I have been content
with jumping into the
skiff, running 5 minutes,
and catching cobia. There
are a tremendous number
of small cobia in the bay
with enough larger fish
around to keep things
interesting. But, some of
the guys wanted a change
of pace and to do the offshore
bottom fishing
thing. So, offshore we ran
yesterday.
It was ridiculously
calm and the Healthy
Grin still remembered her
way out there. The radio
chatter through the day
indicated a very slow tuna
bite with the best of it
being around the
Washington Canyon.
Near the Norfolk Canyon,
dolphin fishing was good
and a good number of
both white and blue marlin
were caught.
Bottom fishing
was good. We caught 20
intact golden tilefish. We
had others sharked. There
was a mako that hung out
behind the boat for a
while. It wasn't big
enough to keep so we did
not try to catch it. Our
largest golden that we
almost caught was taken
by a hammerhead. We did
catch the hammerhead as
it left us no choice.
Some of the guys
had never caught blackbelly
rosefish. I said we
can catch as many of those
as you want to crank. An
argument against electric reels ... conservation.
Hand-cranking these
creatures greatly limits
how many times you
want to drop that bait
down there. They got
tired of that rather quickly.
Every drop resulted in
every hook catching a
rosefish. Stan Simmerman
caught 2 on a single hook.
Without really
fishing for them, we
ended up with a limit of
blueline tilefish. We also
caught a snowy grouper
and a wreckfish.
While fishing for
goldens, Johnny Boyd set
the hook on one and lost
hold of his new deep-drop
rod. The water was
very clear and we got to
watch that fishing pole
sink for a long time.
Johnny was trying to figure
out how he was going
to explain to his wife why
he had to buy a whole
new set up when a few
drifts later, Johnny catches
a golden tilefish on his
old backup rod. Also
hooked was some fishing
line. He had managed to
find his rod 700 feet down
on the bottom. We were
able to hand line it up and
got his whole set-up back
including the fancy lights
he had on his bottom rig
(fish was no longer on it),
making this the best catch
of the day.
