I launched my 15 foot Gregor, Bassomatic, at Dana Harbor and did a solo trip fishing various spots from the harbor up to Corona Del Mar. I found a few deeper bass as well as two good sized "endangered" ling cod that were willing to bite. The best bite was shallower though. I was prefishing for a club tourney so I didn't want to stick too many fish from each spot but I did catch and release 14. The two bigger calicos went 4.0 and 5.4 on the digital scale. All were caught on 5-inch Big Hammers in fongfish, brown grunion and red calicohunter colors on Hammerhead jigheads. Water was 64-66 all over with a high overcast sky.

Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

Cool! What were the ratio of calico vs sandy?

Nice job on the Calicos! Is the Fongfish from BH named after you or just a coincidence!?

DBLAZ'

Hey Fongster, this is irshfhsr. Yeah, I think it must have been cotton point. It took about 10-15 minutes to reach at about 40 mph. Around the point I could see the nuclear power plant, so that should give you a postive i.d. on which point it was that I was fishing. Good job out there today. Where you fishing underwater rocks, reefs, wrecks, kelp, or boilers? Being new to this type of fishing I usually just fish the most visible of habitat, that being the kelp beds. Obiously the boilers are visible, but I am not sure how to fish them. Do you cast right at them, or parallel to the rocks? Do you let the bait hit the bottom, just give it a few second to sink before the retrieve, or do you start bringing it in as soon as it hits the surface? Or do you do all and let the fish tell you what to do? The amount of fish you caught, and the size really impresses me. You must know things I don't. But I guess that is the difference that comes with lots of experience in spending time on the water.
What do you think about the spinnerbait or jerkbait idea for bass that are up in the kelp beds? Thanks for your tips. And by the way, great name (mine is David as well). Until next time, good fishing to you.

Nice day of prefishing. Now you just need to do better on the big day.

Amish Ed
You Can't Catch it again if
it's Dead!

tightlinelures@adelphia.net

Hi guys, I had only two sandies (the deeper fish), all others were calicos. The fongfish is named after me. Pete from BH and the pro-staff were designing some new colors and I came up with one that was pretty ugly (it does get bit really well though, lol). The fongfish BH offers is a color combo that Pete came up with that contains colors I really like, so I said let's use that one and forget the one I suggested--that is how it came about.

David, 40 mph! That is cool, my little boat only manages 20 downswell with just me onboard and an empty bait tank, lol. I was mostly fishing submerged rocks and visible boilers. For boiler fishing, check out my article on the BH site. In addition to it, I will add that I don't let it sink too far as it is usually snaggy. I cast and let it fall just a bit or if I can see swirling rag kelp or the rock shadow, I start winding immediately. So, I do all you mention to let the fish "tell me what they want". Be sure to cover all the angles around a rock as the fish may be only on one area. Calicos don't need kelp to live. Many spots I fish are just rock with stubby kelp or algae on them. I haven't fished either blades or jerks in the kelp but I hear of guys having decent success with them. It is fun to fish different baits for the bass now and then.


Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

Well how did you do in your tournament Saturday? What were the hot colors then, and how much did you weigh in? Did you win? Please let us know.

JP

Sorry, I forgot to post--very tired and then other plans rest of weekend. Anyway, fishing was way different from thursday: the water chilled 2-3 degrees and there were cold spots all over--like within yards of warmer water. The current was bad too. Lots of spots were running up and out. We weighed only 9.97# with big fish a 3.3# by Yutaka. Got us 3rd place so that cool. There was a Biker Show from hell at the Newport Dunes ramp. There was no trailer parking so once you dumped the boat, you had to drive back onto PCH over to bayside to park and then hoof it or catch their shuttle back. This left your boat and gear sitting unattended for 20 minutes plus--fortunately, most folks weren't solo so they had someone watching for them. I brought my mountain bike for quicker trips to and from as I had prior knowledge of the biker show. Oh, best colors were darker ones even after the sun popped out. We mostly used fongfish, red calico hunter, and a prototype mistake (brown back with gold/green flake belly--Yutaka dubbed it, "kiwifruit" as that's what it looks like).


Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

David, who's tournament was this (club name)?

JP

POETS (pretty secret, you won't find them listed anywhere).

Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com