Aqua Hedonia - Carlsbad 4/11 late report
 

Hit up the Goon bout 8 am with a fresh kayak scoop of sardines in a bucket. Fished under the tracks got a few good rakes, I think my buddy caught a small spottie and I pulled a smooth hound. Bite picked up when the tide was coming in around 10ish pulled 2 smooth hounds and 3 spotties and Steve got the same. All caught on live or freshly dead sardines mostly by the Y but some right under the 5.

Sweet! I'm literally 5 minutes walking distance from AH so if you go out often, hit me up! I just got a OK malibu 2xl up and running that I can use to fish from...not really set up for fishing but it will do until I get a proper boat.

Ha rad! I've been cruising there to fish in the afternoons (been slow at the kelp) The past few days have had a great spottie/halibut bite.... they have been biting the blade really well. Even caught a 23" WSB out of there. It seems an hour before/after dusk has been most productive. May give it another go monday morning.

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Thx for the report. Hey just curios.... How does your homemade livewell work? Do you have more pics of it?

Its just a bucket with a battery operated air pump on it. Its good for the drive from oside to the goon and then into bait tanks on the yaks

Are you talking about the live well with the green pool noodle on it? I wouldn't recommend it that thing was an anchor took me so long to paddle to the y launching from dog beach. We rigged it up just by drilling holes into a Tupperware and zip tying a pool noodle around the top so it would just sink. Anytime I got any momentum going I would just dive and stop me in my tracks. Once all the dines died I just drained it and towed it around in my lap

cool. thanks i was just curious how it worked out.

Surfisher, Were you out there last night? Saw a guy on a yellow hobie pedaling around till dark at the ymca.

Haha yea that was me. It was fun last night! Got about 15 fish in an hour.

Any legal hali's?

Gah. 15 in an hour? Thats more fish than I've caught out of AH, ever.
I have no idea what I'm doing though.

Was that on live bait?

i was out there yesterday playing around in the currents with a few friends. Wish I had brought a rod out with me.

When we were there we pulled a combined 9 and that took us from 830-2

Nah, I rarely fish live bait although it will work good for the hali's. Go down to pacific coast bait & tackle and pick up a few of the reebs bolt throwers. I like using the 1/2ounce for when the tides coming up and then I throw the 1 ounce on the fuller tides to keep it on the bottom, I have had luck on every color. Just keep working the eel grass all over, throw literally on the beach, etc. and bring it back with a slow retrieve and you will get bit... a lot. I have pulled a few good legals out back by the marina in the main lagoon and a few good ones in the middle lagoon sticking close to the beach. If you guys wanna fish let me know! It's always a fun time cruising the goon for a quick session.

Im headed to MB for the tournament tomorrow morning, are you going? If you want to fish AH after I would be down :D

Try a 1/4 or 3/8 oz warbaits head with a 3-5" swimbait. If you are in the big lagoon, head under the 5 freeway and once you're in the YMCA goon make a right and get into that eel grass. Keep your swimbait low and you will have plenty of spotties coming out of their holes to eat your bait. The warbaits are nice because they are weedless and in the 1/4" oz model, you'd be surprised how few times you will actually get snagged up in the eel grass. You will be catching 15 bass a day in no time at all. Colors of choice for me are usually a bright green or orange for fishing spotties. Light line will get you way more bites as well. If specifically targeting bass, I'll go down to 6lb flouro sometimes. But anything between 6-12 should work just fine. The more water movement the better. Fish the tides if you can.

:cheers1:

Nice! How big were the smooth hound? Are they going to close that area this summer during the construction?

As long as may arm maybe 2.5 ft? I dunno. I have no idea if they are gonna close it. I am gonna try and dump the yak in the goon tomorrow if I can get out of work early enough tomorrow

Nice! I just went to a job walk a month ago with the city of Carlsbad, and they might close that lagoon. They're replacing sewage pipes and gas lines that go right over that lagoon, and the job just bid last week. A $50 million project! The generals are supposed to replace the pipes (sewage and gas) while maintaining functionality. Hopefully you can still fish there during the construction schedule.

Someone pulled a 30lb hali out of the goon today on live smelt on a float tube. Did it on a 10 lb line

Sick!

Yea I watched him do it. Thing was a pig!!!
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Was there all day sunday. Caught a few spotties, all short. Got them on Beardedguy's spinnerbait that was in the swagbag from the tournament on sat. A friend caught and released a nice legal sand bass.
while I was there, there were 2 big-ish halis caught, 1 was 25+" and one was close to 36". Didnt see them or hear a weight. Fun day tho, except for the nastiest sunburn ever on my legs. If you forget sunscreen, dont be lazy like me, go home and get it.

How do you catch smelt? Everyone is hooking them off smelt

Near the inlet to the lagoon from the ocean on the flat beach portion. Toss some bread in the water and the smelt will show up and start to go crazy. Throw a sabiki rig out in the water and profit.

I always see them there, and by the 'point' on the opposite side, hanging out in the weeds. When I was a little kid we used to tie trebles and try snagging them when they were all crowded by shore. Probably not the most ethical or efficient way, but it was fun as hell as a 12 year old.

Sabiki is the way to go, like sdcoastie said, bread will make them crazy.

All this halibut fishing...now I'm gonna have to go build a bait bucket for the damn kayak now. :D

About to drop my yak in the goon right now anybody else is welcome too come along

I'll be in the grey stealth in the back lagoon

I was gonna go this afternoon but then a friend called and suggested sushi. I couldn't say no! :D

Ill probably be out there on saturday early, if anyone else is planning on coming out. Probably going to be out most of the day. I'll be on a yellow OK malibu two XL, looking lost :P

Skunked but Steve caught a hog of q corbina

Don't feel bad. Was fishing with a bunch of guys on the west lagoon. Not even a nibble. Even the smelt were being finicky today.

Wow, a 30lb halibut on 10lb test!! That's some
steady nerves. How cool is that??

Some good patience that is for sure! It took him a long time but he was mellow the whole time. Here is a shot I got as he was getting it to color!

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