Got a last minute invite from Tom to go out in his boat. I quickly said yes. Our plan was to stock up on bait (bonito and macks) and then hop around from spot to spot looking for yellowtail, halibut, and lings.
Tom with only half of his coffee consumed.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/36957478056_41bfcb8f18_c.jpg)
We caught 2 bonito and 2 mackerel. We were hoping for more, but oh well. The rest of the day we cruised around fishing structure whenever we saw it on the sonar. Other boats weren't finding yellowtails either, so we weren't missing out on much.
Calico rockfish
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/37146506575_12c846570b_c.jpg)
Kelp rockfish (#472)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/36957477386_09bee999db_c.jpg)
Halibut (small, but a couple inches PR over my tiny one from the surf last year)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/36749687650_63f8b19920_c.jpg)
Gopher rockfish (#473)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/36957475696_013a26c701_c.jpg)
Olive rockfish aka Johnny Bass (#474)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/37146503055_737bf8db22_c.jpg)
Brown rockfish (#475)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4370/36957475176_f219e61981_c.jpg)
We hooked into a couple bigger fish that either came unhooked or broke the line in the rocks. Probably lingcod, but we'll never know.
I used the fresh bonito as bait later in the evening, and this is how I did:
http://prehistoricsoul.com/forum/index.php?topic=2569.msg20278#msg20278
Thanks for a great day out on the water Tom! Only 25 species to go to hit 500!
Sounds fun!
I need to try boat fishing one of these days!
Glad you could knock some more lifers off your list. Bummer the wind never let down one bit all morning.