1973

Off the Surf

By Reg Reynolds

January 4, 1973

 

Now that Christmas Holiday has passed, all the fishermen can start to catch fish again off the surf. From the Rincon Hill, all the way down to Ventura, large barred perch have moved close to shore, where they are filling the surf with millions of tiny fish. Next year, these fish will be large perch, and will start striking or mussels, clams squid, mackerel, sand crabs, and shrimp baits. It doesn't take these fish long to grow, into pan size. They are sure fun to catch, as they put up quite a fight, when hooked.

Along with them, you will find corbina, thaa starts moving into the surf, around the middle of March. Small size fish come in at .the first, and they are followed by two to five pounders, a short time later. Some of these corbina remain in the surf, all the year around.

In years past, one could go down to the ocean, and load a gunny sack half full. But these . days are past, with all the stuff going into the ocean from  the many cities. Don't, throw out more than a hundred feet, for best results, as most surf fish are close to shore, feeding on-schools of sand crabs, that wash in with the rough tide. From Rincon Point, leading up the. Coast,-toward the oil pier, many rocks, and reefs, afford some excellent surf,-and rock fishing.  These spots are to be fished at extreme low tide, so one can stand on the rocks and cast into deep kelpy holes.

There are sandy places along the surf, where one can stand on the beach, and cast out. The sandy beach is where you will find corbina. While off the rocks, bass, cabazone, black perch and barred perch, as all the fish mentioned, feed on the submerged mussels . Off Higgin's Point, and up to the Carpinteria tar pits, surf fishing is good.

The Carpinteria Beach in front of the State Park, and up to Sandyland Beach, has some excellent spots to fish. Serena Beach rocks are good. Also off the cement seawall, at Summerland, Surf fishing at Santa Barbara is picking up. Perch, and corbina fishing holds good, up to the Goleta pier.

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Off the Surf

By Reg Reynolds

January 11, 1973

 

It has always been the fishermen's delight, when the holidays come along. With this month, the large barred perch start moving shoreward, for their spanning season. Millions of tiny fish are born in the surf, where as time passes, they become larger fish, the following year. Perch give the fishermen a delight to catch, when they weigh up to two and three pounders. They are, delicious to eat, and afford lots of food for all the people. By using sugar cured mackerel, anchovies, squid, mussels, and clams, one can fill his sack with these fine fish.

As the season advances into March, we have another run of these fish, followed by small schools of corbina. A corbina is one of the finest fish that we catch in the surf. They range from a pound, up to five and six pounders. They strike an most baits, bat if you can find a soft shelled sand crab, you will get one of these fish right away. If you want something good, bake one of these fish, and you will sit down to a fine meal.

From the Rincon Beach, down to Ventura, surf fishing is  now getting hot. This long, stretch of sandy, beach, has always been a favorite spot to try your luck. There are no rocks to get caught on but a long  slanting sandy beach. One can 'stand on the rock wall, along the. Coast highway, and cast out to where these fish are. Around the point, and leading up to the oil pier, has some excellent rock fishing, at extreme low tide. Bass, cabazone, perch, corbina, and halibut are striking. As you approach Higgin's point, and up above, is another swell spot to try. When the large reef,. directly in front of the State Park, is at low tide, one can catch some fine rock fish. The famous tar pits is another spot, and all the way up to Sandyland Beach, surf fishing is now good:

The Summerland seawall has some excellent fishing, when the tide is splashing against the wall. From there, up to Santa Barbara palm lined Beach, fishing is good. Off the pier, tomcod, perch, and bass, are striking.

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Off the Surf

By Reg Reynolds

January 25, 1973

 

Usually after a hard rain which we had, fishing will not be very good for several days. All the streams washes mud into the ocean, and feed, such as worms, and other insects. The fish will feed on them, and will not take a bait. As the ocean clears, of mud, fishing will start to pick up again. This month will see millions of tiny perch, that were spawned in the stiff. Other larger fish will feed on them, and what survive, will next year, be pound perch. The spawning season lasts from October, and up into January. The next spawning season starts in March, and continues up to May. It is funny how the perch start their runs at exactly the same dates each year. They are similar to the grunion runs, at exactly ten o'clock, up to midnight, on the nights they plan their runs, these fish come in by the light of the full moon's, onto beach, where they quickly dig into the sand with their tails, and deposit millions of tiny eggs in the wet sand. In several days these eggs hatch, and wash out into the ocean. Such is the life cycle of these two fish.

One can now fish off the rocks, and catch bass, cabazone, perch, and a few corbina that remain around the rocks and reefs, after their last Summer runs.

Off the Goleta pier, during high tide, halibut are found not more than a hundred feed from shore. These fish come in from the deep water, and hug the shoreline, where they feed on tiny fish, and schools of anchovies. When it is rough, the halibut burrough into the white sand, with but their two beady eyes showing, and when a small bait ventures to close to them. they dart out and eat it. Fishing should be good again in several days, all the way from the Santa Barbara pier, down to Serena; off the Sandyland Beach to the Carpinteria tar pits. Surf fishing will pick up off the long stretch of beach below the Rincon Hill, down to Ventura.

Lots of fishermen have been taking advantage of the warmer weather we have had these past few days, to try their luck off the long stretch of sandy beach, directly below the Rincon Ml, and leading toward Ventura. . This long sandy beach, has always been good for barred perch, corbina, bass, halibut, and sand sharks. Millions of sand crabs wash in with the rough high tide, and that is where you will find many kinds of surf fish. Don't fish at low tide as the ocean is too-far out to be any good. Try getting down to the beach, about two hours before the peak of high tide, for at that time, schools of fish are in the milky color water, feeding on sand crabs. Off Mussel rock, at low tide, bass, and perch are now striking. All along the rocky seawall, fishing is good. Going up the Coast around Rincon Point Beach, lots of rocks and reefs extend out into the surf, where bass, and other fish are found.

The long stretch, of beach at Higgin's Point, is an excellent spot to fish. Then up to Carpinteria's large, reef, and the famous tar pits. Many a large bass, cabazone, corbina, and perch, have been caught at this spot. Where we had our pier, at the entrance to the Carpinteria Creek, is a swell spot to try. Also directly in front of the Stale Park, corbina will soon start showing up, along with large barred perch. This holds good, up to Sandyland Beach.

At Serena Beach, where rocks line, the railroad tracks, is another spot where fish are now striking. This long beach is sandy, and affords excellent sandy holes for the fish to feed in. Last year corbina up to five pounds were caught off the surf.

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Off the Surf

By Reg Reynolds

January 18, 1973

During extreme low tide, several fishermen trying their luck off Carpenteria's large  reef caught a number of barred perch, bass, and several cabezone, during last week. All  the fish were striking on small pieces of anchovie, shrimp, squid, and hunks of sugar cured mackerel. This reef has always  been a good spot to fish, through the many years I have been in Carpinteria. I caught one Cabazone, that weighed six pounds, by casting off the beach. Most of these fish are found in deep kelpy holes where clusters  of mussels grow under the surf. One can walk clear to the end of the reef, and fish off the left side. If one can stand on the extreme end, and cast out into the foamy ocean, many kinds of large fish are found. Going down the surf to Higgin's Point, has some excellent rocks, and reefs to stand on and cast out into the foamy surf. This holds good, down to the oil pier, and beyond, to Rincon Point. The large rocklined seawall on the Coast highway, is another swell spot to try. One can surf fish as far down as Ventura, and catch plenty of surf fish.

Directly in front of the Carpinteria River, where it flows into the ocean, at the lower end of the State Park, was where many thousands of large barred perch, were caught when we had a short pier there. Off the famous tar pits, is another swell spot to try your luck, at high tide. Going up the beach toward Sandyland, many a fine perch, and corbina, can be caught from now on, until the Summer months to come.

The rocklined seawall at Serena Beach, has some fine surf fishing. One can stand on large rocks and cast out into the foamy surf. Bass, as well as halibut, perch, and corbina, can be caught here.

The Summerland seawall, directly below Ortega Hill, is another swell spot to try. From there to Santa Barbara, surf fishing will soon be good. Goleta pier, has some halibut, and perch fishing.

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Off the Surf

By Reg Reynolds

March 01, 1973

From the first of this week, fishing has been picking up off the rocks, all the way down to Rincon Point. Large bass, cabazone, perch, and a few corbina have been striking at low tide, off most of the reefs. They were catching some large size fish on mussels, clams, squid, mackerel, and anchovies, in deep kelpy holes around the bases of rocks. The mussels have started to grow thick under the water, and most of the fish are feeding on them.

Off the Rincon seawall, along the highway, leading down toward Mussel Rock Beach, large barred perch, with a sprinkling of corbina, and bass, have been striking good, at high tide. Sand crabs have started showing up in the sand, and that is what is drawing the fish in close to shore. Don't fish out too far, for good results.

The long stretch of beach, leading down to the Ventura River mouth, has some., excellent spots to fish. Wherever you find submerged rocks showing in the surf, you will find plenty of rock fish around them. They seem to thrive on the mussels, that line the rocks.

Above the oil pier, on the beach below Higgin's Point fishing has been reported good. This holds good, up to the Carpinteria tar pits, Large barred perch are now in the surf, near where our fishing pier once stood. If we only had our pier, in the exact same spot, Carpinteria would have a real spot to fish again. It was noted for it's fine fishing. Some of the largest perch I have ever caught, were caught off both sides of the pier. We are now the only City along the Coast; without a fishing pier, it is a dirty shame too, with all the fishermen coming up to fish off our fine beach.

From Sandyland Beach, up to Serena rock, and to the seawall, at Ortega Hill, has some fine spots to try your luck. The Santa Barbara pier, is fair off the end. Goleta pier, is now having some barred perch, and halibut fishing, during high tide.

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Off the Surf

By Reg Reynolds

June 7, 1973

 

I had several boat fishermen in my shop, during Monday, and up to Thursday. They fished the kelp beds off Carpinteria and up to Goleta Beach, One halibut caught on one of the boats weighed twenty five pounds. They caught kelp bass, and calico bass, .that weighed up to eight and ten pounds, as fast as they dropped a bait in the water. Along with all that, they caught close to two dozen sand sharks, blue sharks, and leopard sharks.

All the fish in the kelp beds, are now spawning, and the schools of sharks are feeding on eggs, and small fish that are born by the thousands. If one can drop in among the kelp, they said that large schools of halibut, are along the bottom. When one hooks a halibut, he darts in among the kelp beds, and tangles up, so it is hard to pull the fish out. When you fish in the beds, it would be a good idea to put on 70, or eighty pound test line, and when the fish swims into the kelp, put a tight line on your rod, and have a friend rap your rod with his hand some hard blows. This hurts the fish, and they will usually dart out of the streamers of kelp and try to rip loose.

I saw a five hundred pound jewfish caught off the old Santa Monica pier, a number of years ago. The huge fish hugged the bottom, and would 'not come up. This man had a long Calcutta rod, that was taped heavily from the butt to the end. He put a hard pull on his line, and had his-friend start beating on his rod. {Note: in the original article ‘red’ was used instead of ‘rod’ in several instances-TC}