Late report, north Ventura 10/23/15

[xjchad]

Went out Friday night after work from about 5:00-9:30.  Weekend got too busy to post up so here's my late report.
Had a nice high tide, no seaweed, no current, and small surf with only the occasional larger set rolling through.
Conditions were great and my hopes were high.  Tried some new knots I've been practicing that I read about here, and played with some new rigging setups.  I started off throwing mac chunks and I've been alternating between longer soaks and quicker re-baits to try and find some sweet spots.  Learning more all the time and enjoying it, unfortunately, I didn't come up with anything exciting or worthy of the "Coolest Catch" contest.



Lots of small bites and bait stealers.  Finally got something to stick at about 8:00.  Turned to be a medium sized tractor, but at least it beat the skunk. (Sorry for the bad cell phone pics)



About 8:30 I ran out of macs and switched to double squid.  That got more action, but I could tell it was just getting pecked at by the little guys.  Finally had something that kept the rod bouncing for awhile so I reeled it in to find this energetic smelt that somehow found the pointy end of the 12/0 circle hook.





As the tide headed back out the bites died off so I packed it up. 

Got back on the sand Saturday morning, but left the gear at home so I could focus on something more important. 

[TheCraftsman]

SNFG seem to be the skunk buster going around right now up here:) maybe re-hook that smelt for live shark bait next time??
Great pic of the beautiful fam Chad.

[spideyjg]

I would also have used that smelt for bait. Maybe a tad too big so cut it in half.

Double squid seems the ticket lately and no shame in a nice tractor.

That smelt was much bigger than the yellow fin Binh got on a 10/0 hook. He still holds the overly ambitious fish trophy.

Jim

[Eric H]

Well you gave it a shot, just a matter of time...

At least you didn't leave empty-handed.

Great family pic

[vdisney]

Well you gave it a shot, just a matter of time...Great family pic

X2

[Latimeria]

Great family shot Chad!  It always amazes me how fish sometimes get hooked.  Steve just caught a rockfish last week that was 2x the size of the mackerel he was using for bait!

I got the rulers and will be posting them up for contests here soon.  Thanks a ton!