My best bud from NJ, Todd, has lived out here longer than me and was the inspiration for my move. I used to get out fishing with him all the time, but now only get out once or possibly twice a year nowadays. He just had his birthday, so it was a perfect time to load up on taco meat before Rockfish season closes.
It was a little lumpy and very cold in the morning, but quickly got super nice out there!
We made a good 15 or 16 baits outside the inlet and planned on Lings and Yellows. I metered stuff, but it was hard getting a bite... or should I say something big enough to inhale the big macks.
We plucked away with a few legal ling between watching whales and sunfish boil around the boat.
Our baits were getting torn up by ling that wouldn't commit to the hook, but we decided to go big... By that I mean we didn't catch any rockfish, but went for lings and yellows.
I thought I hooked a huge crab at one point, but instead reeled up a ball of steel fishing leader attacked to a living rock! That fugger was heavy!
Just then, Todd gets picked up and his line starts ripping! This was no joke and all hands on deck as it was a definite yellow and a BIG one! It turned the boat a few times and blistered off a ton of line here and there. I hit the GoPro the minute he hooked up so I was expecting the entire thing caught with glory! I cleared the lines and Todd fought it, but it quickly kept running more line than he was getting back. Instead of working him off the bottom, he decided to be patient and fight him slowly. Well, that reef donkey after a bunch of time, found some structure and clipped the 40#.... ugh... all caught on tape that I promised not to let anyone see as he was sick to his stomach. What made it worse, is the two boats near us landed theirs and they were DONKEYS!
The Unglorified shot of defeat....
We managed another legal ling, but it was just over 22" and not exactly a monster.
It was tough going as the fishing was tough and all we were doing is feeding them. As we were getting to the end of the day and bait, I wanted to run for halibut. The offshore scene was loaded with Red Crab on the meter.
We cruised to the halibut grounds and found then full of Red Crab also!
Just as we were cruising past a nice structure spot, I got walloped with the right kind! No doubt a BIG halibut as he had huge head thumps and was a heavy slide as I tried to get him to gaff. The damn hook was caught in the skin of the mouth and popped off as Todd was ready with gaff. I dropped my head in disgust, but realized this was the story of 2015 for me and I just lost another nice fish for the year.... No time to dwell, but to hopefully get back on track in 2016.
I managed one more fish for the day and coolered him as he inhaled the hook and was bleeding bad. Not an epic trip by any means, but still successful since we scored some nice taco meat for ringing in 2016.
We were greeted by Father Time back at the ramp....
Fun day catching up with my good friend no matter how many fish we lost. Until next year, I hope everyone has a wonder New Year's Eve!
