07-29-2009, 09:58 PM
Decided to go hang out with my brother who lives just outside San Diego to beat the heat and try a little ocean fishing. I even brought my boat. I have been deep sea fishing several times but I have never had my own boat on the ocean. My 22 foot Sea Ray is a decent boat for Lake mead but out in the ocean it felt real small.
After hitting the bait barge we were off. One cool thing about ocean fishing is you never know what you are going to catch. We started off catching some small sand sharks (about 34 inches) and they fought kinda like a Lake mead catfish...Lotta barrell rolling. We let them go except for one which swallowed the hook big time.
Next we hit a spot that was holding speckled or spotted bass which look kinda like LMB except with red eyes and teeth. They had to be 12 inches to keep. So we kept about five and they were kick ass fish tacos!
Then came the fish of the day. We ran into some Halibut. California Halibut is a different species from Pacific halibut like the monsters in Alaska. They are similiar but don't get near as big. State record is 56 pounds. Anyway the first one I caught was only 20 inches long and the minimun is 22 inches. It really sucked throwing it back cause I love Halibut. Anyway we were rewarded with a 12 pounder and an 8 pounder which were both well over the 22 inch limit.
There was no fee to use the boat launch at Shelter island. And if you stay within San Diego Bay (recommended) the water is relatively calm except for an occasional Carnival cruise ship military submarine or 80 foot yaught cruising by you (I am not joking). The preferred bait is live anchovies/sardines. The thing I would do next time is bring a better livewell as these fish only lasted an hour or two and even though you can catch fish on dead bait we did much better when they were alive.
[signature]
After hitting the bait barge we were off. One cool thing about ocean fishing is you never know what you are going to catch. We started off catching some small sand sharks (about 34 inches) and they fought kinda like a Lake mead catfish...Lotta barrell rolling. We let them go except for one which swallowed the hook big time.
Next we hit a spot that was holding speckled or spotted bass which look kinda like LMB except with red eyes and teeth. They had to be 12 inches to keep. So we kept about five and they were kick ass fish tacos!
Then came the fish of the day. We ran into some Halibut. California Halibut is a different species from Pacific halibut like the monsters in Alaska. They are similiar but don't get near as big. State record is 56 pounds. Anyway the first one I caught was only 20 inches long and the minimun is 22 inches. It really sucked throwing it back cause I love Halibut. Anyway we were rewarded with a 12 pounder and an 8 pounder which were both well over the 22 inch limit.
There was no fee to use the boat launch at Shelter island. And if you stay within San Diego Bay (recommended) the water is relatively calm except for an occasional Carnival cruise ship military submarine or 80 foot yaught cruising by you (I am not joking). The preferred bait is live anchovies/sardines. The thing I would do next time is bring a better livewell as these fish only lasted an hour or two and even though you can catch fish on dead bait we did much better when they were alive.
[signature]