Well made my trip to San Diego and went out with H&M charters, but I waited too long to book the 3/4 day trip for tuna and ended up on a half day rock fish trip. Probably for the best the swells were rough probably at least ten feet from crest to trough bottom all day. It was so rough my FIL couldn't even fish because he couldn't stay on his feet. Think there was 10 of the 42 on the boat so sea sick they didn't fish much. I used the tips everyone provided including some good details from Steve and I ended up with 7 or 8 fish, but I think I managed to catch the smallest fish possible. The boat ended up with 80 fish between 42 so it was a slow day. The seals kept stealing our fish on the way up or the birds would grab the little ones so it was an interesting trip. I had a lot of fun, but felt bad for my company that didn't have a very good trip. Anyway they were sure colorful but I didn't catch any with much size this time. Maybe next trip. Later J
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Looks fun. Nice cabezon.
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Nice job on outfishing the rest of the tanglers.....err anglers. lol That was a rather small Starry Rockfish but definetely worth of a fish taco. I didn't see the Cab Driver (Cabezon) that was mentioned but I did see a nice Rattlesnake (California Scorpionfish) Those are very good eating. Very soft textured white meat which doesn't compare to any freshwater species except for maybe some of the Bonneville White fish that I have caught on the Idaho side of Bear lake.
I hope you can come to my neck of the woods next time. We can get you into some better fish and sore arms from reeling up a couple tons of them. [cool]
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Boy every fish that came up was different for me and the only one I recognized was a sheep head that the guy next to me caught and a few sand bass that others pulled in. They told me the one was a Calico Rock fish, and the other was a scorpion fish. They started freaking out when I pulled it in and went looking for help to get it off. I knew it was poisonous but I wasn't sure which spines you needed to avoid so I figured I'd let them show me. They said if you catch one of them to not bring it on board and keep it out over the ocean. They said one sting and everyone's trip would be over and we would be on the way to the hospital. I guess the season for them was over they turned it loose. Anyway I think they called one of my fish a Jonny bass and another a red snapper but I didn't think it looked like one. Had one that was a little like a cross between a perch and a bluegil that I thought was a pretty fish. Anyway it was fun to see what showed up. Later J
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I'd love to come join you and see if I could find one bigger than a pound. I checked the 3/4 day report that day and they caught 72 yellow fin tuna so I guess that's what happens when you don't sign up quick you miss the big fish trip. Said they are averaging around 15 - 20 lbs so that would have been a lot more fun. Next time. Hey if you're catching the bigger fish, do you use one of those angler belts? When I went after halibut we would put the butt of the rod against our pelvis to anchor it for the fight and I remember getting so sore it really hurt. I had one fish on that was big and after fifteen minutes of fighting it, one of the crew put a belt on me and it really helped. Fish ended up getting wrapped around something and we lost it but it sure was fun for awhile. Thanks. J
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Yeah my saltwater fish if skills are lacking. I need to get some charts to study.[sly]
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[#0000FF]Too bad you missed out on the tuna but good that you at least got in some fishing. Not good about the big swells. Happens a lot this time of year. I have been fishing from Huntington pier when the big waves started washing up over the end of it. Boogie time.
Interesting about all the "colorful" names for the rockfish. There are over 80 species of the actual rockfish (sebastoides) family alone...plus all the other species that hang out in the same areas. Not unusual for them to have different common names in different areas...or on different boats...or among different tanglers. Can't believe how poorly some identify even the more common varieties.
Bottom line is that most are fun to catch and great eating.
Those scorpionfish have relatives in just about all waters. And they all pack nasty venom in the spines on their backs (dorsal) , pectorals and anal fins...as well as sharp gill covers that can lay you open. I always keep them because they are so good eating. I grip the lower lip...like a bass...and then use my SHARP fillet knife to make cuts on either side of the strips of spines. Then I use my longnose pliers to lift out the rows of spines, before flopping the neutralized fish into the bag. Never had a problem that way. But had a lot of good eats. Had some trips in Socal that were specifically targeting those dangerous little morsels.
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Hey Pat,
It was a fun trip, your son Steve took good care in getting me ready to go... I didn't plan on going until I got there and seen reports of tuna close in and by the time I decided to go they were sold out... Anyway I should have planned ahead a little better, but thought we would be doing family things all through the trip, but when a window opened I decided to give it a try... Wish I would have had my gear, it's not perfect salt water gear, but it was better than what I rented...
Anyway what are your thoughts about trying Whitefish at Bear Lake? Would Saturday the 5th work for you? We can set up an informal flotilla and give it a try. I have a couple new additions I'm working on for my toon that I hope may help, I have that motor controller that is supposed to let me control my speed of my electric motor, hope to have it hooked up by the weekend to help slow me down. I also found a small down rigger I'm trying to add to the toon. I think both of these additions may help my little craft work better on Bear Lake... unless it gets too cluttered, will have to be careful there... At this point the temperature looks a little warmer, but with the Friday storm I'm not sure what the wind will be like, so that wild card is always in the deck until you get off of the water...
Thanks for the tips on the spines to remove, the deck hands never did tell me what ones to watch out for... I assumed the dorsals, but didn't see the others you mentioned, so it's good I didn't try to handle it... I was going to lip it like you suggested and then decided to just hold the line to be safe... Seems like those salt water fish have a lot more gotcha's than the fresh water ones, so I'm always careful there... Catch ya later... J
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[#0000FF]Sent you a PM on the Bear Lake trip.
Here's a pic of a stone scorpionfish from the Sea of Cortez. TubeBabe is holding it by the line...after I already lipped it and stripped it. Note the absence of the spiny dorsal fin. Destination: dinner.
[inline "STONE SCORPIONFISH.jpg"]
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IN regards to your question about the fighting belt, a person will usually use one of those for fish bigger than 60lbs. Otherwise the rod goes tucked under the non winding arm while the other arm cranks away.
I have seen beginners on the Sporties that tend to wear and use for any fish pulled up. It looks kind of funny when they are pulling up a 1lb fish an refuse to take the rod out of the belt.
The super sized fish require a full harness and a fighting chair to keep from getting pulled in.[cool][cool]
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Those Scorpions aka Rattlesnakes are such good eating. They are so close in the buttery texture of the the Chilepepper Rockfish.
The Chilepeppers are ones that we call the Fireman Bass cuz they have.....err.....are suspenders. There is something about the texture of suspended or shelf rockfish.
Chilepeppers, Bocaccio, and Starrys seem to be softer textured and work so good for Penko crusted creating a light texture and tasty treat.
A sprig of freshly crushed dill and thyme, squeeze of lime, topped with some Pico de Gallo and a malted frothy beverage...............ay ay ay. muy bueno. [cool]
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Lots of new things to learn, would be fun to need the belt. Later J
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Too bad you couldn't get on a 3/4 day, I used to take the Malihini out of H&M a few times per year when I lived down there! With the En-ninio this year, I'm not sure if they have moved on to rockfishing just yet, but I think my favorite trips were winter trips pulling in 20-30 big reds and the occasional fat ling!
Atleast you had some nicer temps down there eh?
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Yup the temps were great, however the rain had us in jackets anyway. Next time we'll get on the longer trip. I hope. Later J
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Be sure to bring the big guns next year. We usually get the Humboldt Squid on the year after the El Nino event occurs. They get from 30lbs on up. It is not uncommon to pull up multiples at one time.[shocked]
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Boy, that brings back memories! We used to do that to those tasty little guys when we'd get them on our boat. We called it "giving them a haircut". Ha! Good stuff!
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Now that looks crazy to catch squid, been checking out the videos on it and it looks like something that needs to be tried at least once... I've never had the giant squid calamari before, but I like the small stuff so I'll bet the big steaks would be great... Thanks for the idea.... J
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When the squid come through, I usually only keep a couple hundred pounds. I cut some into Calamari steaks and some into rings for the deep fryer. The rest gets cut in to bait strips of different sizes. Large (1"wide) are used to target Ling Cod, Halibut and Yellowtail while medium (1/2" wide) get used for Black Cod, California Sheepshead and Red Snapper or Vermillion Rockfish. Some of the medium strips also get processed for some of my Catfish Bait.
There are a ton of other species that the strips work on but I don't feel like eating up all the bandwidth here with a million word post. [shocked]
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