10/19/08 - blue hills special

[alantani]

took the boat out for a quick run down the coast yesterday. been trying to schedule a day on the water with these guys for the last 3 months and finally found a date when everyone could make it. my crew was made up of 3 dads from the local elementary school (doug, jeff and eric) and an 8 year old (eric's son scotty). ok, this is not a good start......



we launched out of half moon bay and saw the bait receiver open. ok, so i'm going to waste all of the frozen squid i bought the other day. we're getting a scoop of live bait!!!!!!!!!!!!!



$50 might seem like alot, but it will be well worth it if the fish get picky.



seas were flat calm for a change. i ran 20 miles down coast to the "triangle of death," right off of san gregorio. we blew past a party boat half way down. it turned out to be dennis baxter of the new captain pete.



i make it a point to always fish in 60 feet of water or less. that way i can safely release a fish if it is undersized or the wrong species. the entire triangle was stacked with fish, top to bottom.



jeff stuck this nice ling cod on the very first drop!!!!!!!!!!



most of the fish were blues in the 1 to 1.5 pound range like this one that doug caught. note the small single treble hook. this is my preferred live bait rig for rockfish. i use a 7 foot trevala rod rated 20-50. the reel is a daiwa 17 line counter with an oversized handle grip, loaded with 50# spectra. the spectra is tied straight through a slider to a swivel. the minimum weight i use is 4 ounces. 6 or 8 ounces is preferred. the leader is three feet of 30# maxima ultra green with a small no. 4 treble hook and a perfection loop on both ends. the live anchovie is hooked topdown through the nose and sent to the bottom. as soon as a rock fish hits, the treble hook is immediately set by the 4, 6 or 8 ounce weight. these fish are almost always lip hooked. we did not have a single rockfish that was gill hooked or gut hooked the entire day. i have found that lighter 1, 2 or 3 ounce weights allow the rockfish time to swallow the hook too deep. that's why i use the heavier weights.



when we get away from the school fish, we will find ling cod. we also find these vermillion. this one tipped the scales at 7 pounds whole. just because the screen on the fish finder is blank, it doesn't mean there are no fish.



scotty was not to be outdone. here's ling cod #1.......



.... vermillion #1 (note the hook placement), ........



.... and ling cod #2. we had just been smoked by an 8 year old!



scotty's dad, eric, finally caught something of note.



at one point, captain baxter pulled in close to us and started a drift. i remembered the squid, nosed in and passed it over. glad the bait did not go to waste.



we ended the day with a legal limit of rockfish (including 3 vermillions and a cabezon) and 3 ling cod.



i had the kid drive on the way back. at 25 kts, scotty was flashing a slightly more nervous smile.



back at the dock, scotty crawled into the truck and passed out. we were soaped, scrubbed, rinsed and dried in a record 45 minutes.



this was a nasty little surprise. one of the guys snagged this spectra late in the morning and it pulled out of his hands when he was trying to clear his line. now i know why. i'll have to pull the prop later this week. hopefully it did not dig any deeper than this.



scotty says he's gonna be really good the rest of the year and ask santa for one of these for christmas.........