Went fishing at Gaviota pier on Sun. June 18th. The fish were just not biting. I was really ready to go home. I moved around the pier and tried a variety of baits and plastics and got nothing.

Then, at about 5:00 pm, my line started streaming from one of my poles on the North side of the pier close to shore (ZING!). When I hit the pole, I thought it was a bat ray because of the ferocity of the fight. After fighting around the kelp for several minutes I finally got the fish in and boy was I suprised when I saw color. It was a Calico bass about 17" long and roughly 4.5 pounds. WOW, what a fight. (I caught it on cut squid on a dropper loop.)

There are a lot of free floating kelp patches near the pier but from what I understand Calico fishing from the pier isn't always necessarily good. Although, I was told by another fisherman that he saw someone take a Calico that was bigger than mine from the exact some spot several days earlier.

From what I understand, the best Calico fishing in that area is from shore areas where you can cast right into the kelp. Anyway, the fish is marinating right now and will be ready by halftime for the Lakers game tonight. If it is any good I will publish the recipe!