MDR May 19 on La Tortuga...

[clem de la clem]

went to MDR yesterday and boarded la tortuga with ten fishermen and 2 crew. left dock 52 at 6am full of anchovies and frozen squid and went straight out. ended up about 12 miles from shore under cloudy skies, water temp was 52 degrees, water was pretty calm, depth was between 200 and 300 feet. started fishing and greeted mostly with grouper, and an occasional rock cod. used a drop shot rig with an 8 or 6 oz sinker and the hook about 18" from the bottom. live anchovies were the ticket.

here is one of the first of many. spawning season has begun so there were some big bellies...


our captain drifted along the rocks for most of the day and we continued to catch more of these. here are some pictures of the catches...










saw a bunch of these yellow finches. they were either really friendly or really tired cause they would sit there and we would pet them. i hear that they are stowaways on banana boats from south america and end up at sea... "i just flew in from ecuador and boy are my wings tired..."


this was caught at the last spot of the day. probably could have caught more but it was getting late. this lingcod won the jackpot....


all in all, a fun day, no one got the :skunk: so that is always good. saw all kinds of fish including a bunch of mackeral, sculpin, lingcod, red snapper, grouper, perch and bass... got back to dock52 at 2:30.

here is the fish of the day...


keep those lines tight...

[JapanRon]

Hi clem de la clem,

Thanks for the great report and pics. Don't often hear of that boat.

300 feet ...... not for me! :lol: :lol:

JapanRon

[Hitts0n]

Fry em up !! :smash: :thumb:
Thanks for the rep0rt !

[BakoBassin]

300 feet ...... not for me! :lol: :lol:

When fishing at these depths, do you actually get a fight out of the fish...besides the lings?

[hookemdano]

Cool report. Great pics too.

Love the avatar! :thumb:

UCLA = University of Champions at Los Angeles - 100 Div. 1 National Championships and counting!

[one_leg]

Nice work Clem, loved the report.

If those finches are stowaways then they can be used as bait, right?
Wonder what you might catch with one of those?

Canary Rockfish perhaps?

One_Leg

[Troutman65]

Great report.

Thanks for the pics.

TM65

[clem de la clem]

When fishing at these depths, do you actually get a fight out of the fish...besides the lings?

Dear BakoBassin, there were times i didn't even know i had a fish. it would feel like a big boot. but there were no 'cudas or bones so went deep. good to get the line wet i guess. but some of the grouper fight as well as the ling...