[soonerborn]

So while I am out here in Cali I took advantage and went out on a charter boat. I was skeptical at first as I had never been on one with so many people and had never bottom fished in the ocean. Overall I was surprised by it being as enjoyable as it was. We wound up with 21 fish. There is a limit of 10 bottom fish each plus additional fish for certain types. We only caught one of the bonus fish that counts as in addition to the 10 fish limit. A 10 lb Lingcod. Cooked that bad boy up on the grill last night with butter, garlic and basil. He was very tasty for such an ugly fish. The rest were mostly rock cod and a few bass of some variety. I would have had more fun had I known exactly what type of tackle to bring, we just rented some rods from them and they were way to big for what was actually needed. A good stiff rod with a large baitcasting reel with 20lb line would have been ideal and added some fun fighting. Stuck with the oversize ocean reels and rods with 100 lb test the fish really didnt have much chance to fight as I could just hoss them up. Setting the drag down low and trying to fight them felt lame with such a big set up. Kind of like fighting a bluegill with a striper setup. lol. The lingcod did manage to put up a fair fight though. what an ugly fish. I will try to post some pics when I get them but here is a good pic of a lingcod if you havent seen one. They got some serious teeth on em.



I took this little trip out of Morro Bay area (Central CA) and after living in HI for 5 years and fishing there alot I gotta give the trip a 2 thumbs down compared to it. I mean in HI we just pulled a few miles of the coast to a FAD and tossed jigs on light tackle and caught 10 - 20 lb skipjacks, bluefins and mahi-mahi all day long. Then you could take one and bait it and troll around with it and catch a 500 - 600 lb blue marlin with a little luck. I think the biggest blue marlin taken out there was over 2000lb. Talk about a fight, i never caught one that big and after fighting a few a quarter that size I dont know if I ever want to. Nothing beats a fresh grilled mahi-mahi or ahi steak. Catching a wahoo was even tougher, those things are lightning fast as they can travel over 60mph. The drag has to be SMOOOOTH with a ton of line to even have a chance at turning one. They strip an amazing amount of line very quickly.

[SwedeSteve]

Sounds as if you had a good time. It must be tough to enjoy good fishing after leaving HI. I go down to family in WA and enjoy some fishing there, but it all seems so-so after fishing here for so long !!

[Oxford]

Must have been an exciting day...catching those larger fish. I've never ocean fished; mostly done lake and river/creek fishing.

I'm guessing you filleted the lingcod. Is that correct? Makes my mouth water just thinking about eating a bite of that fish.

[soonerborn]

Quote:       Originally Posted by SwedeSteve

Sounds as if you had a good time. It must be tough to enjoy good fishing after leaving HI. I go down to family in WA and enjoy some fishing there, but it all seems so-so after fishing here for so long !!

Ah, well, hybrid and striper fishing in OK and TX are awesome but all in all yes, any type of fishing after a place like HI where the fish are so plentiful and large. The stripers and hybrids fight very well but nothing like a big billfish or wahoo does.

Quote:       Originally Posted by Oxford

Must have been an exciting day...catching those larger fish. I've never ocean fished; mostly done lake and river/creek fishing. I'm guessing you filleted the lingcod. Is that correct? Makes my mouth water just thinking about eating a bite of that fish.

Oh yes, I started to just take them home as the guide was charging for cleaning but I decided since I was unfamiliar with the fish just to pay him and see what he did. Good thing I did. I have never seen a fish filleted like he did that lingcod. The rocks he did normal but its hard to describe how he did the lingcod because it has a messed up ribcage. It was probably one of the whitest meat fish I have ever seen, when cooked it made anything else white look off-white. I cant say its the best because I have a definite love for mahi-mahi and bluefin tuna, but it was really really good. I am sure that its probably more plentiful up in AK but here it is a tightly regulated fish and the price people were willing to pay for it showed. I have never been offered money for a fish but when we got off a few guys were loitering at the end of the pier wanting to buy any lingcods caught. Only 2 of the 6 or so people catching them did keep them. The guide has a running program that if you catch a legal lingcod and release it they will give you a free trip equal to what you paid for. I kept mine as I didnt plan on being around to use it and I just had to taste any fish that had that kind of offer.

[tippmann7]

sounds like it was a great time, iv always wanted to go deep sea fishing but havent had the oportunity yet.

[mosquitofish]

nice ling cod, did you notice the filets have the same color of the skin until you cook it. yellow green or blue. weird ??/