if you ever come down to the San Pedro area, give me a heads up and I will gladly do what I can to help
if the schedules work I will join you out there.

Rock Hopper, no problemo, the poor fish that had his eye snagged was under 22" so he goes back automatically...
It wasn't as bad as it looks and them butts are pretty hardy
The bleeding gills one? do you mean the one in the last pic? he is already on the stringer and latter became dinner

Ahhh. Got it!

I misread this sentence.
"All fish were released unharmed today except that eye ball incident, and my new personal best Halibut on the plastic"

Thanks for the Down South reports!