NEWBE QUESTION- AR2
 

Hello all my name is Matt and I am new to the area and looking to get into some ocean fishing with my kayak. I was in Northern CA and fished with the NCKA if anyone knows that group, for butts in the sf bay, and local lakes and rivers all the way to Sacramento. But work has moved me down here and I am looking to find some good guys to go fishing with, that would not mind me tagging along to lean the ropes in southern ca. I have been reading your posts here and you all talk about a place called oside ar2 and ar1 and it sounds like the fishing I used to do in northern ca. Wondering where this location is. thanks for all the information and hope to meet some of you in the future.

Do a search for Oceanside artificial reefs and get yourself a good GPS unit. Write down the coordinates from the Internet and plug them into Gps. It really helps to have a FF with a gps built in to stay on top of the structure. Next time I head out that way I'll let you know and hopefully you can tag along to learn the ropes .

Fishing Spot Locator
 

Buy a copy of the Fishing Spot Locator book by Captain Frank Grabbenstater.
This book has most of the wrecks and artificial reefs in So Cal listed in it. He also does hand drawn pictures of the rockpiles and their relation to each other as well as lat-lon numbers and depths etc.

thanks you two for the info that makes since. I have since got some maps and see what you two were talking about now.
Thanks Again

Where exactly are you located? That would make a difference as to where, and with who you'd be fishing with. I've had NCKA folks help me out when fishing up north, so I'm definitely willing to help out if I can.

AR's
 

Log on to this site and pick the artificial reef you want. It has the coordinates and description of the reef.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/artificialreefs.asp

Those DFG numbers suck!
 

I find that the numbers in those printed books and the DFG numbers are just plain wrong! Usually those numbers are general at best...the DFG numbers for Palawan off redondo beach are about a mile off as is most everything in wrecks and reefs....fishing spot locator....and the DFG numbers

The Oside artifical reefs are pretty spread out and hard to find without a gps. However, it is good fishing at the right time. If you dont trust online numbers, go get yourself a chart at your local bait shop. Those numbers are pretty good. Tight lines

Hit me up if I'm yakking its at ar2 or ar1 I never mind company, only downside is I only fish Sunday's, kids and work put a damper in my fishing schedule. Btw like mentioned get a good GPS and fishfinder it will pay dividends.

For real those numbers suck, they are close but I found myself paddling to nothing...good thing my fish finder showed me some structure...why does the dfg want to send us on a wild goose chase?

The reefs are subject to moving with strong current. They have gone a good distance since they originally dropped all that stuff years and years ago.

That makes sense didn't think about that, thought they were just messing with us...

A lot of those numbers were converted over from loran so it's not accurate to begin with...

Here is a good rule of thumb I have found. If the coordinates have only 2 decimal places at the end, you are looking at bad numbers. All the dive sites, that are not afraid of over use, use 3 decimal places to mark the sites. Other than the minute effects of continental drift, most of the ARs should be just about exactly where they settled. There are exception, but most of the materials (concrete and steel primarily) used have a high weight to surface area. So, storm conditions have virtually no effect on them. Also, most of the ARs are in depths beyond the reach of most storm surge. Not that the water does not move down there, but you don't see the effects like waves breaking on the shoreline.

That being said, I am not sure if the bad coordinates are due to intentional misleading, bad conversion or the built in error factor of GPS. Probably a combination of the three.

Great... so now you're telling me that the Fishing Spot Locator book (that I just bought a few weeks ago) is basically worthless? He has both the GPS and the Loran numbers listed in the book...

I can vouch the Pendleton AR is right where its supposed to be.

AR2 seems to be right one the money on my charts, but I cannot get a good set of numbers for AR1. I do know that the AR2 (north) is much more spread out and in shallower water than the AR1 (south). I've searched south for number 1 a couple times and come up empty handed.

Hey don't feel bad I bought one too....:eek: