It’s a Fiesta up in Morro Bay! 8/5/13

[Ifishtoolittle]

Welcome to yet another IF2L report. If you are a regular reader then you should be familiar with what you will be reading and viewing. Let’s begin.

Today my father, two of my uncles, my cousin, and I embarked on a shallow water rockfish trip out of Morro Bay on the Fiesta from Virg’s sportfishing. Overall the trip was nice considering that it was one of the boat’s “slower” days as I was told by the deckhand Sean and Abby (apologies if I messed up your name). We fished from 59’-150’ today so it was some shallow stuff! Throughout the 5 hours spent fishing we would attack each spot was for about 15 minutes and on a drift. On each drift anglers throughout the boat would hook up on a variety of species such as Gophers, Reds, Blackies, Chuckleheads, Blue Bass, Lings, Kelp Rockfish, and Johnny Bass.

On our first several stops the bite was rather slow due to lowlight conditions, but it picked up once the marine layer broke. Lol at I’m a firm believer in sunlight and a good rockfish bite. As the day progressed the bite improved with some reds making their presence and a short ling that my dad managed to nail on the swimbait. The bite was consistent throughout the day with each spot producing fish. Towards the later part of the trip I decided to pin on a clump of super thin squid strips and head in hopes of nailing a larger Black Rockfish. Unfortunately, this decision did not yield any larger rockfish for me. Instead, a foolish Ling took its last meal of its life and allowed me to seal my spot for the JP.

During the trip many snags and tangles were seen, but one snag was quite hilarious. My cousin was consistently snagging bottom with his set-up but never breaking off. On our last drift he kept griping that he had a fish hooked and it dug itself into a rock. Initially I thought he was just BSing me as this was the 7th or 8th time he snagged bottom, but to my surprise he landed a nice 2lb Black Rockfish. The trip ended with a hefty sack for the five of us, and while we didn’t get limits we did pretty well considering my dad got seasick and threw in the towel halfway.

Fish Count from Virg’s: 20 reds, 261 rockfish, 2 Lings
Me: 1 Ling, a Sand dab, 9 rockfish with Gophers, Blackies, Blue Bass, and Chucklehead mixed in. One of those rockfish were thrown back.
Cousin: 1 Red, 2 Gophers, 2 Blackies, 1 Chucklehead
Uncles: 4 rockfish for one of them, and 6 or so for the other
Dad: 1 short Ling, 4 misc. rockfish

Tackle:
As far as tackle went I was throwing a 6oz torpedo and 2 shrimp flies tipped with the smallest strips of squid that one would ever use if one were in Socal. My uncles and cousin had similar rigs while my dad was sporting a shrimp fly 6oz swimbait set-up.

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2677_zps85f6c70c.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2677_zps85f6c70c.jpg.html)

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2676_zps1e824d47.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2676_zps1e824d47.jpg.html)
Quite nice inside

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2678_zps914f61a9.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2678_zps914f61a9.jpg.html)
A cowcod from yesteryear

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2682_zps64828190.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2682_zps64828190.jpg.html)
The boat tapes out at 55’ and maxes out at 39kts. The thing is fast. Nuff’ said.

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2683_zpsc930b47e.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2683_zpsc930b47e.jpg.html)

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7771_zpsd4c4a36c.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7771_zpsd4c4a36c.jpg.html)
Money spot!

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7761_zpsa67c0ce7.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7761_zpsa67c0ce7.jpg.html)
Nice size. They’re small for CenCal, but I’m from Socal and sizable fish like this are fine with me!

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7772_zps8ee26f53.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7772_zps8ee26f53.jpg.html)
The little guy’s colorful Red

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7763_zps39962fa3.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7763_zps39962fa3.jpg.html)
Jackpot baby!

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7765_zps5cb4e764.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7765_zps5cb4e764.jpg.html)

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7770_zps9455e187.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7770_zps9455e187.jpg.html)

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2685_zpsf0035f09.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2685_zpsf0035f09.jpg.html)
Mean little dyke!

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7775_zpsfee1f65b.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7775_zpsfee1f65b.jpg.html)
My first shark! And my last fish for the trip! Honestly, the Ling fought harder lol!

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF7778_zps9cadd142.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/DSCF7778_zps9cadd142.jpg.html)
Our combined efforts

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2686_zps23755e18.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2686_zps23755e18.jpg.html)
Quality fish

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2689_zpsacad4672.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2689_zpsacad4672.jpg.html)
Lunch is cooking!

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2690_zpsce9c675a.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2690_zpsce9c675a.jpg.html)
Fine eats! The Ling is all gone now, bones and all.

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/IMG_2687_zps032b3348.jpg (http://s661.photobucket.com/user/Ifishtoolittle/media/IMG_2687_zps032b3348.jpg.html)
Got two return passes too!

Thanks for reading.

-IF2L

[DockRat]

Great report, 100 views and no replies, tough crowd.
WTG on the JP too.
DR

55' at 39 knots ? Wow
39 x 1.3 knots per mile = 50 mph.
Doesn't sound possible for a big fishing boat. I'm calling BS.

[vampirebret]

Nice! I remember the good old days of paying to fish for rock cods. Sometimes you just never know what you'll catch and other times, it's obvious. LOL

[Mr T-rex]

Nice report I remember my first outing last year doing some salt fishing. I need to get out there again soon after seeing those pictures

[fishinone]

That doesn't look like 2littlefishing to me. those guys must be spoiled, to apologize for a catch like that.

Thanks for the report.

[GhettoBasster]

Great report! Love the pics! Which one is you? Congrats on the jackpot ling too. For someone who fishes too little, you fish way more than I do.

[TUNAVIC]

That was great,love Morro Bay,you bagged a lot of good eats,really like the way you prepared that ling,did you fry it in straight oil,or what else did you do to prepare it? Thanks

Cya TunaVic

[Bobber Boy]

Nice report!

[The Fishing Queen]

Awesome report! Morro Bay is one of my families favorites. We used to go there every year and we stayed there almost all summer long. The fried fish looks delicious!

[Ifishtoolittle]

Great report, 100 views and no replies, tough crowd.
WTG on the JP too.
DR

55' at 39 knots ? Wow
39 x 1.3 knots per mile = 50 mph.
Doesn't sound possible for a big fishing boat. I'm calling BS.

Thanks DR. The crowd is rough. I think I'm usually just waiting for you to comment on my posts lol!

I'll need to get back on you on the boat's max speed. The boat had dual outboards, but I forgot the exact type and horsepower. In the pic above we were going 12kts.


Nice! I remember the good old days of paying to fish for rock cods. Sometimes you just never know what you'll catch and other times, it's obvious. LOL

Yep! I'm glad I went on this trip. I got to experience a olden feel to rockfishing and fishing of yesteryear.


Nice report I remember my first outing last year doing some salt fishing. I need to get out there again soon after seeing those pictures

The salt is fun. Once you get out there it's really hard to go back to FW.


That doesn't look like 2littlefishing to me. those guys must be spoiled, to apologize for a catch like that.

Thanks for the report.

lol. It doesn't at all. They are a bit spoiled. From what I was told they're the only landing there until you hit Monterey.


Great report! Love the pics! Which one is you? Congrats on the jackpot ling too. For someone who fishes too little, you fish way more than I do.

Thanks! In my mind I still fish too little! haha!! lol you know which one! I'm the little guy standing next the dude whose holding Ling.


That was great,love Morro Bay,you bagged a lot of good eats,really like the way you prepared that ling,did you fry it in straight oil,or what else did you do to prepare it? Thanks

Cya TunaVic

Thanks TunaVic. Honestly, I liked the Gopher the most. The meat was just so flaky and chewy at the same time. For the Ling all I did was cook it in a pot of oil, filled to about 1" of oil, salt to the fish, and that was it! Was super tasty!!!


Nice report!

Thanks!


Awesome report! Morro Bay is one of my families favorites. We used to go there every year and we stayed there almost all summer long. The fried fish looks delicious!

It's a very lovely place. The fishing, food, people, area, weather, sea life, and everything else is just awesome! My cousin thinks otherwise though! haha!!