Recent content by Smelt4Bait

Many people, including myself, consider them by catch and never keep 'em. All of them I've caught were while fishing for halibut using live bait, smelt or sardines and/or with fresh dead or frozen anchovies or sardines. They put up a great fight and their tough skin will easily wear through mono...

For hooping even the metal bait cages get destroyed from the seals. The go to thing now is PVC pipe with 3/4 in holes in it, one glued on cap and the other just pressed on. Fill it with mackerel, salmon heads, sardines or whatever oily fish you can get. Zip tie it to the net real good and you...

"Years back when Edison would dump the warm water through the channel" The two power plants north of Westminster Blvd. still release warm water into the San Gabriel River and warms the water attracting everything from Sea Turtles to Bonito to ribbon and needle fish. My point being, years back...

The Tidelog is my go to for any fishing planning. It shows the tides, sun and moon positions plus current speed in an easy to see format. Worth the $15 bucks and available for on line ordering. https://www.tidelog.com/product/southern-california-2/ Erik

I went there (HB pier) a couple weeks ago. At the end were the regular shark anglers trying for the threshers but no catchers. The rest of the anglers were fishing Sabikis for macks and whatever would hit them. A Sabiki with small squid strips were the most productive. Closer to shore were a few...

Shoulder hook, anal fin hook or nose hook if you are doing allot of casting and retrieving. Anal fin is my go to for halibut and bottom fishing.

If I’m fishing the pier, I’m usually fishing for halibut. Actually, I’m most always fishing for halibut. So, back to the pier, I’ll start out making bait, smelt is usually pretty easy with a Sabiki tipped with small pieces of squid, but I use an umbrella net. Save your old bread, hotdog buns...

Took a walk down to the Seal Beach Pier yesterday afternoon and walked out to the end to check it out. No gear, didn't really plan on heading out there but it was a nice afternoon with moderate to low winds, prob 5 to 10 MPH, for that time of the evening. Not much going on with maybe a dozen...

I grew up in Seal Beach and spent my JR high to teenage years (70s) working in the bait shack each summer. I remember the tickets being blue though not orange. In the mornings the "City of Seal Beach" 1/2 day boat would come to pick up the morning anglers and we'd pull up the days loads of...

Hi Guys, and Gals, Here in Orange County it IS OKAY to fish. The OC Health order lists "Essential Activities" include; v; Food cultivation, including farming, livestock and FISHING; Reference https://www.ochealthinfo.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=114362 Fish On! Stay Safe, Erik

Bolsa Chica State Beach is full of great fishing. Actually all of Surfside to Newport Beach is good. To avoid paying to enter the State Beach you can park North of Warner Ave. by the Jack in the Box and fish the Sunset Beach/Surfside shore. I will ride my bike south to the inlet from there. As...