HIkayakguy
05-19-2014, 07:54 AM
Took the kayak out to Goleta on Sunday. I was hesitant because it looks a little windy, but my buddy was itching to fish so we went out anyways. Paddled out to a nice kelp patch and tied off. Didn't end up as bad as it looked from shore, and actually calmed down a bit in the middle of the day.
Started fishing squid strips on a little rock pile and picking of some small/med rockfish. Saw a nice bait school move underneath us and pulled out the sabiki. Ended up hooking 4 medium size mackerel, and was really excited about it. Immediately dropped one down, nose hooked, on a dropper loop. I could feel him wiggling a whole lot which is always a good sign. Something started to pull, so I waited a few seconds and went to set hook. There was tension for a second but then off. Pulled the mack up and his guts we're hanging out the middle, with teeth marks all the way down his tail.
I knew something was down there, so I grabbed another lively mac and sent him down. Same thing again, pull then off. Teeth marks half way down the mac. I grabbed my 3rd mac and this time decided to put the second dropper loop hook (since we were set up for rockfish) and put the hook in the tail. Pretty unconventional way to fish live bait on a dropper loop but I needed a hook in the tail. This one was down maybe 2 minutes, and was wiggling like crazy. It didn't feel like anything pulling so I decided to reel up and give a good yank just in case. To my surprise, hanapa'a (fish on)! He must have gone for the mac and sat back down on the rocks. It was a short fight since I had 50lb braid with 20lb mono leader. The second I saw the big brown head I knew it was a ling. Grabbed him with the lip grabber, and put him on the stringer asap. Turns out the tail hook I put in was a good idea, as that was what hooked him, in the throat.
Super stoked on my first ever ling, 24". Not huge but still a nice ziploc full of meat.
http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r796/maverickcarey/image_3_zpsbbbe053b.jpeg
Started fishing squid strips on a little rock pile and picking of some small/med rockfish. Saw a nice bait school move underneath us and pulled out the sabiki. Ended up hooking 4 medium size mackerel, and was really excited about it. Immediately dropped one down, nose hooked, on a dropper loop. I could feel him wiggling a whole lot which is always a good sign. Something started to pull, so I waited a few seconds and went to set hook. There was tension for a second but then off. Pulled the mack up and his guts we're hanging out the middle, with teeth marks all the way down his tail.
I knew something was down there, so I grabbed another lively mac and sent him down. Same thing again, pull then off. Teeth marks half way down the mac. I grabbed my 3rd mac and this time decided to put the second dropper loop hook (since we were set up for rockfish) and put the hook in the tail. Pretty unconventional way to fish live bait on a dropper loop but I needed a hook in the tail. This one was down maybe 2 minutes, and was wiggling like crazy. It didn't feel like anything pulling so I decided to reel up and give a good yank just in case. To my surprise, hanapa'a (fish on)! He must have gone for the mac and sat back down on the rocks. It was a short fight since I had 50lb braid with 20lb mono leader. The second I saw the big brown head I knew it was a ling. Grabbed him with the lip grabber, and put him on the stringer asap. Turns out the tail hook I put in was a good idea, as that was what hooked him, in the throat.
Super stoked on my first ever ling, 24". Not huge but still a nice ziploc full of meat.
http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r796/maverickcarey/image_3_zpsbbbe053b.jpeg