42" OPAH, EXOTIC FISH found in the Surf NORTH OF LA

[Perchin' Dave]

Friday night both Dawn Treader & Perchin' Dave set out to find the big Barred Surf Perch to end our day. The smeg was as bad as it gets and as hard as we tried, we only found a few dinks each and got tired of each and every single cast clog up with every kind of seaweed.

To our surprise, we found this Opah that measured at least 42" long and 34" tall. We were both stunned to see such a beauty, neither of us had ever seen such an exotic fish from the surf. Wow! Now we were going to spoof Wingnut :Rolls Eyes: and say that we caught it on 8' test, but the fish had to be over 100 pounds and even Arthur would not have believed this to be true. It just washed up on the beach and have no clue how it got here.

But each of us deserves to see such a beauty so we wanted you to see what we did and I am therefore posting for the benefit of the Fishing Network community.

Here's a youtube video I took so you can see it up close and reference its size. WOW! >> CLICK HERE >>> http://youtu.be/lB3BInlXLZw

Enjoy this big one, as we did. Oh the wonder of it all!

Perchin' Dave

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/davesomm/Opah_zps3a706ade.jpg (http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/davesomm/media/Opah_zps3a706ade.jpg.html)



http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/davesomm/IMG_6371_zpsa43d2f1d.jpg (http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/davesomm/media/IMG_6371_zpsa43d2f1d.jpg.html)

FOR THE VIDEO OF THE FISH CLICK HERE >>> http://youtu.be/lB3BInlXLZw

[tamddo714]

Hunting Giants for reals

[Jig-Guy]

What a beautiful fish. I wonder what did the fish in? Thanks for the report and pictures, COOL. Wingnut & Wingnut pug would have known your rigs were a little light for this fish.

[bachiboy]

Wow!:Shocked: that thing looks pretty fresh too although they hold their color very well even after they die unlike dorado. Pretty cool that you guys got to see one. Not many people do.

To really get Arthur, you shoulda stuck a hook in its mouth and made it look like you were dragging it up outta the surf. Wonder how he woulda scored that for our contest?:Wink:
Don

[dkinla]

Never seen one. The color on those fins are amazing...

[Which Way Out]

Hey Exfactor your Avatar has been found.

WWO

[dlmoo312]

What an amazing find! Thanks for sharing.


-Daniel

[bloox8]

WOAHH! Thats pretty random to come across a beautiful fish like that

Thien

[murrieta angler]

I wonder what's up with the Opah!?
I saw this one, last weekend, down in San Onofre, and it was still alive when the guy found it.

http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae255/gudgersfishing/IMG_20130902_102056_zpsc9d3937a.jpg (http://s977.photobucket.com/user/gudgersfishing/media/IMG_20130902_102056_zpsc9d3937a.jpg.html)

Robert
<><

[cutbait]

They are supposedly delicious

[TUNAVIC]

Wow that truly is quite a find,thanks for sharing.

Cya TunaVic

[tamddo714]

i like to fry my opah whole

[Tin Pangas]

I don't know about the one that Murietta angler found but that one you came across had such clear eyes and fresh mucous membrane on skin and fins and with such color that you could have/should have taken it and filleted it. such a waste if you didn't. If it was dead, it wasn't dead long.

[Perchin' Dave]

Hunting Giants for reals

YES, Literally, the giants! Here's a youtube video that I took with close ups. dave http://youtu.be/lB3BInlXLZw

[keepemlo]

YES, Literally, the giants! Here's a youtube video that I took with close ups. dave http://youtu.be/lB3BInlXLZw

Yeah dave its sad to think that something in our water is makeing it hard for them to survive,,wow he looked so cool, maybe he died from old age

[Perchin' Dave]

Hunting Giants for reals
For REAL Tamdoo 714!!!

[Perchin' Dave]

Yes @Jig Guy, he would have known in a second, but it would have been fun anyway! dave

[Perchin' Dave]

Wow!:Shocked: that thing looks pretty fresh too although they hold their color very well even after they die unlike dorado. Pretty cool that you guys got to see one. Not many people do.

To really get Arthur, you shoulda stuck a hook in its mouth and made it look like you were dragging it up outta the surf. Wonder how he woulda scored that for our contest?:Wink:
Don

Hey Don, I was tempted to put a -grub- in it's mouth, ha, that would've been funny. Hey thanks!! dave

[Perchin' Dave]

I wonder what's up with the Opah!?
I saw this one, last weekend, down in San Onofre, and it was still alive when the guy found it.

http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae255/gudgersfishing/IMG_20130902_102056_zpsc9d3937a.jpg (http://s977.photobucket.com/user/gudgersfishing/media/IMG_20130902_102056_zpsc9d3937a.jpg.html)

Robert
<><

Hey @Robert, what size was that Opah? It looks quite a bit smaller than the one we saw but am not sure. dave :)

[DockRat]

That is waaaay cool. Thanks for the post.
DR

[murrieta angler]

Hey @Robert, what size was that Opah? It looks quite a bit smaller than the one we saw but am not sure. dave :)

It looked around 36" long.
That's a 48" skateboard it's sitting on.
Robert
<><

[fishsouthcounty]

What a beautiful fish. I wonder what did the fish in? Thanks for the report and pictures, COOL. Wingnut & Wingnut pug would have known your rigs were a little light for this fish.


my guess would be that nice little penetration hole from a spear or a slipped gaff behind the pectoral.

[Fishingdachronarch201E7]

what a beauty, awesome colors!!!

thanks for sharing

Tony G
fishingdachronarch201e7

[Sonnyyy]

Oh my !!!!!!!! What a catch!!

[skunked4life]

What a rare find! Thanks for taking the time to take such beautiful pictures and sharing! I really like your idea of duping the commander though. Imagine catching one of those on a grub!

[Wingnut]

That is so cool Dave, you and Brad stumbled onto something rare that's foe sure! :Shocked:
Depending on how fresh it is, I would probably be tempted to fillet it right there... :Envious:
Never had Opah, but I heard they are delicious!
See you guys in a couple of weeks! :Big Grin:

[Perchin' Dave]

What a rare find! Thanks for taking the time to take such beautiful pictures and sharing! I really like your idea of duping the commander though. Imagine catching one of those on a grub!

Yup, that would have been "unbelievable" Hey thanks Skunked4life! Ha!

[Perchin' Dave]

That is so cool Dave, you and Brad stumbled onto something rare that's foe sure! :Shocked:
Depending on how fresh it is, I would probably be tempted to fillet it right there... :Envious:
Never had Opah, but I heard they are delicious!
See you guys in a couple of weeks! :Big Grin:



Hindsight is always 100%. Mikey went down with his fillet knife. I 'may' have seen what was left in the surf today while out fishing Tuesday afternoon 9/10/13 dave :)

[bbqsushi]

Wow! That... is.... CRAZY!!! And yah, of greater concern, I wonder what's going on with those fish. They're really beautiful, and I've had Opah prepared a couple of different ways, and its SUPER good-eat'n!! Although, if they washed up because they were sick, I'd be afraid to cook it up. Great post!! I love when people find interesting things in the surf!

Nate

[Perchin' Dave]

Wow! That... is.... CRAZY!!! And yah, of greater concern, I wonder what's going on with those fish. They're really beautiful, and I've had Opah prepared a couple of different ways, and its SUPER good-eat'n!! Although, if they washed up because they were sick, I'd be afraid to cook it up. Great post!! I love when people find interesting things in the surf!

Nate

Yeah Nate, that is crazy. I've never seen one of these before, have you? Yes, it is -definitely- interesting. So glad for the iPhone. dave :)

[Wingnut]

Hey Dave, maybe Mikey will smoke us up some Opah at HG5. :Envious:

[casting call]

I remember as a kid, my dad went on a trip to Farallon Island and came home with an Opah, he brought it home whole. It was pretty cool.