Jackpot Jimmy
04-02-2012, 05:57 PM
The sea has been very good to us this rockfish season. Big bocaccio, quality reds, nice lingcod, and other great eating rockfish have come over the rail, and today was no exception. After a two month closure, the stock has had some time to rejuvenate and it’s definitely going strong.
The Tradition departed King Harbor Saturday morning at six with 31 anglers on board, headed for the cod grounds. Gunny sacks hung, squid stripped, sinkers tied on, and hooks slipped on loops, we were all ready for what we hoped would be a great day of cod fishing.
Throughout the morning we hit the mother load of grouper that put all 31 anglers at their sub-limit within a few hours. Most of these grouper were the bigger ones that we encountered last year, with a handful of behemoths coming over the rail in the five to seven pound range. They were eager to bite the fin bait and jigs, as usual, but those who were using squid strips for the reds and boscos (green spotted rockfish) were also getting some grouper here and there. When the limit on grouper was one, it was easy to get away from the grouper by just switching to squid strips. After the limit changed to two, the grouper seem to be biting squid more, which may be a sign that the limit needs to be raised again, because Bocaccio Rockfish, as they are properly called, are once again plentiful.
Stock aside, grouper fishing is really fun because a lot of times, whether you’re fishing bait or jig, they will slam it. The fight isn’t as constant as reds, but they’ll feel big coming up with their mouths open. At the end of the day, all sacks were sorted out to make sure everyone went home with two grouper.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/172-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/177-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/178-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/179-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/180-1.jpg
As we started to reach our boat limit on bocaccio, some guys switched to squid to catch some reds. They bit very well on a few drifts. Also in the mix were nice boscos (green spotted rockfish) and ridge runners (green striped rockfish). All the reds coming over were quality grade.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/170-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/171-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/174-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/176-1.jpg
After reaching our bocaccio limit we headed for a different area. This time our main target was belindas (speckled rockfish), which are like the perch of the rockfish family, requiring small hooks and thin strips of squid to catch them. They are revered by local anglers for their “sweet meat” and put up a nice little fight. These fish are located anywhere from 10 to 30 cranks off the bottom, but the rewards are worth getting your bait up in the proper zone.
In the middle of belinda fishing, my jig fishing friend Bill managed to catch a nice red on the jig, and me a nice starry on the jig.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/181-1.jpg
After a couple more hours and a few spots later, we were pretty much at our rockfish quota so we moved on to try for some lingcod. We got five legal lings last week up to around six or seven pounds and two legal lings the day before. We were hopeful to get a few, but it wasn’t in the cards this day. That’s OK for now; we have plenty of time yet to catch them before surface fishing gets with it.
Our final count of the day was 310 rockfish for 31 anglers, including our sub-limit of bocaccio, a bunch of reds, boscos, ridge runners, belindas, starries, and one nice chilipepper. I took a bunch of photos at the end of the day of some of our haul.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/182.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/183.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/185.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/186.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/187.jpg
On the way home, Morgon was back on the fillet board cleaning everyone’s fish for those who wanted to have them cleaned. Morgon does a fantastic job and is unmatched by many at the fillet board. You will disembark from the Tradition with perfectly gilled and gutted fish or fillets free of ribcage bones ready for the grill. Below he is gill and gutting a nice chilipepper rockfish and handing over another big grouper, gilled, gutted, and ready for the fryer.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/188.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/189.jpg
Jackpot went to Bryce Wooldridge of Buena Park with a nice 6.8 pound grouper (pictured with Morgon on the first picture of the report). Honorary mention goes to Justin Le of Fullerton who caught the biggest grouper and fish of the trip, a 6.13 pound grouper, but he didn’t enter the jackpot (third and fourth pictures of the report). Another honorary mention goes to Ernie Williams of Torrance, an angler who has been fishing with us for the past year, who caught his biggest fish to date in his short time fishing, a 5.6 pound grouper (fifth picture of the report).
The sea has been very good to us as it continues to give up its bounty. All we can hope for now is that Mother Nature gets her act together and some barracuda move in, which probably won’t happen until early May at the earliest, but we’ll take it happily when it happens. Until then, we still have great times, great fishing!
The Tradition departed King Harbor Saturday morning at six with 31 anglers on board, headed for the cod grounds. Gunny sacks hung, squid stripped, sinkers tied on, and hooks slipped on loops, we were all ready for what we hoped would be a great day of cod fishing.
Throughout the morning we hit the mother load of grouper that put all 31 anglers at their sub-limit within a few hours. Most of these grouper were the bigger ones that we encountered last year, with a handful of behemoths coming over the rail in the five to seven pound range. They were eager to bite the fin bait and jigs, as usual, but those who were using squid strips for the reds and boscos (green spotted rockfish) were also getting some grouper here and there. When the limit on grouper was one, it was easy to get away from the grouper by just switching to squid strips. After the limit changed to two, the grouper seem to be biting squid more, which may be a sign that the limit needs to be raised again, because Bocaccio Rockfish, as they are properly called, are once again plentiful.
Stock aside, grouper fishing is really fun because a lot of times, whether you’re fishing bait or jig, they will slam it. The fight isn’t as constant as reds, but they’ll feel big coming up with their mouths open. At the end of the day, all sacks were sorted out to make sure everyone went home with two grouper.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/172-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/177-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/178-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/179-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/180-1.jpg
As we started to reach our boat limit on bocaccio, some guys switched to squid to catch some reds. They bit very well on a few drifts. Also in the mix were nice boscos (green spotted rockfish) and ridge runners (green striped rockfish). All the reds coming over were quality grade.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/170-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/171-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/174-1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/176-1.jpg
After reaching our bocaccio limit we headed for a different area. This time our main target was belindas (speckled rockfish), which are like the perch of the rockfish family, requiring small hooks and thin strips of squid to catch them. They are revered by local anglers for their “sweet meat” and put up a nice little fight. These fish are located anywhere from 10 to 30 cranks off the bottom, but the rewards are worth getting your bait up in the proper zone.
In the middle of belinda fishing, my jig fishing friend Bill managed to catch a nice red on the jig, and me a nice starry on the jig.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/181-1.jpg
After a couple more hours and a few spots later, we were pretty much at our rockfish quota so we moved on to try for some lingcod. We got five legal lings last week up to around six or seven pounds and two legal lings the day before. We were hopeful to get a few, but it wasn’t in the cards this day. That’s OK for now; we have plenty of time yet to catch them before surface fishing gets with it.
Our final count of the day was 310 rockfish for 31 anglers, including our sub-limit of bocaccio, a bunch of reds, boscos, ridge runners, belindas, starries, and one nice chilipepper. I took a bunch of photos at the end of the day of some of our haul.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/182.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/183.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/185.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/186.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/187.jpg
On the way home, Morgon was back on the fillet board cleaning everyone’s fish for those who wanted to have them cleaned. Morgon does a fantastic job and is unmatched by many at the fillet board. You will disembark from the Tradition with perfectly gilled and gutted fish or fillets free of ribcage bones ready for the grill. Below he is gill and gutting a nice chilipepper rockfish and handing over another big grouper, gilled, gutted, and ready for the fryer.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/188.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/189.jpg
Jackpot went to Bryce Wooldridge of Buena Park with a nice 6.8 pound grouper (pictured with Morgon on the first picture of the report). Honorary mention goes to Justin Le of Fullerton who caught the biggest grouper and fish of the trip, a 6.13 pound grouper, but he didn’t enter the jackpot (third and fourth pictures of the report). Another honorary mention goes to Ernie Williams of Torrance, an angler who has been fishing with us for the past year, who caught his biggest fish to date in his short time fishing, a 5.6 pound grouper (fifth picture of the report).
The sea has been very good to us as it continues to give up its bounty. All we can hope for now is that Mother Nature gets her act together and some barracuda move in, which probably won’t happen until early May at the earliest, but we’ll take it happily when it happens. Until then, we still have great times, great fishing!