East Bay halibut

[bipnilaga]

Tide: is a 4/6/21 9:10am 1hr into the outgoing

Area: Alameda Harbour Bay shoreline

Gear: 7ft ugly stik lite, 10lb braid with a 12lb mono topshot. Daiwa bg2500.

3/8 jig with swimbait
3/8 hair raiser

Strolled to one of my fav spots as I was in the EB for a appt. Had a few hours to kill and I ended up catching one shaker striper, but I also foul hooked a bat ray which took me on a magic carpet ride.

Hooked a almost keeper butt, but it seemed too small so back in the bay she went. Both lures seemed to work today, but they seemed to have preferred a yoyo retrieve with a distinct pause. Both fish hit on the pause.

All in all a great day out.

 

[evanluck]

Nice catches! Thanks for the report!

 

[MienAce]

Did you stay put or keep moving?

 

[bipnilaga]

I also keep moving concentrating on reading the water. It's like searching for land mines, and you can't stay in the same spot.

 

[MienAce]

How do you read the water I need to master that..

 

[evanluck]

How do you read the water I need to master that..

Great question and would be an excellent subject for an article by Ken. I know Josh was telling me that he found it was very easy to spot the holes where the perch were hiding from shore. Maybe he will chime in with some insight.

 

[bipnilaga]

Reading the water involves many aspects. I am no expert, but here are my general guidelines. As Evan mentioned, some of these aspects applies to surf conditions as well.

Mudline:

When the current if flowing, you will usually see a distinct "mudline". This is a visual thing, where you can see water that is more clear then the surrounding water. This usually means deeper water, a shelf or some type of bottom structure where there is less mud, silt or all of the above. From shore you want to cast into the clear water past the mudline. Predators are usually cruising in and out of that line to ambush bait. I prefer to cast and let the lure sweep across the mudline.

Swirls:

Sometimes you will see areas of water which seem to "swirl". This is caused by a combination of structure and currents. I try to cast into the swirl or around it and let my lure bounce around in the turbulence.

If you see multiple pockets of swirls, cast into the calm area and drag your lure in and out of the swirls.

Points/areas that form a peninsula type shoreline geography are great to fish. You want to fish all 3 points around the point. Usually most predator fish will hang out on other side, waiting for bait to sweep by for an ambush.

In all cases, I like to use a light of a lure as possible with a slow sink rate. This allows the current to drift the lure naturally so it appears like a bait fish.

Hope this helps.

 

[evanluck]

Reading the water involves many aspects. I am no expert, but here are my general guidelines. As Evan mentioned, some of these aspects applies to surf conditions as well.

Mudline:

When the current if flowing, you will usually see a distinct "mudline". This is a visual thing, where you can see water that is more clear then the surrounding water. This usually means deeper water, a shelf or some type of bottom structure where there is less mud, silt or all of the above. From shore you want to cast into the clear water past the mudline. Predators are usually cruising in and out of that line to ambush bait. I prefer to cast and let the lure sweep across the mudline.

Swirls:

Sometimes you will see areas of water which seem to "swirl". This is caused by a combination of structure and currents. I try to cast into the swirl or around it and let my lure bounce around in the turbulence.

If you see multiple pockets of swirls, cast into the calm area and drag your lure in and out of the swirls.

Points/areas that form a peninsula type shoreline geography are great to fish. You want to fish all 3 points around the point. Usually most predator fish will hang out on other side, waiting for bait to sweep by for an ambush.

In all cases, I like to use a light of a lure as possible with a slow sink rate. This allows the current to drift the lure naturally so it appears like a bait fish.

Hope this helps.

Awesome! Very helpful indeed!!

 

[Tifoso]

Reading the water involves many aspects. I am no expert, but here are my general guidelines. As Evan mentioned, some of these aspects applies to surf conditions as well.

Mudline:

When the current if flowing, you will usually see a distinct "mudline". This is a visual thing, where you can see water that is more clear then the surrounding water. This usually means deeper water, a shelf or some type of bottom structure where there is less mud, silt or all of the above. From shore you want to cast into the clear water past the mudline. Predators are usually cruising in and out of that line to ambush bait. I prefer to cast and let the lure sweep across the mudline.

Swirls:

Sometimes you will see areas of water which seem to "swirl". This is caused by a combination of structure and currents. I try to cast into the swirl or around it and let my lure bounce around in the turbulence.

If you see multiple pockets of swirls, cast into the calm area and drag your lure in and out of the swirls.

Points/areas that form a peninsula type shoreline geography are great to fish. You want to fish all 3 points around the point. Usually most predator fish will hang out on other side, waiting for bait to sweep by for an ambush.

In all cases, I like to use a light of a lure as possible with a slow sink rate. This allows the current to drift the lure naturally so it appears like a bait fish.

Hope this helps.

Helps? It’s fantastic! Thank you!

 

[MienAce]

One more question if you don’t mind, the honey hole that I’ve fished, sometime the current is very strong/fast other time is dead calm why’s that? Because of the moon effect?

 

[pinfish]

One more question if you don’t mind, the honey hole that I’ve fished, sometime the current is very strong/fast other time is dead calm why’s that? Because of the moon effect?

yes the tide