[frozendog]

Slow, Slow, Slow on SLO county coast.

The plan was to fish new spots. A dirty job but it has to be done. How else are you going to find new places to fish without some leg work. This is hard for me, because I want to go somewhere where I know I will catch some fish - or at least get bit. This was the first spot...



It's close to a reef where I fish but this was the first time at this spot. Well, two hours later, no hits, no runs, no fish. So I started hiking down the beach looking for something that looked fishey and fishable. If you can't get down and find a place to set up to fish, it doesn't make any difference how fishey it looks. This area had rocks where you could stand with little kelp. Also some flat rocks where I could set my gear and rig up. It's important to look for that good set-up rock.



It was 7:30 which happened to be dead low tide, -0.2ft. That's as low as this spot will probably get. A good time to view the structure in a new spot. And there was lots of it. I only had two bites. The first one was a nice healthy grass rockfish that I lost at the last set of kelp covered rocks about 20ft out. I could look him right in the eye, but also could see the hook pulling out of his mouth. The hook pulled out and the fish took off. How many times have you said you would like to know what that fish was that you lost. Well, I knew, but I still lost it. Second bite was a 17" cab. No problem with hooks with a cab. Just let it keep biting and the hook will get way down the mouth.



Both fish were caught on fresh smelt that I was finally able to find in Morro Bay. Both fish were caught casting out far right at the edge of the kelp.

And then it happened. Somebody flipped the wind switch. 9:00 in the morning and the wind was blowing nearly gale force in my face - directly on-shore, which made it impossible to cast out far and keep your line in front of you where you can pull it through the rocks. Four casts and four snags and I had enough. I moved back to spot number one for another hour of no bites and called it a day. Even though I don't target cabs, I sure was happy to have that fish.

As I was tromping around the rocks looking for a good place to cast from, I saw this guy in the rocks.



You don't see many abalone any more around here.

Another interesting fishing trip on the Central Coast.

[Salty Nick v2]

Nice cabbie on a tough day of fishing - good thing you got it before the wind came up. Fishing north of you, I've noticed the bite's been kind of slow, even though the swells were down - and, yeah, the wind comes up late morning.

Salty.

[icatchcolds]

The wind has been coming up earlier in the morning this last week for me as well. How many smelt were you able to find? There was a lot of bird action in cayucos on wednesday.

[Mahigeer]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained says the guy who said it first.

Now you know you can go back if so desired.


Nice fish and ab.

[Rockfish Ninja]

Wind in your face or not, it was better than sitting at a desk at work, driving on a crowded freeway, or getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick.

Nice fish.

[branrx]

I dont understand how you guys fish in the mess of rocks and kelp. I really want to do this but Im afraid Im gonna go through several hooks and sinkers before I get this right. Where are you guys casting? What size sinkers, hooks? I read somewhere Spiderwire lines (braid?) will cut through the kelp nicely.
thoughts?

[frozendog]

[frozendog]