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. 

Soaking Bait

If your not in the mood to use artificial baits there's always the option of soaking bait. It's called soaking bait because you simply put the bait on the hook, cast it out, sit back and see what happens. Soaking bait is nice sometimes because you can sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery while fishing at the same time.

Where to get bait?

There's a couple of options to choose from when wanting to get real bait

1. You can buy bait at local stores such as bait and tackle stores, seafood city, asian markets and even some Wal-Marts carry frozen bait. 
2. You can always catch your own bait such as mackerel, smelt and anchovies at local piers. All you need is a Sabiki rig a couple feet from the top and jig it up and down. If fishing for bait at night you will need a glow stick, a small hook, split shot weights and a small piece of squid or mackerel. Try to keep the bait a couple feet from the top. 

Frozen baits I've had experience with:

•  Mackerel - Cut small pieces of mackerel on a carolina rig or even a drop shot rig. Great for bass, halibut, stingrays, bat rays and sharks. The bloodier the better in my opinion. 
• Anchovies - Pretty much the same as mackerel. However, when frozen anchovies start to defrost they get very mushy and is harder to keep the on the hook. 
• Squid - Actually, I don't believe I've ever caught anything off of squid, but I do know that a lot of people catch stingrays, bat rays, sharks, and bass off of squid. Cut a small rectangular strip of squid and put it on a carolina rig or drop shot rig 
• Mussel - Mussel is a great bait to soak because it will catch a variety of fish
• Ghost shrimp - The ultimate fishing bait for fishing the saltwater of Southern California. I will cover ghost shrimp later. This bait is my personal favorite. 

Drop shot technique

Drop shotting is all about finesse. This is how I like to fish the drop shot rig:

• Cast as far as I can
• Let it sink to the bottom
• Reel in slack and point rod at about 10 o'clock
• Now shake the rod tip up and down while keeping the sinker on the ground (do not lift sinker off the bottom). This should be done using your wrist
• Do this for about 3-5 seconds then stop
• Slooowly reel in bait for about 3-5 seconds then stop
• Repeat process until bait is back to you

The trick is to present the bait as an injured fish when shaking the rod tip up and down. I try to imagine what the bait looks like under the water when doing this. Most of the time the bite comes right after the shaking or when slowly working the bait towards you. 

Spotted bay bass caught by using the drop shot technique listed above