Go ahead and vote!  I set it up for a maximum of 6 votes, so chose some or all!  We all need new fishing tackle!

I wanted a Shimano Tranx 500 for the longest time for most of "Big Lure" fishing.  I love level-wind lure fishing "lefty" so I can work a lure rather than just reel and let the lure try to do the work.  Only problem is I don't want to shell out $550+ for a baitcaster.

Daiwa came out with their own 500 for over a big bill less and I was ready to pull the trigger before my group was phased out of employment.  I've been very frugal with money since but have been thinking about the reel all the time and how nice it would pair up with my custom wrapped Rainshadow rod.

Well, I pulled the trigger and when it arrived, told my wife it was just another Christmas present, and I got the shopping done and out of the way early.  I didn't reveal that I bought "myself" a present.  lol

I spooled it up with 80# braid and can't wait to get out and use it!  The 500 holds 200 yards of 80# braid which should be sufficient for most fish except maybe a triple digit BFT.  lol

Killing it on the bugs!

Cool trip! Been a minute since the last rockfish trip for you. 7gill from 600' sounds like a lot of work but very cool. Big bonito sighting also interesting.

Quote from: sasquatch on December 02, 2025, 09:53:53 PM

Quote from: Latimeria on December 02, 2025, 06:01:35 PMMan, those big squid look like perfect Sword baits... I'm even wondering if they would work well on the kite?

Great price for market squid too!

Alright Jeremy, now it's time to catch some trout!  (Kogahead loves handling his brown trout)

I thought koga liked trouser trout best

To be fair, his brown trout do end up in his trousers most of the time.

Quote from: Latimeria on December 02, 2025, 06:01:35 PMMan, those big squid look like perfect Sword baits... I'm even wondering if they would work well on the kite?

Great price for market squid too!

Alright Jeremy, now it's time to catch some trout!  (Kogahead loves handling his brown trout)

I thought koga liked trouser trout best

Well, it looked like it was supposed to be perfect weather out there and I have a really busy week with interviews and doctors' appointments, so I was turning and burning on the boat!  This time my plan was to deep drop.  I heard about the big bonito and yellowtail, but I wanted some "sure thing" fishing and opted as such.

The weather was freezing in the morning and it was crystal clear out.  I had to dodge the "Choomahs" on the way out (My new name for the Strokers), but that's how it usually goes launching back there.



It was glassy as hell and I cruised at 37 mph the entire way.  I actually stopped to see if the yellows were home, but got out of there when I didn't meter anything including bait.

First stop had life on the meter, but no instant hits.  It was actually tough to get bit but I started off with a chuckle who refused to blow out it's eyesballs and stuck him in the livewell.



I move deeper and next drop catch a bigger Chucklehead that blew its eyeballs out so I was one over the limit already.  Thankfully I didn't even need to descend the one in the livewell as he swam back down hard and strong.

My spots used to be money and a guarantee, but the last 4 or 5 times out here and it's been a hard pick at best!  Ugh...

I kept working my way deeper and picked up one here and there.  I caught some huge Starries...



And also some big Green Blotched or Green Spotted depending on the gills (I'll check it tomorrow).



There were a TON of birds working anchovie schools, but only had dolphin and birds.  I didn't see a single gamefish, but that didn't stop me from slinging the jig for a few dozen casts just in case.



I get a huge hit and know this one is different!  It was ripping drag back down everytime I gained line!  I thought it might have been a big red, but as I got it up 3/4 of the way realized it was dogging me still and felt like a nice lingcod!  But of course, on one big bounce by him and off he went.  I got to watch him swim all the way down on the fish finder... Damnit... but still a fun fight.

I worked out to 1000 feet of water and deployed the electric reel... for nothing.  I spent quite a bit of time trying and out of the blue watched a school of BIG bonito slowly cruise under the boat!  I dropped my jig right over them and I watched them swim around it..  I made so many casts into them and even tried squid, but they just weren't feeding.  Oh well...

I finally decided to start metering around the 600' mark and caught this surprise Sculpin!



Along with some big Green Spotted and this BIG starry!



I really wanted something big and even deployed some huge baits on the electric reel in a left field hope for something big or weird.  In the meantime, I dropped my small line counter rod with the 300 gram jig/squid. 
600+ feet on this little rod is quite the effort.



I get a good bite, but it feels like some of the bigger sand dabs I caught earlier.  I get it about 5 or 6 feet off the bottom when the rod almost gets yanked out of my hands!  My initial thought was a big ling hit my rockfish.... but the braided line doesn't lie and I could feel a tail slapping into the line!



It was heavy and really put this rod to it's limits on drag and even my shoulder since it's an old school 7' Teramar that's pretty stiff with about 4" of tip that broke off a decade ago.

I was pretty sure at this point it was a Thresher since I've heard of them taking rockfish before and never caught a shark at 600+ feet deep before.  I was pretty shot at this point, but say the big tail and big wake!



I got as many pictures as I could since I didn't know when my line was going to break.  Wow, definitely a 7-gill shark!







It was pretty big and I'm guessing 7.5' but all I could think about at this point was how to get the jig back and not get bit or get a hook in my hand at this point.



Well, he slapped his tail against the line again and this time it gave way.  Oh well, lost jig, but I have my hand and all of my fingers.

I decided that was the last fish and headed in at almost 40 MPH!!!  I tried racing the hovercraft but he dusted me.



I get back into the inlet and realize that these boys didn't have Vessel Assist or Sea Tow so called the life guards.



Needless to say, it was a great morning out there.  I got it done with some quality, but it was a tough go at some points.  Rockfishing supposed to be easy!  LOL



Thanks for reading and until next tide!

That's a good price for Squid 

Nice Haul, time for some Lobster Kitchen Creations

My buddy got over 2000 legal bugs last season, they are everywhere !

I had a dozen heavy hoops made to my specs and they have been killing the bugs!  The only issue is they start to get really heavy by the third set.




My buddy and I headed out for another night of hooping.  Strike while the iron is hot and it was the last of my lobster bait in the freezer.



We drop the hoops and let them sit for about 75 minutes.  We were just waiting for it to get dark....



Well, we crushed it with bugs.  The biggest net of the night had 46 in it!  3 legals in here and about 20 that were only short by a 1/8th of an inch or less!



The fleas were everywhere.  I think I probably had 1000 in my boat by nights end.



Soon as the current picked up, the crawl slowed, but we ended up with 310 bugs on the white board.  Not bad for pulling 4 sets of only 7 hoops!



We got our limits and only threw back 2 other legals, so it was mostly a small bug crawl... but we got our limit.



Next day, I was jonze-ing for a Mc Rib... and the Cucaracha Coach came a crawling!



Hahaha... My boats is trashed from all of the lobster fishing.  Time to start fishing again.

Thanks for reading!