For our third trip out on Jan 22 I had planned on starting at the Seal Beach Pier and spending the day there. We had a big storm come through the day before, with rain into the morning so after picking up my cousin Jason we decided to go to Belmont instead because of the run off from the San Gabriel River near Seal Beach.
Jason brought 4 rods with him and all of his gear and he had squid and an old bonito frozen in his freezer so we did not have to stop for bait. Got to the Belmont Pier around 6:45am parked and packed up the wagon. Jason also picked up from my other cousin Brian a modified milk crate with rod holders that he wanted to give to me. I am glad I thought of using the wagon. Makes our life much easier. (see picture). Jason also brought one of the foldup chairs which I have. Never thought of that, so I will bring them next time.
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| From 3rd Trip: Belmont Pier, Long Beach |
It was a beautiful morning and we were the only anglers on the pier. We set up just past the bathrooms mid pier on the western side over looking downtown Long Beach. I rigged up with a drop sinker and #8 hook with some squid and a #8 size Lucky Lura on my other rod to fish for bait fish. Jason set up with a two line drop rig with #4 hooks with a chunk of bonita and squid.
I was setting up everything and we got a hit on the Lucky Lura and pulled up 2 bait fish. One Jacksmelt and one sardine.
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| From 3rd Trip: Belmont Pier, Long Beach |
Jason took both and hooked them up. Other than those two bait fish, no bites or hits on anything for over an hour. So I pulled up my line and went with a rubber lure that I picked up at Turners the week before. Threw it out with a little bit of squid. Nothing on that so we moved to the end of the pier and tried our luck. I got a hard hit on the lure but nothing else though. So we decided to try out Seal Beach. So we packed up and drove over.
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| From 3rd Trip: Belmont Pier, Long Beach |
Seal Beach is a nice pier, but it is a wooden pier so the wagon worked ok, but was bumpy. We set up at the middle of the pier near the tower on the east side and I tried my lure again with some squid and put out the Luck Lura again. Got hit on the first toss and brought up another Jacksmelt.
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| From 3rd Trip: Belmont Pier, Long Beach |
Jason used the same set up and put the Jacksmelt on along with some squid. No other hits, and we chummed heavy on the west side near the sea wall as well with bread and what was left of the bonito. Tied off the body after we cut bait and put it in the water. I kept getting nibbles on the Lucky Lura, but nothing else on the day. After about 2 hours we decided to call it a day and pack it up. Right when I was reeling in my Lucky Lura I got hit again and pulled up another Jacksmelt. Not a bad way to end the day.
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| From 3rd Trip: Belmont Pier, Long Beach |
This summed up our day. Nada on it. But at least we did catch something. I think the water was very cold because of the storm that day. We also stopped by to take a look at the intake/out take for the Colorado Lagoon and Marine Stadium in Long Beach. I’ve read online that at high/low tides it has a ton of bait fish. We also used to fish this years ago and got some small bass and halibut here.
I hope to go out this Sunday if the weather does not turn bad!
