Tradition Wide Open Sculpin and More 4/3/10
With the good sculpin fishing yesterday and another shot at some lingcod, I was eager to head back out on the Tradition today. With about 18 anglers, we rolled off the dock at 6am with crew of Captain Steven Konrady, Morgon and Bobby on deck, and Derrick on galley duties. First order of business would be to head north to load up on some quality sculpin, and then bounce around for some rockfish and maybe a lingcod or two. En route to the first spot, Morgon collected jackpot, while Derrick whipped up some really great breakfasts as usual. I was sure to check NOAA before the trip, and while the wind wouldn’t be terrible, there would be a pretty stiff breeze all day, with a pretty good swell.
We arrived at the sculpin spot, and started picking away at them. We caught a few, but the wind against swell had different plans for our initial positioning, and we swung off the spot, but not before something unusual found us – a fin whale calf. Keep in mind that fin whales are the second largest of the whales (behind blue whales), so while the thing was pretty big, it was definitely small for fin whales, and we guessed it to be a couple months old, maybe younger. I guess it took the boat to be its mother, and actually came up less than five feet from the boat, and on one occasion, it actually put its nose on the guard rail. It stayed by us for the rest of our stay on the spot, and we never saw it again.
Anyways, Steven reset the boat, and we continued to slay the sculpin. They seemed less eager to eat the sardine than yesterday, so I switched over to a mogambo with a sardine slab, and it was instantaneous on the fat sculpin. After a while, we filled our quota yet again on the “spicy red drums”, so we moved on in search for rockfish and the elusive lingcod.
We moved out deeper and tried a few drifts, but the rockfish definitely had lockjaw. Steven metered around a few spots, but after he didn’t like what he saw, we moved further inside. We put the hook down on a rocky area, but no lings were home. A little disappointed, we moved further south towards Redondo to see if we could get an afternoon bite.
I had been fishing a dropper loop or a jig all day, with no luck. I then rigged up a double dropper loop rig with a 12 ounce torpedo sinker on the bottom. The current had picked up, and that made for a really fast drift. While some guys were getting some nice rockfish, I got stuck on the bottom not once but twice, loosing two 12 ounce torpedos. I then switched over to my reverse dropper loop rig for lingcod, getting scratched by a few smaller rockfish, but nothing that would take the whole bait. Meanwhile, there were a couple reds and chuckleheads on board. With the steadily-increasing wind and time running out, Steven turned the boat towards Redondo, and we headed for the barn.
While the rockfish and lings had a bit of lockjaw, the sculpin and the looming fin whale made the day fun and exciting. However, I see a bit of a windy spring, but I hope it doesn’t last. Jackpot went to Tradition regular Tom with a nice chucklehead. It was nice to fish with “Really Drunk” and his friends, and meeting another person I know from being on the boards. I’m hoping the weather improves by next weekend, but we shall wait and see. Great times, great fishing!
The Looming Fin Whale (Look Closely on a Few Pictures)
Tom with a Nice Chucklehead
Filleting the Catch
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Originally Posted by stew
