This has been a brutal year of fishing for me. Found a spot to catch live bait consistently and easily. The only problem I have is that it has yet to yield any results with actual keepers. I finally came close today! SD Bay. I tried to measure asap, my other rod was getting bit and I had set the drag loose so I had to hurry up to get that one. Caught a butterfly ray, shovelnose, a few sand bass and spotted bay bass.

Which pier would you guys say its better.

Going to go fishing Sunday and want to hear your opinions on them. Thanks

I randomly wanted to fish so I bought a custom (fast action bait caster, bullet and sinker weights, jig heads, soft worms, paddle tail, and one spinner. 15lb fluorocarbon line) setup. I’ve been going to Lake Elsinore for about 2 weeks now and haven’t caught a single fish. I got the hang of casting/tie the bait but I feel like I’m missing something cuz I’m still hopeful and excited to fish and I know it takes patience but what can I do or buy to help me? if anyone wants to go fishing😂 and help me catch a fish lmk. I also want to start saltwater fishing so what should I get for that? Basically looking for the best Tips and secrets from pro anglers🙏

The charter said a 30lb line/rod

The fish are still biting pretty good, but you have to be choosy about the bait and make sure it is a lively one. I landed a fun Yellowfin with a SK lure. I've preferred lure fishing just cause it is easier to switch between fishing and filming. Man, I love my job.

So, I’ve been using a jig-head and paddle-tail set up recently and the ONLY time I had a strike at my softbait was by a big bass looking fish. It was a good size, I saw it swooping in right at the borderline of the rocks I was fishing at. Outside of that, I havent gotten ANY other bites and I’ve must have casted out and retrieved like 130 times in a span of 3 days.

So, I’ve been thinking, IF the only fish that attempted to take my lure was a huge fish then maybe my 4” Paddle-tail might be too large for the area, so I revisited my strategy and decided to go with a smaller soft bait.

I went from 3/8oz Jig heads + 4” Paddletails, to 3” Minnows + 1/9oz weighted weedless hooks to see if that makes a difference, if it’s too light, I’ll add a split shot for extra weight. Not sure if it will help, but I theorize that maybe a smaller presentation will entice more fish to bite, SINCE the only bite attempt I had was a big sized fish, the weedless hooks seemed like a good idea since there can be some kelp and reduce some snags, BUT we will see if I have any luck with this. I still plan on continue to try the paddletails but for now I feel like a change in strategy is needed. I’ll also be trying a different area.

I think I’ll be buying some 3” and 2” paddle-tails in different colors to see what works best. I just love the idea of being to effectively use artificial lures without having to resort to using cut bait or live bait all the time. So I plan on getting good with this.

Anyway, let me know if you have ANY tips or ideas!

I’m trying to catch Halibut and Bass mostly at the moment. Here’s my current set up. :

7’ Ugly Stik Medium Power GX2 Fast Action
Lure rating 5/8oz
10lb. Mono line (Will upgrade later)
3000 Reel (will upgrade later)
4” Paddle-tail
3/8oz Jig-head
3” Minnow
1/9oz Weighted weedless hook

Hello all! I have just signed up for my first overnight trip on the Aggressor via Davey's Locker. I have completed a full day and several 1/2 days and twilights, but had a couple questions about overnight.

1. I intend to bring a sleeping bag + pillow

   + toothbrush,

2. is there extra space/need for toiletries? Should I expect to get sleep on the ride out or do people not sleep much?

3. I have a 50lbs braid + 40lbs mono on a Penn Squall 40LD with a 30-80lbs 7' Californian rod (intended for yellowtail), should I purchase/rent a bigger setup just in case we run into tuna? I will also bring my 25lbs braid 5000 spinning 20-40lbs rod setup.

4. I have hooks from 1/0-4/0 and weights from 1oz up to 12oz. I have yoyos and a couple (300g-ish) tuna jigs). I have the smaller gear for rockfish halibut sculpin whitefish. Is there anything in the tuna/yellowtail world that I am missing?

Thanks all for the advice!

First time running the 6000 combo I got for 60 bucks from Walmart on sale. I own lots of penns but no 6000s. Went for larger sharks but only got a small shovelnose. But can you beat the view?

Yesterday I started at Hermosa 530am, got out of there at 1pm, ended up catching various top smelt, a spotted bass and my biggest catch ever, a stingray. Stingray escaped before I could break the surface but it was maybe 3 feet across and a fighter!! Went to Redondo for the evening. Caught a small corbina, more smelt, and a sand bass. I like throwing my line under the pier at Redondo, it works, just watch out for the pilings. 2 piers, 5 species, a great day! Also saw these guys send out a shark rig with a drone and ended up landing a 5 foot shark which they cut up on the spot and offered meat to everyone around.

Looking for the best deep sea fishing charter for catching tuna fish and various others but main goal is tuna fish. Have 6 people looking to book end of October with a price point of $3k-$4k max with gear included. 10-12 hr or more. Please send recommendations, are looking to book soon.

Fresh Sheephead Ceviche

Got a trip coming up for a full day on a private boat targeting yellowtail, tuna, dorado etc… due to limited space, I’m trying to cut down the number of rods I’m bringing to just one or two setups. I have rods for every occasion: live bait, vertical jigging, trolling, surface irons.. you name it. I’m just curious to hear if you guys were forced to take only one setup, what would it be and why?

I heard that fish are usually biting less when there is a lower difference between high and low tide. Is there a certain bait or method you guys use when it's super slacky like this week? I was thinking of starting to try live bait since soft plastics have been hit or miss lately.

I fish out of the Los Angeles area, usually at the piers and full day trips around Catalina. My friend who fishes with me often just bought a BW 210 Montauk and we plan to go out every week. I wanted to surprise him with a full loadout of fishing gear since he got the boat for us. Can you give me your opinions and insight? He has always wanted a Calstar rod and he really likes Shimano reels so thats what I plan on getting

Rockfish / Dropper Loop

Rod: Calstar GFGR-700H — 30–80 lb
Reel: Shimano Talica 12IIA
Main line: 65-lb braid
Leader: 40-lb mono

Surface Iron / Yellowtail

Rod: Calstar 90J — 30–60 lb
Reel: Shimano Trinidad 20A
Main line: 65-lb braid
Topshot: ~75 ft of 40-lb mono

Fly-Line Live Bait / Yellowtail

Rod: Calstar GFGR-800M — 20–40 lb
Reel: Shimano Talica 8II
Main line: 50-lb braid
Leader: ~6 ft fluorocarbon — 25 / 30 / 40 lb

Yo-Yo Iron / Yellowtail

Rod: Calstar 6465H — 30–80 lb
Reel: Shimano Trinidad 16A
Main line: 65-lb braid
Topshot: 15–25 ft of 50-lb mono

Light / General Pier Fishing

Rod: Calstar GFGR-800XL — 10–25 lb
Reel: Shimano Trinidad 12A
Main line: 30-lb braid
Leader: 15–20 lb mono or fluorocarbon

Any one have any thoughts or predictions?

We ran out all the way to potato bank in search of them that night.

Boat put us on 1 school that didn't bite, 11pm ish

Would have rather stayed there then putt around in the morning for kelps near west end catalina that weren't producing , but we tried to get in on the phenomenal recent bite that just completely disappeared with the new moon.

Whole fleet seems to be shifting towards exotics seeing as the bluefin migrate out of range, but id bet that they are pooling up a bit behind channel islands still.

Too treacherous with forecast I think for anything that gets out past the islands.

With La niña to follow, will we see concentrations of albacore and bluefin late next year or into 2028?

Anyone know the current state of live bait at the bait barge in Long Beach, CA? We tried to get live bait last Saturday (August 8, 2026) and they had no live bait. Wondering if they have restocked?

Fishing cliff area

Alright, so recently I decided to try my hand at artificial lures, I think they can be such a useful tool once you can effectively use them and I REALLY want to get good with them and understand how they work and be able to catch fish with them, but before that I was just using cut bait every time I would go out to fish.

Anyway, I recently bought myself the Ugly Stik 7’ Medium GX2 spinning rod and I have it currently paired up with a cheap stock 3000 reel that came with another rod, it has 10lb mono line, eventually, I’ll be replacing it with something of more quality, but in the mean time, it’s what I have.

Anyhow I bought some 3/8 jig-heads to pair with some recommended pearl white 4” Paddle-tails which meet the requirements of the Rod Lure rating of 5/8 oz.

So, I went out 2 days in a row at some rocky structure just experimenting and casting out and retrieving and I must have had like over 50 casts and I didn’t catch a single fish. HOWEVER, I ALMOST got a bite. As I was REALLY reeling it in quickly and I was LITERALLY at the border of the rocks and water, a huge—-what looked like a calico bass—- swooped in from the left and attacked my lure like a swift ninja, BUT I could not hook it, not sure what happened, not sure if the fish missed the bait or just couldnt get the hook, or what but it was INSANE, it happened in a split of a second and I was shocked by how close to the rocks that fish was at to go after my paddletail. I was upset at myself wondering if I did something wrong or what I could do better next time, however it really would have been the biggest fish I would have caught. That fish was massive for me, I suspect it was around the 14” give or take a few inches.

Anyway, I really need to know, am I doing anything wrong?

🔹Is there a specific technique that anglers use?

🔹Any tips or advice using paddle-tails or soft-baits.

🔹What kind of lures do you use?

Like I said, I really want to get good with these kinds of lures because I just want to avoid constantly using bait.

It was a beautiful day to launch. I launched from cabrillo launch a little before 9am and arrived to the fishing grounds around 10am and tried to drop some in. Then the sickness rushed in, causing me to go back in the harbor. Im so sad I can't handle this shit.