Any Santa Barbara area members? - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

sbsyncro · 10-06-2007, 07:35 AM

Hi there - new to the board here (I've been more active on kayak4fish.com). I started kayak fishing around August, and so far I'm still trying to figure out where the fish are, but always have a great time!

Is anyone else on the board from the Santa Barbara area? I've been seeing more and more kayak fishermen lately, especially around the harbor.

I usually launch from Leadbetter or the harbor, and typically fish off East Beach for flatties (so far I have caught about 6 but all shorts) or in the kelp off Leadbetter (nothing interesting yet). Most exciting catch so far was literally my 2nd cast of the day next to the bait barge in SB harbor; I got a 27" WSB on a green Krocodile lure. I seem to have a knack for fish that are 1" shy of legal. I get a lot of 1" short 'butts too. (Maybe I should invest in a fish stretcher....)

Heading up to Naples Reef tomorrow (Sunday) with a buddy for the first time - all the reports I hear it sounds like a great place for calicos this time of year. Anyone have experience yakking Naples Reef? We've been out off Tajiguas a few times (just off shore) and hooked some monster halibuts but broke them off before landing them (this is on 15# mono line)

-Brent

Useful Idiot · 10-08-2007, 12:15 PM

I've been in SD for the past 5 years but I'm from SB. We used to float tube and kayak all over. Keep hittin that bait barge, that seabass is no fluke. We used to park our float tubes next to that thing at dusk 3 or 4 times a week and cast swimbaits parallel to the receiver and catch barely legals fairly consistently. Glad to hear they're still around. Turn in the heads to the DFG office on the mesa, I caught one of the first tagged fish years ago.

Check out goleta beach/campus point. There's flatties all along the surfline from campus point to the rock outcropping at the end of the parking lot at goleta beach, and also east of the slough on the other side of the pier. There's an underwater pipeline straight off the pier about 1/2 mile that always has a ton of bass and rockfish on it. Fishfinder would make it easy, there's usually a kelp line growing on it.

There's a lot of halibut on west beach as well, between the wharf and the jetty. And you could always paddle out to the one mile.

El Capitan is another good spot for flatties in the surf.

Naples can be sick. A lot of big bass and big halibut around there. Never got up there in a tube or yak but fished it a few times from a boat. Figure out a way to get live squid up there and it's game over.

-Brian

sbsyncro · 10-08-2007, 06:10 PM

Well, it was a beautiful day yesterday on Naples Reef. A buddy and I took my Hobie Outfitter tandem loaded up with four rods, bait bucket, and an assortment of plastics. After about a 40 minute paddle, we arrived on the reef at about 9 AM. We launched from the beach just below Bacara, and was a bit tricky due to the steepneess of the shoreline and that it is made of rocks instead of sand.

Once on the reef, my first cast out, a small (probably about 8") calico folowed my 6" swimbait all the way back to the kayak. I hooted and said "This is going to be an AWESOME day!". Unfortunately that was the last calico we saw until about 20 minutes before coming in where we stopped under the Veneco pier to fish the kelp stringers there. (a 18" or so calico was sitting about a foot below the surface just staring at me. And I mean *staring*). I couldn't entice him with anything wiggled past his nose (not even a fly-lined chunk of squid tentacle)..

We couldn't make any bait except for smelt, which I've never had any luck using as bait, so we focused mostly on swimbaits. I tried all colors and sizes and only caught two sub-legal rockfish in about six hours of fishing the reef.

There were some teenage kids out there free diving off a Zodiac in about 30' of water and one of them speared a ~6' thresher. He apparently didn't get complete penetration and the thing thrashed the surface for a minute and then took off. They jumped in the zodiac and chased after it, but never found it again. Crazy kids...

Anyway, my FF comes this week, and I am definitely planning another trip to Naples - it is a seriously nice spot, and it would seem a prime fishing spot when there's a bite on... I think the sudden drop in water temp may have put the fish down a bit, but I'm still learning this whole saltwater fishing thing....

sbsyncro · 10-11-2007, 08:41 PM

Well, I am sold on the value of a fish finder.... 5 months of fishing off the kayak and I've never caught a legal-sized fish to take home. Today, my first day out with the new Cuda 250 s/map and i found a spot where the sand bass were hanging out and hitting swim bait like crazy. Within about an hour (and that includes a lot o fiddling with line and repositioning in the current) I had 4 sandies and a 14" rockfish, all on swimbaits. The sandies were ALL taken on a "bleeding mackerel" pattern 5" or 5-1/2" big hammer with "Pro-Cure" crawfish gel - they would not hit any other colors I tried. The rockfish was taken on a "rainbow trout" color big hammer with frozen squid. The Sandies ranged from 13" (my first) to 19-/2".

Since these are the first keepers I've caught on the kayak, I figure that the cost per pound of the fillets is somewhere around $1,500 per pound, not including my time.

Matt · 10-12-2007, 06:07 PM

Congrats my man!!!! You may be at $1500 per pound of fillet but that pic of you and your son is gonna be more than priceless to the both of you in 20 years!!!!

Congrats!!!

Matt F.

lambadmin · 10-12-2007, 06:23 PM

Food's on the table!

Funny, I was just going to move your thread since it wasn't a fishing report, and now you made it just that...

lamb · 10-12-2007, 07:13 PM

now,

this is a nice bass.

sbsyncro · 10-14-2007, 09:06 AM

OK, that thing is ridiculous. Did you photoshop that thing?

Now I feel really inadequate...

10-06-2007, 07:35 AM	#1
sbsyncro Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 80	Any Santa Barbara area members? Hi there - new to the board here (I've been more active on kayak4fish.com). I started kayak fishing around August, and so far I'm still trying to figure out where the fish are, but always have a great time! Is anyone else on the board from the Santa Barbara area? I've been seeing more and more kayak fishermen lately, especially around the harbor. I usually launch from Leadbetter or the harbor, and typically fish off East Beach for flatties (so far I have caught about 6 but all shorts) or in the kelp off Leadbetter (nothing interesting yet). Most exciting catch so far was literally my 2nd cast of the day next to the bait barge in SB harbor; I got a 27" WSB on a green Krocodile lure. I seem to have a knack for fish that are 1" shy of legal. I get a lot of 1" short 'butts too. (Maybe I should invest in a fish stretcher....) Heading up to Naples Reef tomorrow (Sunday) with a buddy for the first time - all the reports I hear it sounds like a great place for calicos this time of year. Anyone have experience yakking Naples Reef? We've been out off Tajiguas a few times (just off shore) and hooked some monster halibuts but broke them off before landing them (this is on 15# mono line) -Brent

10-08-2007, 12:15 PM	#2
Useful Idiot Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 286	I've been in SD for the past 5 years but I'm from SB. We used to float tube and kayak all over. Keep hittin that bait barge, that seabass is no fluke. We used to park our float tubes next to that thing at dusk 3 or 4 times a week and cast swimbaits parallel to the receiver and catch barely legals fairly consistently. Glad to hear they're still around. Turn in the heads to the DFG office on the mesa, I caught one of the first tagged fish years ago. Check out goleta beach/campus point. There's flatties all along the surfline from campus point to the rock outcropping at the end of the parking lot at goleta beach, and also east of the slough on the other side of the pier. There's an underwater pipeline straight off the pier about 1/2 mile that always has a ton of bass and rockfish on it. Fishfinder would make it easy, there's usually a kelp line growing on it. There's a lot of halibut on west beach as well, between the wharf and the jetty. And you could always paddle out to the one mile. El Capitan is another good spot for flatties in the surf. Naples can be sick. A lot of big bass and big halibut around there. Never got up there in a tube or yak but fished it a few times from a boat. Figure out a way to get live squid up there and it's game over. -Brian __________________

10-12-2007, 07:13 PM	#7
lamb Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,563	now, this is a nice bass. __________________ [------------------------ <)))< ....b-a-a-a-a

10-08-2007, 06:10 PM	#3
sbsyncro Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 80	Well, it was a beautiful day yesterday on Naples Reef. A buddy and I took my Hobie Outfitter tandem loaded up with four rods, bait bucket, and an assortment of plastics. After about a 40 minute paddle, we arrived on the reef at about 9 AM. We launched from the beach just below Bacara, and was a bit tricky due to the steepneess of the shoreline and that it is made of rocks instead of sand. Once on the reef, my first cast out, a small (probably about 8") calico folowed my 6" swimbait all the way back to the kayak. I hooted and said "This is going to be an AWESOME day!". Unfortunately that was the last calico we saw until about 20 minutes before coming in where we stopped under the Veneco pier to fish the kelp stringers there. (a 18" or so calico was sitting about a foot below the surface just staring at me. And I mean staring). I couldn't entice him with anything wiggled past his nose (not even a fly-lined chunk of squid tentacle).. We couldn't make any bait except for smelt, which I've never had any luck using as bait, so we focused mostly on swimbaits. I tried all colors and sizes and only caught two sub-legal rockfish in about six hours of fishing the reef. There were some teenage kids out there free diving off a Zodiac in about 30' of water and one of them speared a ~6' thresher. He apparently didn't get complete penetration and the thing thrashed the surface for a minute and then took off. They jumped in the zodiac and chased after it, but never found it again. Crazy kids... Anyway, my FF comes this week, and I am definitely planning another trip to Naples - it is a seriously nice spot, and it would seem a prime fishing spot when there's a bite on... I think the sudden drop in water temp may have put the fish down a bit, but I'm still learning this whole saltwater fishing thing....

10-11-2007, 08:41 PM	#4
sbsyncro Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 80	Well, I am sold on the value of a fish finder.... 5 months of fishing off the kayak and I've never caught a legal-sized fish to take home. Today, my first day out with the new Cuda 250 s/map and i found a spot where the sand bass were hanging out and hitting swim bait like crazy. Within about an hour (and that includes a lot o fiddling with line and repositioning in the current) I had 4 sandies and a 14" rockfish, all on swimbaits. The sandies were ALL taken on a "bleeding mackerel" pattern 5" or 5-1/2" big hammer with "Pro-Cure" crawfish gel - they would not hit any other colors I tried. The rockfish was taken on a "rainbow trout" color big hammer with frozen squid. The Sandies ranged from 13" (my first) to 19-/2". Since these are the first keepers I've caught on the kayak, I figure that the cost per pound of the fillets is somewhere around $1,500 per pound, not including my time.

10-12-2007, 06:07 PM	#5
Matt Support your local pangas Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Lj Posts: 976	Congrats my man!!!! You may be at $1500 per pound of fillet but that pic of you and your son is gonna be more than priceless to the both of you in 20 years!!!! Congrats!!! Matt F.

10-12-2007, 06:23 PM	#6
lambadmin Spam Sanitation Dept Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,374	Food's on the table! Funny, I was just going to move your thread since it wasn't a fishing report, and now you made it just that...

10-14-2007, 09:06 AM	#8
sbsyncro Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 80	OK, that thing is ridiculous. Did you photoshop that thing? Now I feel really inadequate...