Tradition Great SMB Codding 4/22/12

[Jackpot Jimmy]

Last week those living throughout inland areas and up in the valleys were given an early preview of summer. As residents in those areas dealt with the heat, the Tradition was out in the cool while the Santa Monica Bay continued to give up its bounty, both in quality and quantity. Reds up to behemoth proportions and decent local lings encompassed the highlights of the fishing week, and the good fishing was to continue into the weekend.

The Tradition left King Harbor shortly after 6am Sunday morning, with 27 eager anglers on board. All rigged up in preparation for a day on the cod grounds, hoping they would produce for them this day. Saturday’s fishing held a pick to begin with, but fishing got good towards the end of the day for a final count of just over 300 rockfish for 40 anglers. We just needed to be over a good hard bottom or a good rockpile, which Captain Steven Konrady would look hard to find.

After a 40 minute run, we arrived at our first spot and started a drift. My choice of rig to start out was a double dropper loop with two shrimp flies and a pound of weight. The latter was to ensure getting to the bottom first, and hopefully getting to the fish first. This yielded the desired result almost immediately, as a two pound red latched onto my lower squid-tipped shrimp fly, bouncing and rattling as it came up from the depths. To my right my dad was tied into a big starry-eye rockfish – not huge but very good size for the species. The next few drops produced a lot of boscos and introduced some big barber poles, which are always nice to see.

We drifted through this area a handful of times throughout the early part of the morning. For those that dropped sardines down on their dropper loops, decent bocaccio latched on for some added excitement. Around 9 or 10am, the boat had a nice haul of reds, bocaccio, boscos, chuckleheads, belindas, barber poles, and starries. However, things were slowing down in this area, so we moved on to a new area to find a patch of hungry rockfish.

Good Sized Bocaccio


Big Barber Pole and Decent Chucklehead


Nice Speckled Rockfish (Belinda)


When we arrived in the new area, we found the current to be relatively strong, and even a pound could not hold bottom for very long. The anchor was put down not too long after this discovery. That proved to be a good choice on Captain Konrady’s part as the boscos, barber poles, and starries responded instantly. Fishing was wide open for a while on decent sized rockfish. Even some big sculpin came over the rail. Others continued fishing their double dropper loops for great results, but I, seeing that we were anchored, decided to break out my bass rod and rig it up with a 3/0 circle hook and a six ounce torpedo. The super free spool on my Curado DHSV coupled with the 10 pound test line allows me to get away with lighter than usual weight. I was pinning a big, single squid head onto the circle hook, and my first drop yielded a nice, fat starry. A handful more boscos and a sculpin came up on this rig before the spot slowed down, and we pulled anchor and looked around in the area.

Barber Pole and Big Sculpin


The current had slowed down some so we set up on another drift, yielding some more fat boscos. After about the third drift things started to slow down again, so we metered over another spot and dropped the hook. This spot held what the other spots held as we slowly rounded out our rockfish quota for the boat. I decided to try the jig at this spot as it was a little more rocky than the other spots – maybe it would produce a ling or some more bocaccio that were eager to jump the jig. First drop yielded a baby lingcod, and then the bocaccio started hitting the jig. It was an instant bite as soon as it hit the bottom, and these fish, once they latch on, put on a great fight to begin with. Somewhere in the middle I got bit on the way down and a little chilipepper came up, which, in my opinion, trump reds in table fare, but are far rarer than reds.

We had reached our boat limits on rockfish and we headed for the barn as we had a lot of fish to clean. Jackpot went to angler John Kim (pictured in first photo above) with a big bocaccio. Our final count was 270 rockfish, 33 sculpin, and 135 sand dabs for 27 anglers. Besides the great rockfishing, the most promising sight of the day was to see terns out on the water, which is a sign that barracuda season may be upon us. We’ll keep a sharp look out for them and hopefully it won’t be long. Until then, great times, great fishing!

[Which Way Out]

Hey Jimmy,, Thanks for sharing the ride, never seen a Barber Pole fish. Pretty cool looking.

Tight lines buddy
WWO

[Tunaslam]

Another great trip Jimmy, way to go!

Hook up!
Cory

[JapanRon]

Hi Jackpot Jimmy,

Wow ! Now there's a bunch of fish tacos !! I see near $75 in cleaning fees for the deckhand in those two piles alone !!! ;)

thanks,

JapanRon

[lingcod sierra]

Great report and pictures Jimmy.

[apcrew45]

That Barber Pole is so wide!