Posted by Eagle Eye on August 12, 2002 at 05:07:03:
In Reply to: SUNDAY LEO REPORT=Rockfish Smackdown, Halibut, and Giant Black Sea Bass posted by jas on August 11, 2002 at 18:51:00:
I’ve just got to catch one of them brutes some day soon. Can’t wait to see the pictures.
John
Launched early am w/ Tommy aka Ocean Hunter. Went right out to some lone kelp stringers and started our rockfish smackdown. Mostly Olives but a bunch of other Purples and some Red Vermilion. After about 20 fish we made a move to the bigger reef action. Once again Rockfish smackdown. I started nailing Reds w/ the Scampi. A few Olive hit it, but the Reds were favoring the 1/2oz Redhead/Rootbeer Scampi.
: No fog in sight, but the wind really started to howl. The wind swells were coming in big and fast. I hadn't seen wind rollers that big for a while.
: Once in a while you would drift off the reef and hook up a Sand dab. I started to eat my lunch while I was drifting. I could smell flattie country. I hooked up w/ a plump legal; much thicker than the last one I caught.
: After a few more rockfish, a couple of sand bass, we decided to tie off to the kelp just around Nic. Cyn. The water was getting dirty from all of the wind. I was casting a scampi along the kelp line, twitching and bouncing it on the bottom in about 35 ft. After about 3 casts I hooked up...............YAHOOO!!!!!!!He's on and it's a big boy. I was getting towed, stirring him away from the next batch of kelp. He was actually towing my into about a 20knot wind, not to mention the fast moving current. It didn't feel like a ray and seemed much too big to be a Dogfish. We got wrapped a few times in the kelp. Tommy came over after about 30 minutes to see what the big deal was. I had a Heavy California Calico Bass Rod w/ and Abu 5600 strung w/ 120 yards of 15lb Stren. After about a 45-60 minute battle I was able to finally get the beast to the surface. NICE Black Seabass! Beautiful fish. Caught on a Rootbeer Scampi in less than 40ft of water. We guessed somewhere between 80-100lbs. I've caught and weight 50lb WSBs. This was a good measure larger for sure. Took some pictures and release it. What a battle through the kelp. Probably will go down as my best fight. I should have lost it in the kelp at least 5 times.
: Soon as I get the photos developed I'll submit a journal. What an awesome day.
: Tommy did great w/ the rockfish as well. I don't know his number, but here were mine:
: Olive Rockfish 15+
: Assorted Rockfish 8
: Red Verm Rockfish 4
: Sand dabs 3
: Sand Bass 2
: Legal Halibut 1
: Black Sea Bass 1
: I kept a few Olives, one Red, one Sand bass and the Halibut.
: Watch out for the wind. I don't know what the weather report is forcasting tomorrow, but they seemed a bit off for today. Lot more wind than forcasted.
: jas-
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