For those of you that live in other parts of the world, the Cabezon is a sought after Sculpin of the north Pacific for it's flavorful meat and excellent texture. In the same way Monkfish is prized and compared to Lobster, the Cabezon is our equal (*better IMHO).
This is my personal best (*from shore*) and at 20" 5 lbs it may not be a glamorous catch by gamefish standards, but the flavor makes up for it's ugly looks and less than exciting stature. Considering they're usually caught from a boat at about 100-200ft down, and I had to horse this guy thru the kelp and over the rocks, I think I did OK.
(https://i.imgur.com/G65g4Qc.jpg)
Avet SXJ MC
Daiwa 10ft surf rod
freshly caught JackSmelt for bait
Congrats on a great catch!
Beautiful fish and that looks like such fun fishing!
What rod is that?
Congrats on your PB from shore! Now we know why your the "rockfish ninja" ;D.
Brett
Nice cabby, those are delicious!
Quote from: xjchad on August 11, 2018, 01:21:52 PM
Congrats on a great catch!
Beautiful fish and that looks like such fun fishing!
What rod is that?
Daiwa Emcast surf, the original version of what they put out right now under that name.
The version they put out now is nice but has a much more flexible tip, the older is much more stiff and fast which is better suited for fast hook sets to prevent these shore reef fish from going back in their hole and breaking you off.
Nice cabbie! Were you using that smelt live, dead or cut up?
Quote from: Fishy247 on August 11, 2018, 06:19:23 PM
Nice cabbie! Were you using that smelt live, dead or cut up?
Dead/whole.
Nice catch, very seldom do we get onto a keeper.
Awesome! As you say very good eatin.
Got one a bit smaller once, surf/rock fishin in Monterey. My Chinese ma-in-law freaked a bit when she saw the blue flesh, askin my wife if I'd washed it in Dawn dish detergent! She cooked it whole with the head, sans guts, and we were diggin in at the dinner table when an conservative family friend came over to find me. The friend really freaked, lookin at the head we were about eat! A yelp of surprise and disgust and she Left oudda there in a hurry! I laughed to point where I could barely eat. That was indeed a fun fish to get in more ways than one.
I think they come into shallow water inthe summer months.
Rarely seen one taken shallow in BC they are deep rock dwellers although few people fish beaches here so who knows.
Got a big'n off a jetty in Washington State once when I's a kid, didn't know what it was, thought it might be poisonous, tossed it back. Got a bunch on a bottom-fish trip once (I think everyone got at least one), as I recall it was in the Spring though, fishin 50 to 70ft. deep. Definitely not common in shallow water.
Quote from: bhale1 on August 11, 2018, 01:58:52 PM
Congrats on your PB from shore! Now we know why your the "rockfish ninja" ;D.
Brett
(https://i.imgur.com/MClmmi6.png)
.... those aren't swords ... they're surf rods. ;D
Quote.... those aren't swords ... they're surf rods. Grin
Awesome..... :D
Quote from: the rockfish ninja on August 11, 2018, 08:15:26 PM
Quote from: bhale1 on August 11, 2018, 01:58:52 PM
Congrats on your PB from shore! Now we know why your the "rockfish ninja" ;D.
Brett
(https://i.imgur.com/MClmmi6.png)
.... those aren't swords ... they're surf rods. ;D
That beach looks familiar! Now I know your spot. :D
steve
Quote from: MadChad on August 11, 2018, 06:57:40 PM
Nice catch, very seldom do we get onto a keeper.
You need to go out with us on the Endeavor , out of Morro Bay .
I catch at least one or two cabby every trip. Better than Ling IMO.
Guys will be throwing back Cabs , I'm taking them.
Nice fishy BTW.....
Quote from: swill88 on August 12, 2018, 01:24:32 AM
Quote from: the rockfish ninja on August 11, 2018, 08:15:26 PM
Quote from: bhale1 on August 11, 2018, 01:58:52 PM
Congrats on your PB from shore! Now we know why your the "rockfish ninja" ;D.
Brett
(https://i.imgur.com/MClmmi6.png)
.... those aren't swords ... they're surf rods. ;D
That beach looks familiar! Now I know your spot. :D
steve
Be very careful if you decide to invade it, as you can see I have a deadly ninja team protecting these precious spots.
Very nice Cabezon. I have yet to catch one in Alaska in 20 trips. The challenge being that Salmon, halibut, lingcod and yelloweye are the only targeted species when I go out on a lodge boat so my few boat trips have been for the target species.
I asked the lodge owner in 2016 if we could swing by where I knew they were hanging out and he said sure if we have time. The opportunity never happened. I'm going to see if the son-in-law will help me set up the skiff to use and I may get a chance at them.
Surfcasting rocks! Very interesting fish! "Cabezon" means "big head" in Spanish. Initially it looks a bit like our sea robin from the East Coast. See robins are considered trash fish by most, but I hear they are very tasty, and plan to eat one at the next opportunity. Wikipedia seems to suggest that these two fish might be related, but I'm too weak on the nomenclature to explain how they are related.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabezon_(fish)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triglidae
nice fish amigo ninja
dont you love unexpected fish caught from the beach/rocks?
Quote from: Decker on August 14, 2018, 04:47:45 PM
Surfcasting rocks! Very interesting fish! "Cabezon" means "big head" in Spanish. Initially it looks a bit like our sea robin from the East Coast. See robins are considered trash fish by most, but I hear they are very tasty, and plan to eat one at the next opportunity. Wikipedia seems to suggest that these two fish might be related, but I'm too weak on the nomenclature to explain how they are related.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabezon_(fish)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triglidae
Not related at all, Cabezon is in the sculpin family, but I do hear sea robins are good to eat. I used to catch them back east but they were so ugly and the weird legs underneath them put me off, so I never tried them. Caught a bunch though.
Quote from: steelfish on August 14, 2018, 05:02:53 PM
nice fish amigo ninja
dont you love unexpected fish caught from the beach/rocks?
I actually was targeting them, rockfish & Lingcod, so it wasn't "unexpected", catching my personal best was.
Quote from: Gfish on August 11, 2018, 07:22:00 PM
She cooked it whole with the head, .......... The friend really freaked, lookin at the head we were about eat! A yelp of surprise and disgust and she Left oudda there in a hurry!
wondering what had happened if she had seen a big YT in the center of the table as main dish, dont look at the eyes, those are mine !! ;D
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=22721.0
(http://alantani.com/gallery/21/3592_04_09_17_12_53_05_217981148.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/21/3592_04_09_17_12_53_19_217991020.jpeg)
Nice and juicy looking! Don't skip the brain Alex. Different taste, but good.
I remember that Mexican horror movie: Brainiac, from back in the early '60's. Funny, some of the stuff that sticks in your memory.
Quote from: Gfish on November 12, 2021, 09:09:31 PM
Nice and juicy looking! Don't skip the brain Alex. Different taste, but good.
I havent tried fish brains at least not on purpose ;D ;D
but you can bet I enjoy Cow brains, hey dont look at me like that :D
you dont waste anything from the Cow head when you see a someone made one of the most traditional tacos "tacos de cabeza de res" (cow's head BBQ tacos)
I see that nice slice of tongue in the center
food that looks back at you is not enough, it has to taste you back, too :o
After seeing Alex's roasted heads I don't feel so bad now.
When I filleted that cabbie out I took the decapitated head, rubbed it down with olive oil & garlic and roasted it in the oven. There was all kinds of meat and the cheeks were heavenly, a salad and some sourdough made it a full meal.
Pero no me como los ojos .......... :-X
Quote from: the rockfish ninja on November 13, 2021, 12:29:58 AM
Pero no me como los ojos .......... :-X
::) ::) ;D ;D :D ............you should !!
the eyes of small fish up to 3-4# have a bitter taste, but eyes from grouper, YT and similar or bigger sized fish have enough meat and cartilage around the hard shell of fish eyes, smooth flavor, never fishy, peel the hard shell of the eye off and you will still have some meat left add two drops of lemon juice and two drops of your favorite hot sauce and go !!! you will thank me later
Nothing wrong with a cabbie from the waves! Ted and I see them about that size up shallow from time to time, I love catching them.
Congratulations!
The Man