2024 Season Finale (12/31)

[Latimeria]

Headed out with Shaun and his sone for one last trip of 2024 to fill the freezer with rockfish.
The inlet was still a little bumpy and the surf was definitely, up but it was no problem for the Scout.



On the way out, we passed homeland security.  They were watching us through the gyros and then came speeding up to us at 100 mph.  I was sitting on the bean bag, so my head was barely above the gunnel.  I stood up and they waved and took off.  My guess is they thought they had an illegal in the c*ckpit, but was only me all comfortable in the bean bag.  hahaha



We get out to the 9 and it was constant action!  All quality also!







One of the crazier catches was an octopus on the Eddie Bomb! I was baffled!





We did a quick fish count to make sure we weren't going to go over.  Had quite the variety going.



Resumed catching...  Caleb was the hot stick of the morning!



No shortage of Mexican's



Then I caught the biggest Green Blotched (or Green Spotted) rockfish I've personally ever seen.  I made sure I was going to take him home whole and look into the records.  I had the state record for Starry Rockfish but ate it before I checked the books.  I won't do that again.



We had limits by noon and were pretty happy with the quality of these guys.  Much better than a few days ago.



There were still a few in the tank, but we had to do another count to make sure.  Quite the bounty!



It was a much smoother ride in and we were home in no time.  I had an event to get to with the wife, so I made sure I wasn't late.  Before we left though, I did a weight on this beauty.  I looked it up and it a good half pound heavier than current record (if it's a Green Spotted) and probably a record if it's a Green Blotched.

Now I have to start jumping through all of the hoops to see if it is or not.



Unfortunately woke up with a raging hangover.  I'm doing dry January, so I overdid it last night.

Happy New Year everyone!  Cheers to a great 2025 (wishful thinking, but I'm going to try to make it happen)

[Tim524]

Looks like a great trip, congrats on a last minute Haul of quality Eats !! 

I want to see the video of you on your boat heading out of the inlet and returning 

Happy New Year 

[Latimeria]

I have to figure out how to post videos here.  I'll have to edit since there might have been a lot of swearing. 

[j.rasta]

Nice haul and happy new year Boys.


Tom Good luck on Dry January...

I'm 7yrs booze free yesterday 🤯😎
Best decision I ever made.

Put the boat back together yesterday with pops. I'll be on the bay for my bday tomorrow, and I'll try to post more this year 🤙🏽

[sasquatch]

Nice haul and happy new year Boys.


Tom Good luck on Dry January...

I'm 7yrs booze free yesterday 🤯😎
Best decision I ever made.

Put the boat back together yesterday with pops. I'll be on the bay for my bday tomorrow, and I'll try to post more this year 🤙🏽

Good for you Rasta. Happy New Year

[jrodda]

There's a good chance that thing is a pink rockfish if you were fishing deep.

Distinguishing factors (greenblotch vs pink)

17 vs 18 pectoral rays (hard to see in pic)
spines on lower gill cover vs no spines
30 or more gill rakers on first arch vs 30 or fewer

I've seen pinks pretty frequently in 700-1000'.

Nice fish no matter which species. Op...no record for pink rockfish currently, I should have submitted mine.


Nice trip to end the year!

[Latimeria]

Man, long story short.  A few guys from Scripps were arguing it was a Bronze Spotted (and both seasoned commercial guys).  I really was not convinced it was and kept pushing back while kept hearing they are rarely, if not ever, wrong.  I kept pushing back and trying to find whatever I could to use as evidence.  I claimed it was a pink or green blotched since I caught it right at the pink level.

Long story short is it moved up the line to a guy named John who discovered the Sunset Rockfish as well as others. (Real expert in Rockfish) and he says it definitely isn't a Bronze but definitely a Sebastomus species, which narrows it down to pink or green blotched considering the other species within this genus.

I also have Ben Cantrell trying to ID it, but I have to check the gill rakers/arches to be fairly certain.  I need to ID the fish prior to submitting a record (at least to the best of my ability and to make sure I have enough evidence to support it.

In any case, it still gave me a scare thinking I might have had a closed species on board.  In any case, I'll be more aware while out there next deepwater rockfish season.

[Latimeria]

Nice haul and happy new year Boys.


Tom Good luck on Dry January...

I'm 7yrs booze free yesterday 🤯😎
Best decision I ever made.

Put the boat back together yesterday with pops. I'll be on the bay for my bday tomorrow, and I'll try to post more this year 🤙🏽

Happy New Year Rasta!  Congrats on being dry for so long, That's my ultimate goal.

Looking forward to seeing more posts from you.  I know you'll be slaying some fish more often now you have your spotlock!

[jrodda]

Man, long story short.  A few guys from Scripps were arguing it was a Bronze Spotted (and both seasoned commercial guys).  I really was not convinced it was and kept pushing back while kept hearing they are rarely, if not ever, wrong.  I kept pushing back and trying to find whatever I could to use as evidence.  I claimed it was a pink or green blotched since I caught it right at the pink level.

Long story short is it moved up the line to a guy named John who discovered the Sunset Rockfish as well as others. (Real expert in Rockfish) and he says it definitely isn't a Bronze but definitely a Sebastomus species, which narrows it down to pink or green blotched considering the other species within this genus.

I also have Ben Cantrell trying to ID it, but I have to check the gill rakers/arches to be fairly certain.  I need to ID the fish prior to submitting a record (at least to the best of my ability and to make sure I have enough evidence to support it.

In any case, it still gave me a scare thinking I might have had a closed species on board.  In any case, I'll be more aware while out there next deepwater rockfish season.

I've never seen a bronzespotted in person, but I think it's really hard to back that one up in this case.

Here's some help I got from another fish nerd on BD when I ID'd my first one in 2023.

I hope you froze this thing!

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[KogaHead]

Nice haul and happy new year Boys.


Tom Good luck on Dry January...

I'm 7yrs booze free yesterday 🤯😎
Best decision I ever made.

Put the boat back together yesterday with pops. I'll be on the bay for my bday tomorrow, and I'll try to post more this year 🤙🏽

Happy New Year Rasta!  Congrats on being dry for so long, That's my ultimate goal.

Looking forward to seeing more posts from you.  I know you'll be slaying some fish more often now you have your spotlock!

To achieve that goal you need to stop. A house full of women makes that hard to do.