Groundhog Grounds (2/2)

[Latimeria]

This week I've had all of these orientations and EDD stuff to fill out.  I decided to take the day and head out fishing.
As I was going out the inlet, I heard someone on the radio say "Tom, is that you?"...  I just answered and low and behold, it was Chris (fastrufool) in his boat with his wife and daughter.  He was planning on fishing, but also wanted to get them to see a whale or two.
We kept in radio contact all day to get a bead on the fishing.



Fishing was very slow to start.  I got a bass here and there, but nothing even close to legal.  It was cool because one of the bass was tagged (fuzzy thing on back) and I kept the tag along with the data for him.



I then get WHACKED like a few times in a row.  Real big and QUICK bites before setting the hook on it.  It was a hell of a fight and had my big G-Loomis rod doubled over! As I got it to the surface, I see it was a huge Triggerfish!  Holy crappola!  On the 5" swimbait of all things!

I went to bounce him into the boat, but they are much heavier than they look!  I should have just grabbed the net, but I wasn't thinking clearly and I never got him high enough get into the boat.  Instead he slammed into the gunnel and popped off.  Damn, I was mad at myself for not getting him in the boat.

That thing sure tore up my plastic though!





I kept hopping from spot to spot and picking up more short bass.  Finally had a better hit and it turned out to be a nice sized sculpin that I kept for lunch today.



Conditions were epic!



Lots of whales also!  I' must have seem 7-9 of them today.



I finally found a little rockpile loaded with short bass.  It was a bass every two casts, so I stayed for a while.  Chris called me up to see if I was in the bay or not, but I told him I found a great little rock loaded with bass.

I was done.  I headed into the bay to put the boat back on the trailer when I stopped for a few casts.  I caught 2 spotties, both were nowhere near legal either.



I must have caught 30+ bass and the biggest was only 13.5".  Not a quality day, but a great quantity day.  I at least had two firsts... a triggerfish and a tagged bass.  I'm pretty happy with that.



Not a bad morning trip afterall.  I did have one issue though.  I wasn't feeling too good that morning to begin with, but 30 minutes after eating my 7-11 sandwich, I felt rotten!  Holy crap...  I think I'm going to be staying away from any cold foods there for a while.

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

[vdisney]

Bummer about losing the trigger, bigger bummer that it would have been your first   

[xjchad]

That sounds like a blast Tom!
That Sculpin is beautiful!

[Pinoyfisher]

Trigger fish are awesome!! Better start wearing your GoPro! Almost seasick huh? That's the worst!

[BenCantrell]

Can't beat the weather, and yeah the triggerfish would have been cool to see!