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Fishing Talk => Fishing Talk => : jrodda December 30, 2023, 03:44:56 PM
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Things got spottier in the last few months for me as far as fishing opportunities go, but overall it was a surprisingly good year where I met a lot of goals that I've been trying to hit for a while. Thresher, bluefin, and finally a corbina were the highlights for me. 35 species for the year and 12 of them were new.
The 12 new species:
1. raucous grunt
2. slender croaker (not confirmed)
3. speckled sanddab
4. fantail sole
5. swordspine rockfish
6. pink rockfish
7. chameleon rockfish
8. mexican rockfish
9. blackgill rockfish
10. thresher shark
11. bluefin tuna
12. california corbina
Some numbers from my logs:
42 boat trips. 297 total fish, 342 including baitfish. Only 6 skunks! Sand bass were caught most at 133.
26 surf trips. 28 total fish. 13 skunks. More croaker than perch which I found odd at 13 YFC to 9 BSP, though the perch were mostly great quality.
(https://i.imgur.com/xW2HE7Eh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZKVa0dah.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bkcubvEh.jpg)
Looking to 2024...
As I was typing this I started rambling a lot. I wanna catch everything but I'll probably be the most motivated for these:
- legal halibut from the surf and the boat
- start using snails for sheeps
- full send for sablefish this winter
- CNR kite bluefin
- hit the surf at least once a week, it's just plain good for the soul
Aight, ya'll chime in. 2023 recap/highlights and 2024 goals??
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I have to revisit this post in the morning, but I thought you picked up more than 12 lifers this year? I think I picked up about 2 dozen which isn't my usual M.O.
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You have been quite busy on the water, hopefully 2024 will be even better 8)
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I have to revisit this post in the morning, but I thought you picked up more than 12 lifers this year? I think I picked up about 2 dozen which isn't my usual M.O.
I just got the 12, but that was more than I expected. Well, more than I expected for the year after nearly skunking in Puerto Vallarta.
My memory was foggy but then I remembered you hit Baja for all those new species.
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So, I'll just chime in in small posts since I'm running around like crazy and trying to convince myself on getting out fishing right now as it's trout weather.
Here is my 2023 New Species List. I realize that I have 4 undetermined Rockfish species that I know are new, but haven't figured out exactly which ones. I need to take better pictures of them without my hand in the way.
Here's what I have, but also feel like I'm missing one or two. No matter, it was still a decent year for new species.
2023 New Species
1 Mojarra, Pacific Flagfin
2 Lookdown, Mexican
3 Jack, Green
4 Herring, Pacific Flatiron
5 Grunt, Spottail
6 Grouper, Pacific Graysby
7 Grouper, Leopard
8 Eel, Panamic Green Moray
9 Deepwater Serrano
10 Scorpinfish, Stone
11 Scad, Big Eye
12 Pompano, African
13 Rockfish, Greenspotted
14 Rockfish. Green Blotched
15 Cow Cod
16 Snapper, Amarillo
17 Snapper, Colorado
18 Snapper, Pacific Red
19 Stingray, Longtail
20 Tilefish, Pacific Goldeneye
21 Tuna, Black Skipjack
22 Hake, Pacific
23 Rockfish, Green Striped
24 Rockfish, Mexican
25 Rockfish, Bank
26-30 (4 Unidentified Species of Rockfish still to determine)
More posts to come as the day moves on.
Happy New Year Everyone!
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Put up the mystery rockfish in question and we’ll figure them out together.
Looks like my banky from the other day is my first confirmed pic of one but i counted it a long time ago.
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I really didn’t catch much….
4 BFT,
1 YFT
one sword,
a couple rat yellows,
couple legal cudas,
more than a dozen sand bass but not two dozen,
A tree fish on the jig and one in a hoop
Half a dozen calicos, one legal I remember
25 or so assorted rockfish,
5(?) threshers,
blue shark on the mad Mac
1 baby mako I leadered
16 total lobsters
Over a dozen white fish in one day and never saw them again
Including my sons catches we can add
Another dozen sand bass
3 halibut (one almost legal)
2 Petral sole (I’ve still only ever caught one).
Several bones and countless lizard fish
This year will be focused on white seabass and halibut more and chasing a 200+lb bluefin from the inflatable, Will probably be a kite fish. I get out of the Marines in June and going to dedicate some time to getting a much larger sword up in the Channel Islands area.
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I really didn’t catch much….
4 BFT,
1 YFT
one sword,
a couple rat yellows,
couple legal cudas,
more than a dozen sand bass but not two dozen,
A tree fish on the jig and one in a hoop
Half a dozen calicos, one legal I remember
25 or so assorted rockfish,
5(?) threshers,
blue shark on the mad Mac
1 baby mako I leadered
16 total lobsters
Over a dozen white fish in one day and never saw them again
Including my sons catches we can add
Another dozen sand bass
3 halibut (one almost legal)
2 Petral sole (I’ve still only ever caught one).
Several bones and countless lizard fish
This year will be focused on white seabass and halibut more and chasing a 200+lb bluefin from the inflatable, Will probably be a kite fish. I get out of the Marines in June and going to dedicate some time to getting a much larger sword up in the Channel Islands area.
I was fishing with Dan from the Shearwater (Sword boat for over 35 year) and got some great intel from him. He only got 18 this year, but I definitely want to get my sword next year!
I think the marine weather had a lot to do with some of our fish counts in 2023. I don't remember so many rough days on the water in the past 10 years.
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Don't forget "Beat KogaStud in the football pool."
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Don't forget "Beat KogaPud in the football pool."
That would fall under "Goals"... More like "A Given".
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Well, that Lightning Trout was a hell of a way to start 2024....
My plan is to get back out surf sharking again. Probably not as much as we used to go, but really shooting for, at minimum, once every fortnight.
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I have one goal, to repeat as PS Football Champion.
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I really didn’t catch much….
4 BFT,
1 YFT
one sword,
a couple rat yellows,
couple legal cudas,
more than a dozen sand bass but not two dozen,
A tree fish on the jig and one in a hoop
Half a dozen calicos, one legal I remember
25 or so assorted rockfish,
5(?) threshers,
blue shark on the mad Mac
1 baby mako I leadered
16 total lobsters
Over a dozen white fish in one day and never saw them again
Including my sons catches we can add
Another dozen sand bass
3 halibut (one almost legal)
2 Petral sole (I’ve still only ever caught one).
Several bones and countless lizard fish
This year will be focused on white seabass and halibut more and chasing a 200+lb bluefin from the inflatable, Will probably be a kite fish. I get out of the Marines in June and going to dedicate some time to getting a much larger sword up in the Channel Islands area.
I was fishing with Dan from the Shearwater (Sword boat for over 35 year) and got some great intel from him. He only got 18 this year, but I definitely want to get my sword next year!
I think the marine weather had a lot to do with some of our fish counts in 2023. I don't remember so many rough days on the water in the past 10 years.
Dan sold Miss Dublin to my buddy Andrew and I’ll he fishing with him next year to get my toes wet in the commercial industry. Everyone has their own opinion on how swords work but the only consistent thing that works is having a bait in the water
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I agree on the opinion stuff Chris. He gave me some solid scientific study intel on SoCal Swordfish that I wasn't aware of which I was probably more stoked about knowing. He also gave me his reasoning behind some of his methods which I appreciated since I have little to no experience with swords and I enjoy hearing the "Why" part to get a good understanding of the thought process.
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I have one goal, to repeat as PS Football Champion.
Yeah, that'll never happen. lol
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Dang! I feel like I've been lacking on the stats for 2023 with all these sick breakdowns. I finally broke the 100 species mark on my life list in California, the more notable additions from 2023 (or at least the ones I remember) include salty stripers, a butterfly ray, blue shark, SoCal anadromous steelhead, and some proper native trout from the sierras. Ended up spending as much time catching snakes and reading about herpetology as I did fishing. It was a bit of a change of pace from previous years, but I'm happy to report that I've added 25 native species to my snake life list (out of about 40 native to CA) and 35 total between California, Montana, and Minnesota. It's well below freezing at school right now, so I've got plenty of motivation to get back and add some more this spring! I also fell short on the LBSF side of things, had some epic multi-fish thresher days on the kayak but the 7 gills are calling, it's been too long. I'd also like to finally get my legal WSB from the surf or yak, bastards been eluding me for far too long, 2023 was the year of endless shorts and almosts for me. I'm hoping 2024 will be more fruitful.
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Dang! I feel like I've been lacking on the stats for 2023 with all these sick breakdowns. I finally broke the 100 species mark on my life list in California, the more notable additions from 2023 (or at least the ones I remember) include salty stripers, a butterfly ray, blue shark, SoCal anadromous steelhead, and some proper native trout from the sierras. Ended up spending as much time catching snakes and reading about herpetology as I did fishing. It was a bit of a change of pace from previous years, but I'm happy to report that I've added 25 native species to my snake life list (out of about 40 native to CA) and 35 total between California, Montana, and Minnesota. It's well below freezing at school right now, so I've got plenty of motivation to get back and add some more this spring! I also fell short on the LBSF side of things, had some epic multi-fish thresher days on the kayak but the 7 gills are calling, it's been too long. I'd also like to finally get my legal WSB from the surf or yak, bastards been eluding me for far too long, 2023 was the year of endless shorts and almosts for me. I'm hoping 2024 will be more fruitful.
Your snake charming has been insane! I guess I don't get out much in search of snakes but I've found very few snakes on hunts and caught even fewer. 35 species of snakes is incredible.
And the WSB and 7s are maybe the two hardest fish in SoCal to catch, best of luck. But you do seem to find a way, so I have faith in you.
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Good seeing your name on the board Ethan, hopefully school is going well for you.
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Good seeing your name on the board Ethan, hopefully school is going well for you.
Thanks! It's definitely going haha with all the damn lakes and rivers frozen, I'm contemplating taking up ice fishing if I can find the time. I'll be back in Cali for a bit in the second week of march. Hopefully, I'll see you on the sand!
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I'm totally surprised you haven't gone ice fishing yet! Well, it will be great to see what you catch on your next trip back here, but I want to see some ice fishing posts! lol
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Not much in the way of fishing for me in 2023. Usual catch of some YT, BFT, YFT off of the sport boats. Piers kicked out some corvina, sargo, macks, and lots of queenfish. Surf was dead to me. Perch and croaker made the rounds. I kicked out more kidney stones than sharks this past year.
I'll be putting in a more concerted effort to get out for grinners this year. Got some new locations in my sights, here in SD and a bit further. More posts will be made as well. Oh yeah, I still need to buy a license :o
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Not much in the way of fishing for me in 2023. Usual catch of some YT, BFT, YFT off of the sport boats. Piers kicked out some corvina, sargo, macks, and lots of queenfish
Dang dude, that sounds like a good year to me :)