Category: sportfishing

• Neither wind, dense fog, churning seas, or screaming maniacs…

  …will stay this fisherman from making his rounds. And that is what I was up against yesterday when I paid a visit to Stearns Wharf. I didn’t think I’d be able to get out to the ocean this week because of prior commitments but when a full day suddenly opened up yesterday, I decided to […]

  John Darling – Author

  September 26, 2019

  fishing, fishing pole, fog, Mackerel, Pacific Ocean, Skate Ray, smelt, sportfishing, Stearns Wharf

  #wind, fishing, fishing pole, fog, Mackerel, Skate, smelt, sportfishing, Stearns Wharf

• Drift Lining

  My time to get out to the pier, the wharf, the shore, and a planned boat excursion, is going to be limited for a while due to prior commitments so I thought I’d explain what I mean when I mentioned in many of my posts that I fish with a drift line.  The concept is […]

  John Darling – Author

  September 23, 2019

  Bait, Bat Rays, Calico Bass, Carp, Catfish, fishing, fishing pole, Grandpa Duffy, Mackerel, Pacific Ocean, Sharks, smelt, sportfishing, Stearns Wharf

  Calico Bass, Carp, Catfish, drift line, fishing pole, Grandpa, Mackerel, Perch, Rays, sportfishing, Stearns Wharf, wishing pole

• Stearns Wharf III: Big Mac Attack!

  After my amazing day yesterday, I decided to visit Stearns Wharf again to see if the fishing is really is as good as it has been the last two times I was there.  I can now say that it is since this time I caught 33 Mackerel in 4 hours.  When I arrived at the […]

  John Darling – Author

  September 10, 2019

  Bait, fishing, fishing pole, fog, Mackerel, Pacific Ocean, Shakespeare Contender, sportfishing, Stearns Wharf, Ventura Pier, wishing pole

  fishing, fishing pole, Mackerel, Stearns Wharf, Ventura Pier

• The Old Man and the Seas hats and t-shirts are now available!

  I saw a “Shut up and fish” t-shirt yesterday at the Stearns Wharf Bait and Tackle shop which I was going to buy but they were out of Mediums so I will get one the next time I fish on the wharf. In the meantime, my blog’s hats and t-shirts are now available in all […]

  John Darling – Author

  September 4, 2019

  Caps, fishing, sportfishing, t-shirts

  fishing, sportfishing, t-shirts

• Stearn’s Wharf I: What a MORNING!

  When I moved from Phoenix, AZ to Santa Barbara, CA in 1979, Stearn’s Wharf was not open to the public.  It was closed due to a huge fire that roared through it in 1973.  It finally reopened in 1981 but by that time, the Goleta Pier was my fishing spot of choice so I never […]

  John Darling – Author

  September 3, 2019

  Bait, Calico Bass, fishing, Goleta Pier, Mackerel, Pacific Ocean, sportfishing, Stearns Wharf, Ventura Pier

  Calico Bass, fishing, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Ventura Pier

• Advice from Grandpa: Offer a smorgasbord

  This is not exactly how grandpa said it since he was a “little Irishman from Minnesota” as he’d always told everyone and big words were not part of his plain spoken vocabulary, but I understood what he meant when he told me that not all fish eat the same things.  So, he regularly cautioned me […]

  John Darling – Author

  August 30, 2019

  Bait, Bat Rays, fishing, Grandpa Duffy, Mackerel, Pacific Ocean, sportfishing, Ventura Pier

  Bait, Bat Ray, Mackerel, Salmon, Squid, Ventura Pier