Bonefish for all (and other critters as well)

[BenCantrell]

Had two out-of-town friends visiting this past weekend.  They wanted to catch as many species as possible, so we fished a couple spots mostly for small stuff.

On Thursday I met up with Gerry to pump ghost shrimp, which we kept in our fridges until Saturday.



The average size was a lot bigger than I'm used to seeing.



Gerry rented a Hobie kayak by himself on SD Bay on Friday and did well catching halibut and mackerel.

Binh joined us Saturday morning, and in the two hours before high tide everyone caught at least one bonefish.  (Binh's was by far the smallest.)



Other species caught were yellowfin croaker, spotted bass, and round ray.  After high tide we moved down to another spot to fish structure as the tide started to go out.  I saw a pod of big opaleye and got a piece of ghost shrimp in front of them just in time for the biggest one to scoop it up.



Casey caught his lifer opaleye here as well, and Gerry caught a huge black perch.



We had lunch at the Barefoot Bar & Grill.  Even if you don't eat there, it's worth stopping by to see their fish pond.  They have huge opaleye, calico bass, barred sand bass, yellowtail, smoothhound, leopards, and halibut.

Opaleye eating a french fry. 



Grumpy calico.



Smoothhound (the only species in the pond I haven't caught).



We moved to Mission Point Park to catch more stuff in the rocks.  We caught senoritas and small calicos.  I thought scorpionfish would be guaranteed there, but I was wrong.







We wrapped up by going to the OB tidepools.  It was a good negative tide, and there was lots of interesting stuff to see.



There are some deeper holes there that I haven't fished before.  One of them had a few dwarf surfperch.



Gerry and Casey did really well.  They caught zebra perch (I was very jealous), opaleye, largemouth blenny, and woolly sculpin.

The last little hole we fished was surprisingly productive.  It had woolly sculpin, rockpool blenny, and spotted kelpfish.



All in all, here's what we caught:

• Pacific chub mackerel
• California halibut
• Cortez bonefish
• yellowfin croaker
• round ray
• spotted sand bass
• barred sand bass
• calico bass
• opaleye
• black perch
• senorita
• dwarf surfperch
• zebra perch
• woolly sculpin
• largemouth blenny
• spotted kelpfish

[vdisney]

Killer photography, thanks for sharing.  16 species in one day is absolutely awesome!!

[Latimeria]

I might have to spend one day with the micros just to boost up my species count.

Well done guys!

[BenCantrell]

I might have to spend one day with the micros just to boost up my species count.

Well done guys!

It would be a lot of fun!  Pick any negative tide after 3pm or on a weekend and I can be your micro guide.