Jackpot Jimmy
04-02-2010, 08:44 PM
The Hunt for Lings and Wide Open Jumbo Sculpin
With the swift front coming through in the middle of the week, that put a damper on my plan of fishing out of Ventura for the ling opener, but I was eager to get out for Good Friday for a good chance at a lingcod. Dad and I woke up as usual and headed down to Redondo where we were joined by our fellow regulars. We rolled off the dock at 6am and headed over to the bait receiver, where we picked up some great sardines from three to six inches. We soon were under way headed north towards the rockfishing grounds. Knowing that we would be hitting some rocky areas for lings, I rigged up a rod with a reverse dropper loop, and the rest as I would normally set up, one with a jig/shrimp fly combo, and one with the standard double dropper loop.
We had a pretty big residue swell from the storm mid-week, but it soon lay down, and got pretty nice for a while. At our first spot, we had a good pick on some decent sized boscos, which were quite willing to wolf down the sardines. Meanwhile, Derrick worked diligently with the sabiki rig to snag some mackerel for lingcod bait, but none were to be found. We soon moved on, and Capt. Steven found a nice rocky area, the perfect habitat for lingcod. No biters on the first set, so Stevo moved and tried a different part of the rock. Regular angler Butch managed to land a nice lingcod, while some guys got substantial bites, but nothing that would latch on all the way. Lingcod fishing was less than ideal, so we moved on to fill the sacks with some sculpin.
Once we arrived at the sculpin hole, I neglected to switch to a scampi and squid that works wonders on the great eating fish, and continued to fish the dropper loop with a sardine. I soon realized that I made the right choice. It was pretty instantaneous while fishing the sardines, but it got harder and harder to hook the sculpin. I soon switched my dropper loop around and started using a circle hook, and with some patience, I was getting big ones every drop. I landed my best sculpin in a while that weighed in at 2-1/2 pounds. Everyone was loading up on quality fish, but soon, we were at our quota, and we moved on to try for lings again before the trip’s end.
When we arrived at our last spot of the day, the wind and current picked up, but we switched to some heavy sinkers and started a drift anyway. The first drift produced nothing, so Stevo started up current of the spot, and we started to pick away at some grouper. We tried drifting it a couple more times, with guys pulling up some quality reds, but no lings. As the last drift ended, I hooked and landed a 5-1/2 pound cabazon, my personal best.
The day held good potential. The cabazon and the jumbo sculpin really made my day, and it was nice to see some big reds in the mix at the end. Jackpot went to Butch with that big lingcod. Our final count was 55 Rockfish, 75 Sculpin, 1 Lingcod, and 1 Cabazon. I’m hoping to see some more lings as the month goes on, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Great times, great fishing!
Butch with a Nice Lingcod
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-47.jpg
Double Jumbo Sculpin for the Kid
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/002-47.jpg
My Jumbo Sculpin
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-36.jpg
My Nice Cabazon
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-35.jpg
Ray with a Nice Red
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-27.jpg
With the swift front coming through in the middle of the week, that put a damper on my plan of fishing out of Ventura for the ling opener, but I was eager to get out for Good Friday for a good chance at a lingcod. Dad and I woke up as usual and headed down to Redondo where we were joined by our fellow regulars. We rolled off the dock at 6am and headed over to the bait receiver, where we picked up some great sardines from three to six inches. We soon were under way headed north towards the rockfishing grounds. Knowing that we would be hitting some rocky areas for lings, I rigged up a rod with a reverse dropper loop, and the rest as I would normally set up, one with a jig/shrimp fly combo, and one with the standard double dropper loop.
We had a pretty big residue swell from the storm mid-week, but it soon lay down, and got pretty nice for a while. At our first spot, we had a good pick on some decent sized boscos, which were quite willing to wolf down the sardines. Meanwhile, Derrick worked diligently with the sabiki rig to snag some mackerel for lingcod bait, but none were to be found. We soon moved on, and Capt. Steven found a nice rocky area, the perfect habitat for lingcod. No biters on the first set, so Stevo moved and tried a different part of the rock. Regular angler Butch managed to land a nice lingcod, while some guys got substantial bites, but nothing that would latch on all the way. Lingcod fishing was less than ideal, so we moved on to fill the sacks with some sculpin.
Once we arrived at the sculpin hole, I neglected to switch to a scampi and squid that works wonders on the great eating fish, and continued to fish the dropper loop with a sardine. I soon realized that I made the right choice. It was pretty instantaneous while fishing the sardines, but it got harder and harder to hook the sculpin. I soon switched my dropper loop around and started using a circle hook, and with some patience, I was getting big ones every drop. I landed my best sculpin in a while that weighed in at 2-1/2 pounds. Everyone was loading up on quality fish, but soon, we were at our quota, and we moved on to try for lings again before the trip’s end.
When we arrived at our last spot of the day, the wind and current picked up, but we switched to some heavy sinkers and started a drift anyway. The first drift produced nothing, so Stevo started up current of the spot, and we started to pick away at some grouper. We tried drifting it a couple more times, with guys pulling up some quality reds, but no lings. As the last drift ended, I hooked and landed a 5-1/2 pound cabazon, my personal best.
The day held good potential. The cabazon and the jumbo sculpin really made my day, and it was nice to see some big reds in the mix at the end. Jackpot went to Butch with that big lingcod. Our final count was 55 Rockfish, 75 Sculpin, 1 Lingcod, and 1 Cabazon. I’m hoping to see some more lings as the month goes on, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Great times, great fishing!
Butch with a Nice Lingcod
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-47.jpg
Double Jumbo Sculpin for the Kid
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/002-47.jpg
My Jumbo Sculpin
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-36.jpg
My Nice Cabazon
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/006-35.jpg
Ray with a Nice Red
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-27.jpg