Halibut And Calicos With A Nice Surprise 5/22 AM Report

[HalibutJoel99]

Headed out this morning to much better conditions this AM. Yesterday the wind was whipping on shore pretty strong and casting would have been useless. The conditions were just awesome this morning. No wind! No salad really to speak of either.

Conditions shot



Armed with My Daiwa Coast 7 footer and my Shimano Sedona 5000C with Izorline XXX 12#.

Arrived in the dark and went right to fishing. Nobody on the beach. I found a nice area in the dark and started casting. I could see silver streaks of baitfish all over the water, saw a fish jump out of the water but couldn't tell what it was. Got a nice hit and couldn't get it to stick. The bites were plentiful this morning. About 15 minutes in my lure stops in its tracks.

Target Acquired! I will take it. Nice little fight with this fish and beached my prize and took a few pics and back in she went.

Halibut pics





taped out at 20 inches



Hard to take fish selfie in the dark. Wow, I just noticed as I'm posting this that the moon was perfectly set in the background behind me. Didn't do it on purpose. The moon looked great out there and gave added light to some good fishing.



Retied the lure and went right back out there. It was so much fun this morning. Not to long after I feel a huge slam on the lure and set the hook.

After a pretty decent fight I start getting the fish in closer and really can't tell wtf it is? After she gets in closer I see this nice football sized Zebra Perch. Measured out at 14 inches and was chunky! I always seem to get one or two of these a year. They are veggie eaters so I must have invaded her space.

Zebra Perch pics









A lot of fun fighting the fish on the foul hook.
Went right back at it and missed a couple of nice hits, but was glad to still have my lure. Re-tied again and when it got light out the Calicos started biting.

First one was a nice grump.





Back in the drink and back to a fun morning bite. Another smaller Calico hits the sand too.



The tide was filling in pretty fast and the conditions got worse as the waves got bigger, The south swell surge was getting stronger, I'd have to cast directly to my right to get the lure in the zone. Got another small Halibut on the line but she popped in close and decided to call it a morning. Always nice to go home take a nice nap on a Sunday. Beats working anyday.

Thanks for reading the report and good luck out there. Loads of baitfish and the fish are biting. Be safe and until next tide.

Joel

[sasquatch]

Those zebras are thick.

[Eric H]

Nice variety

[Latimeria]

Awesome catching Joel!  That zebra perch is awesome.  I've never got one of those critters yet.... then again, I need to fish with a bass rod and not my long rod if I want to get one.  LOL

[mdcesq]

Very nice collection and pics.  Zeebs are definitely near the top of my pound-for-pound fighters list. 

[faster u fool]

poowwww