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Fishing Pacific Ocean August 7

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:21 am
by AKBASSFISHING
Pacific Ocean 8/7/2018
Water Temp 50
Visibility 10 feet
Wind 8 – 19 mph

A little change of pace for you guys. Got invited to go out on the annual Striped Bass Association potluck trip aboard the California Dawn. Got to the dock at around 5 and met some pretty cool guys aboard. Initial reports suggested that we would go for Rockfish and Lingcod, early and then try for Halibut later. We launched just shy of 6 and head to get fuel and bait.

Around 8 in the morning, we made it to our fishing spot, a large shelf. Captain James told us to drop shrimp-flies tipped with anchovies. On the first drop, I hooked into a decent black rock fish. Others had similar luck, and before we knew it, we were limited out on black rocks.

With so many blacks’ being caught, we moved to another shelf and found the yellowtail rocks and blue rocks to be plentiful, only thing is, I was getting very small ones. This was the perfect opportunity to drop my trap-rig (Single octopus hook with a trouble hook – designed to catch larger fish such as Lingcod). I loaded a small rock and sent her on her way. I hit bottom and held on. After a short drift, I could feel my bait starting to get restless, and then the thump happened. I’d say it’s similar to getting bit while punching, but way harder! I could feel the fish eating my bait and I slowly wound up. Thinking I hooked her, I reeled quickly. About halfway off the bottom, she let go… she was gone. After closer inspection, the ling had about half my bait in her mouth, and never touched the hooks.

I switched back to shrimp-flies and continued to load my bag. A good variety of rock fish: Blacks, Blues, a Canary, and some Gopher rocks. Just shy of a limit and hitting the small rocks again, I switched back to the trap-rig. By this time, many had landed lings, so I prayed to the fish gods for a ling. Sent her down and waited for the punch bite on steroids. About 20 minutes of drifting her, I had a thump. Knowing I couldn’t set hook, I slowly reeled and could feel the dead weight. After about 10 minutes of reeling, I could see color. I yelled for a gaff, but the deckhand was busy with another ling. Keeping the head underwater, I waited with my heart in my throat, I knew it wasn’t hooked and just holding onto my bait. Sure enough, I saw it spit my bait, but luckily the treble in the back got it. The fish gods were on my side of this battle. The deckhand gaffed the fish and I had my keeper ling in the boat.

By 1 in the afternoon, the bite fizzled out and the sea was getting bad. Captain James told us that we would fish the Bay for Halibut. We did for a few hours and called it a day. A couple halibut were caught and a giant bat ray also.

Overall, the trip was great! Big thanks to George and the California Striped Bass Association for inviting me, and to Captain James, Mike and Charley for a fun day! I would highly recommend the California Dawn if you’re looking to get some meat!

Notes

The water had cooled, so James said to barely work your shrimp-flies, since the fish had become lethargic.

The fish really liked the shrimp-flies with live Anchovies tipped on them.

The livelier the bait, the better your odds of getting bit.

Re: Fishing Pacific Ocean August 7

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:35 pm
by jg
Wow love the Lings, a lot of good eating right there.

Re: Fishing Pacific Ocean August 7

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:18 am
by Pat
Great story, we go out of Fort Bragg a couple times a year to get rock cod and Lings for the freezer. If you really want to get into the Lings, go in December. You can also double up on crab.