CrownTown
08-23-2012, 11:58 PM
Took my girlfriend surf fishing today. Figured I would put her on some perch and she'd have a blast. She used a tiny ice fishing rod with 4# test. I had finish rigging up my pole I go check on how she is doing and she tells me "there are fish everywhere!". I thought she was seeing some perch in the waves, then all of a sudden I see several tails swooshing around as a wave recedes. I remembered seeing people snagging a bunch of spot fin croaker off the pier (pissed me off), and knew that was what was splashing around.
After trying a few different techniques, we finally found one that worked (the fish seemed to spook easily). Ended up landing a few, and lost several due to having light gear. Some of those croaker are TOADS in the surf, and started peeling line to the point we had to try tightening our drags if we wanted a shot at landing them. But of course this lead to the dreaded SNAP! -______- Still, crazy fun on that tiny rod and light line.
My questions is are spot fin good to eat, and more importantly are they safe to eat? I know that white croaker and yellow fin are usually contaminated, but I'm not sure about spot fin. Also, is there a size limit on them?
Here's some pics of biggest one we landed, but definitely not the biggest we hooked. Still kicking myself for not bringing 6-8 lb test... All fish safely released.
PM me if you want a general location or techniques used.
3693236931
After trying a few different techniques, we finally found one that worked (the fish seemed to spook easily). Ended up landing a few, and lost several due to having light gear. Some of those croaker are TOADS in the surf, and started peeling line to the point we had to try tightening our drags if we wanted a shot at landing them. But of course this lead to the dreaded SNAP! -______- Still, crazy fun on that tiny rod and light line.
My questions is are spot fin good to eat, and more importantly are they safe to eat? I know that white croaker and yellow fin are usually contaminated, but I'm not sure about spot fin. Also, is there a size limit on them?
Here's some pics of biggest one we landed, but definitely not the biggest we hooked. Still kicking myself for not bringing 6-8 lb test... All fish safely released.
PM me if you want a general location or techniques used.
3693236931