Captain Dave Hansen's Saltwater Fishing Guide Service » Dave

SCI March 4/5/6

Dave — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:41:50 +0000

Short Story:
Fished SCI Sat with 3 generations on board for a bunch of rock fish, white fish, sheeps, and some calicos. Lots of mammal life. A good family time trip made better with Capt Dave Hansen doing his thing.

Long Story:
We headed out on Friday night for SCI with plans to make bait in the evening and fish all day Sat and Sun morning. On board was my brother, his 3 kids, my dad, Captain Dave Hansen, and myself.

Decided to skip attempting squid at Catalina and headed straight for SCI in hopes of making bait there with no luck.

Saturday morning we started on the rockfish. We were blessed with sunny skies and calm water. I get down to rigging rods to find that in the shuffle of gear from old boat to new, my box of leader material did not make it and every reel on the boat (except for light spin rigs) is spooled with spectra. After making due for a while, we asked a friendly neighbor if they could help us out. Tom on a 29′ blue Radon (beautiful boat!) came to our rescue with a bunch of mono pulled off of one of his reels. He also asked for my email to send me some photos that he had taken of our boat, the first that we have of it fully rigged and on the water (Thanks a million Tom!!!)

After that we moved into the kelp and got into some whitefish, goats, calicos and the ever-so-plentiful and friendly blue perch. The kids had a blast with constant action on strips of squid, comparing their fish counts and trying to out do one another. We fished shallow until dark and then headed to Catalina for the night to get a jump on the approaching weather.

Almost to Avalon, we loose all of our electronics due to a power problem (house bank not charging). Thank goodness for the parallel switch, we are able to manually cross over and get the bat charging and electronics going again. We stopped in Avalon for an ice cream shop run and then moored for the night.

Sunday morning after dealing with a plugged intake/overheating incident (2nd time in 4 trips for this rig – darn we need to get a thru hull intake put on this thing!) Captain Dave toured us up the front side to mark some good spots on the GPS for future trips. While doing this we came across a pod of porpoise that wanted to play, so Dave and the kids take the bow to marvel at the encounter.

Having headed up west, we had a great ride home with following seas and another great trip.

The entire trip the 3 kids were keeping a catch count in a sort of sibling tourney. Katherine took it with some 50+ fish caught. When we got back, Dave’s girl Kelly brought Katherine a prize, a sweet Okuma spinning reel. Kelly also had a bunch of cool BD stickers for the other 2 kids. Kids were stoked.

Thanks again Captain Dave and Kelly too.

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Opening Day

Dave — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:52:08 +0000

Never did I think I’d be excited about opending day of rock fishing but it was exactly what I was looking forward to. My good buddy Chuck, aka Finseeker, told me he’d dug through his old book and had some good spots that he wanted to try and he was bringing his good friend Danny. Now both Chuck and Danny were my idols growing up. They were both captains back when I was a little boy, back in the early days of Dana Wharf Sportfishing 40 years ago. Every opportunity I have to fish with some of my idols I jump at. We started off fishing in front of the harbor in 200 ft of water were we picked a few fish. Chuck then wanted to head to one of his spots off of the point, a little bit deeper…an no, I won’t tell you the depth (you know what it takes to get the numbers). Much to my surprise, the spot was loaded on the fish finder. We were able to make three drops before the wind made it unfishable. In those three drops we caught 5 big salmon grouper, 4 boscoes and 8 reds, the biggest of those reds being 4 lbs.

Those of you that are sitting at home thinking about fishing…stop thinking and get out there! All of the southern California landings are offering rock fish trips with great price points. I would jump on them as soon as I could because who knows how long the landings will be able to offer such great price points with the price of fuel heading in the direction it’s going.

The rigs we used on the trip were loaded with 65 lbs braid, top shots of 40 lbs mono, 12 – 16 oz of weight, double dropper loop with 4/0 hooks.

Good luck and tight lines to everyone!

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Kelly Girls Butt

Dave — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:37:03 +0000

Kellygirl’s Butt

Ok, it was Super Bowl Sunday and Kelly was telling me that she really wanted to go fishing. Even though she’s a big Steelers fan, she wasnt having a real good feeling about Big Ben and the rest of the boys going up against Aaron Rogers and the pack. She asked if there was any way we could go fishing instead of sitting at home watching football. So we got going, bright and early, at the crack of noon. When we left our house, it was flat, glassy and sunny and about 75 degress. By the time we got down to the harbor, it was foggy and cold. We were both dressed like we were going to beach. I called my buddy Cory and asked him to bring us a couple of jackets and meet us at the dock. Headed to the bait barge to see Jeff and get a half scoop of those great big, green, slimy anchovies that they have right now…halibut’s favorite food. Then we were off to the Domes were I knew there was some Halibut to be had. The last few times we’ve been down there, there was always a boat on the spot but I was pretty sure, since it was Super Bowl Sunday and foggy, that there was a pretty good chance of no one being out there. We arrived in the area just about the time the fog started to break up. We drifted the spot, 7 or 8 times and got 6 short halibut. Kelly got one nice legal Halibut and another very large Halibut was lost. Also caught, were a handful of Sand Bass and one Smooth-Hound Shark, about 4 1/2 ft long. After an hour and a half of drifting we decided to head for greener pastures. We took off towards the harbor. As we went by Seal Rock, the conditions were epic. The current at the rock was going slightly down and out so we dropped the anchor on the west side of the rock. For the next hour it was some of the best Calico Bass fishing I’ve seen so far this year. Every bait was a bite, whether the bait was alive or dead…unless we were bit by a seagull.

We kept enough bass for dinner and released the rest. Then it was back to the dock, fillet the fish, jumped in truck and headed home . We got back just in time to see the Packers win the Super Bowl. You know that women’s intuition…once again, was right. Not a good day for the Steelers, but a pretty good day for us.

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Fishin’ for what’s bitin’

Dave — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:40:28 +0000

This time of year you’ve got to fish for what’s biting. I would love to be able to catch Yellowfin, White Sea Bass, Yellowtail and Dorado but that’s not what’s biting this time of year. However, just because those fish aren’t biting doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be fishing.
A perfect example was what happened on Tuesday. One of my regular clients called me and said he’d like to learn some spots south of Dana Point where he might be able to catch some fish this time of year.
We started off at a spot in about 65 ft of water, rigged up with 12 lbs mono, a 4/0 Mustad bronze hook, a 1/2 oz egg slider, and two bags of fresh, dead squid that Kelly and I caught the other night.
For the next three hours it was either a sand bass, calico bass or a nice 2 lbs sargo.

We left ‘em biting at that spot and headed to another spot just below the San Clemente pier, in 65 ft of water for some more good sargo fishing and quite a few mystery bites.
Once again, the keys are a sliding sinker, 12 lbs line and a bronze hook. As for the fish this time of year with the water being cold, they’re not as aggressive as they are when they’re spawning or when the water is warmer.
Always remember, bigger isn’t better when you’re fishing. Don’t be afraid to go light. For example, today I went to the exact spot to fish for sargo. I was able to get 8 nice sargo on 6 lbs line with a strip of squid, a 1/4 oz slider and a #2 bronze hook.
A few key ways to keep things as inexpensive as possible: I always use Mustad hooks. You can get a box of 50 for less than $10.
I also use Vicious line.
Both brands are easy on the wallet and work just as good as any other brand.
As for rods and reels, I always use Okuma. They seem to be priced towards you and me. I fish with them about 200 days a year and they stand up as good as any other rod and reel I’ve used, maybe even better.
Look at the pictures below and see how I rig the terminal tackle.

Catalina Fishing School with Captain Dave Hansen

Dave — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:15:13 +0000

My Bro (Scott) and I have nearly finished outfitting a new 28′ Farallon Whaleback (time to sell my good old skipjack, sweet sorrow) and needed some help learning the new electronics so we hooked up with Capt Dave Hansen to show us how to get the most from our Sonar and Fish Finder . My two nephews (Chris 13 & Jack 9) joined the team to fish and hoop our hearts out.

Short Story:
Fishing: Slow but steady pick on calicos, sand bass, and sheephead (released). One nice size of each going 6#, 5#, & 5#
Lobster: Zero, not even a short. They must have been stuffed on all of the squid ?!?!
Squid: Floats of plague proportion everywhere. All the bait we could tank and freezer is stuffed for future trips

Long Story:
Saturday afternoon we picked up Captain Dave outside of Avalon from his prior client along with a tank full of squid they had made the previous night. After playing with the fish finder and sonar a while we set up to fish until hoop time. Jack gets a couple of sheepshead leaving the rest of us wondering what we are doing wrong.

After sun down we get down to setting hoops and before we can get the nets set we have a float of squid working up to the boat. We changed gears and netted all of the squid we wanted for the bait tank and freezer. Got back to hooping and had squid popping up everywhere; deep, shallow, in the kelp… ridiculous. The kids had a great time checking out the bycatch (an octupus, decorator crabs, and swell sharks) but no lobster.

After a good night of rest we toured the island for a first rate download of fishing spots and info from Capt Dave and ended up on a spot that we fished most of the day for fun with calicos, sandbass, and goats (released).

Chris got big fish for the trip with a 6# calico.

Jack follows it up with a 5# sandbass

And Scott with a 5# Goat

We finished the day drifting for sand dabs while Capt Dave cleaned the fish.

Fishing with Capt Dave was an absolute blast for all of us. We called him to get help learning how to use our electronics, but that ended up being a small part of what he taught us on this trip. I have been private boat fishing, mostly Catalina, for over 10 years and probably learned as much from this trip as all of the books, videos, and seminars I have gone through. The entire time we were fishing, Dave was thinking out loud to share what he was doing and why, and fielding tons of questions. He was also fantastic with the kids (which freed Scott and I up to fish, bonus!!!) and a great guy to hang with.

A Big Thanks to Captain Dave from all of us.

Lobster Hoopnetting at Catalina Island

Dave — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:52:56 +0000

Went to Catalina with one of my regular clients and his son-in-law. My clients son-in-law,David, had never been hoop netting before so I was excited to show him what it was all about. Got to Catalina at about 4:45 pm and fished one of my spots just south of the isthmus, in about 70 ft of water. That spot has produced well over the past two years. Flat, glass, calm, no wind, no current, no moon…things looked great for a great crawl. Eight nets, all baited with mackeral. Let the nets soak for about an hour. First net…no lobsters, uh oh…here we go. Second net, OMG…3 lobsters, 2 shorts and 1 legal! Pulled the other six nets and got 1 more short. Tried one more set in that spot, just to make sure. Let the nets soak for a half hour. Pulled the nets…nothing! Then it was off to the old hot spot. You guys have seen the pictures from last year and you know how good that spot can be. As usual, nothing colder than yesterday’s hot spot. Two more hours of pulling and two more legal lobsters and it was off to the dock. Done pulling at 9:30 and back to the dock at midnight. Total for the night, 3 legals and 7 shorts.

Two Thresher Sharks and Cod

Dave — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:50:46 +0000

Got a call from my good friend, Chuck (Finseeker) who asked me if I wanted to go fishing out of Dana Point today. It was pouring down rain when I woke this morning so I called Chuck at 5:30 and he said that by the looks of his radar, it was going to be clear by 8 AM. So I met Chuck at the Dana Point launch ramp at 8:30 and took off to a spot way far out down the line. It took approx 7 minutes to get there. First drop produces 2 nice reds for Chuck and 1 for myself. Since there wasn’t much current, I thought I could get a 2nd drop in on the spot before we drifted off. As my 8 oz weight and two hook rig was headed to the bottom, it stopped about 200 ft down and took off straight out. I put it in gear and the fight began. About 5 minutes later we had a 40 lbs thresher up to the surface. We released the the shark in fear of the haters on Bloodydecks. After our 2nd drift, Chuck and I decided to go look for other spots. We went down by San Onofere, where the water was super red. Tried a couple drops anyway for nothing. So we tuck tailed and ran back up to Dana Point were we drifted on the spot about 6 or 7 more times for limits of rockfish and 1 more thresher.

All in all, an absolutely gorgeous day on the water…good fishing and good company. Total for the day, 6 reds, 14 assorted rockfish & 2 threshers (released) for two guys.

Limits of Cod at San Clemente Island

Dave — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:49:49 +0000

Got a phone call from one of my regulars, Matt Murray, who asked me about the window of weather we were supposed to have this weekend. I told him that it looked like we had slight offshore coming in Saturday morning and staying through Monday morning and that it would probably be a good time to make a trip to San Clemente Island and see if we could get some rockfish before the closures went into effect.

Left Davey’s launch ramp in Long Beach @ 5 a.m. with 15 lbs of frozen squid and it was off to the west end of San Clemente Island. It was a nice, quick, two hour run to the island. As you can see in the pictures, the conditions were flat, glassy and calm. We arrived at San Clemente Island a little after 7 a.m. Our first spot was in 145 ft of water. Our first drift produced 1 sheepshead, 1 chucklehead and 7 whitefish for a total of 9 fish before 8 o’clock in the morning. We drifted that spot the rest of the day. We used 30 lbs line, two 4/0 circle hooks tied to dropper loops with 8oz of weight. The key was to drop it down, hit the bottom, crank it a half-crank and hang on. The total for the day…limits for 6 guys. Thirteen different species were caught…calico bass, sheepshead, red snapper, salmon grouper, sculpin, whitefish, golfer rockfish, starry rockfish, blue rockfish, treefish, chucklehead, grass rockfish, calico rockfish

All in all, it was a great day on the water. The guys had a blast.

If anyone is thinking about getting out there for rockfishing, I would definitely do it now before the closures take effect on January 1st.

John’s Personal Best White Sea Bass

Dave — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:04:17 +0000

I got a call from John Bretza from OKUMA and he asked me if I wanted to go out fishing with him, Brandon Cotton, also from OKUMA, Brandon Hayward & Mike Vaughn from WON. We wanted to target White Sea Bass on the coast. My client for that day had to cancel so I was IN! Not knowing much about catching White Sea Bass, I thought it would be good to tag-a-long and see how the experts do it (and yes, they took me to school).

We were fishing in the kelp at a “secret” spot. John and both Brandons had their new Cedros Star Drag CSD10s reels filled with 60 lbs spectra with a 50 lbs flourcarbon leader, 6/0 long shank bronze hook, with a 1 oz sliding egg sinker.

Now this is some of the most violent fishing I have seen since the days of fishing the yellows at the rigs, or the big home guard yellows on the Cortez back in the late 70′s. Back in the days of the big home guard yellows or the yellows at the rigs, we fished them using 6/0 Penns with a hammered down drag and 80 lbs mono & a live mackeral. This type of fishing for White Sea Bass reminded me of that except we were in the middle of kelp, using spectra that doesn’t stretch and fresh dead squid. When this fish hits you you have to apply pressure like I’ve never done before. You have to cut the kelp with the pressure put between the fish and the rod. As the kelp is cut is seems as though you’ve lost the fish. I could go on and on about this technique for hours but I think the best way thing is to get out there and just do it. Bottom line…we fished for about 5 hours. Brandon Cotton got a 55 lbs fish. Brandon Hayward got a 45 lbs fish and John Bretza got himself a 42 lbs fish. Total White Sea Bass for Capt. Dave Hansen…ZERO. I was hoping for a hand-off but those guys were pretty darn selfish.

Offshore with Captain Dave

Dave — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:47:55 +0000

Had the pleasure to take Dr. David Lee and his brother John out on their 30 ft Pursuit.

We started out around the 43 and worked our way toward the west butterfly. Found a nice paddy about thirteen miles from the 43. Lots of 8-10 lbs yellows. We put 5 of them on the boat and lost at least that many. Then after we were done with paddy preceeded to the west wing of the butterfly. Put the feathers in the water when we got to the outside edge. Got a quick jig strike on the dorado then it was skipjack after skipjack stop. We caught about 16 skipjack then decided to go look for something else. Took off back towards the 43. Found the a spot of dolphin about 2 miles inside the 43 on a course back to Dana Point. Four more skipjack, still no yellowfin. Decided to take off for home about 2:30 – 3 o’clock. Total for the day… 20 skipjack, 5 yellowtail and 1 dorado. Thanks…see ya out there.