Panoche Hills/ Tumey Hills BLM Land - Target Shooting/ Hunting 6/28/2014

Today I went with my brother and friend to go do some target shooting on BLM land. We wanted to practice >100 yard shots, which our local range is unable to provide for us. First off, there are no trees here, so make sure if you decide to go target shooting to bring a canopy or tarp to provide shade, especially this time of year, today it was 104 out there. As far as hunting, I am sure there are pigs there, when there is actually water. I saw a lot of varmint signs, but only saw one rabbit. We were going to go the northern half of Panoche hills, but the road leading into that part was locked because The Panoche and Tumey Hills are now under Fire Season Vehicle Restrictions. No motorized access is allowed from April 15 to the beginning of upland game bird season. So on highway 5 there is actually a road that goes right off into the park which is where we ended up going. There were several other groups there shooting as well. For BLM land this is actually some of the cleanest, so please remember to pick up your casings and targets. There are no bathrooms and no water so make sure to bring water and toilet paper if you head up there. It is also a great area to go fossil hunting so it could be a great trip for the family, especially during the wetter months. BLM Panoche Hills Webpage BLM target Shooting

Pillar Point Harbor Half Moon Bay South Jetty 6-12-14

I got to the jetty around 4 P.M. and we caught one small cabezon and several crabs. We were about 1/2 way down the jetty. We caught the Cabezon on some squid with 30 pound line and 12 pound leader. The crab trap I was using I initially threw out into the ocean but after it got stuck and I had to go for a swim to get it, I decided I would throw the crab trap into the harbor, not expecting much, but it out fished it compared to the ocean side. we also forgot that we had to leave there by sunset so when we got back to our car there was a sheriff waiting for us, so if you go there remember to leave before sunset. Click here to see the crab cage contour helmet cam footage

Time lapse of Crab trap at Pillar Point Harbor

I put a contour helmet cam in a crab trap to see what sort of action was going on under the waves, click the link to see for yourself

Fishing report Pillar Point Harbor 6-10-14

I built a slurp gun for catching ghost shrimp since I went last time and wanted to test it out on some surf perch. I did manage to catch numerous ghost shrimp, but did not manage to catch any surf perch on the beginning of the jetty, where they are normally caught, there was another group there with caught 10 though. SO later we decided to move down the jetty in the hope of catching some rockfish or lingcod. We did manage to catch 2 small sculpin and one nice sized rockfish. One of the sculpin had a parasite on it, I this is the 2nd time I have seen this now on the 4 sculpin I have caught there.

Pillar Point Harbor in Half moon bay fishing report 6-5-14

Today was a great day for fishing, my friend and I almost filled up a whole bucket with rock crabs (17). Some people there also limited out on lingcod. There was also a huge run of surf perch. One guy managed to fill an entire bucket with them. for the surf perch they were using live ghost shrimp out of the harbor that they had caught with their shrimp guns, which are very similar to clam guns. I did not know that there was this great free resource of bait there.

Started making my own crab snares

I recently decided to begin making my own crab snares. I was tired of paying 7$ a piece and loosing them all the time. I tested one out and it did very well. It is made of a smaller diameter mesh than the ones I purchase to help keep more bait in the snare. I will continue to experiment with different shapes/weights and may start to mold lead into the bottom of the snare. Here is my first crab I caught on my own snare. (It also pinched me so bad I started to bleed, this was a first for me)

Pacifica Pier Fishing report 6-03-2014

Today Dungeness fishing was pretty good, especially compared to the last two weeks. I was fishing for striper for about 7 hours today and did not catch one. There was a guy who did catch a nice sized one next to me on a sandcrab and 10 lb line. This really tested his gear because the wind brought in large clumps of seaweed right next to the shore. The wind had also blown some rather large jelly fish near the beach as well. It was also a slow day for perch, as I only saw one shiner get pulled out. A picture of his catch is below.