Jackpot Jimmy
05-13-2012, 07:56 PM
The water temperature in the Santa Monica Bay has been seen as warm as 64 degrees. Conditions have been improving. The Tradition’s first shot at surface action in 2011 came on May 7th. The arrival of barracuda is impending.
That’s what was on our minds as we headed out of King Harbor Saturday morning after loading up on some nice sardines at the bait receiver. As we poked our heads out of the harbor, we could see great signs of life as birds were working up ahead of us. We charged over to that area, and Captain Steven Konrady could see that while it was mainly bait, he could also see a few promising marks down deeper. He suggested that we sink our jigs down around 70 or 80 feet. Unfortunately, most of the marks consisted of hearty mackerel pushing up tiny squid, and we couldn’t get our jigs down deep enough before a mackerel would hit them.
We continued to look, heading south along the canyon, and then scanning the coastline off Hermosa and Manhattan, but we didn’t see anything else that looked promising. After a fair amount of time of searching, we headed out to the cod grounds to fill the bags.
First off we hit a spot where a few bigger bocaccio came up first thing on the drift, but they didn’t really get with it. The second area we fished, we were on the anchor, and the halfbanded rockfish ate us alive. We tried a couple of spots before we started to have a nice pick at some decent rockfish, including some more bocaccio. We eventually filled the boat limit on bocaccio and focused on getting some other rockfish.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/177-3.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/Bocaccio.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/178-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/176-2.jpg
Nice boscos, starries, and belindas were coming over the rail. A lot of people ask me, “What the heck are belindas?” A belinda’s real name is “Speckled Rockfish”, and according Jeff Spira in his book Saltwater Angler’s Guide to Southern California, speckled rockfish are “probably the most common near-shore, deep-water rockfish in the banks off the Los Angeles area.” I believe it, as I have not seen them en masse anywhere else. Local anglers, some of who affectionately call them “belinkies”, revere them as having “sweet meat”. Some of them don’t get too big, but a limit of belindas adds up. Schools of belindas are located anywhere from 10-30 cranks off the bottom, and small hooks are required as they have relatively small mouths.
A big Belinda on the right, with a respectable Starry on the left
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/179-2.jpg
Fishing was really good on belindas and other decent sized rockfish, but it slowed down after a while, and time was running out. So we made a run to a rocky area to try for some lingcod. There were a few promising bites, along with a pair of barely shorts that came up on the same drop for a lucky angler, but getting a legal or two wasn’t in the cards this day. Nice to get bit, at least, to know that there are still some down there to be caught another day.
We ended up with 260 rockfish for 26 anglers. There has still been a good pick on the rockfish along with some lingcod here and there while we are waiting for the barracuda. It’s a good idea to bring your surface rod and barracuda jigs as we could come across them any day now. Some have been caught already off Los Angeles County, and things are lining up, so stay tuned and get ready, the surface action is upon us. Until then, great times, great fishing!
In an aside, dad and I went “Fishing with Phil” on the Native Sun for some twilight bass fishing, with crew of Captain Gabriel Ceballos, Cheri in the galley, and Deck Boss Thomas Dunkerley. It was a bit windy out, which was perfect for flying a kite from a fishing rod – that was fun (seriously and sarcastically) with 200+ yards of spectra out. But the wind made conditions tough first thing, but conditions somewhat settled after the sun went down, and we were able to pick a few bass and sculpin. Things really turned on in the last hour, hour and a half, when we threw on the majority of our bass and sculpin. Some of the sculpin were pigs, and one of them ended up winning jackpot. I ended up with 4 bass and a limit of sculpin, most of which were caught in the last portion of the trip. It’s always a thrill going fishing with Phil!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/Twilight1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/Twilight2.jpg
That’s what was on our minds as we headed out of King Harbor Saturday morning after loading up on some nice sardines at the bait receiver. As we poked our heads out of the harbor, we could see great signs of life as birds were working up ahead of us. We charged over to that area, and Captain Steven Konrady could see that while it was mainly bait, he could also see a few promising marks down deeper. He suggested that we sink our jigs down around 70 or 80 feet. Unfortunately, most of the marks consisted of hearty mackerel pushing up tiny squid, and we couldn’t get our jigs down deep enough before a mackerel would hit them.
We continued to look, heading south along the canyon, and then scanning the coastline off Hermosa and Manhattan, but we didn’t see anything else that looked promising. After a fair amount of time of searching, we headed out to the cod grounds to fill the bags.
First off we hit a spot where a few bigger bocaccio came up first thing on the drift, but they didn’t really get with it. The second area we fished, we were on the anchor, and the halfbanded rockfish ate us alive. We tried a couple of spots before we started to have a nice pick at some decent rockfish, including some more bocaccio. We eventually filled the boat limit on bocaccio and focused on getting some other rockfish.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/177-3.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/Bocaccio.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/178-2.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/176-2.jpg
Nice boscos, starries, and belindas were coming over the rail. A lot of people ask me, “What the heck are belindas?” A belinda’s real name is “Speckled Rockfish”, and according Jeff Spira in his book Saltwater Angler’s Guide to Southern California, speckled rockfish are “probably the most common near-shore, deep-water rockfish in the banks off the Los Angeles area.” I believe it, as I have not seen them en masse anywhere else. Local anglers, some of who affectionately call them “belinkies”, revere them as having “sweet meat”. Some of them don’t get too big, but a limit of belindas adds up. Schools of belindas are located anywhere from 10-30 cranks off the bottom, and small hooks are required as they have relatively small mouths.
A big Belinda on the right, with a respectable Starry on the left
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/179-2.jpg
Fishing was really good on belindas and other decent sized rockfish, but it slowed down after a while, and time was running out. So we made a run to a rocky area to try for some lingcod. There were a few promising bites, along with a pair of barely shorts that came up on the same drop for a lucky angler, but getting a legal or two wasn’t in the cards this day. Nice to get bit, at least, to know that there are still some down there to be caught another day.
We ended up with 260 rockfish for 26 anglers. There has still been a good pick on the rockfish along with some lingcod here and there while we are waiting for the barracuda. It’s a good idea to bring your surface rod and barracuda jigs as we could come across them any day now. Some have been caught already off Los Angeles County, and things are lining up, so stay tuned and get ready, the surface action is upon us. Until then, great times, great fishing!
In an aside, dad and I went “Fishing with Phil” on the Native Sun for some twilight bass fishing, with crew of Captain Gabriel Ceballos, Cheri in the galley, and Deck Boss Thomas Dunkerley. It was a bit windy out, which was perfect for flying a kite from a fishing rod – that was fun (seriously and sarcastically) with 200+ yards of spectra out. But the wind made conditions tough first thing, but conditions somewhat settled after the sun went down, and we were able to pick a few bass and sculpin. Things really turned on in the last hour, hour and a half, when we threw on the majority of our bass and sculpin. Some of the sculpin were pigs, and one of them ended up winning jackpot. I ended up with 4 bass and a limit of sculpin, most of which were caught in the last portion of the trip. It’s always a thrill going fishing with Phil!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/Twilight1.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/Twilight2.jpg