07-08-2004, 08:09 PM
Plastic Swimbaits and Calico Bass
If there ever were fish species a dyed-in-the-wool freshwater bass angler would want to fish for in the salt, it would be either the spotted bay bass, barred or sand bass, and the calico bass that inhabits the near-shore areas in southern California. The fishery is especially important to anglers from Santa Monica to the north to San Diego to the south during the summer migration of sand bass. These fish also range further up the coast to the channel islands and beyond but are not as important to the sportfishing industry as they are further south.
I went on my usual open-party, 3/4 day boat and headed for an area called Horseshoe Kelp for the calicos and the Huntington Flats for sandies. Structure loving calico are abundant in this rather wide expanse of water of the San Pedro/Long Beach shoreline. The California state record for the Calico is 15lb 15oz at last count (14lb 11oz before) but you'd think it was twice its weight judging from its' fight.
I use three different styles of swimbaits commonly sold here in southern California. I use mostly Kalin's Swimmer, Big Hammers, and Fish Traps. Yes, Whams and Blams are very popular too but......
Depending on the time spent on a spot upon anchoring and the general position of the fish in the water column, I adjust the weight of my wide gapped, eyeballed jighead. Calicos and Sandies are often near the bottom, but with chumming of anchovies or sardines, the fish will often head slowly but shurely toward the surface. There is not anything much more exciting than seeing a 4 pound Calico jump on a very light jighead and swimbait right on top of the water 30 or 40 feet from the boat.
First thing I did was to drop my swimbait straight down after the boat settled a bit and got my first thump. Not suprisingly, the first guys down often get bit first and by a better grade of fish. The chumming works later on. It's really fun right now as you don't know if you're going to get hit by a calico (sportscoat) sandie (sand bass), or a Sculpin (rattlesnake). They kinda feel like one another at the instant of hookup and a little dogged resistance.
My story: 'Kept Kastin' to Keeping on Ketching' I fished deep and caught fish for a while then the fish started to come closer to the surface. I accordingly switched to a lighter jighead and changed colors and still got bit on every cast. OK, so 10 fish later, I switch to an even lighter jighead and 'live lined' the swimbait far out from the boat. Often the bigger fish will be further out and sit out their picking off baitfish straglers. Most of the fish you catch on swimbaits are on the controled drop or slow crank retrieve. The lift and crank does well sometimes too.
Calicos are clever and you'll usually only get one hit per customer but those silly sand or barred bass will keep coming back until they get it right!
Plastics are espeically fun if you have a number of guys that fish the same way as your line position to one another can easily be maintained or adjusted as the size of the bait and jighead are pretty much the same. Luckly after people see how well the plastics work and not having to go get bait or have to change baits often, they start using plastics too. Only problem with fishing near the surface with plastics is that the barracuda love the plastics too. Of course, the toothy creatures will bite you off in a heartbeat. bye bye jig or leadhead, bye bye last hot color of a particular brand of swimbait[
]
To wrap up my story, I caught lots of all four species (got to C&R those Sculpin) and as I don't keep fish, they either went back home or in a deserving persons sack. Deserving?! I'll leave that up to you're imagination but it mostly has to do with having manners, not being a jerk, and having a family to feed type of thing.
The skipper being a good fishery conservator, let us know when enough was enough and away we went from the bass spot (left them biting) and on to barracudaville. I love plastics fishing so the next best thing to getting my swimbaits bit off half the time from the slimy gar was to live line an anchovie. We had 4~5 inch chovies which was great. I'll take a bohunk anchovie every time over a sardine for bass and barries.
The boat loaded up on barracuda (limits for bass: 10 fish, barracuda: 10 fish) and we went home. One hint.... if you throw plastic at barracuda, fast-strike them if they are biting solid and your swimbait will last longer. If you try to catch them on the drop, they'll swallow your bait and guess where your line is... er... was in their toothy maws.
I am also a circle hook advocate but I must admit that, even using an oversized hook, you'll loose a lot of barracuda before you get the hang of keeping them on after tightening up the line. Bass on the other hand, were made to be caught on circle hooks. Use the biggest hook you can as those bass are not embarrased to 'open wide' for lunch.
Took the 1 hour ride back to the landing and that was that with yet another day(s) of fishing under the belt.
JapanRon
[signature]
If there ever were fish species a dyed-in-the-wool freshwater bass angler would want to fish for in the salt, it would be either the spotted bay bass, barred or sand bass, and the calico bass that inhabits the near-shore areas in southern California. The fishery is especially important to anglers from Santa Monica to the north to San Diego to the south during the summer migration of sand bass. These fish also range further up the coast to the channel islands and beyond but are not as important to the sportfishing industry as they are further south.
I went on my usual open-party, 3/4 day boat and headed for an area called Horseshoe Kelp for the calicos and the Huntington Flats for sandies. Structure loving calico are abundant in this rather wide expanse of water of the San Pedro/Long Beach shoreline. The California state record for the Calico is 15lb 15oz at last count (14lb 11oz before) but you'd think it was twice its weight judging from its' fight.
I use three different styles of swimbaits commonly sold here in southern California. I use mostly Kalin's Swimmer, Big Hammers, and Fish Traps. Yes, Whams and Blams are very popular too but......
Depending on the time spent on a spot upon anchoring and the general position of the fish in the water column, I adjust the weight of my wide gapped, eyeballed jighead. Calicos and Sandies are often near the bottom, but with chumming of anchovies or sardines, the fish will often head slowly but shurely toward the surface. There is not anything much more exciting than seeing a 4 pound Calico jump on a very light jighead and swimbait right on top of the water 30 or 40 feet from the boat.
First thing I did was to drop my swimbait straight down after the boat settled a bit and got my first thump. Not suprisingly, the first guys down often get bit first and by a better grade of fish. The chumming works later on. It's really fun right now as you don't know if you're going to get hit by a calico (sportscoat) sandie (sand bass), or a Sculpin (rattlesnake). They kinda feel like one another at the instant of hookup and a little dogged resistance.
My story: 'Kept Kastin' to Keeping on Ketching' I fished deep and caught fish for a while then the fish started to come closer to the surface. I accordingly switched to a lighter jighead and changed colors and still got bit on every cast. OK, so 10 fish later, I switch to an even lighter jighead and 'live lined' the swimbait far out from the boat. Often the bigger fish will be further out and sit out their picking off baitfish straglers. Most of the fish you catch on swimbaits are on the controled drop or slow crank retrieve. The lift and crank does well sometimes too.
Calicos are clever and you'll usually only get one hit per customer but those silly sand or barred bass will keep coming back until they get it right!
Plastics are espeically fun if you have a number of guys that fish the same way as your line position to one another can easily be maintained or adjusted as the size of the bait and jighead are pretty much the same. Luckly after people see how well the plastics work and not having to go get bait or have to change baits often, they start using plastics too. Only problem with fishing near the surface with plastics is that the barracuda love the plastics too. Of course, the toothy creatures will bite you off in a heartbeat. bye bye jig or leadhead, bye bye last hot color of a particular brand of swimbait[
] To wrap up my story, I caught lots of all four species (got to C&R those Sculpin) and as I don't keep fish, they either went back home or in a deserving persons sack. Deserving?! I'll leave that up to you're imagination but it mostly has to do with having manners, not being a jerk, and having a family to feed type of thing.
The skipper being a good fishery conservator, let us know when enough was enough and away we went from the bass spot (left them biting) and on to barracudaville. I love plastics fishing so the next best thing to getting my swimbaits bit off half the time from the slimy gar was to live line an anchovie. We had 4~5 inch chovies which was great. I'll take a bohunk anchovie every time over a sardine for bass and barries.
The boat loaded up on barracuda (limits for bass: 10 fish, barracuda: 10 fish) and we went home. One hint.... if you throw plastic at barracuda, fast-strike them if they are biting solid and your swimbait will last longer. If you try to catch them on the drop, they'll swallow your bait and guess where your line is... er... was in their toothy maws.
I am also a circle hook advocate but I must admit that, even using an oversized hook, you'll loose a lot of barracuda before you get the hang of keeping them on after tightening up the line. Bass on the other hand, were made to be caught on circle hooks. Use the biggest hook you can as those bass are not embarrased to 'open wide' for lunch.
Took the 1 hour ride back to the landing and that was that with yet another day(s) of fishing under the belt.
JapanRon
[signature]