Surf fished with a few friends at Henry's beach in Santa Barbara on Saturday morning. We caught lots of perch with many in the 1 to 2 pound range and a few that might have pushed 2.5 lbs. The larger fish seemed to be close to structure which meant if you weren't getting snagged every now and then you wouldn't get the bigger ones. Letting the line out slack and shaking the rod would usually get the snags undone - and would sometimes lead to a strike. A straight in grind retrieve was working best for me. Most fish were caught on Motor Oil (Red) and Motor Oil (Green) 1 3/4" Big Hammer Perch Grubs and a few of the larger fish were caught on trap rigged 3" Big Hammer swimbaits - colors: Pacific 'Chovy and Sea Wolf.

..WHAT UP LEAPINBASS!...It was nice shootin it with you and Team Striper at the hall show! and to put a name with a face and stuff.You guys seem to be some cool cats! Sounds like you guys got into some nice fish.Those bigger units your talkin about are hard to come by down this way!(for me at least?! :7)especially in numbers, sometimes you come across a good batch and get a couple a good ones but dinks for the most part! UP THERE is where the big boys live and They go OFF! And futher north! Im goin to have to make a trip up that way very soon and get in on some of those pigs! Maybe camp a couple nights or somethin?? So whats Team Striper been up to? Any striper huntin!?! Bout you? Great to hear about the bigger perch,you got my wheels turnin :) ..KEEP EM BENT!!!!!!!

PHISHuntR

It was cool meeting you too. The big perch will show up - just keep at it. A couple years ago a buddy and I stumbled upon a once in a lifetime perch bite. We were fishing halibut from the surf with 3" Big Hammers and caught monster perch after monster perch. Nothing under 12 inches and some were pushing 17. It was unbelievable and the funniest part was we were actually kind of bummed because there were so many perch we couldn't catch what we came for - halibut.

You never know where they will be but like I said this weekend the larger units really seemed to be hugging the structure.

Pete, Glad to see your making some time to get out fishing!!

PHISHuntR, It was good meeting you also! I've been working on the little boat & have only been to Castaic once to test it out during the storms. We went 1 for 3 on the stripers that day for a 15 pounder. I'll be visiting Grandma in the next month or so, which means Perris or Skinner?

WHAT UP Team Striper! I got a buddy that said hes been gettin em at Casatic latley too. Hes been doin that SMIRK thing and said hes got a 15 ,couple 20s and a 30! Hes got a small Tracker style aluminum and it can gnarley out there in a those little boats!! We did Silverwood yesterday and did pretty good. We got 22,an pair of 6s, and couple schoolies and a LM! OTHER than us I didnt see any other fish caught,far from wide open. I think we got lucky! :7 There was a fair amount of bassboats on the lake and I think they were pre-fishin as most of were only singlely operated and were GONE with the WIND!. Alot of other traffic also which was kinda weird for a monday!(maybe prespring break?) I heared there still gettin fish at Skinner too. Nothin over 12 but good pick on decent fish!. As for Perris, it hasent been treatin me to good so far this year but I havent been chargin that hard ethier. I hit it off shore a couple evenings last couple weeks and have hung some decent fish(17-19iners) but only a few and has been tough!Talk to dudes pre fishin last weeks tourney and said they werent hittin but a few and could see couple fish up but?????. But definenitly give me halla if your down this way(always nice to visit grandma :)) and you need a partner to come and play with ya! Im down for what ever! Ill shoot ya email!! KEEP EM BENT!!!!!

PHISHuntR!

Leapin Bass, how are you rigging the trap hook on the swimbaits? Short bites are probably the most frustrating aspect of fishing swimbaits.
Surfan

Way to go, Pete!

PHISHuntR, I don't know if Santa Barbara is necessarily the best spot for big perch. Though I did catch one in the 14-15 inch range a week ago.

I've heard of many great spots down south, with many big perch. I think its more the time of year than anything else (big baby-making mommy perch), plus the fact that perch fishing has become much more popular lately.

I'm thinking of actually fishing farther south, like in Malibu, this weekend. I've heard of some big fish coming out of that area too. But if you do come up to SB, there are plenty of beaches with plenty of fish. Best of luck!

** tight lines make all my troubles go away **

Trap rigged swimbaits - this is something I never thought would have worked. I fished a trout tournament about a month ago at Cachuma. The trout were in a trolling mood and my partner Larry did very well pre-fishing the day before. My other partner Matt called me up the night before and told me to bring some stuff to play with besides the typical Rapalas and spoons. Of course I grabbed some Hammers. Seconds after I put the first one out it gets slammed - miss! A few minute later - same thing. I asked Larry if the trout are always hooked on the back hook of the Rapalas and he said, "yes". Matt suggested trap rigging the Hammer. After searching around the boat I found a suitable hook and gave it a shot. BAM! fish on!! Matt then rigged one up and the rest of the day we had 2 Hammers and 4 Rapalas out and the Hammers outfished the Rapalas. It was the coolest thing, no playing around with the lip to get the thing to troll straight. No untangling treble hooks from the net and the swimbaits didn't get torn up at all. In fact, we used the same two all day. When a fish gets on the stinger hook the tail of the swimbait slides up the line and is out of "harms" way. I have a picture but it isn't scanned yet. I will try and remember to post it here tomorrow. I was hoping to get out to Cachuma again and experiment a bit more before writing an official "article" about this type of fishing but I haven't had the opportunity.

By the way - the same thing happened with the perch that were hooked on the stinger hook - the swimbait slid up the line and didn't get messed up at all. The largest perch was caught on the main hook - all the rest were on the stinger.

http://www.swimbait.com/images/trap-rigged-hammers-01.jpg

Leapin, Nicely rigged! I've been experimenting with a treble hooks almost the same way on top of the end of the tail. Works pretty well but the treble gets hung up on the swimbait body sometimes. That single hook looks like it would work well. Thanks for the pictures.
Surfan

We tried trebles - they don't work very well and they're really not necessary.

Thanks for the idea and pictures Pete. This looks like a much better idea than my use of a long shank trailer hook whose big eye is pushed into about a 1/4" piece of surgical tubing that is then forced down through the leadhead hook to rest on the back of the swimbait. I am surprised in your rigging that the shank of the trap hook does not interfere with the wiggle of the tail. If the shank does reduce the tail action, would it be better to have the eye of the trap hook either out beyond the tail or just touching the tail instead of at the top of the swimbait so that the shank is outside the body? Also, which two of the swimbaits of the four pictured did you use and can you tell us the names and BH numbers of the 4 pictured swimbaits. At the BH website I cannot get a picture of any swimbait past number 55. I am going BH shopping this week. Thanks again.

Bob

Bob,

I believe he was using 3" baits but I've been experimenting w/ the 4" baits the same way. As long as there is a little slack in the trailer hook line it doesn't seem to affect the action of the bait, using a treble hook does kill the action. The baits Pete has shown from top to bottom are:
#9 Rainbow Trout
#12 Mackerel
#7 Pacific 'Chovy
#63 Bay Smelt

Big Hammer is at the Ventura Fred Hall Show this weekend.

PHISHuntR,
Nice! I haven't heard of a 30 out of Castaic in years, when did he get it?
Good job on the 22 @ Silverwood.

Josh
fishbeer@earthlink.net

Thanks for the information Team striper. However, there are some discrepancies regarding which BH colors and numbers Pete pictured . The top photo does not seem to be # 9 Rainbow Trout according to my swimbait.com/hammer_body.htm printout, because #9 there does not have a red streak or a red tail. The second photo from the top of Pete's photos could be #12 Mackerel although Pete's photo seems to show a darker top than #12 (but this could be within printout difference tolerance). Pete's third photo from the top cannot be #7 because # 7 is Prizm Key Lime, not Pacific 'Chovy (I do not have a picture or number for Pacific 'Chovy). Maybe Pete can clear this up. Thanks again.
Bob

Josh is right on the numbers except for the top one is #60 Sea Wolf. #7 is now Pacific 'Chovy. Prizm Keylime has been discontinued because it was too close to Keylime and we have a new bait "SeaChaser" that is basically Prizm Keylime with a darker green back.

Thanks for clearing this up Pete, and thanks again Josh.

Pete, when will the pictures of BHs past #55 be available at the swimbait.com/hammer_body website?

Bob