Great report! I’m planning the same trip in one month and never gone out of Dana wharf before, usually San Diego or Helgren’s. I was planning on using 2 oz B52’s and some 1 oz Big Hammer lures, do you think they will be heavy enough? I’ll be bringing some rookies along and want them to have fun. I was planning on have them use squid on dropper loops. Any advice for me?
Thanks Matt for stopping by. I understand why you’re looking around. I may go down to SD this weekend to see firsthand what’s going on, but it’s not looking good. Dana Wharf on the other hand is a nice fishery. They lost some of the area north of the harbor to MPA, but they retained most of their prime fishing grounds. They have bass year round, and a nice halibut fishery too.
In terms of gear…you definitely want to bring the heavier B52’s. Not sure about the swimbaits for this time of year. You want to get down to maybe a foot or so off the bottom. This time of year, with the cold water, the sandies especially are hugging the dirt. I definitely recommend the dropper loop. I tried fishing leadheads and I ended up raking a lot of coral. With the dropper loop, you can easily set where you’re bait will be above bottom. Bring a lot of 2, 3 and 4 oz torpedo sinkers. Have 1/0 and 2/0 bait hooks. If you can find the EZ baiter hooks (with the long shanks) even better. Good luck. Check out my Facebook page, So Cal Salties, and post how it goes.
at 11:14 am
looks like a fun trip!
at 1:52 pm
Better than expected for a local winter trip 🙂
at 5:54 pm
Great report! I’m planning the same trip in one month and never gone out of Dana wharf before, usually San Diego or Helgren’s. I was planning on using 2 oz B52’s and some 1 oz Big Hammer lures, do you think they will be heavy enough? I’ll be bringing some rookies along and want them to have fun. I was planning on have them use squid on dropper loops. Any advice for me?
at 9:00 pm
Thanks Matt for stopping by. I understand why you’re looking around. I may go down to SD this weekend to see firsthand what’s going on, but it’s not looking good. Dana Wharf on the other hand is a nice fishery. They lost some of the area north of the harbor to MPA, but they retained most of their prime fishing grounds. They have bass year round, and a nice halibut fishery too.
In terms of gear…you definitely want to bring the heavier B52’s. Not sure about the swimbaits for this time of year. You want to get down to maybe a foot or so off the bottom. This time of year, with the cold water, the sandies especially are hugging the dirt. I definitely recommend the dropper loop. I tried fishing leadheads and I ended up raking a lot of coral. With the dropper loop, you can easily set where you’re bait will be above bottom. Bring a lot of 2, 3 and 4 oz torpedo sinkers. Have 1/0 and 2/0 bait hooks. If you can find the EZ baiter hooks (with the long shanks) even better. Good luck. Check out my Facebook page, So Cal Salties, and post how it goes.