First Report - 1/2 New del Mar on 5/12

[getinmybelly]

My first report, so don't expect too much. it'll be a far cry from a JapanRon report :D , but I'll do my best...

Wife is visiting her folks this week so I went out on the New Del Mar am trip Saturday morning. I think I heard the deckie say there were 55 anglers on board. pretty impressive since when i called to make a reservation on Thursday, the office said only 9 reservations.

My first time out on the New Del Mar. I've only been out on the Victory 3/4 day trip. So doing the half day did seem a little rushed. The capt did a good job getting us on the fish. Before i knew it, it was time to head back. Capt and crew were good, so I'll definitely go out on the NDM again if I'm looking for a quick 1/2'er.

We had cut squid and live anchovies. The first spot we stopped at, i dropped down the the bottom with an anchovy about 18" up. not more than 3 seconds from hitting the bottom, i get hit. My first Ling ever. (I've only been out 3 times, haha!). But it's just short :cry: . Anyways, I ended up catching 2 more short lings. the biggest one was about 20". oh well, live to fight another day.

I caught a bunch of small rock cod and tossed them back. i ended up keeping the biggest one and a small one. the big one was for dinner, the small one was to try deep frying to see how it would come out.

Jackpot was a big Ling with a fat belly. sorry, no pic of that.

Here's the pics...

I would have posted a pic of the carnage after dinner. but i don't want to gross anyone out. I like to eat the eyes and other odd parts of the fish.


Edit: not sure how to get the pics to show in the right order. Oh well, they're intended to be ascending order instead of descending.

[4g63power]

thanks for the report getinmybelly..don't give up on lings yet..i had to catch coutless shorts before i got my first legal ling..

[JapanRon]

Hi getinmybelly,

Nice job on the fishys. Excellent report and pics .... much appreciated. :) :)

Unfortuntely .... not many landings have fish cleaning facilities nowdays ..... besides..... I'm sure everyone's tired, wants to get home for a break, and all that!

Await your next adventure, thanks

JapanRon

[hakaveli]

nice job

[getinmybelly]

thanks for the encouragement guys! don't get me wrong, i had a fun time pulling in those "just-short" lings. those things are heavy! one day, i'll get a keeper. this was my 4th time out in the pacific and I can definitely say, i'm now hooked on saltwater.

side note: why do people stuff their sacks with fish only to leave them on the boat? if you're not going to take them home and eat or freeze them, C&R! or at least give them away to someone else on the boat that will freeze them for a future dinner. I guess C&R is mostly a freshwater mantra.

[hakaveli]

thanks for the report getinmybelly..don't give up on lings yet..i had to catch coutless shorts before i got my first legal ling..

thanks for the encouragement! don't get me wrong, i had a fun time pulling in those "just-short" lings. those things are heavy! this was my 4th time out in the pacific and I can definitely say, i'm now hooked on saltwater.

go with some of the members and it will even more fun lol

[getinmybelly]

go with some of the members and it will even more fun lol

hey, i might go again this weekend...since my wife is still with her folks. two weekends in a row! i was trying to go a few times incognito since i'm a noob. i wanted to make sure i knew what i was doing first. i don't want to be the guy on the board that everyone complains about not knowing what he's doing!

i'm still getting the occasional birds nest or tangle with the guy next to me. i'm pretty conscious about etiquette and i always feel bad if i get tangled up. though most of the reason is because...i'm still a noob...and i either don't have enough weight on or i'm not dropping it down fast enough or something!

i got tangled with this old Korean guy next to me 2-3 times on Sat. i'm not Korean, but my wife is...and i now when someone's cursing at you in Korean.

I felt bad, but i really didn't think it was all my fault. but then again, i'm the noob. so anyways, i moved over to the other side of the boat, because my fault or not, we were getting tangled. though, i spent half the day on the other side, i never got tangled on that side...and there was definitely more current later in the morning, so more potential for tangles.

at least i'm not getting tangled with someone 5-6 spots down from me. boy, the first time i went...man, did i feel bad that day.

[hakaveli]

go with some of the members and it will even more fun lol

hey, i might go again this weekend...since my wife is still with her folks. two weekends in a row! i was trying to go a few times incognito since i'm a noob. i wanted to make sure i knew what i was doing first. i don't want to be the guy on the board that everyone complains about not knowing what he's doing!

i'm still getting the occasional birds nest or tangle with the guy next to me. i'm pretty conscious about etiquette and i always feel bad if i get tangled up. though most of the reason is because...i'm still a noob...and i either don't have enough weight on or i'm not dropping it down fast enough or something!

i got tangled with this old Korean guy next to me 2-3 times on Sat. i'm not Korean, but my wife is...and i now when someone's cursing at you in Korean.

I felt bad, but i really didn't think it was all my fault. but then again, i'm the noob. so anyways, i moved over to the other side of the boat, because my fault or not, we were getting tangled. though, i spent half the day on the other side, i never got tangled on that side...and there was definitely more current later in the morning, so more potential for tangles.

at least i'm not getting tangled with someone 5-6 spots down from me. boy, the first time i went...man, did i feel bad that day.

im thinking 3/4 day this week or next week if u wanna come down with me ill be happy to give u some pointers

[v6v6v6]

side note: why do people stuff their sacks with fish only to leave them on the boat? if you're not going to take them home and eat or freeze them, C&R! or at least give them away to someone else on the boat that will freeze them for a future dinner. I guess C&R is mostly a freshwater mantra.

As far as I can tell, catch and release is NOT something that's encouraged on party boats. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I read somewhere that the capt/deckhands frown upon it because it takes away from their daily numbers. For example, in my last trip out the capt saw me attempt to return a couple small rockfish and sorta chided me by saying, "beggars can't be choosers."

But as far as leaving your fish behind, I've never heard of that before. :shock:

[getinmybelly]

As far as I can tell, catch and release is NOT something that's encouraged on party boats. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I read somewhere that the capt/deckhands frown upon it because it takes away from their daily numbers. For example, in my last trip out the capt saw me attempt to return a couple small rockfish and sorta chided me by saying, "beggars can't be choosers."

But as far as leaving your fish behind, I've never heard of that before. :shock:

I can see where the boat would want to to hang on to everything for their numbers. but there were like 3 sacks with fish in them still hung as people were deboarding. i don't know, maybe those people were re-upping for the afternoon ride and just left their sacks there for when they come back.