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Boat Fishing => Saltwater Boat Fishing Reports => : BenCantrell March 19, 2018, 03:17:17 PM
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Last "weekend" (Wed night to Mon morning, so quite a bit longer than a weekend) my friend Josh visited from Michigan. He's into catching new species as well, so we did a little bit of everything to help him up his lifelist count.
Wednesday 3/7/18
While I waited for Josh's flight to arrive I fished the rocks on Harbor Island. It looked like it was going to be a skunk session, but right before I had to pack up I hooked my first barracuda from shore!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4778/26888808708_beff6bc8d7_c.jpg)
Thursday 3/8/18
I worked a half day, and in the afternoon we met up with Binh to fish the New Seaforth PM. Josh did really well catching a bunch of different rockfish, including a squarespot that is still eluding me. He also caught two longfin sanddabs, another species I haven't caught. As far as bringing taco meat home, all three of us did ok, but the fish didn't have very good size to them.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/809/26997102728_956e565bf6_c.jpg)
Greenstriped rockfish.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/797/25995274087_b1527bbc93_c.jpg)
Vermilion rockfish.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4774/26997102188_d19f8265ce_c.jpg)
Halfbanded rockfish.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/798/25995273767_a955e03b1f_c.jpg)
Josh's squarespot and Binh and I looking like brothers.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4784/39057600240_6073df99ed_c.jpg)
Not pictured: calico rockfish, honeycomb rockfish, longfin sanddab. Before we drove home we threw megabaits from the rocks for a bit hoping for mackerel, but we didn't get any bites.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/785/25995274657_44f436fa0e_c.jpg)
Friday 3/9/18
After another half day of work on Friday we headed downtown to pump ghost shrimp. A guy I knew from Instagram was in town and wanted to see some fish, so we invited him to tag along. Three people makes pumping shrimp go quickly.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/804/40826024582_f05e5b1d94_c.jpg)
Josh and I had plans to kayak, so we pointed our friend Christian to a good shore spot to fish, and we paddled out into SD Bay. I had one good hookup trolling, but it came off as I was pulling the rod out of the rod holder.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/814/25995272917_42c4dfd5d1_c.jpg)
Out in the bay we soaked ghost shrimp and mussels, but lizardfish were the only thing biting.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4786/26888804508_3987bc60be_c.jpg)
When we were about 2 hrs from high tide we went back to the bonefish spot so Josh and Christian could fish from shore. I've caught enough bonefish this year, so I paddled around to see if I could finally get my corvina. My first lap around netting me 2 mackerel, which I dropped off with the guys in case they wanted to fish for stingrays. As I was paddling away for lap two I saw Christian catch his first bonefish.
I used my fish finder to stay around 6-8 ft of water where the eelgrass beds transition to the open channel. I was paddling along at a pretty good clip when all of the sudden BAM, I felt a hit and quickly grabbed the rod to keep pressure on the fish as I stopped paddling. It was definitely not a mackerel!
Shortfin corvina (species #497).
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4783/26888807138_4b11318bee_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4795/26888806748_5deae55d8d_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4797/26888806628_6e00b219b4_c.jpg)
I knew I was going to take a while taking photos, so I made the decision as soon as I landed the fish to keep it. I'm glad I did so, because my grippers pretty quickly tore a hole in the bottom of his mouth. Dave, one of my kayaking friends, happened to be out fishing as well, so I paddled over to him so he could take a photo of me holding the fish.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4777/25887091477_293887dea9_c.jpg)
Dave was catching the ever present dink spotties.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4800/26888806258_eb7f31141e_c.jpg)
I paddled back to the bonefish spot to find that Christian had taken off, and Josh was in his kayak in the middle of the channel with a big grin on his face. He said he had just released his lifer smoothhound and a decent barred sand bass. Normally I would have been jealous of his smoothhound, but I was on cloud 9 from the corvina so it didn't bother me one bit!
Saturday 3/10/18
Our endurance fishing event continued the next morning when we met up with Eli to fish offshore for deep water species. We rented a boat, and as usual Eli was our captain for the day.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/799/39057601220_c7576037d1_c.jpg)
We followed La Jolla Canyon out, starting with the deepest drop first and then working our way back in. Our targets were whatever is legal at any depth, which is only a few species of flatfish and I assume species that aren't mentioned in the regulations (weird deep water stuff). Unfortunately, we didn't get a single bite until we came back in close to the 360 ft mark where rockfishing becomes legal.
I did set a PR for deepest I've touched bottom, 1415 ft. It was a really calm morning so we were able to use 28 oz torpedo sinkers without any line bow issues.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/820/39057601870_0e552ab41a_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4782/25995271807_0d40f6edb9_c.jpg)
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/820/39057600770_8614abb96a_c.jpg)
On the way back to legal rockfishing depths we saw a huge school of dolphins, easily several hundred. I should have taken a video because photos couldn't do the spectacle justice since at any given moment most of the dolphins are underwater.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/807/25995271487_13477121bc_c.jpg)
Rockfishing wasn't very productive, so we ended the day by fishing the 90-115 ft depth range, looking for anything resembling structure on the fish finder. Josh and Eli fished dropper loop style rigs, and I used a Megabait tipped with mackerel. The fish were going nuts over it, and I never switched lures to see if the color or shape/style mattered.
Super colorful scorpionfish
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4787/38947394380_982c1725af_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4799/26888805908_39ecbbca42_c.jpg)
16 inch mackerel.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4780/40048054934_972bedf2d4_c.jpg)
Whitefish.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4796/26888805708_45db4d09dd_c.jpg)
27 1/2 inch halibut.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4802/39862996845_d342252c40_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4773/26888804908_47c532850f_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4795/26888804218_b51a689686_c.jpg)
Eli one upped me by catching the last fish of the day, a 35 1/4 inch halibut. Pics of him holding the fish are on his camera.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/805/39057599380_1465fcf57e_c.jpg)
Sunday 3/11/18
We ran the San Diego Half Marathon. Josh talked me into it, and I hope to God that I never do one again. :o
Photos if you need proof:
https://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=054332&LastName=CANTRELL
Sunday 3/12/18
Josh toured downtown, the zoo, and Balboa Park during the day, and at night we met up with Tom for some surf fishing.
http://prehistoricsoul.com/forum/index.php?topic=2904.0
52 inch soupfin. Thanks Tom for the photo.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4775/40752067392_987c76091c_c.jpg)
81 inch sevengill (species #498). Thanks Josh for the photo.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4774/38984199580_fd539d6879_c.jpg)
And that's all!
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Also, Josh wrote up a nice report on his blog.
http://lifelistfishing.com/san-diego/
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That's some marathom fishing! Used to do a lot of those pre-wife and kinds.
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That's some marathom fishing!
I'm jealous
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I'm need a nap just reading all of that. ;D
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I'm need a nap just reading all of that. ;D
The good thing is he puts up a lot of great pictures, so it never drags on without coming across some great fish porn. 8)
Great report Ben!