Fish Crack

Berkley Gulp saltwater makes a product called the "Camo Sand Worm". This product is commonly known to surf anglers as "Fish Crack". Why? because the fish can't resist them. This artificial bait is one of the most commonly used baits to use when fishing the surf. If you look at the bait you'll be surprised it catches so many fish because it's just a small strip of soft plastic, but after using these sand worms in the surf I became a believer. The first time fishing these baits I caught 15 fish.

I haven't heard to much of people using this bait in the bays or other inshore areas, so one day I decided to use them in the bay. I can honestly say that these baits work the same as in the surf...they catch fish. I have caught a variety of different fish with these rigged on a drop shot. They can catch anything from bass to mackerel. Berkley recently started to make these baits in a smaller 2.5 inch size because of it's popularity. People before were cutting the long style sand worms into smaller pieces. When rigging this bait use a smaller style hook because the bait is so small. So, next time you go fishing give these a shot. I positive you won't be let down..

Imperial Beach Surf Fishing

On Saturday 3-19, me and a friend decided to fish the local bay. The tides were extremely low and the fish were not biting, so we decided to make a move and fish the surf for a couple hours. We decided to fish off a jetty and cast into the surf from there. We started off slow, but eventually hooked up on a few hand sized Barred Surf Perch.

All fish were caught on 2.5 inch Berkley Gulp Camo Sand Worms on a Carolina rig.
Total fish count: 5 Barred Surf Perch

Perch with sand worm in its mouth

San Diego Bay 3/13/11

Decided to do a skiff day with my dad and friend Tony in San Diego bay. We rented a skiff from Seaforth Boat Rentals in Coronado, CA. We were on the water by 9:30. The day started out really slow with only a couple fish being landed here and there. In fact, I didn't catch a fish for the first three hours we were fishing.

There was minimal tidal movement and not very much drift at all which made us work even harder to catch fish. Our baits were constantly being attacked by the infamous lizard fish. It was pretty irritating...All three of us were using the drop shot rig with various gulp products and T&C swimgrubs. Most of the fish were caught near or under the Coronado bridge. Overall, fishing was really slow but we made the best out of it and caught a decent amount of fish. It was a good day!

         Tony with a nice fat Sculpin 

Me with a decent halibut

      My Dad with a nice Spotted Bay Bass

Me with a nice Spotty

                            The usual suspect

Mugshot

Fish Report 2/22/11

Decided to fish Embarcadero Park on the rocks at night. Got there two hours before high tide so there was some nice tidal movement. Although it was freezing out there it still ending up being a pretty descent night. Nothing huge was caught but did catch some legals (12 inches).

Finally got a chance to try my new T&C Lures that I have been anxiously waiting to use. I started out throwing the 3" swimgrub in black widow color with a 1/4 ounce leadhead, which is preferred at night. Sprayed on some Berkley shrimp scent and I was ready to go.

First cast, threw out my lure and a couple seconds later was rewarded with a spotted bay bass

I was pretty impressed with these T&C baits. All the hype about these baits is pretty much true. They catch fish! I ended up catching 3 bass on the black widow swimgrub. My friend even tried drop shotting the swimgrub and ended up catching a couple. Working these baits really slow ended up being the way to catch the fish. Throughout the night I ended up trying different baits on the drop shot. 

Baits used: Gulp shrimp - new penny color

                     Gulp ghost shrimp - natural color - caught the bigger sized bass

                     Gulp baitfish - watermelon pearl color

Decent sized spotty that went for the new penny shrimp rigged on the drop shot

My buddy ended up snagging this little guy

Total fish count: Me - 8 spotted bay bass

                            Tony - 7 spotted bay bass, 1 octopus

(All fish caught and released)

Power of the Ghost Shrimp

Ghost shrimp is the ultimate fishing bait for the west coast in my opinion. Ghost shrimp is like candy to a wide variety of saltwater fish. Literally anything will eat them which means more fish to be caught. The thing that I like about using ghost shrimp is that you never know what your going to catch because so many different fish go after them. You can use ghost shrimp in the bays, beaches or out deep in the ocean. 

Where to get ghost shrimp?

There's a couple options when wanting to get ghost shrimp

• Your local tackle/bait shop may have some for sale. However, buying ghost shrimp at a local tackle shop can get a little expensive in my opinion. 
• Buy or make your own ghost shrimp pump. Your local tackle shops should have many ghost shrimp pumps for sale. They usually sell for around 30.00 and is well worth the money in my opinion. You can also search "How to make a ghost shrimp pump". 

When getting your own ghost shrimp make sure you have a fishing license. The limit is 50 ghost shrimp per fishing license. Also, when pumping ghost shrimp make sure it's low tide (negative tide is best). Go out to your local bays or lagoons and look for small holes in the sand. That is where you need to pump.

Fish ghost shrimp on a "baitholder" style hook to ensure the shrimp doesn't fall off. Also, fish ghost shrimp on a carolina rig or drop shot rig on the bottom. There is a small slit at the end of the shrimps tail. Put the point of the hook through that small slit and slide through the tail so the shrimp covers a majority of the hook. Be careful because they are very fragile.

This is how to pump ghost shrimp

If you want a good laugh!

New T&C swim grubs

I've heard a lot about these new 3" swim grubs made by T&C Lures in San Diego. There's a lot of people catching nice fish on these baits, so I decided to go ahead and order some. These baits are half swimbait half grub "swimgrub". I also ordered some 1/4 ounce leadheads from the same company that match up perfect with the swimgrub. I can tell that the curly tail is going to provide a lot of action.

My first impression of these baits are great. They look and feel really nice. I can tell the makers put a lot of time and effort on these baits. They even come with a little scent on them which is nice. These are the colors that I ordered: Ghost shrimp, aquamarine, razor clam and black widow. Im really looking forward to fishing these new baits and catching tons of fish on them.