Went back to the same tidepool I took the underwater photos in last week. Did not see the zebra perch, opaleye, or sculpin, but there were tons of blennies. I caught over half a dozen, but I'm not sure what they are or if they're all the same species. Rockpool and mussel blennies are likely contenders.
I found that a small tidepool served as a good holding tank to make sure I didn't catch the same blenny twice.
They'll be released at high tide.
A lot of other neat critters in the pools including this purple crab.
When the waves started crashing into the pools I moved over to the surf. A Lucky Craft minnow didn't get any hits, so I downsized to live sand crabs on a #10 octopus hook on a Carolina rig. After just a few casts I hooked up with my first surf fish!
I am immensely excited about this catch! It's my first halibut and first flatfish.
Just a few casts later I had my second fish, also a new lifer - barred surfperch.
A few more casts and I hooked into a yellowfin croaker, my only non-lifer of the day.
At one point a small fish followed the bait all the way to my feet, took a swipe, missed, and then bolted away when it saw me. After my last catch the beach started to get crowded, so I packed up and went home feeling quite triumphant!
