Beautiful evening weather after the wind died down. Several spots of YT popped up. Keyed on live bait and just out of casting range. LJ is gonna go wide open soon!! Limits of 8-13" calicos with a few legals mixed in. Lots of fun on the right gear. Also keyed in on live bait. I kept 2. Also lots of pencils swimming around. Clouds of macks as well. LJ is so full of life right now.

Yesterday served up  skunk, but got some good intel. No sandcrabs yet at 2 of my haunts. Surf grass present, but wasn't an issue. Lots of sand available for a spike and a grunion run.

I didn't bring bait as I was confident I'd manage to scrounge up a perch or 2 for shark bait. Nope. Forgot sunscreen, but I somehow managed to avoid a sunburn. Brough the long rod, but never noticed I didn't have a reel on the rod  Forgot I took it off to clean it and never put it back on. In a rush to hit the sand, that I never noticed how light my gear was as I was loading up. Didn't matter anyways since I never managed to catch any shark bait. Left before sunset feeling stupid. TNGC is back in action...

Took my son's surf fishing. Good thing I brought some market shrimp as the sandcrabs were non-existent. Quality over quantity that day.

1 - walleye
4 - bsp (all over 14")

Brought home the walleye and 2 bsp as they were gut hooked. Absolute rod benders and drag pullers on 6lb!! Saw a couple dredge boats pumping sand in the distance to replace lost sand due to beach erosion. Water was clear, but cold. Could see lots of kelp and misc "foliage" partially buried in the skinny by the sand they were pumping onto the beach. Lost several rigs due to it. Left phone at home.

Son has been begging to go surf fishing ever since our recent camping trip. I invited his best bud, Landon, to come along as he needs an escape from some family things that have unfortunately been weighing on him. He's a complete novice, never even held a fishing pole.

We hit the the beach. They body boarded for about an hour while I rigged up the rods and cut up the bait. Brought market shrimp as back up in case we couldn't find sand crabs. Gave Landon a quick, but an in depth lesson on the use of a spinning combo and hooking the bait. The fish gods were pleased with me, as Landon was the first to hook up, all on his own! I think I was more stoked than him! Lol!! Several "hell yeahs" and high 5s conveyed my excitement. UL spinning gear made the fight far more challenging, but they were legit winter time fish as the were consistently 10"-16". They landed about 15 fish with several missed bites in 2hrs of fishing.

Hearing my son tell his friend, "see fishing is so much fun!" and then hearing this reply, "when can we go again?" made my day 

Decent sale going on at Okuma. Bought some perch rods for my sons and I at 50% off. My Clarus is pretty beat up.

https://okumafishingusa.com/collections/specials

https://www.yahoo.com/news/massive-fish-could-set-world-164445641.html

Went perching this morning. Hit several spots looking for fishable conditions.  Surf was legit 3-4' with occasional 5'. Lots of kelp in tje water. Since the tide was so high, everything was getting sucked out. Major red tide from Del Mar to SK. Brown water. Reminds me of when COVID hit. Red tide was awful then. Hopefully it doesn't linger long.

They suck a$$!! Especially at 12 millimeters.

Anyone going tomorrow? I'll be there.

It's been longer than a hot minute since I've done any fishing. Completely tore my plantar fascia ligament in my right foot while playing basketball the first week of November, was non-weight bearing for 2 months, then slowly transitioned to a walking boot and then a brace. Finally, on my feet wearing just insoles, but still pretty limited on what the amount of walking I can do. Was also laid off early January. Was an interesting winter for me.

Hobbled to the beach to break in the new license. Stayed for an hour or so, or until my foot couldn't handle it any more. Some surf pounding, but still very fishable. Fished with market shrimp. Managed 1 BSP that released. Lots of bites, but could only get one to stick. It was enough for me. I needed that vitamin SEA. Amazing to see a relatively empty beach on such a warm day. Gotta love San Diego!!






Forced myself to head back out the very next day. Gotta take advantage of the time off while I still have it. Hit the old SNBF HQ to soak some macks and do some pre-scouting. Brought 2 long rods to increase the odds and a bass rod to pass the time. Macks sat untouched    I beat the skunk with a chunky bay bass.






I've been busy with honey-dos and backyard activities. Cleaning the chicken coop, prepping the compost pile, pulling weeds, building dragon fruit trellises and planting cuttings, grafting cherimoyas and mangoes trees, and starting some air layering of some fruit trees. Also harvested a few bunches of bananas. Looking forward to another year of bluefin and getting one over 100lbs (not trolling) and hopefully squeeze some grinners in-between. TNGC is back!!

I'm curious how conditions are, especially the current...

Just got back from hitting the surf with Josh. Nice conditions, surf starting to pump. Got nada. Got out before the next "storm".

Bait fish biting well. Caught a whole bunch of queenfish for my and her friends and I kept the mackerel for shark bait. Saw some daytime caught lobsters. All shorts. Still tons of anchovies around. Birds were diving all over the place. No pics.

I say 2 fish per year, with a slot size and you have to buy a special report card for it like the lobster report card.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/giant-sea-bass-thriving-mexican-144122569.html

That is all...

Did a 1.5 trip a little over a month ago on the TBird out of Pt Loma Sportfishing with my brother and 2 very good friends.



The last time we, as a group, fished together, albacore was the only tuna being caught and most people were fishing with Penn 501s or Squidders as the only bait available were tiny anchovies. So, yeah, it's been a while!!



The original plan was to head south and paddy hop for dodos and yellows, but the weather turned snotty and the decision was made to head north towards San Clemente and deal with the not so snotty weather and fish BFT. The ride up was rough and several people got sick.

I brought 5 setups, but only fished 2:
- 7'8" Rainshadow blank I found at Fisherman's Landing in their bargain bin for $40. It was a heavy duty glass blank that felt like it was rated for 50-100lb. I had my brother wrap it. I paired it with a Penn FTH40NLD 2speed reel and 80lb braid and a 6' 80lb flouro leader. No mono.
- 6'6" Penn Ally boat rod rated 60-100 and a Penn FTH 60LD 2speed reel loaded with 100lb braid and a 6' 100lb flouro leader. Also, no mono.

We get to the zone at around 2am and I'm dead asleep in my bunk. Apparently my brother and my buddy David are screaming for me to wake up as someone was already hooked up. Don't hear a thing... until that tuna hits the deck and it start flopping about. Glad I sleep with my boots on. It's hilarious watching people fumble around in the dark trying to put on their boots half asleep. The idea of dropping down heavy jigs in deep water didn't appeal to me, so I fished the sinker rig exclusively. On my first drop, I get hammered and pinned to the rail. I quietly fight my fish as to not wake everybody up. I'm on for about 3 minutes before someone finally notices. It takes me around the boat once and I finish it off in the stern. It's a double gaffer and the crew estimated it to be around 70lbs. Sweet!! My first big fish! I didn't want to wait around for pics. I was too excited and I wanted another. I spent next hour soaking baits and not hooking up again. I decided to call it and went back to sleep.

I wake up around 7am and my brother and buddy are still fishing! Wow! I like to get some sleep. I order breakfast and pull my other setup from the racks. Pin on another lively sardine and drop it down. Hookup!!! Lol!! My brother was so pissed to see me hookup again. This one a bit bigger, but I was able to end the fight much sooner using the Rainshadow.   Got it to gaff in about half the time.







I got lucky and limited out, so no more pressure for me. I spent the rest of the trip trying to get one on my 10' rod and my light bait stick for fun. No luck. Unfortunately, my brother skunked. He had one hanging for about a minute on his  jigstick and a Colt Sniper, but that was it. David was able to get one. I was really hoping he'd get one as he drove all the way from Vegas.



If you look closely at his sunglasses, you'll see what looks like tape in the middle. He took them off at one point and put  them in his backpack. At some point in the trip, someone must have leaned on his backpack and broke his glasses in half. I put them back together using 100lb braid and super glue. My other buddy Eric also lucked out and was able to avoid the skunk with the biggest fish of the trip at 120lbs.



It was a great trip considering most of the fleet who went south skunked and dealt with pretty bad conditions. It was a bummer my brother skunked, but it was great getting to share the rail again with them.   

Wilbur not selling sputniks anymore?

Have hit the surf before the big surf a few times solo and with Josh for nada. Been damn COLD! I've noticed the older I get, the more I hate the cold and value fishing in comfort.

Headed out with my buddy on a bonito hunt. We motored down to the Whistler Buoy after a crazy launch from Mission Bay dealing with dense fog and an overly crowded launch ramp.

Once there, we trolled some Lucky Crafts and Rapalas amongst other private boaters and 2 half day boats. It took a while, but we started to hook into a few here and there. Some pier sized and 3/4 day sized bonitos were scattered all over. Not in big numbers, but enough to keep us entertained. They were an absolute blast on perch rods and 6lb. The highlight of the trip was when a mini mako attacked my buddy's bonito. Seeing my first mako up close and personal was pretty awesome. I figured it was the right time to get my first and only mako. I've always wanted to try some for the table. Grabbed my heaviest outfit, a 25lb bait stick. I spliced on a short length of 60lb flouro, a 4/0 hook and a slab of bonito. Took about 30 seconds for mako to take the bait. I gave it about the same amount of time for it to eat before I sent the hook home. Got a few blistering runs before I could get into gaffing distance. My buddy stuck it in the gills and the hooting and hollering ensued.

I know it's just a pup, but I figured killing a juvenile was better than a full on breeder. There was plenty of meat to go around, but not so much that some could go to waste. We also ended with limits of bonito and called it after only 4hrs on the water.

Caught some soups, leos, corbina, yellowfin croaker, surf perch, SNGF, and unfortunately some bats. 2020 has pretty much sucked for everyone, but the sharkin' rebounded some with the water temp fluctuations. 4 soups caught off of YFC and 1 on BSP and another on corbina. 3 caught in May, 1 in June and 2 in August. I lost a few in order to get the 6. It should've been double digits. All she sharks.